Principal Matters: The School Leader's Podcast with William D. Parker

This week Jen Schwanke and Will Parker continue conversations about ways school leaders can prepare for the school year – especially those who may be early career education leaders. Relying on strategies from her book You’re the Principal! Now What?: Strategies and Solutions for New School Leaders, Jen shares how to tackle the most common yet most daunting challenges of the principalship. Will shares ideas from his book, Principal Matters: The Motivation, Action, Courage and Teamwork Needed for School Leaders. In this week’s discussion, Will and Jen share ideas on… * Taking on leadership roles in a deliberate manner to establish a sense of reassurance among school staff and students. * Ushering in change through collaboration, input, and time, and making students the center of decisions when making changes in schools. * Studying people, procedures and policies to bring about a better understanding of how a school operates.  * Communicating expectations and documenting that communication at the beginning of the school year to eliminate confusion among staff, students, and parents. * Accepting that discipline has to happen and finding ways to prepare for discipline in order to avoid burnout. * Getting the expertise of other leaders, especially as a new principal. Now it’s your turn: Listen in for even more takeaways. What would you add to the list of ways that education leaders can prepare for the coming school year? What advice would you give a new principal going into their first year as a school leader? If you are eager to learn more ways to prepare for the coming school year, consider reaching out to join a Mastermind from Will or Jen for some one-on-one coaching!

What priorities must you keep in mind as you start a new school year? In this week’s episode, Will Parker and Jen Schwanke draw on years of experience to provide ideas and takeaways – especially with new principals in mind. Relying on lessons from her book You’re the Principal! Now What?: Strategies and Solutions for New School Leaders, Jen shares how to tackle the most common yet most daunting challenges of the principalship. Will shares ideas from his book, Principal Matters: The Motivation, Action, Courage and Teamwork Needed for School Leaders. Jen’s book includes several areas, including: * Establishing productive professional relationships* Building and maintaining a positive school culture* Resolving conflict among staff and parents* Providing effective instructional leadership* Supporting students’ social-emotional needs* Conducting staff evaluations and delivering feedback* Keeping up with district, state, and federal mandates* Managing the facility and the budget* Providing focused and effective professional development* Prioritizing responsibilities* Learning from student and schoolwide data* Planning for growth and change* Working through behavior and discipline issues* Hiring high-quality teachers and supporting new ones* Leading effective meetings* Maintaining balance Will reminds principals of the many hats you wear, including: * Coach* Manager* Counselor* Accountability* Servant Leader* Cheerleader* Team Player* Individual Now It’s Your Turn Listen-in for even more takeaways. What ideas would you add to the ‘first things’ list of a new principal? What other hats would you add to the principal list? Marketer/Branding Specialist, Security Expert…

This week Jen Schwanke gives a sneak-peek into her newest book, The Teacher’s Principal: How School Leaders Can Support and Motivate Their Teachers, coming out this summer. Jen explains: * Why she wrote the book* The importance of purpose, priorities, patterns* Negatives and positives and responses* External threats to teacher motivators We also discuss why one-size does not fit-all in working with teachers, and how the ‘trusting’ principal must develop meaningful relationships and master contextual literacy. Listen-in for more takeaways, and order your copy of Jen’s new book today! Now it’s your turn What ideas would you propose as ways for school leaders to support and motivate their teachers? Let us know your ideas or questions by emailing me at will@williamdparker.com.

In this episode, Jen Schwanke and I discuss ways that principals can reflect over summer break. We begin with the questions: What makes you anxious? Is your anxiety about the coming school year because of lack of knowledge? If so, breaks are important times to dig deeper into some of the areas you may not have time to develop when students are present. In Jen’s book, The Principal Reboot: 8 Ways to Revitalize Your School Leadership, she explores a long list of areas where principals can refocus areas for ongoing growth.  This week we discuss areas such as: * Special Education Updates* Technology Integration* Updates to policies and handbooks* Meals with teams to explore ideas* Reconfiguring leadership teams* Reconnecting with parents* Budgeting  We also remind leaders to take time for yourself over the summer!  Now It’s Your Turn What ideas would you add to this list for principals to consider over break! Let us know your ideas or questions by emailing me at will@williamdparker.com.

