The Private School Leader Podcast
The Private School Leader Podcast exists to help you go from SURVIVING to THRIVING as you lead your school. Do you ever feel lonely and isolated in your role as a private school leader? Do you wish that you could get back to what really energizes you (making a difference in the lives of your students)? Do you want to have a long AND fulfilling career in private school education? Are you an aspiring Head of School and you want to accelerate your leadership growth? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions then the Private School Leader Podcast is f...
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Episode 162: When The Best Thing About Your School Is Also The Worst Thing About Your School
<p>A little bit of fire, under control, is a good thing.</p> I love grilling in my back yard and a hot dog always tastes better straight from the grill. When my daughters still lived at home, we would really enjoy making S’mores over our fire pit. Once a year, we would go to a Christmas village to look at the lights and we would always warm up with some hot chocolate by the bonfire. <p>Unfortunately, fire isn’t always under control. In just the past few years, the wildfires in Maui and Pacific Palisades, California caused utte...
Episode 161: How To Turn Fragile Kids Into Resilient Kids
<p>Do you have any fragile kids at your school? </p> Do some of your students give up easily when faced with a challenging problem or concept? Are your students sometimes too worried about “looking smart?” Do any of your students get extremely upset when they make a mistake on an assignment or get a question wrong on a test? Do any of your students get really anxious about the grades that they get on tests and report cards? <p>This is a very common problem in private schools. Some of the children at our schools have been told all of the...
Episode 160: Luke Skywalker And Katniss Everdeen Can Help You Solve Your Most Expensive Problem
<p>I know that the title of today’s episode is a little bizarre, but just trust me. I promise, by the end of this episode, you’re going to see how the heroes from The Hunger Games and Star Wars can help your school save tens of thousands of dollars every year.</p> <p>I want you to imagine that every gas station in your town, except one, suddenly started charging $28 a gallon instead of $4. Would you drive across town to buy the cheaper gas? Yes!</p> <p>What if every pizza joint in town, except one, started selling larg...
Episode 159: The Emotional Price Tag Of Suspending Or Expelling A Student
<p>I was a private school leader for 33 years.</p> <p>When I think back on some of my favorite things about my job, a few things immediately come to mind:</p> Spirit Days and seeing all the kids dressed up and having fun Home basketball games on a Friday night with the pep band playing and lots of school spirit on display Graduation Day, especially watching a kid that came a long way finally get their diploma <p>When I think about my least favorite thing about my job, the first thing that comes to mind is when I...
Episode 158: Handle Problem Parents By Being More "Teflon Skillet" And Less "Saturated Sponge"
<p>I want you to use your imagination.</p> <p> </p> <p>Imagine that you are a stick figure. Now imagine that this stick figure has a sponge for a heart.</p> <p>You go through your day and your sponge keeps absorbing other people’s emotions. The grumpy board member on the phone. The teacher who is upset that his curriculum hasn’t arrived yet. The parent that is in your office tears. The new student who is sitting alone at lunch.</p> <p>By 3:00PM, your sponge is getting pretty full. Unfortunately, you have a 3:00PM meeting with “that pa...
Episode 157: This 1 Framework Will Make You A More Effective AND Happier Leader
<p>What do the following four things have in common?</p> A meatloaf recipe The 2nd grade math curriculum The NFL rulebook A grading rubric <p>They are all examples of frameworks.</p> <p>Frameworks give us structure. They give us a clear guide on how to do something, but leave a little room for interpretation. As private school leaders we use dozens of frameworks every day, like the bell schedule or the student handbook or your carpool dismissal procedure.</p> <p>On today’s episode of The Private School Leader Podcast, I am going to give you 1 Framework That Wil...
Episode 156: How to Handle a Veteran Teacher Who’s Resisting Change
<p>Has this ever happened to you?</p> <p>You are standing in front of your faculty about to introduce a new initiative, policy or school-wide roll out of some sort. Before you even open your mouth, you notice one of your veteran teachers seated at the back of the room. After you say your first three sentences, you notice that this veteran teacher has their arms crossed, they look upset and they are whispering to a colleague while maintaining eye contact with you.</p> <p>Here we go…</p> <p>Just writing those words made me feel a little we...
Episode 155: Your 4 Biggest Blind Spots: How To See Them And Avoid Them
<p>About 5 years ago, one of my daughters bought a 2018 Hyundai Sonata.</p> <p>Before buying this car, she did a ton of research because she was looking for one very specific feature. It wasn’t the stereo system or heated seats. It had nothing to do with the engine or if the car had power windows.</p> <p>She wanted a car that had blind spot detection.</p> <p>I had never ridden in a car with this feature, but there are sensors on her car that light up when another car is in one of her blind spots. In...
Episode 154: Are You Running Your School Or Leading Your School?
<p>It was Field Day 2005 and I was just trying to be helpful. I arrived at the field early and asked Mrs. Ankney if there was anything that I could do.</p> <p>She asked me to use the manual line painter and paint the finish line for the 50 yard dash and the 100 yard dash. She had already set up the cones, I just needed to walk in a straight line, from cone to cone, and squeeze the handle on the line painter.</p> <p>So, I painted the 50 yard dash finish line. I walked slowly and looked ahead of...
Episode 153: When A Parent Says, "If you don't _______________, then I'm going to pull my kid out of the school."
<p>Several years ago, I was meeting with the mom of a 6th Grade boy. She looked me in the eye and said, "If you don't put my son into Pre-Algebra 6, then I'm going to pull both of my kids out of the school."</p> <p>Immediately, I felt my blood pressure rise, my pulse quicken and I started to get a weird feeling in my stomach.</p> <p>If I told her “no,” I ran the risk of her pulling her two children out of the school.</p> <p>If I told her “yes,” I had to go and face my...
