Balance Boundaries Breaks with Evan Whitehead.

Evan Whitehead has been in the field of education for more than 20 years spanning three decades and is currently the director of special services for a PK–8 school district in Illinois. In his current role, Evan oversees all federal programs (special education, McKinney-Vento, English learners, and Title I); early childhood education; multi-tiered system of support (MTSS); social emotional learning, family and community engagement; health services; continuous improvement; and equity, diversity, and cultural competency.

Evan’s Leadership Journey

Started education later, but 33 years are in the bag.

Didn’t start out seeking this profession.

Career started with a nudge from mom working in a special education cooperative.

Worked in Therapeutic Day setting

Intro to education, has had to restrain students.

“If you’re not invited to the dinner, you’re probably on the menu”

Making sure we’re at the table for students - how to encourage young educators to speak up and be heard

2% Club - number of black males in education

We are at a crossroads in education. - how do we reimagine education?

It isn’t about seat time.

What does 8 -  3:30 mean for most students?

Snow days, discipline, homebound

Whole child instruction.

We have to take care of our educators like we do our students.

Adult care:  Before school hours and connecting.  Alphabet survival guide.

These care activities have to come from the “top”.

Placed a pause on “curriculum maps” for this time period.

Leadership struggle/opportunity

Had to understand self care and what he needed.

Understands Imposter Syndrome, has lived it.

Was not adhering to his own boundaries

First time is a favor, 2nd time it’s expected

Hopeful

Opportunity for change

Time for family.

Seeing and value what we have.

Recognize how quickly life can change.

Use this past year for growth going forward.

GUEST CONTACT INFO

Evan on Twitter 

[email protected]

HOST CONTACT INFO

INSTAGRAM

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

TWITTER

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

FACEBOOK

Principal Leadership Lab

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

Join Adam and Jeff as we chat with "The Magician!" In addition to teaching at the high school and university levels, Dr. Frank Rudnesky was the principal of Belhaven Middle School in Linwood, New Jersey for a span of two decades.  During that time, the school was recognized with numerous local, state, and national awards for leadership, technology influence, excellence in performance, and a positive culture. The school was often used as a visitation site for other educators from as far away as Japan.

Frank has developed, implemented, and studied leadership processes to enhance organizational culture.  He has authored numerous books and articles published in the areas of leadership and technology influence. Dr. R. resides in the Jostens Renaissance Educator Hall of Fame and sits on several non-profit boards including the New Jersey Schools to Watch core team.

Frank’s Education Journey

No straight arrow to his path into education

U of San Fran

Started in Magic Shop on Fisherman’s Wharf

Opened up a magic shop in New Jersey,

Got bored and started substitute teaching

Magic was a connector - “what is YOUR connector?”

30 years public educator

“Leadership isn't just for those at the top”

Got connected with others after “retirement”

Started writing down ideas

LEGACY surfboard - given to him by students his last year

Find out what your student’s passions are

Never surfed in his life before 50 years old

“Core Boards” - Leadership Exchanges with other middle schools

Core Boards were an instigation led by students

Wear them and when someone inspires or moves you, write that person’s name on the back and give it to them.

Amazing what happens when you inspire and empower kids

Empower Half Hour

Desire to stay connected in education and leadership

Twitter chat inspired to fit a tighter timeline

Let’s take what we can control, and control.

TWO BOOKS

FIRED UP Leadership

50 Great things leaders do?

Leadership struggle

Teacher at a high school

Always thought he would be a great difference-maker

Was asked to homebound tutor a student who had cancer

Learned another way of looking at things

Hopeful

Use the optimism of those we serve.

Students engage when we provide choice, love, kindness, etc...

GUEST CONTACT INFO:

Twitter

Website

Join Adam & Jeff for this very special episode as we chat with young entrepreneur and former student of Jeff's (from his first principalship!) 

Jessica's bio: founder of @projectvoicepod | Author: “softly, I speak” (Louisiana Lit Press, 2020) ✏️ | social justice & philanthropy

Currently resides in Boston, MA

“Though having lived in the U.S. for most of her life, she hops from one country to the next in hopes of discovering pieces of home to fill her Asian-American soul.” - from Jessica’s website

Jessica’s Leadership Story:

Lots of Side Hustles, Lots of Passions

Round Lake - Schuler Scholarship - This provided abundant opportunities to explore her talents around the world.

Spirit of Activism/Philanthropy

Child of immigrant parents - 2nd gen Vietnamese-American

High schools lack ethnic studies.