Jen Schwanke, ASCD author and veteran educator, joins me in this episode to answer listener questions. Question #1 “How do you or would you mediate negative relationships between staff members in your building and the county/district office personnel to ensure it does not negatively impact the students/programs/initiatives in your school building?” Jen’s response: When a storm devastated the family farm, Jen’s dad said, “You know, we can’t control the wind.” We cannot control what we cannot control. We will always have negative people in our building, and principals face this challenge all the time.  How do we respond to the front of negative people in our buildings?  1. Remember what you can control.  2. Remember what matters.  The place where those two circles cross is where we must focus our attention. Also, principals must focus purpose, priority and patterns of our teachers. (Listen-in for more…) Question #2 “I just have a question: Where do I even start as a principal I feel as if there is so much I don’t even know so many technical terms and nuances? Any advice would be wonderful.”  Will’s response: I reached back to this principal with a phone call, and this leader relayed to me some more context. He was assigned to a new leadership position at semester and was really struggling with feeling disconnected from teachers and unable to find his footing in the new position. Part of his struggle also came when listening to the show and hearing leaders with such focus and determination. He asked how to develop these traits and skills in his own leadership experience? Listen-in for our full responses to these questions… Now It’s Your Turn What suggestions you would add to these questions? What questions do you have? Email them to will@williamdparker.com. We would be glad to feature your question in a future episode.

In December 2015, Principal Matters: The School Leader’s Podcast began from my home on my laptop with a borrowed microphone during a Christmas Break when I had time to research how to start a podcast. Six years later, we have reached the milestone of 300 episodes with more than 750,000 downloads to date.  In this special episode, Dr. Jeff Springer, education consultant and 2013 Texas Secondary Principal of the Year, joins me to walk down memory lane together.  We discuss lessons learned from some of Jeff’s favorite PMP episodes. Plus, I fill-in-the gaps on stories behind the making of the show and the many guests who have shared over the years. A special thank you to Principal Matters friends who send audio-messages to be included in this episode, including: * Eddie Trygar, Assistant Principal, North Chatham Elementary, Chapel Hill, North Carolina* Paden Morris, Tyler Consolidated High School, Sistersville, West Virginia* Yolonda Dawson, Arlington Classics Academy, Arlington, Texas* Kyle Novak, Visions In Education Charter School, Sacramento, California* Jen Schwanke, author, Deputy Superintendent, Dublin City Schools, Dublin, Ohio and co-host of Principal Matters who sent in a special message for listeners. You can see a complete archive of the show here: https://williamdparker.com/podcast-2/ Here is a short summary of some of the memories and lessons Dr. Springer and I explored in PMP300: 2015 Episodes Highlights Jeff starts by highlighting takeaways from Episode 1: What are the steps you’re taking to make sure your school has its most successful school-year yet? https://williamdparker.com/2015/12/23/principal-matters-the-school-leaders-podcast-episode-1/ 3 C’s for a Successful School Year: Communication, Conversations, and Culture Lessons Learned…1. Some students have lots of supports before they ever step into school.2. Billy’s teacher made it easy for him to feel secure and oriented.3. Jenny’s experience makes it difficult to have resources necessary to start successfully.4. The lack of follow-through of a teacher to follow best practices makes Jenny’s experience even more difficult. The more prepared we are to rally around common themes, the more opportunities our students have to be successful. Communication means creating a new consistent, friendly, helpful environment where students thrive. Conversations happen when educators steal ideas from one another and then act on them.Culture happens when an entire school is united around common expectations.*Adam Saenz research shows students need to know an adult is in control and to know they’re loved.  Conclusion: Mixing together the 3 C’s provides the perfect ingredients for a successful school year!  Next, Jeff remembers lessons from Episode 2, including Diana Nyad’s incredible story of courage. Ingredients for leadership: courage & teamwork. Strong leaders achieve goals when they understand their goals, count the cost, run the race with endurance, and surround themselves with great teammates. https://williamdparker.com/2015/12/30/pmp02-one-day-in-the-life-of-a-principal/ This episode includes and hour-by-hour, incident-by-incident summary of what a typical day may look like for a school principal, and the constant change and challenge that competes for the most important goals you need to be accomplishing.

