Leadership Lite
School Administrator, January 2017


Walking in the Same Shoes
Lori Humphrey, an English teacher at Riley Street Middle School in Hudsonville, Mich., assigned the students in her speech class to assume roles in the contentious debate over an open campus policy for students. The students were to research the roles played by a police officer, a café owner and educators in various positions.

One student drew the role of the superintendent. When Humphrey strolled over to see what appeared on his brainstorming sheet, the student appeared to be quite stressed out. He told Humphrey, “I have so much to think about now!”

Upon hearing the story, Nicholas Ceglarek, Hudsonville’s superintendent, quipped: “At least there is one other person in the district who can sympathize with me.”


Colors That Don’t Suit Him
For Superintendent Phil Freeman, it was the ultimate indignity. He’s the head of the Lakeshore School District in Stevensville, Mich., but he was forced to wear a maize and blue jersey from Lakeshore’s rival, St. Joseph High School, during the boys and girls varsity basketball games.

That was Freeman’s payoff after staff and students at St. Joseph outpaced Lakeshore in a months-long United Way fundraising challenge. Freeman did relish one consolation: Both Lakeshore teams took home victories on the court.

SOURCE: School News Network


Missed in Translation
A central-office administrator in Lincoln, Neb., was working out in a public gym when he noticed a fellow exerciser heading toward him in an aggressive manner. Because the approaching individual had been a frequent critic of the public schools over spending, curriculum and salaries in recent years, the administrator figured he was about to catch it again.

As the critic moved in closer, he could see real anger in the fellow’s eyes. Then he was startled to hear: “What the heck is up with these bilingual bathrooms that people are talking about?”

All the school leader could do was smile. The district had recently been discussing federal guidelines about transgender youth in schools.

SOURCE: Stephen Joel, superintendent, Lincoln, Neb.


Wacky Nickname
In Hutto, Texas, high school sports teams are known as the Hippos. And the origin of that?

The National Federation of High Schools dug up two answers. First, when the circus came to town in 1915, a performing hippo got loose and took up short-term residence in a town creek. Second, the school football team used feed sacks as uniforms in the early 1920s, making them resemble hippos.

SOURCE: High School Today



Short, humorous anecdotes, quips, quotations and malapropisms for this column relating to school district administration should be addressed to: Editor, School Administrator, 1615 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314. Fax: 703-841-1543. E-mail: magazine@aasa.org. Upon request, names may be withheld in print.