What makes a school leader decide to step away when they still love what they do? Former high school principal Todd Bloomer opens up about his nearly three-decade journey through education and the wisdom he gained along the way.
Todd's story begins as a New Yorker who packed everything into a Geo Prism and moved 1,800 miles to teach in Texas without ever having visited the state. His leadership philosophy was born in a seventh-grade Texas history classroom when a student candidly asked why he should care about rainfall in El Paso. This moment forced Todd to rethink his entire approach to education, shifting from textbook regurgitation to student engagement and voice—a principle that would guide his entire career.
As Todd advanced from teacher to assistant principal to principal, he developed what he calls the "Bloomer Triangle of Success," emphasizing the importance of soliciting voices from teachers, parents, and students. He shares practical strategies for building strong school culture, from strategic hiring practices that value community connections to his commitment to visiting every teacher's classroom daily. His Monday morning emails—always starting with personal stories about weekend activities and restaurant recommendations—became a touchstone that built authentic connections in a large high school with nine buildings.
Unlike many educators who leave due to burnout, Todd made the difficult decision to retire from his beloved principalship at Winston Churchill High School while still passionate about the work. He recognized that the all-consuming nature of high school leadership requires complete dedication, and he wanted to ensure his school received the leadership energy it deserved. Now transitioning to Director of School Leadership for the Archdiocese of San Antonio, Todd offers candid advice about balancing family life with the demands of school leadership.
Whether you're an aspiring administrator, veteran principal, or teacher considering a move into leadership, Todd's authentic insights and practical wisdom offer a blueprint for not just surviving, but thriving in educational leadership. Check out his book "The Blueprint: Survive and Thrive as a School Administrator" to learn more about his journey and the lessons that can transform your leadership approach.
The Blueprint: Survive and Thrive as a School Administrator:
Connect with Todd Bloomer on his social media platforms:
X- @bloomer_sa
LinkedIn- @Todd Bloomer
Instagram- @Todd_Bloomer_Author
Tik ToK- @todd_bloomer_author
Teach Better Mid Roll Network Ad
Connect with Principal JL Click Here:
Want to be a guest on Educational Leadership with Principal JL?
Send Principal JL a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1742787866678447e5bdb89c1
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Principal JL (00:01):
Today I'm excited to have Todd Bloomer on the
podcast.
For nearly three decades, toddhas served students, teachers
and communities as a teacher,coach, assistant principal,
middle school principal and highschool principal in the Houston
and San Antonio Texas areas.
Todd is a New Yorker that fellin love with Texas and its
(00:23):
culture.
He shares with us his journeyin education and some golden
nuggets he learned along the way.
Todd has currently just retiredfrom public education and is
transitioning into a new role asthe director of school
leadership for the Archdioceseof San Antonio.
Todd is also an author of thebook the Blueprint Survive and
(00:46):
Thrive as a School Administrator.
Now let's get to theconversation with Todd Bloomer.
Welcome to the EducationalLeadership Podcast show.
Today I have in the house ToddBloomer.
(01:09):
Todd, welcome to the show.
Todd Bloomer (01:11):
Thanks, Jeff.
It's an honor to be here.
Principal JL (01:14):
All right, todd, I'm going to start you off with
the same question.
I ask everybody what inspiredyou to become an educator?
Todd Bloomer (01:23):
You know, jeff, both my parents were educators.
My father was a high schoolteacher and a coach, and my
mother was an elementary schoolteacher and a coach, and so I
like to tell people.
I entered the family professionand early on in my life I had
two goals.
I was either going to be theshortstop for the New York
Yankees and Derek Jeter blockedme for 20 years of doing that,
(01:45):
or I was going to be the fourthmember of the great musical
group, the Beastie Boys, andsince I had no musical talent,
that didn't work out at alleither.
And so I like to jokingly tellpeople that as I progressed
through my schooling andbecoming a teacher and a coach
and assistant principal, Ilanded my dream job as a high
(02:05):
school principal here in SanAntonio, texas.
Principal JL (02:07):
All right.
So you went from New York toSan Antonio, Texas.
Tell us about that journey.
What got you clear?
Todd Bloomer (02:13):
to Texas yeah, you know what?
It's a great story.
I graduated from college andNew York was kind of in a hiring
freeze and I've always been onethat's up for an adventure.
You know, I'm that guy that youcan call and let's go, I'm
ready.
And I applied for jobs all overthe country and in a great
sports way.
I only applied to jobs incities that had all three major
(02:34):
sporting teams football,basketball, baseball and so one
of those was Houston, texas.
And Jeff, I'd never been toTexas, I'd never been to Houston
, I knew nothing about it.
And I remember getting a phonecall one morning.
I was living in my parents'basement, I was doing some
substitute teaching and hatingit.
I hated waking up in themorning to figure out if I was
(02:55):
going to work and I was like, ah, and so I need a job.
And so I got offered a job inHouston, texas, just outside of
Houston, and accepted and Ithought, you know, I'd go for
one year and I went down, lovedit, loved the people, loved the
culture, loved the food.