Daniel (DJ) Klein is an Assistant Principal at Ocean Springs High School, in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. For longtime Principal Matters listeners, you may recognize the name DJ Klein from two previous episodes: First, on June 4, 2020, DJ joined me when for PMP197 when we recorded an episode discussing ideas to keep in mind as he was moving into his first administrative role as Assistant Principal.  Then on July 14, 2021, DJ and I recorded PMP253 where he shared lessons from his first year as a school administrator. This week DJ Klein is back to share lessons from his 2nd year in school administration. He was also kind enough to provide detailed notes and summaries to accompany this podcast episode. I will share them below: “My Second Year in Administration – Reflections, Lessons Learned, and Takeaways to Implement Into My Own Journey to a Future Principalship” from DJ Klein: 1. Develop Two to Three Personal Yearly Goals and Work Streams This lesson echoes the points of forming goals in your previous conversation with Daniel Bauer in episode 297. At the beginning of each year, reflect on areas in your leadership in which you would like to grow. Form work streams with others that can help you achieve these personal goals. Inspect your progression monthly or at the end of the first semester. 2. Evaluate Each Situation in its Entirety They say there are three sides to a story: mine, yours, and the truth. During my previous role, a large amount of my day was dedicated to navigating a 6A (the largest school classification at the time) athletic program through the COVID-19 pandemic. Obviously, problems did arise while I wore that hat, however the challenges that I was confronted with during this school year differed in many ways. Educational leaders have many different challenges we see every day and, due to the nature of the work that we do, it is very easy to allow the false urgency we experience to influence a decision that we are about to make. Do not get me wrong, there are some cases – especially regarding student safety – where a quick decision has to be made at the moment. However, for everything else, it is critical that we get all of the information – the full story and all of the facts-before we can reach a thorough understanding of the matter at hand and make the best decision for whoever may be involved. 3. Form a Relationship with A Mentor Principal and be Deliberate in Serving as a Mentor Yourself When I was a first year teacher and football coach, I had an amazing mentor teacher named Shannon McKay who went above and beyond to see that I was successful in teaching a state tested subject. That first year came with many hard-learned lessons, however it was only through her dedication to set up a fail-proof support system for me that I was able to turn into the successful teacher I became. She had over 27 years of experience (I was only 23!) to pass down to me, and I was all ears. In administration, we sometimes are tasked with assigning mentor teachers to either first year teachers or teachers who are new to our school. The irony is that many administrators do not have their own mentor (a veteran principal who does not work in the same building) to go to when they are seeking guidance on a difficult topic. Whether you are 30 or 50 years old, if you are getting into administration for the first time,

In this week’s episode, I am joined again by my friend Daniel Bauer, education leader, podcaster and author of the book Mastermind: Unlocking Talent Within Every School Leader. We explore how he applies his 5 “sticky” core values and how these can help leaders achieve goals and outcomes. Danny has built an incredibly successful organization supporting education leaders, and he generously shared the thoughts behind the values that drive his work. They include: * Turning Pro* Purple Cow* Ripple Effect* Forest from Trees* Sponge that Scales Listen in as Danny explains how leaders must: * Show up to your best, no matter how you feel.* Create something extraordinary so that others are compelled to share it.* Take action that creates impact for days, months and years ahead.* Keep perspective so that yours actions have meaning 5 decades from now.* Invest, learn and teach so that what you do grows in value and influence. I know you’ll find many other takeaways from this talk with Daniel Bauer. If you’d like to connect with him and his resources, you can find him at https://www.betterleadersbetterschools.com. Calling for your feedback… By the way, if you’d like to share some of your favorite memories or lessons from the Principal Matters podcasts, I will be doing a special edition for PMP300 and would love to hear from you. Open your phone and find your voice memo. Record a 60 second audio including your name, what school you serve and what lesson, story or episode that spoke to you – or any other way Principal Matters podcast has been meaningful to you. Email it to will@williamdparker.com. Or if you prefer to write rather than speak, email me your thoughts at will@williamdparker.com. I look forward to hearing from you and thank you again for doing what matters!

