Be Dahlia: Please Don't Bully the School Principal

By Philip Ledlin

The explicit goal of this 100% not for profit book is to assist school communities to stamp out parent bullying of school principals by encouraging and empowering parents to be 'upstanders' whenever bullying presents.
In the book, I present 10 mind-blowing stories from my 16 years as a school principal (in 3 very different schools) to effectively demonstrate the enormous complexity of the school principal role and the inherent challenges that can seriously compromise principals' wellbeing.
Each of the 10 stories touch on 10 different styles of parent bulling. At the end of each story, I present a few 'inspirations' (suggestions) specifically for principals to consider and separate 'inspirations' for parents to consider too - Many of the 'inspirations' are light-hearted and uplifting.
The closing story is really quite harrowing because it was the event that crushed me to the core ... I was reported to the "Australian Human Rights Commission" by a parent couple. Whilst all allegations were totally dismissed after a two-month investigation, my veneer of strength was shattered and it just fully flaked off.
Parts of the book touch on data/research and integrate into the stories simply to demonstrate the importance of the messages.
Author, Steve Biddulph, urges all parents of school age children to read this book. He told me he was brought to tears as he read each story. Essentially, he knows better than most what's going on out there ... And he, like me, knows what needs to change.

Why is the book titled "Be Dahlia"?
Dahlia is the brave, quietly spoken hero of the book who appears in Chapter 6. She's a champion because she demonstrates the type of simple bravery we all need to adopt in our lives. In the face of adversity at an out of control meeting, she stood up and respectfully reprimanded the antagonistic group of more than 80 parents who weren't getting what they wanted. She was so brave and she hated seeing me unjustifiably under attack.

Why is this book special?
School principals in the job right now can't easily arc up and do a 'tell-all' book about what they are going through. I, on the other hand, am in a unique position as a retired school principal to do this 'tell-all' story.
Throughout my leadership years, I consistently worked closely with school principals throughout various systems and the main thing I valued in our relationships was the shared 'same-stress' we all had. Essentially, the schools we led all had so much in common and all our 'horror stories' resonated with each other.
I've got nothing to lose and I've learnt in recent years about the power of vulnerability. In this book, I acknowledge that I've been diagnosed by a psychiatrist with a 'quadfecta' of 'mess' that I've been successfully taming in recent times. I've apparently got:
- Generalised Anxiety Disorder (with panic attacks)
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- ADHD
- Imposter Syndrome
However, despite the raw and embarrassing labels that you now know are stuck to my forehead, I know full-well that I have to put this book forward for the wider public in order to help make things just a little bit better.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0F7M3NVJM
• ISBN13: 9798282459715
• Release Date: May 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 132 Pages
• Weight: 0.41 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"