I got to be a teacher and acoach, got to experience Friday
Night Lights.
After year one I decided to goback for year two and then in
(03:17):
year two I met my wonderful wifeSharon and we got married and
family and the rest is history.
And I'm a Texan.
I've now been in Texas longerthan I was a New Yorker.
I still consider myself a NewYorker but I love San Antonio,
texas, with all my heart.
Principal JL (03:33):
Oh, awesome.
Yeah, that's really neat tojust kind of hear that story
about going from New York andgoing to Texas and kind of what
gets people there.
That's really great to hear.
Now let's talk about teaching.
Right, you got this job, you'rein Houston.
What about teaching did youlearn to help you become the
leader you became?
(03:55):
You know what was it aboutteaching and coaching that kind
of got you going, and what aresome lessons you learned as your
time as a teacher and coachthat did prepare you for that
next step in leadership?
Todd Bloomer (04:07):
You know relationships.
You know, at 22 years old I wasa teacher and a coach and some
of those kids that I taught myfirst year I'm friends with on
Facebook and you know they're intheir forties now and, like you
know, I'm like holy cow.
Holy cow I'm not a young pupmyself, but holy cow.
And so building thoserelationships with those kids
(04:29):
and really being on my own, likebeing 1,800 miles from home I
packed up a Geo Prism with a TVin the back and every clothing
item I owned and moved to Texas,so really having to force to
grow up on my own and really beable to carry myself well.
And I'll tell a story that isreally relevant to just my
leadership journey because, asfunny as this sounds, my first
(04:51):
year in Texas I taught Texashistory.
It's a seventh grade class,that was a social studies class
and, jeff, I knew nothing aboutTexas.
I knew the Alamo and you know,I knew the TV show Dallas and
you know the Cowboys and theSpurs and I mean that's, that's
about it, right.
And so you know, I'm teachingTexas history and I vividly
(05:11):
remember my first year.
We're teaching a unit about theamount of rainfall in El Paso,
texas, and I've still never beento El Paso, texas, and I have a
good friend that you know livedthere and I worked with from El
Paso beautiful city.
You know live there and Iworked with from El Paso
beautiful city.
And this kid raises his handand with all honesty, and says,
uh, the hell do I care how muchrainfall El Paso gets, I'm never
going to leave Houston.
(05:32):
And uh, not a disrespectful way, but just in a matter of fact
way.
And it really made me consider,right there on the spot, that
if I'm just trying toregurgitate information from a
textbook, I'm going to be backin New York by Christmas because
this is going to fail.
And so really, I had to connectwith kids, I had to empower kids
(05:53):
, I had to seek a voice fromkids to be able to say what's
the best way to learn?
How do you learn?
Like you know, do you want towork on a project instead of
this?
Like, how can we do this?
Can we do a talk show insteadof a report?
And really honestly, in 1996, Istarted dabbling in some really
cool ways to bring instructionto life that were just outside
(06:16):
of the box, that were just notthe norm of what I was taught in
college for instructionalpractices, because if I didn't,
my kids would have hated it.
Now I had a good classroommanagement and good rapport, so
kids would have done what Ineeded them to do but they
wouldn't have gained anythingout of it.
And through that interaction andthrough that getting to know
and through that really checkingon kids and then really
(06:38):
differentiating and seeing itallowed kids that might not have
enjoyed history or Texashistory to really come alive,
because they got the experiencein a different way.
It wasn't a worksheet,worksheet, worksheet, test on
Friday.
It was let's stand up and let'sact things out, let's stand up
and be unique in what we'redoing.
And so you know that really,you know, drove me, and so to
(06:59):
take that into the assistantprincipal and the principal role
, you know the school is as muchthe kids as it is ours, and
students have a voice andoftentimes, you know, we ask
teachers about voice in a schooland we ask parents about voice,
but we don't ask kids.
But I did and I do, and it'simportant that I have the pulse
of the campus.
(07:20):
Now, if the kids came to me,jeff, and said we want an open
campus and want to leave, to goduring lunch.
Well, I can't allow that,that's a district policy that we
can't have.
But I can listen and it'simportant that there's a
differentiation, because it'simportant for voice and vote.
Just because students wantsomething doesn't mean they
automatically get something.
(07:43):
And so, really, from that lessonwhere that kid raised his hand
and said he don't care aboutrainfall in El Paso, it taught
me that I have to listen to mystakeholders.
I have to listen and there aretimes where their voice is
relevant and it matters andtheir opinion is just as
important as opinions of anybodywithin there, and sometimes we
have to change because of whatour clientele or our students
dictate to us.
And so, really, back in 1996,in the fall of 96, teaching
(08:07):
about the limited number ofrainfall in Texas took me 29
years to really seek voice.
And within my book I talk alittle bit about the Bloomer
Triangle of Success and it's akind of a tongue-in-cheek way to
put it, but if you can picturea triangle and a triangle is the
strongest shape in geometry,and on each point of the
triangle it's got three partsthat need you to be able to
solicit voice from teachers,parents and students.
