Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School Leadership Podcast

You've got hundreds of kids in the building, dozens of teachers on your team, and parents lined up at pickup every single day. So why do you still feel completely alone?

This week, I'm kicking off a brand new three-part series on the podcast all about the power of community, because nourishing the human spirit is just as important as nourishing your business. In this first episode, we're talking about embracing connection, the heartbeat of everything else we'll cover in this series.

I've been running Schools of Excellence since 2016, and if there's one thing I hear over and over from leaders in our world, it's "I want relationships, I want connection, I want friends." And yet, so many of us are painfully slow to actually take the steps it takes to build them. It sounds simple. Go make friends. But in the season of life so many of you are in right now, it's genuinely hard.

So today, I'm unpacking why community matters beyond just feeling nice, the real benefits it brings to your emotional and mental wellbeing, and the sneaky ways so many of us isolate ourselves without even realizing it's happening. This isn't about willpower. It's about recognizing the patterns and making one small first step back toward connection.

What You'll Learn:

• Why humans need community for emotional survival, even though we no longer need it for physical survival
• The four real benefits community offers: emotional support, mental stimulation, a sense of belonging, and shared resources and skills
• Five circumstances (not choices) that quietly isolate leaders without them realizing it
• What happens to your thinking and your decision-making when you stay isolated for too long
• A simple, low-pressure first step you can take today to rebuild connection

Connect With Us:

• Join us on Substack: https://chaniewilschanski.substack.com/

LaShawn Bridges has run Blessed Beginnings Learning Center in Detroit for 27 years. She's been through a recession. She's been through COVID. And she'll tell you the hardest season of her whole career wasn't either of those. It was learning how to stop being everyone's answer.

I love bringing owners into this space because the shape of the story tends to rhyme, even when the details don't. LaShawn came to me in survival mode. She had policies. She had procedures. She had disciplinary systems on paper. And she still couldn't leave her building without holding her breath.

This conversation is about what happens on the other side of that. Not a personality transplant, not a quick fix, just the slow, sometimes grief-soaked work of installing infrastructure and watching who you become because of it.

We talk about the identity LaShawn had to grieve to become the anchored, accountable leader she is now. We talk about what chronic over-functioning cost her physically and mentally. And we talk about what changed in her marriage, her relationship with her adult daughters, and her families, once she stopped being the fixer for everyone in her orbit.

If you've ever felt guilty for wanting quiet, or scared that letting something break means you've failed, this one is for you.

• Why LaShawn describes her old leadership style as “survival mode” even with systems already on paper
• The identity she had to grieve in order to become an anchored, accountable leader
• What chronic over-functioning cost her physically, and how her body told her before her mind caught up
• The phrase she repeats to herself to stop absorbing problems that aren't hers to hold
• How she rebuilt her calendar so staff issues stop landing on her desk in real time
• The weekly rhythm that changed her marriage after 27 years together
• Why she now sees failure as a healthy, necessary part of building a business that runs without her
• How she defines excellence, for her team, her families, and herself

• Chanie's book, This Can't Be Normal: https://thiscantbenormal.com
• Download Chapter One for Free: https://thiscantbenormal.com/chapter-one

Connect With Us:

• Join us on Substack: https://chaniewilschanski.substack.com/

You gave the perfect tour. The parent loved everything. And then they enrolled somewhere else.

If that scenario makes you want to scream into a pillow, this episode is for you. In today's episode, I'm walking you through the four silent saboteurs quietly costing you enrollment: the first impression gap, the trust signals your team is missing, the confidence gap, and the follow-through factor. None of these have anything to do with your program quality. All of them have everything to do with how you communicate it.

I share real stories from schools I've worked with, including a director who couldn't figure out why her inquiry-to-tour ratio was so low (spoiler: it wasn't her facility), and why "we'll think about it" almost never means what you think it means.

