leadership in high schools

Yesterday we at the Hewes Center interviewed 5 Special Education teacher candidates.  On the interview panel were two administrators, two teachers and a school psychologist/administrative intern.  All five candidates were exceptional in that they spoke to the needs of students in the classroom – 6 traits of writing, project based learning, community learning, positive feedback, pod casting, video streaming, smart boards, clickers, blogging and other technological media.  I was interested to hear one candidate say she was warned not to explore Face book for fear that someone or something might discover her!

We at the Center need 4 teachers – we may have found 3! One  is more driven to serving in a consultant teacher capacity with sights on a doctorate in Educational Psychology.  To place this person in a classroom would be to cage a beautiful bird that needs to fly freely.  This was a good day for teacher recruitment.  We shall definitely be a very different place in the Fall when school starts because these teachers are coming on board excited to reach out to generations “Y” – 1975-1990 and Generation ”E” - 1991+ , who are wired to a new economic reality.  At present this economic reality is rooted in schools because knowledge is still being cultivated here.   We must understand that if schools cannot produce new thinkers, new managers of information who can quickly understand and maneuver through vast reams of information using technology , team players who can coordinate across cultural and political lines, then schools as we know them will become obsolete.   

The next step in this process is to submit the names and applications of our teacher candidates to the office of our Director.   In 3 weeks the Hewes Center will be a very different place. 

I cannot wait for the start of the new school year – there is so much to be done. 

Yes, there is a special lonely place that is inhabited by school officials – teachers and administrators.  We do not like to talk about it much as if to say that by not admitting it, it does not exist.  The cost of team work takes a toll on all of us because not always does everything run so smoothly in our schools.  People do not agree, people feel insulted where no insult was intended, communications are misread and ill feelings are bred.  Every once in a while, I have days like this.  I need an aspirin on those days, quiet and zone out time.  Time to replenish my energy for the next day. 

Everyone needs a voice and to be heard.   Schools run on a mixture of bureaucratic chain of command and consensual team work.  Common Ground has to be found in order to move forward on projects that are student centered and long term.  This takes a toll on leaders who have to justify every and all action knowing full well that someone will not be happy at the end of the day.  The army calls it collateral damage. 

We at the Hewes Center, have been at the heart of cultural change for five years now.  More and more collisions will take place as two programs Alternative and Special Education come together to best serve the needs of students.  This cultural change takes a toll on people – all we can do is prepare for it, plan for it and know that there will be collateral damage.  This is the cost of change.  There will be “asprin” days for all of us who work within schools – whether this cultural change starts with web 2.0 skills introduction, digital technology spread throughout all grade levels or a simple difference in opinion in how to meet the needs of 21st century students.  

“Culture does not change because we desire to change it.  Culture changes when the organization is transformed;  the culture reflects the realities of people working together everyday.” 

 -  Frances Hesselbein,  The key to Cultural Transformation, Leader to Leader (Spring, 1999)