What Can School Leaders Do:

Invite students to come on board and talk, get their perspectives;

Home visits

Project Voice Podcast:

Documenting stories of Asian Americans;

Launched in 2016

2020 - Launched a scholarship program for prospective podcasters - 3 recipients first year

Pivoted to the “Project Voice Fund” on Grapevine

Leadership Struggle:

Leadership in the organizational space.

Needs to shift thinking on running an organization.

More space for more people.

Trying to be less controlling.

Hopeful:

All of the dialogues that are happening and the changes to come.

We need to go through the words to see the improvement.

"The lights are flickering."

GUEST CONTACT INFO:

Jessica Nguyen on Twitter

Website

HOST CONTACT INFO:

INSTAGRAM

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

TWITTER

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

FACEBOOK

Principal Leadership Lab

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

Join Jeff & Adam as they chat with High School assistant principal and Host of the Big ED Idea podcast -from Dixon, Kentucky - Ryan Scott!

Mr. Scott served as Morganfield Elementary Principal in Union County. He has also served as an elementary teacher at East Heights and South Heights Elementary Schools in Henderson County.

Mr. Scott earned his Masters of P-12 Learning Behavior Disorders and his Educational Specialist Principal from the University of the Cumberlands. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Murray State University.

Ryan’s Leadership Story:

Non-traditional route to the principalship.

Oldest daughter was the best mistake he ever made.

16-22 he was a "lost child"

Held lots of jobs going through school, raising a daughter on his own

"Don’t be afraid of bodily fluids" - Kindergarten teaching

Overarching desire to make the world a better place as an educator.

New Podcast - Big ED Idea

Firm believer in “God winks.”

Encouraged/Inspired by the Men in Ed FB group.

When something tugs on your heart, you need to act

Visions of one with the passion of another.

Passions and purpose -  Simon Sinek (sometimes it just takes other people’s passions to discover your purpose)

Leadership Struggle

Failing Forward - Spring of 2019

Dealing with depression

9 principals in 15 years

Contingency of “we’ve always done it this way”

Spring of 2019 - resigned: thought he should be able to fix everything, didn’t like to fail

Landed in a HS setting, and realized this was where he was supposed to be

Hopeful

Amazing changes in education (let’s not fall back to the assembly line).

Computers can be the platform to deliver content, but we are finding that teachers are more than deliverers of content.

We are STILL talking about “Future-Ready” when Future-Ready is HERE and NOW!

Anything that can be Googled should not be taught

Look at the 5 C’s and see how we can fit the standards into them

#EvolveOrDie

“Give them the leeway to do that!”

GUEST CONTACT INFORMATION

Ryan Scott on Twitter

HOST CONTACT INFORMATION

INSTAGRAM

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

TWITTER

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

FACEBOOK

Principal Leadership Lab

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

Join Jeff & Adam as we chat with our friend and colleague, Darrin Peppard!  Dr. Darrin Peppard, a self-proclaimed recovering high school principal, is a school district superintendent, speaker, author, and consultant. Darrin’s expertise in school culture and climate, along with coaching and growing emerging leaders has made him a leading voice in school leadership on an international level. Living life on the “Road To Awesome”, Darrin leads through relationships, compassion, and a human-being first focus. Peppard has served kids and adults as a superintendent, principal, assistant principal, teacher, and coach. Darrin was recognized as the Jostens Renaissance Educator of the Year in 2015, Wyoming Secondary School Principal of the Year by WASSP/NASSP in 2016, and in 2019, he was inducted into the Jostens Renaissance Hall of Fame. Darrin and his wife live in Grand County, Colorado spending as much time off the road in their Jeep and hiking with their daughter and their dogs.

Leadership Journey

When I speak, I mention being a “recovering HS principal”

HS principal job is the hardest job in the district

The first time someone mentioned to him the term “leadership,” he almost fell out of his chair

Two most critical questions: hats & cell phones

Let’s actually challenge the status quo - this is actually the moment “Road to Awesome” started

Punishment to gain Compliance - the worst strategy in the world

Getting our kids into relevant learning experiences

Our students are ready to LEAD NOW!

