Perspective on a School District Hierarchy

I've been involved in many conversations recently about decision making and resource allocation in schools and the predominant perspective that I found exists is illustrated by the following hierarchy diagram where teachers answer to principals who answer to the school board who, ultimately, answer to the voters.

On the topic of the structure of a district, I would like to suggest an alternate perspective: Shouldn't the hierarchy of a district be flipped from this standard paradigm? Aren't the teachers the ones who know what is needed? Shouldn't they be communicating to the principals what is needed? Then, shouldn't the principals be communicating with the superintendent who should be communicating with the board who should be responsive to the needs of the people who actually know what is going on? This is, of course assuming you have a group of teachers who are current on their pedagogy and understanding of the state of education today. Shouldn't the hierarchy look something more like this:

I've sat in on many board meetings in my seven year long career in education and the most effective boards I've seen are those that are asking questions like what do the teachers need, what do the teachers think, and how will this impact students? The least effective boards are those that say things like "I think that teachers should..." This touches on the idea of servant leadership which, from what I have gathered through many conversations with many different people, is something that is woefully misunderstood. I staunchly advocate that it is one of the best ways to approach leadership; If you, as a leader, are willing to do whatever it takes to support, empower, and raise up those you are "in charge" of, think of how motivated they will be! Imagine if your school board, superintendent, and principals were constantly asking teachers what they need and then actually providing them with those things or, at the very least if resources are not available, collaborating with teachers to find a workable alternative. I think the educator effectiveness program in Wisconsin (which has the potential to transform the teacher-principal relationship from one of adversity to one of advocacy) and the movement to provide teacher coaches or at the very least, increasing opportunities for teachers to observe each other and offer feedback are steps toward this paradigm shift. I think this shift would be incomplete unless teachers can also transition their perspective from "this is what we are doing today" to "this is what I need to do today for my students." Ultimately, isn't the category at the top of a school hierarchy the learning needs of students?