Tag: leadership

Homewreck

By: Harvey Smokey Daniels

The greatest source of tears and heartbreak in our family, over all of our child-raising years, was homework. Like by far. Like 90%. Those unbidden, meaningless assignments, the mechanical worksheets, and odd-numbered math problems constantly led to friction, battles, resistance, weeping, and regret. It felt like the school was sending little hand grenades home with our kids, timed to explode just before a peaceful, playful, or relaxing evening could break out. That relentless assault on our family life still feels fresh, even though our kids are now 39 and 33.

        During this time, Elaine and I were both teaching, researching, and writing about progressive classroom practices – one of which was not worksheets. Nick and Marny knew very well what our professional principles were, so they could have called out our hypocrisy whenever we tried to enforce the evening’s dosage of drivel. But they didn’t often use that leverage; they knew we would marinate in our complicity. And we pretty much quit supporting school homework when they reached high school.

        And then there was the perennial pinch of being teacher-parents. You want to be a loyal employee of the district. You don’t want to accuse your colleagues of doing dumb or harmful things to children. And you recognize (or you should) that teachers get even fewer opportunities than normal parents to complain about things at school. When you are an educator, you simply can’t afford to be labeled, “One of Those Crank Parents.”

        If you resonate with these concerns, you may be fondly recalling Alfie Kohn’s entirely excellent book The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing (2006). Kohn likens homework for kids to the Second Shift for workers at the factory. You come home after eight hard hours and surprise – you have to go back to work! Kohn skillfully deconstructs every official rationale for homework. Decades of careful research studies have shown only negative outcomes for elementary kids and glancing, temporary ones for certain high schoolers. Then he runs through the more likely reasons that homework has been sustained against all evidence: upholding tradition, fostering obedience, providing ritual hazing (we had to go through it, now it’s your turn), developing a tolerance for toxic tasks, keeping kids off the streets, and finally, the redoubt of all scoundrels, the notion that homework “builds character.”

      For all the good work our friend Alfie did a decade ago, unexamined homework is still with us, in arguably more toxic forms. It’s bad enough when homework is menial, meaningless, and repetitive–a mere compliance ritual. But the content of homework sheets can be even more corrupting than the process. We have just lived through another “Black History Month,” during which millions of kids came home with worksheets, mostly focused on Martin Luther King, (apparently the only African American leader of whom worksheet makers are aware.) This year’s assortment included MLK word-finds, matching exercises, fill in the blanks, word searches, and many more. Among the tasks:

  1. Crossword puzzle clue for #7 Across:

Martin Luther King was assassinated during the month of __________.

  1. A short historical text about MLK, followed by these instructions:

“Circle ten proper nouns and underline ten verbs.”

  1. Freedom, peace, march, speech, Atlanta, minister, equal, dream, boycott, leader.
  2. “Read these words and place them in alphabetical order.”
  3. True-False: “Martin Luther King was a farmer.”
  4. For those ready to further explore black heroes, another worksheet confides that Rosa Parks was “a tired seamstress who politely declined to give up her seat on the bus” because of her fatigue. Needless to say, the profile doesn’t mention that Parks had been an activist and leader of the NAACP for two decades and that she was tired of racism, not sewing.

Just in case you’re wondering, I am not making this up. These and hundreds more worksheets are available on the web for teachers to use, reuse, and reuse. And these are not just time-wasters: they are desecrations of history and a pretty good example of how ignorance is engineered.

Just last week, a suburban Chicago teacher whom I follow on Twitter bravely began tweeting out photographs of her own young children suffering over the daily load of second-shift misery.

This is the face of my five-year-old doing useless homework when she would rather be playing. Five-year-olds don’t need homework. #ditchthehw

Tonight’s useless homework: track how many words you can read in 1-minute #ditchthehw

Things my kids could be doing right now instead of useless homework:

-reading

-playing with each other

-drawing

-talking to me about their day

-playing with their toys

-relaxing after 8 hours in school

#ditchthehw

So let’s get real. Let’s say you may work in a district where there is a serious Homework Policy dictating how many after-school minutes or hours kids are supposed to labor after school. So, let’s start by changing the categories of what counts as homework. Then, let’s design a time that’s stress-free, that invites kids’ curiosity and choice, and that doesn’t start battles between parents and kids, ruin whole evenings, and sell more Kleenex. Possible ideas for kids:

–Spend some time reading a book or magazine you have chosen.

