Exactly this.

A head director quite literally does not have the authority to dictate what you should do outside of your contract time/scheduled events. I'm saying this as a former head director. A principle does not even have this authority. Heck, a superintendent does not have this authority. While we need to respect the positions, we have a really bad habit of forgetting that we are all professionals with contracts and that another person, just because they are a program head, does NOT get to dictate every aspect of your life.