(08:30):
And so, really, from thatlesson, I think that from that
day in class really took me tobe the leader that I am today.
Principal JL (08:38):
just that one thing kind of just sets your
course.
That's really great and awesometo hear.
Now let's talk about that nextstep.
Okay, you kind of have thatexperience in the classroom and
then it was like, hey, I'm goingto move into the assistant
principal role.
And so let's talk about whatwas it that had you go classroom
(08:59):
teacher coach into assistantprincipal.
Um, you know what was that?
What was that story?
What's the story behind that?
What inspired that?
Todd Bloomer (09:07):
I worked with a coach at my middle school when I
moved from Houston to SanAntonio and he was going through
and doing his master's afterpractice and he'd come back Eric
Ornley, he's the principal inSan Antonio He'd come back and
in the, in the you know the, thecoach's lounge and the coach's
office you know we talk sportsand then he'd talk about what he
(09:29):
was learning in his instructor,in his classes, and it really
inspired me and I convinced afriend of mine, hector Perales,
who was a coach and a teacherwith me at the middle school, to
to go back.
And really it was, you know,surrounding yourself with just
great people and like I alwaysfelt like I had a command and a
presence, that I could be aneffective leader.
(09:50):
I started volunteering to workon my off period with assistant
principal on the campus andreally enjoyed the day-to-day,
the investigations, the you know, the referrals that they gave
me working with parents, tryingto problem solve, working with
kids, working with teachers andit really inspired me and that
little bit of taste of what anassistant principal was like one
(10:10):
period a day, really fueled meto want to go back and get my
master's and you know, ifanybody's out there, listening
and thinking about it, dragalong a friend, like, honestly,
we went.
There was four of us that droveabout 60 miles really, before,
you know, online was vogue, andwe drove about 60 miles and we
(10:31):
went every other Saturday andthen we went all through the
month of June and, like, thefour of us together, misery
loved company, and so we wereable to band together to be able
to do that.
And so, really, you know,inspired by a good buddy of mine
who's a heck of a principal anda good friend, and then brought
along a couple others, and I'mhappy to say that, hector
Perales, who I dragged alongreluctantly, I hired him to be
(10:52):
an assistant principal at thehigh school that I was at.
And so, you know, really goodstuff.
And so, really, just inspiredby people like and you know,
nick Saban says it, you know,surround yourself with winners
or sit with winners.
The conversation's different.
And when you get around peoplethat really want to change the
world, uh, for lack of betterterms or ideas, like that's what
I was in I was in those circlesof people all of a sudden that
(11:15):
were like, hey, we don't have toaccept this and let's, let's
make change and let's stoptalking about it.
Let's, let's do it.
Principal JL (11:21):
Yeah, that's let's do it.
Yeah, that's really importantto surround yourself with people
that are like-minded, where,hey, we want to change things,
we want to do things differently, because what's currently
working is not working, sothere's got to be a better way
to do things.
No-transcript some lessons youlearned as an assistant
(11:55):
principal that helped you, um,when you took that principal
ship down the road.
Todd Bloomer (12:00):
Uh, problem solving number one um, you know
problem solving number one um,you know problem solving time
management.
Um, going back again tosoliciting voice and listening,
uh, and then working with adults.
Um, you know the the problemsolving is is is the best, and
as a as a former coach, you knowwe're problem solving all the
time.
You call a play and it doesn'twork.
(12:21):
You got to figure something out.
You got like 30 seconds to doit and you know you can't just
practice it during the game.
You have to have preparationleading up to it and so the
planning for it, and so you knowI would make a calendar each
day.
I'd arrive before the sun cameup on as assistant principal and
I'd get my stuff done because Itruly believed you know people
before paper, and, and one ofthe things that I learned, you
(12:44):
know, just being a coach and ateacher, transitioning to an
assistant principal and then toa principal, was I didn't want
to be in an office, Like Ienjoyed people, and you can get
trapped in an office and playassistant principal, play
principal all day long and youcan do it.
There's lots of things to do.
You got reports and emails andcalls and meetings and yada,
(13:04):
yada, yada.
You name it.
You got stuff to do, but youknow what.
You can't run a school from anoffice.
You have to be visible and youhave to be out there interacting
with people and you have to setthe tone.
And if you expect teachers tointeract with kids and the
principal, by golly you betterbe leading the example and
interacting with every kid thatwent by and saying hi to every
teacher that went by.
(13:25):
And so really time management,really problem solving and
really just being out withpeople.
And then, lastly, the thingthat I think separated me from a
lot of other assistantprincipals and then into the
principalship I loved my job andI had great joy in my job
wherever I went.
And I loved lunch duty.
I love talking to kids aboutfantasy football during lunch
(13:47):
duty.
I love passing period duty.
I love finding the quarterbackof the football team, the drum
major, the cheerleader captain.
I love talking to the kid thatI saw working at McDonald's and
just acknowledging them andmaking sure that they felt
recognized and supported.
And I did that as an assistantprincipal and I transitioned
that into the principal role.