A couple of weeks ago, I was on a call with my friend Daniel Bauer, education leader, podcaster and author of the book Mastermind: Unlocking Talent Within Every School Leader. He had included me in an email sharing about his favorite recording of all times: The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbBHR_CD56M I had taken to time to find it and listen and ended up writing down several notes and questions.  Danny was generous enough to schedule a call with me so that we could talk about my questions, and we decided a few minutes into the conversation to record it as I had a feeling it would be full of great takeaways. I was not disappointed, and I believe you’ll find Danny’s feedback helpful for your leadership as we discuss ideas including: * Setting goals and reviewing them* Not responding to what you fear* Giving more of yourself than ever before* The realities of how good things usually come from doing hard things* How “head winds and tail winds” in our lives influence our movement and generosity If you’d like to connect with Danny and his resources, you can find him at https://www.betterleadersbetterschools.com. Send Me Your Best Takeaways By the way, if you’d like to share some of your favorite memories or lessons from the Principal Matters podcasts, I will be doing a special edition for PMP300 and would love to hear from you. Open your phone and find your voice memo. Record a 60 second audio including your name, what school you serve and what lesson, story or episode that spoke to you – or any other way Principal Matters podcast has been meaningful to you. Email it to will@williamdparker.com. Or if you prefer to write rather than speak, email me your thoughts at will@williamdparker.com. I look forward to hearing from you!

I enjoy the sounds of morning. Yesterday, as I sat on my back porch sipping coffee, I could hear the patt-pattering of a woodpecker in the Cottonwood tree. Three squirrels were scampering along the back fence, chasing each other with furtive jumps from fence to tree limbs. A cardinal sang out his morning song with sharp trills. My neighbor’s magnolia tree was bearing large white pedals across glassy green leaves. Spring is here, and I am reminded of new mercies we receive every morning. Those small comforts feel good at the end of a difficult month. I attended two funerals in the past week – both for friends who lost family members who were very young. As I’ve watched community members gathering together to comfort one another and remember the precious lives of friends they have lost, I am reminded of my own humanity. At one of the funerals I attended, a family member reminded everyone to take the word ‘later’ out of their vocabulary. It was a good reminder. Who is that person you’ve been meaning to call? What is that place you’ve always wanted to visit? What is a goal you’ve delayed pursuing? Just do it. Don’t wait it later. Of course, I have also heard the news from Uvalde, Texas. One of my friends, Dr. Jeff Springer, who has been a guest on this podcast several times, talked to me over the weekend. Jeff had the privilege of providing professional development to teachers and administrators in Uvalde this past school year. Like so many others close to the situation, his grief carries with it so many good memories of the good people there. Last week one of my former students called on the day of the shootings. We’ve known each other since 1993, my very first year of teaching. She keeps in touch and listens to my podcast. She wanted to know if I have ever talked about school shootings on my show. The next morning, my oldest daughter, a recent college graduate called me at work. She was in tears. “They were just babies,” she kept saying over and over again. The next day I was on a Zoom call with education leaders from across the country when a veteran leader from Iowa explained how he had sat in his living room the night before and wept at the losses at Robb Elementary School. I’m guessing many of you listening to me talk right now have done the same. Maybe you’ve wept over last week’s tragedies. My guess is you’ve wept over many other difficult moments in your years serving schools.  On Friday, The National Association of Secondary Principals shared a post from the Principal Recovery Network https://www.nassp.org/community/principal-recovery-network/. This group was formed in 2019 for principals who have survived school shootings. 22 principals representing 15 states from this group. They also wrote an open letter to Congress that was published in the Washington Post over the weekend. It simply read: “We are members of a club that no one wants to join. Yet, our membership keeps growing. “We are the Principal Recovery Network, a group of school leaders who have lived through shootings at each of our schools. We constantly relive one of the worst days of our lives because we have taken it upon ourselves to reach out to principals who have experienced a shooting at their schools and help them navigate a path we all unfortunately have been down. “The tragedy at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, was the 27th school shooting this year and one of hundreds since the massacre at Columbine High School 23 years ago. These horrific acts have compelled us to speak out. They compel us to act.