• Why parents form their opinion of your school long before they ever call or tour
• The exact phrases that unintentionally signal "you're just like everyone else" to a touring family
• What parents are really asking when they ask about your schedule, your rates, or your teacher retention
• Why confident answers beat perfect answers every single time
• How to build genuine confidence in a team member who feels awkward or unsure in front of families
• The follow-up mistake that quietly hands enrollments to your competitors

Connect With Us:

• Join us on Substack: https://chaniewilschanski.substack.com/

I want you to think about the last stack of unanswered inquiries sitting in your inbox. The missed calls. The tour you meant to follow up on three days ago. If you're a school leader who feels like you're working harder than ever and your enrollment numbers still won't budge, this episode is for you.

I've audited hundreds of school leader schedules over the years, and here's what I keep finding. The schools that are full, the ones with waitlists and a reputation that does the marketing for them, aren't winning because of a bigger budget or a better location. They're winning because of how they structure their day.

I tell a story in this episode about a multi-site leadership team I worked with. Six locations, each one needing to enroll seven to ten kids, which meant they were staring down sixty enrollments they needed to fill. When I asked each director what she was doing to drive enrollment, the answers broke my heart. One had changed the answering machine message. Another rearranged the front desk. Someone updated the website fonts. None of that is enrollment activity. None of it is close to the cash.

So in this episode, I walk you through what I call the Daily Profit Plan, four frameworks that separate the schools spinning their wheels from the schools that are full. This isn't about doing more. It's about doing the things that actually move the needle, and building a rhythm around them so they don't get pushed aside every time something urgent shows up.

What You'll Learn

• Why "activities closest to the cash" matter more than busyness, and how to tell the difference
• How to protect enrollment time so it doesn't get swallowed by the daily fire drills
• Why generic follow-up scripts fail, and what a tiered follow-up system actually looks like
• How to turn your current families into a natural referral network without feeling pushy
• Why enrollment can't live on one person's shoulders, and what happens when it does (including a real story about a nearly $50,000 mistake)
• What it actually takes to make your whole team enrollment ambassadors, not just your front desk

Connect With Us:

• Join us on Substack: https://chaniewilschanski.substack.com/

You don't have one type of parent in your school. You have three, four, maybe five. And if your marketing, your website, and your enrollment tours are all speaking to the same imaginary "average" parent, that's exactly why some of your best families are scrolling right past you.

In this episode, Chanie breaks down the Parent Archetype framework, a structured way to figure out who is actually enrolling in your center, what they care about, and how to stop guessing at your marketing and start speaking directly to the families in front of you.

This is the enrollment conversation most schools skip. Everyone wants to talk about Facebook ads, website redesigns, and getting more Google reviews. Chanie makes the case that none of that works until you understand the data underneath it: who your parents actually are, what they actually value, and why they actually choose you. Whether you're short on enrollment, sitting on a full waitlist, or just want a marketing strategy that finally makes sense, this episode gives you the foundation everything else is built on.

• Why enrollment is "the lifeblood of your business" no matter what season you're in
• The five data collection methods to understand your actual parent population (not who you assume they are)
• The exact demographic categories to track, from family structure to decision-making style
• Why online reviews mean almost nothing to certain parent avatars, and everything to others
• Five real parent archetypes Chanie uses with clients: Career-Focused, Highly Involved, First-Time, Multicultural, and Grandparent Guardian
• How to validate your avatars once you've built them
• Why throwing money at Facebook ads won't fix an enrollment problem rooted in bad messaging

Connect With Us:

• Join us on Substack: https://chaniewilschanski.substack.com/

You don't need a bigger ad budget to fill your classrooms this month. You need a plan you can actually execute in the next 30 days, and that is exactly what I'm walking you through in this episode.

Right now, you're probably in one of two camps. Maybe enrollment is humming along, you've got a waitlist, and you just raised tuition again. Or maybe you're in a season where things feel harder. Parent retention has dipped, you've had a wave of families leave, or you just opened two new classrooms after an acquisition or a hiring spree and you need those seats filled to hit the profit margin you're working toward.

