As the DEI hullabaloo grows louder, it’s time for school and district leaders to step up, lean into discomfort, and do the work to ensure every student thrives while feeling seen, heard, and valued.
Leadership for equity requires a firm sense of self-awareness, a deep understanding of our values, and a willingness to experience discomfort. Committing to equity requires the courage and integrity to act in ways that align and help move our systems forward.
Leading during turbulence is about caring for and connecting with the people we lead. It’s about creating spaces for curiosity and emotion to surface so healing can begin. We can use the SEL competencies we teach our students to begin the work and ensure we are on the right path.
In honor of National Assistant Principal Week, I’ve dusted off and updated this piece about courageous leaders who are willing to reflect, model, learn, and disrupt systems that fail to adequately serve all students. In this blog, the skills and dispositions of culturally responsive assistant principals are explored and examined as National Assistant Principal Week winds down. Assistant Principals are leaders that set the tone, priorities, and ways of being at school – and are essential to ensuring access to high quality, engaging, and relevant school experiences for students and adults alike.
Supporting female and culturally diverse leaders takes conscious efforts to lead inclusively and address and dismantle hidden biases. It also means actively looking for ways to inspire their best.
Inclusive school leaders have a responsibility to help educate and lead policies that ensure students with food allergies are not only safe, but are included and feel a sense of belonging at school. With 1 in 13 children now struggling with food allergies, it means we need to be more aware, concerned, and responsive than ever before.
Great leaders root themselves in a noble purpose, align it with a compelling vision, and then take action. Not just for that quarter or even that year. But for the rest of their lives. For me, that noble purpose is equity. It is my North Star.
I recently spent an entire work day meeting with a group of about 20 employees.…
The impact of a teacher is vast; enormously immense, and at times, deeply profound. Ripple effects that we are unaware of can occur decades down the road. Read about the impact one teacher had on her sub-par student and the resulting incredible opportunity it presents for countless others.
The stories of our family members help remind us of the sacrifices made that help bring us together for a common purpose in educating and serving our youth. We honor our future generations by carrying out the legacy of those who have gone before us. We honor our young people and our elders through our humble spirit, through our positive dispositions, and through taking pride in success.
Just Leading 