DISTRICT-WIDE LEADERSHIP TEAM
In school districts, schools are often run as their own separate kingdoms. They may share a District budget and some personnel, but really what a principal does in one building, typically has little effect on another. One of our goals at MRPS is to break this mentality. We had a big opportunity to do that with a very new leadership team this school year.
Our district-wide leadership team is called LEAGUE. We also have a CORE team made up of myself and the central office directors. LEAGUE includes the members of CORE as well as our assistant principals, principals, community liaison, and sometimes our facilities and communication directors. We meet bi-weekly. During these meetings we plan, strategize, problem solve, learn, etc… (all while sharing the occasional hearty laugh–our team can be hysterically funny).
INTERDEPENDENCE
Just like with our teacher professional learning communities, my goal for LEAGUE is to have us be interdependent. In other words, we recognize that we cannot fulfill our goal of every child having any choice available to them upon graduation without every one of us being successful. As stated above, this is a rather unique understanding for a district-wide leadership team and we need to be very intentional about how we work together to succeed in our goals of interdependency.
PROBLEMS OF PRACTICE (POP)
We work on our interdependence with some intentionality. One way is through using protocols for hard discussions. After receiving some critical feedback from building leaders around an old “data day” practice, we changed it up this year and instead use a version of the Problems of Practice (POP) protocol. In a POP, an administrator explains a nagging challenge that doesn’t appear to have a concrete answer. Colleagues ask clarifying questions and then have the opportunity to dig deeper using open ended questions designed to truly get the administrator thinking in a different way.
This morning our LEAGUE team came together for a few hours to engage in a few POPs. I can’t express how much I love and appreciate these conversations. Today we talked about structures within transition times, belonging and connection, and student engagement with school. Administrators showed their vulnerability by coming to the table with more questions than answers. They helped colleagues think through very gray material from multiple perspectives. We engaged in conversations about what we, as leaders, are avoiding because it might be a harder route.
These conversations are inspiring for me as a superintendent. It shows not only how wicked smart and caring our MRPS LEAGUE team is, but also how we are making significant strides in collaborating towards our common goals. We challenge each other to stay curious and ask the next question. We look to our colleague working through the dilemma to pull themes that make sense to them and we leave them with 2-3 concrete strategies they can try the next day. I know the conversations continue between team members long after the initial POP because these colleagues truly care about each other and the kids we collectively serve.
Some days are definitely hard as a superintendent. Days that start with hard problems debated and discussed with these leaders are not so hard, they are inspiring!