Principal JL (14:08):
Awesome.
So what was it that inspiredyou to go from assistant
principal into principalship?
Todd Bloomer (14:13):
You know I'd been an assistant principal seven
years.
I'd been an assistant principalboth the middle school and the
high school and I fell in lovewith the high school Like
honestly, I just fell in lovewith the pace, the energy, the
older age of the students, theextracurricular and I always
knew I wanted to be a highschool principal In our district
, the one that I just retired.
(14:36):
So in the district I justretired from, really the path
was become a middle schoolprincipal and then become a high
school principal.
That was the blueprint tosuccess that they had.
It was a very good blueprint.
Before you can run a school of2,500, let's see if you can run
a school of 750 or 1,200.
And so I was given anopportunity to go.
I was blessed.
(14:57):
I applied for a lot ofprincipalships that I didn't get
, never gave up.
I always sought feedback fromhow I could do better, always
self-analyzed and thought, okay,it's not my turn and sometime
my turn will come up.
I landed a principalship at awonderful middle school, a
secret gem, about 1200.
Kids loved it.
(15:17):
Could have stayed there forever, I could have retired from
there.
But you know, jeff, we'releaders, we're competitive
people.
We're, you know, we're coachesby nature and we always want to
try something and we always wantto leave something a little
better than we found it.
And I had reached four and ahalf years as a middle school
principal and I felt it was timeand the neighborhood school
(15:39):
that I live in that all five ofmy children went to uh, that
high school opened up and I wasthe assistant principal there
for four and a half years uh,four and four years, uh, uh.
Before I became a middle schoolprincipal, I lived a mile down
the road.
The church that I went to wasthe same church the kids went to
.
The grocery store was theirgrocery store.
The park I ran in I saw kids,my neighbors were my kids and I
(16:03):
thought, you know, this is acommunity I love and I wanted to
make a difference, and whatbetter way to make a difference
in a community is, then, serveyour community.
And so I applied and in 2019, Iwas named principal of Winston
Churchill High School in SanAntonio, texas, and I had
reached the epitome of my careerand really honestly you know,
jeff, I just left the professionabout a month ago and I still
(16:27):
have gas in the tank and,honestly speaking, I left where
I fell on a high, like I'd hiredall my assistant principals,
all my counselors but one.
I had football coach, my banddirector numerous positions.
I loved the staff.
I loved going to work.
Teacher satisfaction was offthe charts.
Students' involvement was offthe charts.
(16:47):
Academically we're progressingin all the right spots.
And I thought to myself I don'tknow if I'll ever be able to
have this kind of year again andI decided it's time to step
away.
I'm going to hand the schooloff to another wonderful
assistant principal who's goingto take it to places I couldn't
take it to.
But I loved 24-25 as aprincipal.
When I look back, that was myquote unquote favorite year as a
(17:10):
principal.
And so why do know, why do youleave?
Well, you know I left and sadlywe have a narrative in our
profession of people leavingbecause of burnout and being
forced to leave.
I didn't leave because of that.
I left when I still loved myjob, like I'd get up and go to
work with a, with a beat in mystep, and my wife would say to
me what time are you coming home?
And I'd be like 10 o'clocktonight and while that wears on
(17:34):
a man after a while, it didn'tbother me Wherever I was.
I loved my job.
If I'm at a band concert onTuesday, man, I loved it.
If I was at a musical or a playon a Wednesday, that was my
Broadway and I brought my wifealong, my father was along for
the journey and all my childrenwere there, and so you know, I
kind of summarized the questionright there.
But you know, I jumped inbecause, like it was an
(17:56):
opportunity to serve thecommunity and, honestly, um
little known fact about me, Ihave a couple of tattoos and I
even debated at one pointgetting a tattoo with the high
school on it, you know, but butI I chickened out and I didn't.
But I love the community that Iserved and that's why I jumped
to be a high school principaland I feel like it's important
(18:18):
to tell people why I left.
Also, I left because I stilllove my job.
But I would hate, jeff, onemorning to wake up, my wife say
what time are you going to behome and then me to complain
about it or me not to want to goto that band concert or that
choir concert or that you know,cross country meet at 730 on a
Saturday after I worked.
(18:38):
A Friday night football gameuntil 1030 at night and I've
worked three Saturdays thismonth Like I owe it to kids and
parents to be all in.
And if you're a high schoolprincipal out there and I'll
just speak to high schoolprincipals out there the only
way you can do it is all in.
You know, the late great MacMiller said you know you can't
swim unless you jump in and it'sthe only way to do the job.
Principal JL (19:01):
And.
Todd Bloomer (19:02):
I have a full, not a full, tank, Jeff.
I got about two-thirds of atank of gas, but I worried that
next February that could begetting close to you know, E and
my campus deserves the best andthat's why I stepped away.
Principal JL (19:14):
Yeah, no, I mean, I think that's really important.
I know, like in my my journey,my personal journey, if I ever
get to the point to where Idon't like what I do or I don't
love what I'm doing, that's mycue to say you know a time to
step away, but I absolutely lovewhat I'm doing.