–Go online to investigate a question that popped up in your life today.

–Interview family members about their work, interests, family history.

–If you are in a literature circle at school, e-connect with classmates to discuss the book.

–Work on an ongoing “passion project,” something you have decided to look into long-term (animal extinction, volcanoes, the Cold War).

–Watch TV shows with family and talk about them.

–Free write in your personal journal (or work on your novel/poems).

–Pick an adult in the community you want to learn from and apprentice yourself.

Let’s grow this list together. Meet me at #DitchTheHW.

Learn more about Smokey!

236 total views , 1 views today

Is Every Student a Protagonist in Your Classroom Library?

By Laura Robb and Evan Robb

Classroom libraries can be conduits for change, providing all children access to texts that affirm who they are, open possibilities for what they can become─and help them to develop the habit of reading. Teachers have tremendous power to amass text collections that develop students’ academic, emotional, and social selves. In this blog, we share the ins and outs to create a classroom library that adds joy to your school days─and affirms for all children that they belong.

The academic payoff of classroom libraries is old news…

There are decades of research to support the adage that children get better at reading by reading. In fact, whether you are a teacher or a leader reading this blog, we encourage you to use the research on why students become readers to advocate for funding classroom libraries. Developing successful, lifelong readers has everything to do with reading volume, offering students choice in what to read, and using outstanding children’s and young adult literature (Allington, 1997, 2012, 2014; Anderson, Wilson, and Fielding, 1998; Krashen, 2004). Yet, it’s important to acknowledge that we are all newbies regarding how to use books in ways that align with culturally sustaining pedagogy.

…but how teachers create an optimal collection is breaking news

Regardless of background, all teachers need guidance and assurance on finding books that provide positive, identity-building stories for all children. The field of culturally sustaining literature has exploded in the last few years, and the benchmarks have shifted. For example, publishers have recognized that it’s not enough to show characters of color or sprinkle them into storylines; they need to seek out own-voice writers and illustrators representing a wide range of ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds.

Children want to see themselves as protagonists, not slated to secondary characters. All children crave involving, entertaining, and nuanced stories and themes; they want normal, not noble. They know darn well when a book is pandering to stereotypes rather than written from an authentic perspective.

Luckily, great books in just about every genre abound! Tap the expertise of your school librarian and see the box below on a few of our favorite sources for diverse literature. Then, use the tips that follow to build the classroom library of your dreams.

1. Define diversity

Having a working definition of diversity helps you gather a strong collection. For example, you want to think about diversity in terms of abilities, race, ethnicity, culture, home language, gender identity, and so on. You want to reflect on what it means to shift away from assuming that white, middle-class, English-speaking is the norm. It’s not. Diversity is inclusivity. It’s not just about cultural and ethnic breadth.

2. Be asset-based

How you select a read-aloud, and how you talk about book characters, influences students’ sense of one another and themselves. For example, if you have bi/multilingual students in your classroom, select books that reflect their backgrounds and celebrate those learners’ ability to develop more than one language simultaneously. Also, pose questions in ways that are open-ended and invite all kids to respond. “What is familiar here?” “What is the character realizing now?” Older books in your current library? Scrutinize them to make sure they don’t perpetuate negative, patronizing stereotypes.

3. Be ruthless about relevance

What engaged you in terms of topics and authors as a youth might not resonate with most children today. So, fill the shelves with books that are relevant to students’ interests and life today.

Related Content

Collage of Best Eighth Grade Science Projects and Experiments

40 Great Eighth Grade Science Fair Projects and Classroom Experiments

Collage of Winter Science Activities

30 of the Coolest Winter Science Experiments and Activities

40 Ways Teachers Can Make Extra Money

4. Consider reading range

Include lots and lots of books on grade level, but plenty below and above grade level.