This school year I had the privilege of connecting with leaders from schools in the great state of Ohio through a series of Zoom meetings. We worked through twenty sessions together covering leadership content, including lessons from my newest book, Pause. Breathe. Flourish.: Living Your Best Life as an Educator.  In our final session for the school year, I shared ideas from the final chapter of the book on leaving a legacy. Afterwards, I reached back to five of the members to ask if I could share some of their comments as a part of this week’s podcast episode. As you listen, you will hear me share ideas on why school leaders must keep in mind what kind of legacy they are leaving.  Listen in for takeaways on: * Why you are not as important as you think.* Why you are more important than you think.* Why you will both inspire and disappoint others as leader.* Why you will always be constantly learning in leadership. You will also hear comments from the following school leaders: * Ian Frank, Cinncinati College Preparatory Academy* Rachel Smith, Youngston Community School* Dr. Lisa Minor, Dayton Business Technology High School* Gisele James, Par Excellence Academy, Newark, Ohio* Noah Campbell, Discovery Academy, Toledo, Ohio I want to taink each of these leaders and others who met regularly to learn and grow in accountability, reflection and encouragement with one another. If you are interested in how you can become a part of a Principal Matters Leadership Group or Mastermind, reach out to me at will@williamdparker.com. Just type “Mastermind” in the subject line, and I would to reach back with more information about opportunities for the 2022-2023 school year.  Thank you again for doing what matters!

Brent Kline is Principal of Palo Alto High School, in Palo Alto, California. His previous administration roles include four years at Santa Cruz High School. He began his education career as a teacher in Clovis, California, and he served as a teacher and principal at Mariner High School, Everett, Washington for more than two decades. In 2013, he was the Washington State High School Principal of the Year and a 2014 finalist for NASSP’s National Principal of the Year Program.  As the Washingon State High School Principal of the Year, Kline’s commitment to literacy and academic excellence had resulted in a 10-year increase in the percentage of students meeting standards in reading and writing. Brent was named the principal of Palo Alto High School (Paly), beginning his new position in the fall of 2020.  Although his position began at the height of the pandemic and virtual learning, Brent continued the important task of including both student and staff voice to ensure the involvement of the entire school community with the immediate task of providing positive and relevant learning experiences throughout the challenges of the pandemic.  Beginning in January 2021, Brent began facilitating conversations and learning opportunities with his staff and students around equity, with a focus on equitable grading practices.  With the help of equity expert Enid Lee, Brent has led both the staff and students in a variety of conversations designed to unpack the effects of current grading practices, while exploring new and innovative practices that could be implemented to meet the needs of students in this ever-changing world.   He holds a bachelor’s degree from California State University at Hayward and a master’s degree from Western Washington University.  Brent has presented at conferences including:  Washington Educational Research Association, Coalition of Essential Schools, and Association of Washington School Principals.  He was awarded the Western Association of Secondary Administrators Outstanding Achievement Award (2008), Western Scholastic Conference Distinguished Principal Award (2008, 2012), and the Washington State High School Principal of the Year (2013).   Listen-in as Brent shares the traditions that his campus has embraced since its beginning in 1918 – ironically the same year the nation was experiencing a global pandemic. He also talks about the following: * His partnership with Enid Lee who has facilitated conversations with staff and students on equity. (You can check out this interview with her for more information: https://williamdparker.com/tag/enid-lee/* Ways his leadership team has invited staff and students to influence change at your high school.* Outcomes or responses that have surprised him most when involving staff and student voice.* Feedback from a student-created podcast with responses on conversations around equity. Why his students created this and how this has helped encourage student voice.* How his school has used Joe Feldman’s Grading for Equity as a collaborative resource: https://gradingforequity.org We also talk about executive coaching as Brent has partnered with Principals Matters, LLC. this past year and the benefits of our weekly meetings. In addition, Brent explains the targets from staff/teachers produced from shared leadership: You can reach back to Mr. Brent Kline at his email address or via his school website: https://www.paly.net/about-us/leadership

Last week Garth Larson was a guest on episode 292 as he shared the Profile of a School Leader. During our pre-show conversation, we reflected on the lessons both of us had learned in our work during the pandemic. Afterwards, I asked Garth if I could share the back-and-forth as a bonus episode for a few lessons, including: * The way work environments have changed, and how we have tried to adjust our service and support accordingly.* The lessons learned through shifting to hybrid deliveries with both virtual and in-person options to connect with even more people.* The importance of reflection, resilience and application of new practices in order to maximize lessons learned. I hope you find this a valuable opportunity to hear about the work Garth and I both do in service to others that may help you think about how the changes you have experienced will be ones you can carry on in the work you do. Garth Larson, Ed.D is the Co-Founder and CEO of FIRST Educational Resources. Garth has previously worked as the Director of Learning for the Winneconne Community School District in northeast Wisconsin, was an elementary principal in two separate buildings and started his career in education as a high school speech and English teacher. Want more learning this summer? I’ll be joining Garth Larson as a breakout speaker for an upcoming virtual summit: Check out the Learner First Leadership Summit June 21-22, 2022 at https://www.firsteducation-us.com/. Stay connected with Garth via email: garth@firsteducation-us.com.