I'm a high school principal aswell.
You know I've been in, you know, small rural schools.
I've been in the Metro andOmaha.
(19:36):
I've been up.
You know all different sizes ofschools and high school is kind
of like where my niche is.
I knew high school is where Iwanted to be and that's where
I'm at and I love what I do.
And you know I'll be going intomy fourth year at the current
principal ship that I'm at rightnow.
Now we all know running largerschool buildings and schools in
(19:59):
general it's time consuming,there's a lot going on.
But how do you build a strongculture?
How do you build that team youkind of talked about?
Hey, I got this school fromthis point to this point, to the
point to where you know whatit's in a great place and I know
the next person is going to beable to come in and take it even
to greater things.
So how did you build that?
(20:21):
What was it like when you gotinto the role?
And then how did you build thatup to this past year, to where
you just guys were humming andjust going on also, yeah.
Todd Bloomer (20:31):
You know culture is, you know, created each day,
each moment, and luckily Iinherited this great school also
, you know the the previousprincipal, dr Justin.
I actually became my boss he'sat central office now as
executive director and so heleft me a good ship.
You know, like the ship wasn'tbare, the ship was going in the
(20:52):
right direction.
So I inherited something thatwas an excellent, you know
school, and so the way I enhancethat is, you know, you hire
strategically and you know I wasable to hire all five of my
assistant principals and youknow each one of them has unique
strengths and I was able topick them based on the strengths
(21:13):
, and one of the things that Ireally like and value is people
that live in my community.
I shared a little bit that mychildren went to school there.
Three of my assistantprincipals either currently live
in the community or hadchildren that attended our
school.
Churchill, and I think when youdo that, you work just a little
bit harder, because that's yourchildren's school, those are
(21:33):
your neighbors, those are yourfriends, and so I think that's a
unique dynamic to our campus.
I also wanted to make sure thatthe shout out to Ginger
McDaniel, a teacher on my campuswho coined a phrase long timers
.
Those are people that have beenon my campus, teachers that
were there longer than the kidshave been alive, that were on
the campus.
So you're looking at 14 yearsplus and really embracing that
(21:57):
knowledge and really walkingalongside of them and listening
to them and tapping into theircorporate knowledge for what you
have and really embracing themand then hiring really well for
rising teachers coming to thecampus, for rising teachers
coming to the campus and, youknow, really working with those
first-year teachers on thecampus to be able to make sure
they had a good structure onboarding and foundation to where
(22:19):
they felt a part of the culture.
You know, jeff, you talked alittle bit about a large high
school 225 adults on the campus.
You know there are adults indifferent departments that you
know have no idea who you knowin the math department, they
have no idea who in the mathdepartment.
They have no idea the sciencedepartment, they only know their
people.
And so how do you bring them on, how do you make them feel at
home?
Because every campus, everyleader you talk to, says we
(22:42):
build a family culture on ourcampus.
Well, if you don't know who'sdown the hall from you.
That's not a family culture andI, as the principal, will have
to model that.
And so, honestly, the see thepeople mantra.
I tried to visit every teacher'sclassroom every single day and
I failed at that every day, butthat was my goal and that got me
out of the office and got meinto different buildings.
Like Churchill High School hadnine buildings and about 35
(23:05):
acres, a very open campus, andif you played in the office all
day long, you may not make it tocertain parts of a building,
but like once a month, and thenimagine if that teacher was off
that period.
You know teachers may never seethe principal and so, honestly,
how does that culture, you know, get built?
Like it starts with theprincipal.
Like, honestly, you have tomodel what you expect and then
(23:25):
you have to, you know, inspect,you know what you have to make
sure that you are holdingyourself accountable and your
team accountable to what youexpect of your staff.
I always look for reasons tosay yes, you know, jeff, if you
came to me and said, hey, my kidis getting an award, they're in
fourth grade, I want to bethere.
Well, that was my job, not foryou to take a sick day or a half
(23:46):
day, but my day, to get yousome coverage to get down there,
because that's what we do forfamily, to get down there,
because that's what we do forfamily.
You know, jeff, if you had aloved one that was sick or hurt
or God forbid passed away, youknow we need to do what we need
to do to take care of you andyour family and that's what we
tried to be able to do.
I sent a Monday morning email730 every Monday.
I delayed delivery and hit theinbox every Monday morning at
(24:07):
730.
And, honestly, the first twoparagraphs talked about what I
did with my wife and kids overthe weekend and that was my way
of telling them like, family isimportant and you need to do
this and we actually.
It evolved into places that Iwent to eat and I would say
something like man, I had thebest hamburger and it was here,
and if you've got a good burger,let me know.
(24:28):
And people started sharing likethat.
And so, like, organically, like,like you connected with people
that you might not connect with,over things you might not have
ever thought before, we lost acat over COVID and um, a
morbidly obese cat, you know,named Meatball, and Meatball,
you know, passed away and Ishared that journey in my Monday
(24:48):
email and a teacher reached outwith a homemade cat recipe to
try to save Meatball.