Growing Emerging Leaders

Focusing an a wider audience of people, working with them to find out where they want to grow

Road to Awesome & Relationship with Code Breaker

Good things happen slowly over time

Great things happen rapidly

“Just tell your stories”

Had a book contract overnight

Brian Aspinall - CodeBreaker

Leadership Challenge/Opportunity

Misconception of what it means to be a principal - 1st Year principal

Not leading, being a firefighter

Didn’t delegate well

A leadership coach saved his career

Didn’t feel like he had time for anything other than his “pushpin” tasks set out on his bulletin board

“You need to learn to help other people learn how to solve their problems”

Get out of your own way

Put “school culture” on your calendar

Hopeful

Growing other leaders.  LIft up the voices of teachers everywhere.  Empowering others in education.

Leadership Matters

GUEST HOST INFO:

Darrin Peppard

HOST CONTACT INFO:

INSTAGRAM

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

TWITTER

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

FACEBOOK

Principal Leadership Lab

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

Join Adam & Jeff as we chat with educational leader, blogger, and FIRST-TIME PODCAST GUEST, Bobbie French!

Bobbie is an Educational Leader who has been inspired by others to share with you celebrations, challenges, and thoughts along her journey.

Bobbie’s Leadership Journey:

Started as an elementary counselor

Taught 2nd & 3rd grade

Recruited to be a principal

Private - Catholic - school principal for 5 years

Current Education Coordinator in Massachusetts

Past Elementary Principal and Special Education Coordinator

Set a schedule for shared locations.

Daily morning email

Be clear in your communication

What to do when opportunities arise

“The Connected Educator”

Just Start advice: Podcast - “The Busy Principal”

Too many people don’t “just start”

The Ripple Effect has been amazing

Leadership Challenge:

You’re Not Perfect.

Allowing yourself grace to make a mistake

Becoming a New Principal - wanting to help, do things “for the better,” but haven’t developed trust yet.

Listen more, talk less

Taking feedback from staff

Figuring out “the long game”

In it for “The Infinite Game” - Simon Sinek

What are you HOPEFUL for?

One Word - BELIEVE

What can we do to recreate education?

When you know better, you do better

What schools are going to create Virtual Academies? - If they are not thinking about it, they should be

GUEST CONTACT INFO: 

Twitter

Web SIte

HOST CONTACT INFORMATION:

INSTAGRAM

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

TWITTER

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

FACEBOOK

Principal Leadership Lab

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

Join Adam & Jeff for episode #42, where we chat with three phenomenal educators who are also recent authors - Rachael George, Kate Barker and Kourtney Ferrua!  

EDUCATOR/AUTHOR BIOS:

Rachael George - Elementary Principal

PreK-5 Principal of ‘19 ICLE Model School. Past MS Principal of a 2x Model School. Author #PrincipalED leaders Speaker. ASCD Emerging Leader, NAESP Fellow

Kate Barker - Elementary Principal

Mom~Wife~ Principal~Author of PrincipalED~Professor~Mentor~Speaker~Food Rescuer. . . Committed to high expectations infused with love.

Kourtney Ferrua - Director of Curriculum K-12

National Distinguished Principal. Relentless believer in children. Growth mindset champion. Social Justice warrior. Educator. Author. Mom. Wife.

Tell us about your leadership journey?

Rachael:  Goldilocks effect, from forest service to the classroom, to a principal role.

Kate:  30 years in the same district, Portland, OR, and includes many experiences in between.

Kourtney:  Studying in San Fran, started in prison teaching, developed a lifelong passion for social justice, high school teacher, then kindergarten, principal.  The transition: moved out of the focus, loves curriculum and the processes.

How are each of your schools navigating the different instructional models during this pandemic?  Have there been any innovations or aha moments?

You don’t have to choose - you have to have both

“Our goal as educators is to lift up other educators”~Kate

Move away from academic and focused on social-emotional

“A humanity every single day”

Causing more problems with these interventions; Get all the grownups on the same page

The Book Story

From a conference and talking about how their fall was going.  Many visitors attending their schools due to growth. Aligned their work for the book. Chat with Dave and Shelly Burgess, and it took off from there

How do you write a book with 3 different people?

Trial and error. Wrote chap. 1 in hopes of merging all three, didn’t work. Chapter leads took over as the model.

Leadership Struggle/Opportunity

Kate - Staff didn’t feel like they had a voice; if you want to have that dialogue, you have to create the systems and protocols for that discussion; transparency

Rachael - Communication.  Learning how communication is received at high school vs. elementary.  Flex & Shift depending on who you’re working with

Hopeful

Kourtney - Relentless capacity for students to learn.