5. Go big or go home

Each classroom library should have a minimum of 600 unleveled books and a goal to increase the collection to 1,000-1,500 over a couple of years. Pumping up students’ reading volume requires a voluminous approach to books. A few favorite diversity resources:

  • Lee & Low Books, which was founded in 1991, is now the largest multicultural book publisher in the United States.
  • Reycraft Books, a relatively new book line, publishes and licenses books for all children by authors and illustrators around the globe that have unique stories to tell.
  • Wordsong is this country’s only imprint dedicated to publishing children’s poetry.
  • Versify is a children’s imprint launched by award-winning author Kwame Alexander. It publishes books that celebrate the lives and reflect the possibilities of all.
  • We Need Diverse Books is a nonprofit organization of book lovers that advocates essential changes in the publishing industry to produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people.
  • The Brown Bookshelf is designed to push awareness of the myriad Black voices writing for young readers. Their flagship initiative is 28 Days Later, a month-long showcase of the best in Picture Books, Middle Grade, and Young Adult novels written and illustrated by Black creators. You can read more about the members of The Brown Bookshelf here.
  • Penguin Random House Creative Writing Awards (CWAs) is a scholarship program designed to highlight, encourage, and support diverse student voices. Eligible for high school seniors, please visit the link for more information.
  • Corwin Press has an equity line of professional books for teachers and leaders. Launched by Dan Albert more than 20 years ago, its authors have been at the forefront of culturally sustaining pedagogy.
Each classroom library should have a minimum of 600 unleveled books and a goal to increase the collection to 1,000-1,500 over a couple of years. Pumping up students’ reading volume requires a voluminous approach to books.

6. Stock all text types and genres

Use these ideas (and the linked book lists) to help you make your library diverse in terms of genres.

  • Poetry
  • Picture books
  • Graphic novels/manga
  • Realistic fiction
  • Historical fiction
  • Science fiction
  • Fairy tales (include renditions authored and illustrated by people of color/representing versions of the tale from various countries/cultures)

14 Genres to consider adding to your classroom library.

7. Connect instructional and independent reading

The classroom library should feel recess-like recreational to students! You want them to view books as a break from some of the tasks and learning at school that might be harder for them. That said, as you plan your units, from ELA to math, to science, to history, add books to the library on topics your curriculum addresses.

8. Keep the library kinesthetic, not static

As the teacher, you are wearing the hat of the bookseller. And as every bookseller knows, the secret to success is to entice browsers with appealing, new features. Students will love it! Invite students to help you organize the library at the start of the school year. Hand out a student reading interest survey, so you discover kids’ interests and what kinds of books they like. Every few weeks, layer in newness.

For example, display “This week’s picks” and invite students to do the same in subsequent weeks. Place a box in the library for students to make anonymous suggestions for books, topics, authors; sometimes kids are too shy to ask for a topic publicly. Invite students to schedule 60-second book talks to promote favorites to peers. Invite your principal to get on the school’s intercom once a week and tell about a favorite book, and have students also share favorites that way.

 9. Advocate for classroom libraries

We believe that with a little ingenuity, any teacher can develop a class library, even in schools whose leadership don’t see classroom collections as a priority. Advocate for the principal to shift budget money allocated for a new reading program to stocking every classroom with an abundance of books. Collaborate with other teachers to make classroom libraries a school-wide initiative, a badge of honor!

10. Collaborate and coach one another

Launch a professional development inquiry around best practices for cultivating independent reading. To help you and others develop excellent practices throughout the school, use the following checklist. (Many more checklists can be found in our book Schools Full of Readers.)

Is Your Classroom Library Culturally Sustaining?

What tips do you have to create a classroom library? Share in the comments below.

Is Your Classroom Library Culturally Sustaining?