And I had struggled to connectwith this teacher, you know just
, you know, for no other reasonbut myself, and you know that
was our bond.
And so now we talk, you knowpets and cats all the time
because of those small things,and so you have to model family,
(25:09):
you have to stress theimportance of it, but you also
have to be visible and you alsohave to be the biggest champion
of your school, and so in thatMonday morning I made it a point
to shout out and to celebrate,you know, not just the score of
the football game, but that coollab that we went into in
science, that activity I saw insocial studies, that the
academic UIL, the speech anddebate, the band, all of those
(25:31):
things that were extremelyimportant to what you had.
And then I was visible.
Kids could come up to me andask me anything, and I made it a
point to talk to kids and getto know kids, and I wanted every
kid on my campus of 23 or 2400kids to think I knew their name.
I didn't know every kid's namebecause that's next to
impossible, but I wanted them tothink, jeff, if you walk off
(25:53):
campus, I know who you are andyou know what.
I've lived in the community 25years.
I probably know your mother orfather because I've dealt with
your family before.
I might even text them rightnow to call them if you left.
And so that, just living in thecommunity, embracing who I was,
being Mr Churchill at timesbecause I had a chip on my
shoulder about my campus, I wasan advocate for it.
(26:14):
I was visible, I walkedalongside teachers, I supported
teachers.
I also supported kids to thepoint where you know we were
family and to the point whereyou know kids, you know, kind of
just referred to me as abloomer and it was cool because
I had, like this relationshipwith them.
And then, last thing, I'll justtell you I weren't a pair of
Adidas every day to school, likebig campus, and it was just
(26:36):
hard to be around and outsideit's South Texas, it's hot all
the time and, uh, kidsconstantly commented on my shoe
game and so those were type ofthings that just built this like
weird culture that you can'tquantify, that all of a sudden,
kids started commenting on myfit and I had to look up urban
dictionary, forgot what fit wasbecause I didn't understand.
But you know, those are typethings.
(26:57):
And then, honestly, you saystuff like hey, jeff, what music
are you listening to?
What Netflix shows are youwatching?
And then you build thisrelationship with kids so that
the next time, jeff, you'rehaving a bad day, I got to
relate hey, it's Bloomer.
Jeff, let's go take a walk andtalk, because you know what?
You told me that your favoritegroup was Morgan Wallen, and
(27:17):
let's talk Morgan Wallen songsas we walk down there.
It's just building that and Ithink it's hard because you
can't read about this in books.
You just have to do this andyou have to model it.
And then pretty soon, teachersare wearing Adidas or Hokas to
school and teachers are startingto ask kids about interaction
and teachers are showing up toevents and all of a sudden, that
culture is there.
(27:37):
And then, when you have thatrelationship, the most important
thing that we do is we teachkids.
But you can't teach an18-year-old you know this if
they don't think you care or ifthey don't know you or if they
don't understand the relevancyof it.
And so building that rapportand that relationship with kids,
uh, modeled to teachers, allowsour schools to be able to trend
in the right directionacademically, extracurricular,
(27:58):
co-curricularly, co-curricularand just you know, all of those
types of things.
Principal JL (28:02):
Wow, you hit on a lot of great things there, a lot
of things to unpack there, todd, you know.
Thank you for sharing that.
We're kind of winding down hereon the show and so I want to
kind of get into your book, theBlueprint.
Todd Bloomer (28:17):
Let's go.
Principal JL (28:19):
You know the blueprint book that you have to
survive and thrive as a schooladministrator.
What inspired that book andwhat will people take away from
that?
Todd Bloomer (28:30):
Great, Great.
My brother, Sean, is anassistant principal, you know,
North of San Antonio, and itstarted as an email to him.
Honestly, you know, big brothersupport, you know, Sean, do
these four or five things.
Pretty soon it was a littlebigger in email, became a Google
doc and pretty soon I hadthought I had something to share
.
And so, you know hard, I'm alsoa high school principal, so
(28:51):
when the heck do I have time todo this?
And so it became a project overabout five years and at some
point, you know, it was like,you know, I've never given birth
but I felt like I just had toget this thing off my chest.
I had to birth it Right.
And so I was going toself-publish and the Amazon
self-publish route was great,and and I felt like I had this
insight and these wisdom, thestructure of these systems, this
(29:18):
relevant information, uh, thestory of my journey, successes
and failures, advice from peoplearound the, uh, the nation to
share, and and I pitched it toeverybody and I got rejected by
a whole bunch of people and youknow that's cool, you know
they're lost.
That was, you know, the way Ilook at it.
You know, as a great MelRobbins said, you know, let them
.
You know, now I'm going to letme go find a way to be able to,
you know, to get this.
And so our friend, DarrenPepper, who you know wrote
awesome, you know came in,published my book and it came
(29:40):
out in August of 2024 andreceived some really good praise
.
It's relevant, it's practicaland, honestly, as we're getting
ready to, a lot of us havealready started our summer, just
ending up schools on the EastCoast it's the perfect book to
read at the pool or the beach.