HOST CONTACT INFO:

INSTAGRAM

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

TWITTER

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

FACEBOOK

Principal Leadership Lab

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

Join Jeff & Adam as we chat with our friend & colleague, Livia Chan! A passionate, grateful educator & ringette coach from British Columbia, Canada, Liv is a Head Teacher, PD lover, Blogger, Ambassador & Digital Content Editor @TeachBetterTeam

Livia’s Educator Journey

Didn’t always know she wanted to be a teacher

Always looks forward to Monday, unlike many who talk about looking forward to the weekend

Head Teacher - equivalent to a department chair/assistant principal; does admin work with the principal

Original degree in criminology.

Someone gives you the gift of belief

I want you to be in your stretch zone.

Ringette

Kind of like ice hockey

30 seconds to score a goal

Working with Teach Better - the PLN Story

Started in April, Gargas invited her to join the podcast.

Has increased her duties with them since her involvement

Family atmosphere

“Had no idea I needed this”

Mastermind

So better equipped because of TB

Has been nicknamed The “Reacher-Outer”

The power of circling back, of reaching out to people when they are on your mind

The connector - it comes from a heart of gratitude

Every interaction is an opportunity

Google Form she keeps to document thoughts and phrases that resonate with her, reaches out to that author

Leadership Struggle/Challenge

Blended roles - No rules for the roles in a new position

Principal who was also new.

Managing all of these things and doing them well.

Hopeful

Teachers and leaders have a gift of providing an opportunity to provide the gift of belief for our students.

Let’s turn on the high beams so they can see what we see.

All teachers help children find what they love

GUEST CONTACT INFO:

Livia Chan on Twitter

Livia Chan Website

HOST CONTACT INFO:

INSTAGRAM

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

TWITTER

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

FACEBOOK

Principal Leadership Lab

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

Join Adam & Jeff as we speak with Daphne McMenemy!  Living in Oakville, which is 45 minutes outside of Toronto, Canadian, Daphne is an educator, author, speaker and the Managing Director of Code Breaker, Inc. Learn more about Daphne here: 

Daphne’s Educator Journey

15 years ago, teaching primary - K-3;

3,1, & finally KDG

Looping - teaching kids two years in a row

Learned this was exactly where she was supposed to be - KDG

½ day vs. full-day

Back teaching 1,2 grades now

Books:

Gracie, What Happens When I Learn to Code, Grace: The Maker

Who is Gracie based on? 

CodeBreaker, Inc

Leadership doesn’t mean administrator

Kid first, not content.

Foster risk taking

Educational/Leadership Challenge

8 years in, needed a change, discovered EdTech

Lone Wolf at her school at the time (with EdTech)

Plowed ahead, didn’t pay attention to her colleague’s pushback

Even if you are right, to keep thinking that you are and saying that you are can hinder your progress and burn bridges

What I learned is that I had isolated myself

As soon as I became a listener, I became a learner

Hopeful….that a result of the massive changes that educators are seeing in education in another way for the betterment of our children.

GUEST CONTACT INFO:

Daphne McMenemy Twitter

Website

HOST CONTACT INFO:

INSTAGRAM

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

TWITTER

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

FACEBOOK

Principal Leadership Lab

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

Join Adam & Jeff as we chat with 1st year principal Trelane Clark!

Trelane’s Leader Journey

14 years old - knew she wanted to be an educator

Amazing educators as a student

Wanted to have her own school

Simmons College - Boston, MA

Taught 17 years

Public & Private schools

24th year in education

Lack of resources is biggest difference in sectors she has worked

Has worked as an assistant principal for 9 years

“The Pandemic Principal” - 1st year principal

Challenge along Your Journey

Likes to look at the positive side of a challenge - more of an opportunity

Has been, at times, the only black woman at schools where she has worked

Has felt she needed to downplay who she is to be able to work, bring her “full self” to work.

Has begun doing more equity work in the past couple of years

Equity Conversation

Culturally responsive teaching - adults should be doing the exact same thing

HEART work

If it’s not in you, it can’t come out of you

First job is as a mother

Affirm your kids as who they are, give them models

We can’t be “Box-Checkers” in this work

Hopeful

My own children. Hopeful for equity advocates who are deep in this work.

GUEST CONTACT INFORMATION

Trelane Clark Twitter Link

Trelane Clark Website Link

HOST CONTACT INFORMATION

INSTAGRAM

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

TWITTER

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt

FACEBOOK

Principal Leadership Lab

Dr. Jeff Prickett

Adam DeWitt