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

Summer hits every school. The leaders who make it through without spiraling are the ones who built something before the season arrived.

In this episode, Chanie breaks down why summer disruption is completely predictable — and why most school leaders keep getting blindsided anyway. She walks through the real financial cost of enrollment dips and staffing misalignment, explains why better systems and checklists won't solve the core problem, and introduces the Standards Installation Toolkit for leaders ready to stop being the centralized shock absorber in their school.

In this episode:

- Why your school runs at the speed of your capacity (and what that costs)

- The math behind summer revenue loss and labor overlap

- What standards actually are — and how they remove you from the moment of impact

- How to build infrastructure that holds before the season hits

Tune in to learn how to lead your school through summer without losing yourself in the process.

Resources Mentioned:

• Access the Standards Installation Toolkit: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/standard
• Access the Staff Culture Infrastructure Vault (only 100 spots!): https://schoolsofexcellence.com/vault
• Get Chanie's book, This Can't Be Normal: https://thiscantbenormal.com
• Follow Chanie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chaniewilschanski/
• Join the Schools of Excellence Lounge on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolsofexcellencelounge

If you've ever rebuilt the same staff training from scratch, paid for a speaker who inspired everyone for two weeks and then disappeared, or stayed up late wondering what to train on next — this episode is for you.

Chanie breaks down the four training patterns that keep school leaders stuck in activity instead of infrastructure, explains why most staff culture problems are predictable skill gaps (not personality issues), and introduces the Staff Culture Infrastructure Vault — a decade of field-tested, ready-to-use training assets available to only 100 schools before it's permanently retired.

In this episode:

- The four training traps and why none of them build lasting culture

- Why one-time events don't change behavior — and what actually does

- The teachable skills most teachers were never formally trained on

- What training infrastructure looks like and how to deploy it across your school year

Tune in and stop reinventing the wheel.

Resources Mentioned:

1. Get Chanie's book, This Can't Be Normal: https://thiscantbenormal.com
2. Explore the Staff Culture Infrastructure Vault: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/vault
3. Apply for Leadership HQ: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/apply
4. Follow Chanie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chaniewilschanski/
5. Join the Schools of Excellence Lounge on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolsofexcellencelounge

If you've ever hesitated to invest in your team, this episode is for you.

It's not that you don't believe in professional development. It's that you've invested before, hoped before, and been disappointed before.

In this bonus episode I walk through the five specific fears that keep directors and owners from investing in their teams, and why every single one of them makes complete sense.

Because until you name what you're actually afraid of, you can't move past it.

Staff Culture Infrastructure Vault — https://schoolsofexcellence.com/vault

You've told them so many times. And nothing has changed. So what's actually going wrong?

In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski digs into the part of leadership that most school directors skip entirely: the messy middle between hiring and firing. She introduces the concept of drift, why it's inevitable in every team, and the four-step rhythm that brings everyone back to the standard.

• Why hiring and firing is often relief disguised as strategy
• The phrases leaders use that sound like leadership but are actually avoidance
• The Notice-Name-Install-Return rhythm for real-time leadership
• How to hold a direct, kind conversation about drifting behavior
• Why rhythm-based leadership builds culture that holds without you
• If you've ever caught yourself saying "I've told them so many times" — this episode is your next step.

Resources Mentioned:

• This Can't Be Normal: What to Do When Success Starts to Feel Like Survival by Chanie Wilschanski — available worldwide wherever books are sold: https://thiscantbenormal.com
• School Leadership HQ — apply for our ongoing leadership container: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/apply

What happens when the success you worked so hard to build starts to feel like survival?

In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski joins radio host Nachum Segal on JM in the AM to talk about her new book, This Can't Be Normal. They cover the invisible weight of school leadership, why burnout is a rhythm problem not a workload problem, and what it actually looks like to lead a school sustainably, without running yourself into the ground.

If you've ever wondered why leading well still feels so hard, this conversation is for you.

This Can't Be Normal: What to Do When Success Starts to Feel Like Survival by Chanie Wilschanski — available on Amazon, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, and wherever books are sold: https://thiscantbenormal.com

Listen to JM in the AM with Nachum Segal: https://www.nachumsegal.com/

What does it actually look like to triple your income, have your most profitable year ever, and still be home for dinner?

In this member spotlight, Chanie sits down with Aliyah Johnson Roberts — owner of two early childhood education centers in Philadelphia — to talk about the real story behind her growth. A few years ago, Aliyah was sitting in her office until six o'clock every evening, not because anyone needed her there, but because she had convinced herself she had to be.

Aliyah shares how she shifted from overfunctioning school owner to visionary CEO, and what that made possible, both inside her centers and at home.

If you're an early childhood education owner who knows you're meant for more but can't quite see how to get there, this episode is for you.

If a teacher called out tomorrow, do you know what it's actually costing your school? Not just money, your time, too.

In this bonus episode, Chanie breaks down why most call out policies collapse the moment pressure walks in the door, what it means to pressure test your school's infrastructure, and how to build a call out standard that holds even when you're short-staffed, short on sleep, and short on patience.

This one started as a Facebook Live, and the response was loud enough that it needed to be on the podcast.

Learn more about the Call Out Solution here: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/callouts

Your school isn't losing money because of bad teachers or wrong pricing. It's losing it in the patterns you've started to normalize.

Chanie Wilschanski breaks down four profit blind spots that quietly drain revenue from childcare centers and early childhood education schools — from the false comfort of high occupancy rates to the $100,000 follow-up mistake one school owner didn't see coming.

Get The Call Out Solution — A focused system to expose and fix one of the most common money leaks in childcare operations. Includes a cost calculator, training, and an installable standard to reduce call-outs and stabilize your staffing: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/callouts

School owner Charlie Marcotty spent nearly 29 years building something remarkable and then watched it fracture under the weight of rapid growth. Eight allegations, four directors in three months, 50% staff turnover. In this episode, Chanie breaks down exactly how Charlie came back from the edge using rhythm-based leadership and what that means for every school leader who feels like they're barely holding it all together.

If Charlie's story resonated, we'd love for you to:

1. Apply for Leadership HQ → https://schoolsofexcellence.com/apply
2. Grab the book → This Can't Be Normal at thiscanbenormal.com
3. Subscribe + leave a review it helps more school leaders find this content when they need it most
4. Share this episode with a school leader in your life who needs to hear it right now

Summer enrollment feeling unpredictable? It's not about effort, it's about infrastructure. In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski breaks down why school leaders keep losing leads they already have, why families are waiting longer to commit, and what it actually looks like to build an enrollment system that converts delayed decisions and compounds over time. If enrollment feels reactive, this episode is for you.

Resources Mentioned:

Enrollment Engine: https://discovered.thrivecart.com/the-enrollment-engine-curriculum-only/