237 total views

The Power of Stories During Uncertain Times

By Barbara Bray, author of Define Your Why

For most of my life, I have been a teacher, a coach, and a mentor supporting educators. Something is different now. There is a sense of urgency for us to rethink the idea of “school” and what it means to be a teacher, a principal, and a learner. Many educators have told me they felt lost. Even before the pandemic, several told me that they felt like they went down the wrong path and were living someone else’s story. 

“The two most important days in life are the day you are born,
and the day you discover the reason why.” Mark Twain

We have many different experiences throughout our lives that make us who we are today. You may not even realize the forces that affected you in your past and may still affect you today. My journey took me down different paths that made me who I am today. I wrote my book, Define Your WHY, about the process I went through to define my purpose and learned the importance of all of our stories. All of us have a backstory and stories connect us.

Your story is about YOU. Everyone has a story. You are YOU. You are unique. There is no one like you in the whole world. You know you better than anyone else. Even though you know you, you may not know some important things about you. 

“The whole story is about you. You are the main character.”

Don Miguel Ruiz

Think of yourself as the main character in a book you may write one day. Even if you don’t want to write a book, you can learn from literary characters to help you define you. Any book you read has magic in it. Reading brings you into someone else’s world. Some books take you to places you never thought you could go. Your imagination takes you on the main character’s journey. There are ways you can connect to a character through their qualities or characteristics. 

Look at the four qualities I came up with for the two main characters below:

  • Alice from Alice in Wonderland: curious, adventurous, brave, and kind. 
  • Harold from Harold and the Purple Crayon: creative, imaginative, excited, and curious.

You may have come up with different qualities than I did for these main characters. That’s okay. When you read a book, it is personal for you. How you feel as you read any book is personal. Think about a book you read where you really connected with the main character. What are the qualities of the main character that stood out for you? 

During the pandemic, I’m reading more. I’m reading biographies, non-fiction, educational books, children’s books, memories, and fiction.

Journalling is my way of keeping track of my challenges, my progress, and my characteristics. Family, friends, and colleagues have told me that I am Curious, Creative, Kind, and Silly. My parents used to tell me I was a curious soul and very silly. I love to write and design. I try to be kind. I wasn’t sure if these four are really me so I asked myself questions about them. These six questions stood out for me:

  • What do I do now to be curious? 
  • Does my curiosity help me become more creative? 
  • How do I keep myself focused on being creative and my writing?
  • Am I silly more than I am serious?
  • How can we encourage kindness in schools? 
  • What can I do to spread kindness?

Think about four characteristics about you. Write those down. Ask yourself questions about your characteristics like I did to take them deeper. I mentioned before that some people felt that they were renting someone else’s story. Let’s make sure you share yours as the chief storyteller of YOU. 

“You either walk inside your story and own it, or you stand outside your story and hustle for your worthiness.” — Brené Brown

I went for years being afraid to share my story or tell what I believed. I always wanted to write but never thought I had a story to tell or that my story was worthy. At first, I wasn’t sure of my purpose. It took me some time to figure out that my purpose has always been about the stories. You may not want to write but I know you have a story. No matter who you are or what you do, when you get to know more about you, you will find that you are worth caring about and fighting for. 

If you don’t want to write, read a book or watch a movie. Then talk about what you found out about the characters or the theme with others. If you are a teacher, encourage your students to share stories through their own story, their family’s story, or about a book they read

We need our connections and stories now more than ever with people who care about us because we matter. You matter. Your story matters. The power of stories especially during these uncertain times connects us. 

Website/Blog: Rethinking Learning 

Podcast: Rethinking Learning Podcast 

Co-author: Make Learning Personal and How to Personalize Learning

Author Define Your Why

Twitter: @bbray27

110 total views

So You Wanted To Be a Superintendent

By: Dr. Kris Felicello

“What a year to become Superintendent!”  I have heard that often since I took over as the Superintendent of Schools for the North Rockland Central School District.  It is usually followed by a look of concern, or even pity on certain days when I look particularly haggard. 

