Leader 2 Leader

By: Dr. Moira Sweeting-Miller, Assistant Principal, Monarch High School, Broward County  Today, I was going to write about teamwork but considering what happened in Uvalde, Texas I decided to change my topic. I want to focus on the mental well-being of our youth. When you look at what takes place in schools, we focus on reading fluency and math fluency all to help the students grow up to be productive citizens. But what about mental health fluency? This is a much-needed part of the puzzle and probably the most important part. Since COVID, we have seen a lot of focus on the social and emotional well-being of not only adults but students. Both adults and students experienced the same trauma during the pandemic but as adults we know when we need self-care and know what to do to take care of ourselves. Young adults do not have that awareness and struggle when things are not going well. They find it hard to pinpoint the cause of their angst and thus cannot help themselves through t...

  By: Dr. Lena McArthur, Vice Principal, Booker T. Washington Senior High School   Teacher efficacy is a dominator that exudes the prime number in an equation. Is this Math? No, it is creating a plan to augment a teacher’s instructional approach… Or is it? In my experiences as an administrator, I have seen a roller coaster of actions. We as leaders, do our best to ensure that instructional professionals are provided with the skills, resources, and support needed to be successful in the classroom. I believe that teachers are not defined by their years of experience or the ability to adapt to new trends; however, by their character and will to enhance their ability to not only teach but learn. Many educators today do not have an educational background. Let me dig a little deeper. In the past five years, 75% of the teachers we hired were either starting a second career or did not graduate in the educational field. This is a fact. Do not get me wrong, we find dynamic teachers ...

  Be Visible By:  Star Swain , Elementary School Principal, FAMU Developmental Research School   As a leader, visibility to those that you lead is one key ingredient to culture building and organizational morale. There is a sense of trust and accountability that is built when employees, colleagues, or team members physically see leaders in the everyday grind with them. By no means does this mean that a leader will always be out in the cubicles shaking hands or at the water cooler having conversations with those they lead. Otherwise, the leader would not be efficient in accomplishing their own daily required tasks. At the same token, a leader who remains hidden in their large corner office behind the big desk, is a leader who will remain disconnected from those they lead. That disconnection can cause people in the organization to feel isolated and inferior, while respect for the leader diminishes.   Being visible is not limited to the literal meaning of vis...

 By: Joyce Conley, Assistant Principal, Whispering Oak Elementary School, Orange County   We have spent the past two-plus years focusing on the social and emotional well being of our students and staff. As leaders, we are tasked with the work of providing an environment of a supportive and understanding culture. One that emphasizes collaboration, relationships, high expectations for both staff and students, data driven instruction, and so on and so on.  Let me be frank when I say that all of those tasks are exactly what drives student achievement and makes our staff want to stay. However, all of those initiatives, expectations, and verbs involve action from the leader. We lead by example; we put out what we expect. So if we are expecting our staff and students to be at the epitome of their game with our support, what are we doing to prepare for our monumental task?   What comes to mind is that old saying – you cannot pour from an empty cup. When’s the last ti...

  Five Lessons Learned as an Educational Leader By Richard Surrency, Superintendent, Putnam County Schools   I am the elected superintendent of the Putnam County School District serving in my sixth year. Since my first day in office, beginning in November of 2016, our district has focused on improving student achievement and on time graduation for our 10,500 students.   In 2015, only 54.9% of our seniors graduated on time. Through a strategic initiative, we improved the graduation rate to 92.5% in 2021. This is the largest increase in Florida during the same time period.   In 2017, 11 of our 18 schools were receiving state turnaround support to improve school performance as determined by Florida’s school grading system. Our instructional team led an initiative to improve school culture and standards-based core instruction and intervention. At this time, we have zero schools receiving state turnaround support.   These improvements highlight the ...