It's easy read.
It gives advice and structuresand systems.
(30:00):
It'll make you laugh.
It's good for aspiringprincipals.
It's also good for veteranprincipals because it's great
reminders as to you're not alone.
It's great reminders to all ofus have failed and there's a way
out of the failure.
And so, you know, right now thebook is.
I'm really trying hard, bycreating some Instagram reels,
(30:22):
to highlight and promote thebook, because I do think it's
got a practical value to peopleand I do think if you pick it up
and you read it, you'd walkaway with that.
Now, last thing before I leaveif you only got time to read one
chapter of the book, I wouldread chapter six.
Chapter six has 10 actionableitems that I would do
differently if I could do itover again as a principal,
(30:45):
because the job is difficult togrind.
And these are 10 things that Iwould do differently to extend
the longevity.
You know, like I said, I stillhave gas in the tank.
There are friends out therethat are reaching out and I
refer them back to chapter 10.
Just pick one of these.
One of these, I think would beinsightful to be able to help
you survive and thrive as aschool administrator.
So thanks for asking thatquestion.
Principal JL (31:06):
Yeah, no problem man.
Yeah, no problem man.
Yeah, I know I see you on IGall the time and you're putting
out some great stuff.
There's some great contentthere, so I would recommend
people to give Todd a follow,and all the information that
he's getting out there has beenreally great.
So, todd, you know we got, youknow, a little bit of time here,
(31:26):
and so let's talk about, justlike, what's next for you.
And then the last thing I wantyou to end on is what advice
would you give to aspiringprincipals or people that are in
the role?
What would you say for advicefor them to have to end off the
show today?
Todd Bloomer (31:47):
Yeah, great, thank you for asking that.
I'm excited.
In July I start as the directorof school leadership for the
Archdiocese of San Antonio.
I'll be working with Catholicschool principals and I'm
excited to be able to walkalongside principals in a role
of coaching and support in thatcapacity.
It's a brand new position.
(32:08):
So I'm excited also because itwas just created coaching and
support in that capacity it's abrand new position.
So I'm excited also because itwas just created and so we'll be
able to find that kind of as wego and selfishly, I'm hoping
that some of the systems andstructures from the blueprint
will be able to go into.
I'll be able to put intopractice for them.
But honestly, I'm lookingforward to getting to know these
leaders.
It's a different realm for me.
While I am a Catholic and I wasan altar boy growing up, I was
(32:29):
a public school kid the wholeway and worked in public school,
and so being able to tap intoyou know leading, starting all
meetings in prayer, you know andworking with you know people
that are walking in faith, alsoalong with academic and
extracurricular stuff, it'sreally exciting to me and so I'm
excited about that.
That'll start up in the nextmonth.
You know what is next.
A second I'm working on theblueprint part two new and the
(32:52):
blueprint part two is meant tobe a companion to my first book
and it is a month by month guidefor what principles should
focus on.
And so one of the things thatpeople reached out to me after
reading the blueprint was hey, Ineed a little more structure.
Like October, like what theheck man, nobody warned me about
?
Shocktober, like how do Ihandle this and nobody warned me
(33:12):
about.
You know what I should be doingin July to prepare for August,
or how I should prepare in Mayfor coming back to school, and
while lots of districts havegreat checklists, you know
checklists are kind of stagnant.
You just kind of look at themand you kind of forget about
them.
So this is interactive.
It's got a inspiration to beginwith, it's got a scripture to
begin with, it's got topics totalk about at monthly faculty
(33:33):
meetings.
It's got checklists.
But it's also like I expand ona lot of things and I share
things that help me get throughthose months, and then each
month I have a differentprincipal that writes about that
month and how they kind of getthrough that.
So I'm excited about that.
I'm pushing hard to to get itto market, but I'm not sure it's
going to get to market beforethe start of the school year,
(33:53):
and so maybe a soft launch inthe fall and then coming back
hard in the spring.
I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm not sureabout that.
How do we end this?
I end this with um, uh, youknow advice to you, know what I
(34:15):
would give to you, jeff, formyself, if we could rewind time.
And um, here's what I would saymake sure that your spouse and
your children understand thedemands of the job.
Make sure that, uh, your spouse, um, shout out Sharon,
hopefully you're still listeningto me, babe.
You know love you.
Um, you know she took a backseat to my, my career, and
that's unfair's unfair, and youknow I'm lucky she stayed with
me, beautiful woman inside andout, and you know she helped
raise our kids while I was offraising other people's kids, and
(34:35):
so you know it makes youemotional when you think about
that, because you know timepasses and you can't rewind time
, and so I would make sure thatyour spouse understands that
this job and here's what itcould do to a family, or with
time, jeff, you're a high schoolprincipal.
You know if something happens inthe evening.
They're calling you and you maysay you know after six o'clock
(34:57):
or after seven o'clock it'sfamily time.
You got an emergency at school.
They're calling the principal.
You know they're not callingthe.
You know the science teacherand stuff and so you know, like
your spouse has to understandthat there, the science teacher
and stuff, and so your spousehas to understand that.