When I hear these words from an empathic educator or dedicated parent I want to put their minds at ease.  These have been challenging times for us all. The pandemic has been long winded, and now, reflecting, it seems like a lifetime ago when COVID became real. For me, it was the night the NBA postponed their season and we all learned that Tom Hanks had contracted the virus. I’ll always remember where I was and what I was doing when that turn of events unfolded. On the other hand, I find some days it seems like it was just yesterday that life was normal, that I went out to dinner, attended a concert, or walked into a store maskless. 

Time has played tricks on so many of us, adding to the surreal nature of the COVID-19 Pandemic. That being said I don’t want pity, this is a job I asked for, and even during a Pandemic I would not want any other job in the world. 

In this role I have the opportunity to lead a wonderful, caring community. I have supportive bosses in the form of a Board of Education, who want nothing more than to provide students with the best opportunities available. I work with educators who have remained united and in many instances have carried students and a community through some of our darkest days. 

It has been a struggle, I have had sleepless nights, I have lost my cool, I have faced obstacles that I never thought I would see in my career. The job of Superintendent is to lead. I consider it a great honor to lead students, staff, and caregivers through this challenge. I’ve learned when you go the extra mile, there’s never traffic.

Taking on a new role during a Global Pandemic comes with complications, it comes with decisions, it comes with anxieties.  More importantly though, becoming a Superintendent in 2020 has afforded me the opportunity to learn, to grow, to lead during a time in history that my grandkids will be talking about, to discover things about myself and the type of leader that I want to be. These are lessons that may have taken years to learn during “normal” times.  

I was appointed to lead the North Rockland Central School District in August of 2020. Our District is a diverse one consisting of approximately 8,000 students. Our community sits on the scenic Hudson River just over 35 miles north of Manhattan.  

The District was formed 60 years ago when the towns of Stony Point and Haverstraw united to form the North Rockland Central School District.  North Rockland has a proud history of success in athletics and academics but is best known for its tight-knit community, one that like most families, will quarrel at times but when the going gets tough we lift each other up. As my former boss and long time District Superintendent used to say “It’s not easy to face tough times but when you do, remember North Rockland is

behind you”

On the day I became the official Superintendent, I was struck with a range of emotions.  I was proud, nervous, eager to learn, but above all I vowed to serve my community the best I could. My mission was now to meet the expectations of those who believed in me enough to appoint me to the position, the Board of Education.  When August 1st arrived, I did not expect to be so melancholy.  It was a summer Sunday, I was tooling around the Home Depot garden section (no pun intended), and I kept grabbing my phone to call my dad, letting him know that today was the day, I am officially a Superintendent! Each time I attempted to make the call, I was reminded that Frank Felicello was no longer around to call.  He passed in April, early stages of the Pandemic, a time when you could not properly say goodbye to loved ones. In some ways it was a blessing, missing those final painful days of watching life slowly float from a man you knew was invincible.  No arrangements to make, being spared the experience of numbly standing at the receiving line of grief, making awkward conversation, there was no need to create that final scrapbook of pictures that often seems inadequate in capturing a grand life.  

Yes, in some ways missing those aching moments were a gift, but as many who have lost loved ones can attest, the lack of closure leaves scars that may not have run as deep had we been afforded the opportunity to properly grieve.  

Driving back from Home Depot that day I contemplated these harsh realities. But upon arriving home, any seeds of doubt regarding my new position were erased. Sitting on the kitchen table was an edible arrangement from a co-worker who recognized, during their busy summer Sunday, it was my official first day as a Superintendent. At that moment I realized I was ready for this challenge, there was no place I would rather rise to it than in North Rockland!

Planning to Open

In the early stages of planning we didn’t know what we do now.  We were unsure of the “rules” that we would be playing by. Educators across the State anxiously awaited direction from Governor Cuomo and when the COVID guidelines for reopening schools were released, many leaders felt there were too many questions and too few answers.  In North Rockland we created a reopening committee that consisted of teachers, administrators, parents, Board of Education members, students, and support staff. 