Garth Larson, Ed.D is the Co-Founder and CEO of FIRST Educational Resources. Garth has previously worked as the Director of Learning for the Winneconne Community School District in northeast Wisconsin, was an elementary principal in two separate buildings and started his career in education as a high school speech and English teacher. In 2011, Garth formed Wisconsin Educational Resources (now FIRST) with a focus on improving student achievement across the United States. Since 2011, over 2000 school districts throughout the globe have become partnership districts with his company. Garth currently consults with school districts around the world and provides customized professional development around a variety of topics, mainly Professional Learning Communities 2.0, Learning-Centered Grading Practices, Leadership and School Improvement. Garth is also the author of Collaborative Systems of Support: Learning for ALL with co-authors Tom Hierck and Chris Weber, Target-Based Grading in Collaborative Teams: 13 Steps to Moving Beyond Standards with co-author Tom Hierck, Grading for Impact: Raising Student Achievement through a Target-Based Assessment and Learning System and PLC 2.0: Collaborating for Observable Impact in Today’s Schools with co-author Cale Birk. Garth has a Doctorate (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership and Policy from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh (WI), Master’s of Arts in Educational Leadership from Marian University in Fond du Lac, WI and a Bachelors of Science in Education (English and Speech Communications) from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh (WI).  Something Garth has really been focusing on with schools lately is helping to create a profile of a school leader. Many schools do this so often with creating a portrait of a graduate in our schools, we may fail to understand the teachers and leaders we wish to cultivate in our buildings. In this episode, he talks about that in relation to the question, “What is the Observable Impact in my building as a result of my leadership?” Listen-in as we discuss: * Why it is important for leaders to consider creating their own profile* Suggestions when guiding leaders through this practice* What ways this practice may be transferable to teachers or others on your school teams* How leaders can measure or access the observable impact they are having as a result of their leadership We also discuss a recent NPR/Ipsos poll of parents and what they think about schools that you can find here: https://www.npr.org/2022/04/29/1094782769/parent-poll-school-culture-wars Want more learning this summer? I’ll be joining Garth Larson as a breakout speaker for an upcoming virtual summit: Check out the Learner First Leadership Summit June 21-22, 2022 at https://www.firsteducation-us.com/leadership-summit. Stay connected with Garth via email: garth@firsteducation-us.com.

Dr. Keri Launius has worked in PreK-16 education for over 22 years. With experiences from classroom teacher, campus principal and district administration, she has had ample opportunities to learn and grow as an educator. She began her career as a high school teacher and spent close to a decade teaching in Texas Public Schools. Working as a district leader Dr. Launius has attended Harvard Graduate School of Education Principals Institute, has been nationally published, as well as presented on a national stage. Launius graduated from Sam Houston State University with a Bachelors of Arts in Communication and a Masters of Education in Curriculum and Instruction. She earned a Doctorate of Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University, and holds both Superintendent and Principal certifications from Stephen F Austin State University. Away from the office, Launius enjoys her advocacy work as a Protege for TALAS (Texas Association for Latino Administrators and Superintendents) and as an Alumnus for Raise Your Hand Texas.  She serves alongside organizations including Kiwanis, Rotary, The West of The Pecos Rodeo Committee.  She spends her evenings and weekends cheering for youth sports with her husband John Launius, who is a high school football coach. The two of them have 3 children. This past school year, we have had the privilege of partnering together with Pecos-Barstow Toyah ISD and Principal Matters, LLC, to facilitate learning for your team of aspiring and assistant principals.  Our sessions together have covered several topics including: * Building Healthy Cultures* Coaching as Leaders* Listening to and Counseling Others* Managing effective systems* Accountability through Reflection* Chief Communication or Cheerleader* Importance of Servant-Leadership Among those topics, Kerry explains lessons her teams have benefitted in learning and applying in their leadership.  We talk  about growth among her district’s team members where she has seen leaders applying lessons they are learning from collaborating together. As a district level leader, she explains how she facilitates training with her teams and how a partnership with Principal Matters has assisted in important role of supporting and resourcing aspiring and current leaders. You can follow her at Twitter via @kerilaunius.