Each year, principals receive detailed ratings and are held accountable for all their activities.

The interim principal is receiving $475 a day salary.

In exchange, the principals, who have been working without a contract since 1996, would receive a 33 percent raise, much of which would come immediately.

The tests were first given to fourth-graders last spring, and principals received results in the fall.

The principals of those schools will receive $5,500.

One principal, she said, received 129 e-mail messages from the central administration on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

The Department of Education said all 45 principals had received, or were likely to receive, unsatisfactory ratings this year.

"I have little doubt but that my principals will favorably receive your offer."

In the new contracts, the city should guarantee that both teachers and principals will receive the professional training they need to meet their responsibilities.

A larger principal should receive a higher interest rate, but may not.