The number of high school principals who’ve considered leaving their jobs has skyrocketed during the pandemic as new responsibilities have piled up and controversies have erupted over mask mandates, critical race theory and other issues. More than a quarter of principals reported “constant” job-related stress, according to the latest report from the RAND Corporation, which also warned:

Four out of five secondary principals experienced frequent job-related stress during the 2020-2021 school year.
Principals of color, female principals, principals serving high-poverty schools, and principals serving schools with high enrollment of students of color were especially likely to suffer stress.
Supporting teachers’ well-being and students’ social-emotional learning, and navigating pandemic-related challenges were the top stressors.
Principals whose schools provided fully remote instruction were more likely to experience constant stress than principals whose schools were hybrid or in-person.

A leading principals organization warned in December that historically low job satisfaction among secondary school principals could trigger a "mass exodus" of building leaders in the coming years. By the end of 2021, job satisfaction had fallen to an "ultimate low" with almost four in 10 principals saying they were likely to quit in the next three years, according to a National Association of Secondary School Principals’ survey that gauged the impacts of COVID, the polarized political climate and resource needs.

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High school principals are super-stressed. Here are 3 solutions.

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