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Leadership Lite
School Administrator, December 2021
High Heels Don’t Yield High Performance
A former collegiate basketball player, Michelle Reid received an invitation to play in a student-staff basketball game at Woodmoor Elementary School in the Northshore School District in Bothell, Wash., where she’s the superintendent. She agreed to suit up.
She had not counted on her calendar tightening up in the hours before tipoff, so Reid arrived at the school gym without being able to swing by her office to retrieve a change of clothes and shoes. As a result, she took the court in her suit and heels.
“Suffice it to say that ‘my moves’ were not what they could have been, so even today, I keep a change of clothes and shoes in the car,” says Reid, who was named the 2021 National Superintendent of the Year. “It made for a great time, and we still chuckle about it.”
The Little Guy Stating His Case
Adam Steel, superintendent in Amherst, N.H., labelled it a matter of #SuperHarassment on his Twitter feed. He used that loaded hashtag after a young student named Quinn posted an entreaty to the superintendent on Instagram that offered two thoughtful reasons why a snow day and not a remote learning day ought to be called the next day.
Reason 1 suggested the snow would interfere with students’ Internet connections, saying “websites might get glitchy or could stop working altogether.” The 5th grader’s Reason 2 indicated a snow day “would give teachers some time to relax.”
The superintendent’s decision? He closed schools for a snow day.
A Wild Fall from Heights
Jacqueline Brooks, superintendent in Macon County, Ala., says not signing up to join the military after high school was one of her life’s regrets. So as a school leader and the daughter of a former Army sergeant (her mother), she has eagerly promoted the military as a career option to today’s students.
And recently Brooks got a military experience of a lifetime: A tandem sky dive from an Army aircraft from 15,000 feet over Fort Benning in Georgia. She described herself as “geeked” by the jump.
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. Email:
magazine@aasa.org
. Upon request, names may be withheld in print.
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