I believe that a school leader should strive to mold and shape the lives of young people, be an essential part of the development of the family unit and serve as a role model for both children and adults. An school leader must serve as a model of excellence for faculty, students and families and work in concert with the faculty on the development of individualized success among the students and faculty. He or she must be a teacher first and everything else second.
In order to realize these goals at my school, I would focus my attention on three areas: the hiring and inspiring of an excellent faculty, the empowerment of a focused leadership team and the creation of a living relationship between my school and the community it services.
A school is only as good as its weakest faculty member and great faculties make great schools. An school leader must attract and retain the finest faculty possible and create a professional learning community in which they can achieve success. I would create an environment of collegiality, cooperation and open exchange of successes and failures so that my teachers and administrators could take advantage of each other as resources.
Great school are managed by teams and, as a school leader, I would build an adminstrative team that meets often and openly, in frank and honest cooperative conversation leading to consensus. This team would accept input from as many consituencies as possible and develop a school vision that is specific, measurable and achieveable.
Finally, I recognize that, more than any other employee, the school leader serves as the living embodiement of his or her school’s values. Community involvement is a requirement of the job and an opportunity for success in the imporant tasks of building relationships, developing funding and achiving buy-in with the school’s vision.