Hi there everybody welcome to the Principal Entrepreneur I’m Your Host and author of the book How to be a great principal Jonathan Royce.

Welcome to the 100th episode of the Principal Entrepreneur where we support educational leaders with strategies and suggestions that answer the question. How do I become a great principal.

I also interview Principals and school and educational leaders just like me and you and discuss their areas of expertise and how they overcome the challenges within schools.

Before we get into today's episode I’d just like to thank you listeners from all over the world joining me on the podcast. For those who don’t get the stats, we have listeners from not only the US but also Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Canada, Venezuela, Democratic Republic of the congo, Brazil, India, Australia, Egypt, Mexico, Cameroon, South Africa, Nigeria, Philippines and Bosnia. If you’d like to join me on the show from any of these countries and talk about your educational experience we’d all love to hear about what education is like for you. Just email me at [email protected]. Once again thank you for listening and please share with your friends and colleagues.

Now for Today’s episode we’re discussing:3 Things Principals sensitive to Charlottesville think about

After the Charlottesville incident where racist white nationalist battled counterportersters and three deaths occurred President Trump gave a statement, “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides,". Was this a strong enough statement? When domestic terrorism raises it’s ugly snout in the form of alt right racism, in such a visible, 1960’s manner, there is a process many school leaders go through as we try to process the event and the media and political circus that follows.

Should we address the event

The answer isn’t as easy as you would think. The reason for this is because every school is different. Is there a strong culture of courageous conversations in which people feel safe touching the live wire of emotion that speaking about race based topics can ignite? Often times the answer is no. This can be especially true if you’re a new principal and you haven’t yet learned your staff. Even if you’re a veteran leader your school culture might not lend itself to these types of intense conversations. Wondering if we should even address the issue is often the first step in the reflective process.

Composition of staff

Is having a conversation around this worth the potential disruption between staff? Does my staff have strong enough relationships with each other where a difference in perspective will not negatively impact the day to day operation of my school? These are at least two of the questions that I ask myself as I take in the current visible reality in our America.

Student and Staff interaction

If you bring the conversation to the students, does all your staff have the capacity to lead the conversation and diffuse tensions as necessary? Often times there are one or two staff members that are able to constructively have the conversation and work through the emotions that inevitably rise. Typically these are classrooms where teachers have strong relationships and high expectations with their students. These types of teachers aren’t as numerous as we would hope. The reason more than the one or two highly competent staff is necessary is because the other staff members will need to work with the same students that just got hyped up in the previous class. This is the third question that must be pondered when deciding if a discussion about overt racism should be endorsed.

These are all questions a building leader must process before making a decision; should the event even be addressed, is the staff composed of the “right” mix to have the conversation amongst themselves and finally is their a strong enough (continued)