Over my years working in schools I was blessed to work with a number of excellent strong leaders; whether they were Headteachers (Principals) or colleagues setting out on their management path, you could see that if they had it, they had it! I’m not sure I can define it, I sure as heck can’t bottle it; but it always felt that if you could manage the classroom and the students there well then you tended towards being a good leader. Sadly, I also encountered my fair share of dismal leaders, non-inspiring, dictatorial, behind the time Trojans who couldn’t connect with young people or work colleagues alike. Some were bullies, some manipulative and all frustrating to encounter and have to learn to by-pass. They bred secrecy and unprofessionalism and I was never happy having to either work under them or have them work for me; I am not a fan of the ask for forgiveness rather than permission school of thought!

I won’t embarrass any of those strong leaders who I am still in contact with by mentioning them by name, but one introduced me to the phrase ‘transparency’ and I have never forgotten it. For me the heart and soul of a successful leader is that they know who they are working with, know where they are heading and share the goals, aspirations and process with all stakeholders in a timely manner. There are no secrets, no surprises; a talented leader makes you feel you could follow them over hot coals if they asked. They have a rational that absolutely makes sense for the path they have chosen. Even if you disagree with them, you understand why they are making the decisions they are making. And if you disagree, they are willing to have a mature and honest conversation about why they are taking the actions they are taking. There is no need for them to boast about previous achievements, no need to criticize others, to them it is simply a case of consistently explaining why they are doing what they are doing.

And that leads me to the biggest most all consuming frustration that I have experienced in a very long time. My school district refuses to work in a transparent way. It pays lip service to the process. It holds the NYS mandated Parent Forums but picks and chooses what questions it will answer and which it will not. I have a friend who has asked the same question 8 times in various ways and is being ignored, presumably because the answer will be unpalatable. Secrecy and unprofessionalism is rife, and I do not blame the teachers one tiny bit; they feel unsupported and are leaking tidbits of information out that they feel parents should know. This week, via a leak, we discovered that Overspill Rooms were to be a thing… so you may have signed up for the Hybrid experience for your child, but if they arrive at the classroom and there are too many children there they will get bumped to a classroom nearby where they won’t experience the in-person lesson, but will instead will get the lesson virtually as if they were still at home. I completely and utterly understand why this will happen; at the outset I heard a rumor that our school district could effectively adopt the hybrid model if between 50% and 67% of families opted for it. I also heard that 84% had signed up for it. Firstly, I shouldn’t be hearing operational rumors like this and secondly, why not share this fact and the potential issues it could create with the community? If the school leaders had our faith and trust there wouldn’t be rumors and leaks and we would have faith in their ability to resolve any issue. But instead we are approximately 2 weeks from the start of the school year and no one really has trust in what is being said or the models being put forward. In fact, I would go so far as to say no one has real understanding of what models are being offered. Around us we see school districts making videos to help understand what the provision will actually look like, not here! We see teacher’s professionalism being respected around us; if you are teaching remote you are teaching remote, none of this ridiculous juggling act my district is asking of its teachers. And we see parents having some confidence in what is a really big decision for them to make, but my social media feeds are full of parents agonizing over whether or not they made the correct decision. We should not be allowing our community to be treated like this!

There is one small island within our school district, and for the next school year I am relieved that it is still ‘our’ school. From the first day I interacted with staff at the Middle School 7 years ago I realized there was a difference between this school and others in the District. And last night’s Question and Answer session reinforced to me the stark differences in leadership style between schools in the district. Whilst less than 2 weeks out is still too late for parents to be getting the answers they have craved for months at least now there is some community reassurance. I hope these baby steps can percolate across all the school buildings now to give widespread confidence as we approach the final stretch.

So, how is the process going for you? Is your school district valuing your input and inspiring trust and faith in their decision making? Is it making you feel listened to? How confident do you feel about the provision that is going to be offered to your child? And if you haven’t felt listened to, what have you or other parents in your school district done to have your voice heard?