When I originally joined ACSA in 2005, I was enthralled by the term “bold and courageous leadership.” Over the last 26 years, I’ve learned many lessons about what it means to be bold and courageous. It’s a commitment to doing what is best for kids, having the tenacity to set plans in motion and the resiliency and willingness to adjust when things do not go as planned. It’s certainly not easy work, but if we stay grounded and stay pointed in the right direction, towards a “what’s best for kids” North Star, there is nothing that we cannot do and achieve.

When I accepted my first administration assignment at a suburban high school, I was assigned the less-than-bold-and-courageous oversight of keys, custodians, work-order fulfillment, emergency plans and student supervision. It was the furthest from being an instructional leader that one could be, but I paid my dues and attempted to learn as much as I could from the leadership margins.

My next two assignments were at middle schools. Over six years, I learned that being an effective leader meant leading with my feet, being out and about, asking questions, seeing and being seen, and looking-listening-learning from the daily situations and interactions. Doing what’s best for kids required a commitment to being out in the parking lot during student arrival, in the classrooms during the day, in the multi-purpose room to start each lunch, and out on the blacktop during breaks. Being seen was strategic, and the intel/data gathered by being out and about could stop student issues before they happened, allow for the handling of parent questions on the spot, as well as inform me about what was happening in the classrooms.

When I earned my first principal assignment, I was tasked by the superintendent and district office with the resurrection of an antiquated alternative education site, a formidable challenge filled with road blocks, outdated practices and a naysaying staff that was committed to the “culture of no.” I spent the first year applying what I had previously learned. I was seeing and being seen, taking notes, collecting data and analyzing the practices.

The problem with the school was the obsolete academic curriculum, old textbooks and photocopied packets that dominated the school’s landscape. It was lazy and uninspired work that grew more stagnant each year. I asked myself, where was the ingenuity, passion or basic instructional standards? Where was the oversight or accountability? How was this style of instruction good for kids?

I read articles, attended conferences and visited other alternative education campuses searching for inspiration for the avalanche of work ahead. I found it from a speech by U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who spoke to the urgency of the work, although from a different context: “If not us, then who? If not now, then when?”

After that first year of examining the landscape, collecting data and gathering feedback, it was time to be bold and courageous. I started with PowerPoint presentations on the data, presented the current practices, and talked with the staff about my concerns. We engaged in more conversations, but the staff couldn’t accept the data or the urgency for change. Let’s just say, the presentations were not well received, the push back was vehement, the data became overly scrutinized and explained away — the entrenched “culture of no” came out in full force to counter any idea to change the school’s landscape.

Now, to be honest, there were collective bargaining agreement options readily available. Unfortunately, there was little support to upset the union, and although my supervisors were appreciative of the work, I was seemingly on my own. With no help coming, I had to pivot and solve the problem in other ways.