Wherever you land, this episode is for you, because every leader benefits from knowing how to move fast when enrollment needs to move.

Here's the distinction I want you to sit with first: there's a short-term plan and a long-term plan, and most schools only ever build one or the other. Ads, a new website, an SEO strategy, these are long-term visibility plays. It takes weeks to get the right creative, the right targeting, the right cost per lead down. Building a website that actually drives traffic is a two to three month process. That work matters, but it will not put a family in your door by the end of this month.

So today, we're playing short-term. Three strategies you can start this week that get real families walking through your doors before the month is out.

What You'll Learn:

• Why ads and a new website are long-term plays, and what actually moves the needle in 30 days
• How to run an open house that turns strangers into enrolled families, not just a nice event
• The exact way to “work the room” so every conversation moves a parent closer to signing up
• How to run a parent working roundtable that turns your current families into an active referral engine
• Why personalized incentives outperform generic ones every time
• How to turn everyday errands, like the gym or a nearby apartment building, into enrollment opportunities
• What “ethical eavesdropping” is and how it can shape your long-term marketing strategy

Connect With Us:

• Join us on Substack: https://chaniewilschanski.substack.com/

What if I told you one of our clients added 80 new families to her enrollment for the upcoming school year, and five more who enrolled on the spot, in under 30 days? Not through luck. Not through crossing her fingers and hoping tours would convert. Through a system.

In this episode, I'm walking you through the enrollment gear: what it actually looks like to build an enrollment ecosystem instead of just doing enrollment activity. I'm sharing the real story of a client, Missy, who runs multiple locations and turned one of her struggling centers around by building accountability into her calendar instead of hoping her team would just remember to follow up.

We're covering the four levels of work every gear needs (strategic, implementation, support, and classroom), the difference between green and red activities in your enrollment process, and why your calendar is the real battlefield where enrollment either happens or doesn't. I also get into why disturbances and interruptions throughout your day aren't a sign something's broken. They're actually part of the job, and there's a mindset shift here that changes how you lead.

What You'll Learn:

• The three systems Missy put in place that helped her center enroll 80 new families in under 30 days
• The four levels of work (strategic, implementation, support, classroom) and who owns each one in your enrollment process
• The difference between green activities (closest to the cash) and red activities (busywork that feels productive but doesn't move enrollment)
• Why your calendar, not your to-do list, is where enrollment actually gets won or lost
• How to know when your enrollment gear can move into strategic maintenance instead of constant hustle
• Why interruptions and disturbances throughout your day are an invitation to practice leadership, not a problem to eliminate

Resources Mentioned:

• Five Gears Diagnostic: https://hub.schoolsofexcellence.com/fivegears

Connect With Us:

• Join us on Substack: https://chaniewilschanski.substack.com/

You already know your enrollment is down. You already know payroll is eating you alive. You already know two of your best teachers just gave notice. But have you actually looked at your calendar?

In this episode, I'm walking you through something I say to our clients until I'm blue in the face: every single problem you're dealing with in your center right now, profit, staff retention, parent retention, enrollment, traces back to your calendar. Not your marketing. Not your staff. Your calendar.

This isn't a time management pep talk. This is the actual mechanism behind why some centers grow steadily while others stay stuck putting out the same fires month after month. I walk you through how I run calendar audits with our clients (including multi-site operators running 5, 10, 15+ locations), what the School Leader Scorecard is, and why I said no to a well paid, exciting opportunity that came my way this year, even though it hurt in the moment.

If you've ever told yourself "I just don't have time" or blamed a missed goal on a call-out or a licensing visit, this episode is going to challenge that story. Grab a notebook. You're going to want to write some of this down.