With so many areas to address, It became apparent if we hoped to successfully get students back to school we had our work cut out for us.  Each District in New York State was required to create a reopening plan that addressed the following areas:

  • Instruction
  • Facilities
  • Health and Safety
  • Transportation
  • Technology
  • Communication
  • Social Emotional Supports

In order to accomplish this daunting task, it would be a team effort, we needed to join forces, divide and conquer.  Each area was assigned a team complete with a leader and members to develop recommendations for their portion of our reopening undertaking.  

In less than a month, together we succeeded in creating a comprehensive District wide reopening plan.  The plan is a living document that has been updated and adjusted as we find the best ways to manage schools during the COVID era.  A copy of North Rockland’s plan can be found linked here. 

This stage of the 2020-21 school year served as my first lesson as Superintendent.  

Collaboration is Key

The experience taught me that we really are better together.  Honest debates and discussions both lead to better decisions. It’s ok to give up control and embrace the team dynamic. Most of all, sometimes it is more productive to listen rather than to speak, it is better to process before reacting. I don’t have all the answers, and no matter how well you’ve planned, you can’t always control the outcome.

Will We Actually Open?

With our projected first day of school fast approaching, there were numerous vital precautions to be put in place.  Our Buildings and Grounds crew were working around the clock, seven days a week to replace air filters, a task that would have been for nought if not for a particularly resourceful mechanic. The State required a MERV (new term, I learned) 13 or higher filter and as expected every MERV filter rated 13 or higher was sold out or on backorder.  So, instead our skilled mechanic designed an innovative way for each system here to utilize two MERV 8 filters per unit. Safely, putting us well past the required 13 rating.  

This was only the tip of the iceberg of obstacles our team faced. Each seeming to make it even more impossible to open our schools. 

None of the essentials we needed were available. We begged and borrowed to obtain N95 masks, touchless water fountains, COVID related signage, a notification system, temperature scanners and more. Bus routes were reconstructed to meet our new distanced reality. Collaborating with Union leadership we created a brand new instructional program. A program that had to work for our staff and students and involved determining how to keep all employees working while adding value to our organization and how to best make sense of a world that made little.  

Our entire school community implored an all hands on deck philosophy in a valiant attempt to do what at the time seemed like an impossible task, reopening our District strongly, on time for the 2020-21 school year, during a Pandemic.  Many scoffed and I was sent the chart below more than once as a hint that I may be asking our team to take on more than was responsible. 

There was fear, even uncertainty, but from this intense time in my first year as Superintendent I gained a second valuable lesson:

Transparency is always best. 

We carefully and thoroughly laid out our plan for staff and for parents.  My team and I delivered several live presentations with public Q and A built into the sessions. (found here) Our mantra was consistent, whether it was a forum for teachers or parents – to be upfront, in a clear, truthful and timely manner. 

That motto has served us well in North Rockland. A good relationship requires two constants, communication and trust. Keeping in sometimes daily communication with our community allowed us to build a connection. Surveying the community for their valuable feedback led to areas of our instructional program being reworked and enhanced. Never were we duplicitous with our staff or community.  This approach has been appreciated and I firmly believe it helped us to successfully navigate the Coronavirus situation. 

Making it to the Holiday Pause

All North Rockland school buildings were reopened for learners the second week of September 2020. Front loading our professional development days to the beginning of the year allowed us a few extra days to prepare our buildings and provide our teachers the much needed time to ready themselves to teach in this new world.

Parents were able choose the program they wanted, fully remote or a hybrid model which combined in person and remote learning. Our youngest students (K-3) would be in schools every day. District wide every student was provided with a quality device that ensured they had connectivity. As opening day dawned we held our breath hoping to successfully navigate this day and those that would follow. Our air quality was rigorously tested and approved, sealed Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) arrived and was distributed. We were prepared and we were ready.  

The night before we opened our doors for students, I was restless with more than normal opening day jitters. This was it. I was proud to have worked with a group of individuals that had to come together to turn what seemed like an impossible task into a reality.  

That was until the phone rang at 8:30 PM.  I was informed that a teacher who was in a school building for professional development had tested positive.  Thus began the process that became a normal weekend ritual.  Conversations with my Director of Health Kathy, my Assistant Superintendent Anthony, and the principal of the affected school.  

