Long ago, I used to say that having a great school is like a three-legged stool partnership with teachers/staff and parents and principal. After my personal experience and years of listening to parents' experiences at other schools, I revised that because the biggest leg really is the principal. I feel that way because the principal sets the tone, the focus and usually has a lot of ability in creating a staff for the school. Many successful principals, like many successful schools, appear to get more leeway because of their abilities. (This harkens back to former Superintendent Olfchefske's "tight/loose" theory that if a school is doing well, loosen up that grip, if not, tighten up.) This ability for some principals to have greater control certainty looks true in a column at the Times about one reporter who about to become a Seattle schools' parent.