• Why your calendar and your bank account are the two most honest indicators of what you actually value
• The difference between working in your business and working on your business, and why both need dedicated time
• How to identify the $10 an hour tasks that are quietly draining your profit
• What the School Leader Scorecard is and how it categorizes your time from $10 an hour to $10,000 an hour
• Why "someone called out" is not the real reason you missed your goals
• How to run a calendar audit that actually holds you accountable to your priorities
• Why saying no to a profitable opportunity was the right call for my business this season

Connect With Us:

• Let's Chat on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chaniewilschanski/
• Join us on Substack: https://chaniewilschanski.substack.com/

Ever notice how the first staff meeting of the year gets the ironed tablecloths, the good snacks, and the outfit you actually planned in advance... and then somehow still leaves your team overwhelmed instead of inspired?

That's the paradox we're unpacking on this episode. As a new school year gets underway, it's tempting to use that first meeting to hand your team everything you think is mission critical, all at once. Handbook. Policies. Vision. Values. Classroom management. Every important thing you've been sitting on, verbally dumped into one meeting because it finally feels like the right moment. And then we wonder why the team walks away foggy instead of focused.

In this episode, Chanie breaks down why that approach backfires and walks through a framework for designing a first staff meeting that actually sticks. The core idea: different topics activate different parts of the brain, and a meeting that jumps between all of them without intention is asking your team to do something their brains simply can't do well.

• Why cramming vision, policy, and logistics into one meeting works against you, and the three-part structure to use instead
• How to turn abstract concepts like mission and vision into something your team can actually use when a parent is yelling or a kid needs stitches
• The exact questions to ask your staff so they define, in their own words, how they want to show up when things get hard
• How to build a school theme or headline for the year that actually guides decisions about time, money, and energy, instead of getting lost by October
• A hands-on team activity that gets your whole staff thinking creatively about what your theme looks like in real classrooms
• Why investing in people will always outperform investing in another piece of software
• How to close out the meeting by having each teacher commit to one small, doable habit for the year

Connect With Us:

• Let's Chat on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chaniewilschanski/
• Join us on Substack: https://chaniewilschanski.substack.com/

What happens when you've done everything right, built the SOPs, color-coded the calendars, created the checklists, and your business still finds a way to make you sick?

That's exactly where this week's guest, Kathy Gray, found herself. Kathy is the owner of Creative Critters, a growing early childhood education company based in Virginia with five centers (and counting). She's been part of the Schools of Excellence community for years, and in this conversation, she gets real about what it actually looked like to lead “with empathy first” and what it cost her.

If you've ever felt like being a good leader means being endlessly available, endlessly understanding, and endlessly willing to make an exception for one more person, this episode is going to hit close to home.

Kathy and Chanie unpack the difference between leading by example and leading by self-sacrifice. They talk about what happens when a director is too afraid to protect the standards because she's afraid of losing staff (spoiler: you lose the right staff anyway). And they get into one of the most important distinctions in leadership: care is not the same thing as capacity.

This episode also digs into how Kathy started using data, specifically staff time-off data, to finally see what her culture was actually telling her. One number she found: at one center, they had a full staff only 35% of the time. That's not a staffing problem. That's a standards problem.

By the end of this conversation, you'll understand why the phrase “protecting the standards” matters so much more than “being consistent,” and why the goal isn't to stop caring. It's to stop absorbing everyone else's outcomes as your own.

• Why leading “by example” can quietly turn into leading by self-sacrifice
• The critical difference between care and capacity, and why confusing them costs you your best staff
• How Kathy used time-off data to uncover what her culture was really telling her (and what she found)
• Why protecting the standards is different from being “a stickler” or being harsh
• What it means to let the company, not the leader, carry the weight of the standard
• Why healthy dependence on your team is not weakness, and what's lost when leaders try to do it all alone
• Kathy's honest reflection on what still isn't where she wants it to be, even after years of growth

Resources Mentioned:

• This Can't Be Normal by Chanie Wilschanski: https://thiscantbenormal.com
• Access Chapter One of This Can’t Be Normal for Free: https://thiscantbenormal.com/chapter-one

Connect With Us:

• Let's Chat on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chaniewilschanski/
• Join us on Substack: https://chaniewilschanski.substack.com/