We made it through that first week and it was wonderful, it was a cause for celebration.  The sentiment was, even if we had to close again for an extended period of time – we succeeded in meeting our students in person, and we were able to provide them with computers, materials, directions, and love; that cannot be duplicated through a computer screen.  

During those early days, everytime my phone rang I held my breath.  Would we need to close schools, would we be able to keep everyone safe, were we doing the right thing?  Those early days solidified the third key lesson in my crash course in “Superintendent school.”

Never ask those you lead to do something you would not do yourself

Going to the schools that had a positive case immediately upon notification helped not only to manage the situation, but to quell the anxieties of students and staff.  I saw it as my responsibility to be where the issues were, to be involved in the contact tracing process, to make those difficult phone calls, to do what I was asking my staff to do.  

Practice only makes for improvement. As time went on we improved.  Our protocols became tighter, notification process cleaner, precautions smarter.  I started to actually think we may be able to keep this going the entire year!  

Then Halloween came, the area’s numbers rose, and although our data showed that we were ultimately safe and not spreading the disease in the classrooms, quarantine requirements made it difficult to provide a consistent educational experience to our students.

At that point I decided it was in the best interest of our community to “Pause” and shift to a remote only option for the holiday season.  

I was proud of what we accomplished and I felt in my heart it was the right decision. Still, I could not help but to feel a sense of defeat.  

When I shared the decision that we would shift to a fully remote model from Thanksgiving through Martin Luther King day with our community I was able to highlight our successes, reinforce that our schools were safe, and explain our logic for the ‘Holiday Pause”  

The charts below helped to illustrate for our community our experience with COVID-19 and both the logic and data points behind the Pause.

The fact that we had 9 cases prior to Halloween and 31 after shows how holiday gatherings may contribute to the spread of the virus. I did not want decisions that families made during the holiday season to serve as a wedge that divided our community.  

On the Friday before the pause began, I was unexpectedly emotional watching the kids board their buses home for the next two months. During difficult moments a true leader draws on their confidence. I was confident when we came back we would build back better.

Hybrid 2.0

After quickly catching our breath our administrative team began preparing for our anticipated January return or what we referred to as the launch HYBRID 2.0 Instruction.  

We searched for ways to reduce the need for quarantining staff members.  We reduced the number of contacts each class had with adults. We had classes and teams shift to a remote model rather than closing entire schools.  

Covering classes on a day to day basis with quarantines, symptomatic and sick staff members, became a near impossible task for our principals.  They quickly adjusted and started having special area teachers stream into classrooms, with support staff supervising students from the hallway to avoid potential direct contacts.  

The principals became experts; proficient in making quick decisions.  My transportation director was able to reduce quarantines on buses by insisting drivers wear N95 masks. Using GPS technology she was also able to determine the duration of time each student was on the bus.  The team was lifting each other up for the benefit of our kids! 

Our Rockstar Director of Health was able to manage cases as if she had been doing so for her entire career. Her diligent work coupled with trending data supported the notion that our school was a safe environment. This allowed me to focus on other priority areas.

The skill, talent and creativity of the people I am fortunate enough to work with cemented the fourth valuable lesson I have learned this year.

The Best Leaders know when to Step Aside

I have been known to be somewhat of an octopus, having the innate need to have a hand on every decision and action.  This unique time in the world forced me to realize that you cannot do everything alone, that you need to empower others, that it is ok to step aside at times.  I have realized that some days less of me is more.

  •  Be less reactive
  • Take transgressions less personally
  • Listen more
  • Talk less
  • Observe more
  • Contemplate
  • Empower
  • Be Kind

It has been a whirlwind of a year. This year has truly been a crash course in what it means to lead during a crisis. I’m so grateful to have learned so much while navigating this ever changing environment. I have more growing to do, more to master, and more pandemic management skills to refine.  To date I think the greatest lesson I have learned in my role is that no matter what obstacle you face, a positive outlook increases your chances for success and always makes you a better leader!

549 total views , 1 views today