And there's been many nightsthat family events have been
ruined because of somethinghappening on our campus.
Now we all get better at thatas we move along the profession.
(35:18):
But I didn't do a good job oftalking to my wife early on to
say, hey, babe, my whole careeris going to dictate where we go
on vacation, what we do, whatSaturday looks like, what Sunday
looks like, what Wednesdaylooks like.
And then honestly I would sayto any principal that has
children never miss an eventthat they have.
Now you know we got to go tograduation, we got to go to big
district meetings.
You know that is what it is.
(35:38):
But if your child, you know,shout out to my son Andrew.
He got the role in third orfourth grade as a weed.
He was him and a couple of hisbuddies were weeds in a school
play no lie, weed number weed.
He was him and a couple of hisbuddies were weeds in a school
play.
No lie, weed number one, twoand three.
And Andrew Bloomer was a weedand I went to it and it was, he
had no lines, he just stoodthere and it's still a family
memory that we have to this dayand I think about I could have
(35:59):
said oh, he's just a weed, I'llget him next time and so you
know being able to kind of goand and do that.
So I would say, jeff, that's myadvice Make sure your spouse
knows and your kids know.
Principal JL (36:10):
All right, awesome .
Now, if you guys want to getconnected with Todd Bloomer, I'm
going to put all thisinformation down in the show
notes.
Todd, it was great to have youon the show today.
Thank you for being a part ofthe Educational Leadership
Podcast.
Todd Bloomer (36:24):
Thank you for what you do, jeff, and thank you for
being patient with me.
Principal JL (36:32):
It's a long time coming.
We connected what an episodewith Todd Bloomer.
His journey in education isinspiring and gets you thinking
about how you can lead yourschool more effectively.
His honesty, experience andwisdom are exactly what school
leaders need to hear.
I hope this episode resonatedwith you today and if it did,
please share it with someone whoneeds to hear it.
And don't forget to follow Toddon his social medias and grab a
(36:54):
copy of his book.
The Blueprint Links will be inthe show notes for you.
And until next time, be 1%better you.
Today I'm excited to have Todd Bloomer on the
podcast.
For nearly three decades, toddhas served students, teachers
and communities as a teacher,coach, assistant principal,
middle school principal and highschool principal in the Houston
and San Antonio Texas areas.
Todd is a New Yorker that fellin love with Texas and its
(00:23):
culture.
He shares with us his journeyin education and some golden
nuggets he learned along the way.
Todd has currently just retiredfrom public education and is
transitioning into a new role asthe director of school
leadership for the Archdioceseof San Antonio.
Todd is also an author of thebook the Blueprint Survive and
(00:46):
Thrive as a School Administrator.
Now let's get to theconversation with Todd Bloomer.
Welcome to the EducationalLeadership Podcast show.
Today I have in the house ToddBloomer.
(01:09):
Todd, welcome to the show.
Todd Bloomer (01:11):
Thanks, Jeff.
It's an honor to be here.
Principal JL (01:14):
All right, todd, I'm going to start you off with
the same question.
I ask everybody what inspiredyou to become an educator?
Todd Bloomer (01:23):
You know, jeff, both my parents were educators.
My father was a high schoolteacher and a coach, and my
mother was an elementary schoolteacher and a coach, and so I
like to tell people.
I entered the family professionand early on in my life I had
two goals.
I was either going to be theshortstop for the New York
Yankees and Derek Jeter blockedme for 20 years of doing that,
(01:45):
or I was going to be the fourthmember of the great musical
group, the Beastie Boys, andsince I had no musical talent,
that didn't work out at alleither.
And so I like to jokingly tellpeople that as I progressed
through my schooling andbecoming a teacher and a coach
and assistant principal, Ilanded my dream job as a high
(02:05):
school principal here in SanAntonio, texas.
Principal JL (02:07):
All right.
So you went from New York toSan Antonio, Texas.
Tell us about that journey.
What got you clear?
Todd Bloomer (02:13):
to Texas yeah, you know what?
It's a great story.
I graduated from college andNew York was kind of in a hiring
freeze and I've always been onethat's up for an adventure.
You know, I'm that guy that youcan call and let's go, I'm
ready.
And I applied for jobs all overthe country and in a great
sports way.
I only applied to jobs incities that had all three major
(02:34):
sporting teams football,basketball, baseball and so one
of those was Houston, texas.
And Jeff, I'd never been toTexas, I'd never been to Houston
, I knew nothing about it.
And I remember getting a phonecall one morning.
I was living in my parents'basement, I was doing some
substitute teaching and hatingit.
I hated waking up in themorning to figure out if I was
(02:55):
going to work and I was like, ah, and so I need a job.
And so I got offered a job inHouston, texas, just outside of
Houston, and accepted and Ithought, you know, I'd go for
one year and I went down, lovedit, loved the people, loved the
culture, loved the food.
I got to be a teacher and acoach, got to experience Friday
Night Lights.
After year one I decided to goback for year two and then in
(03:17):
year two I met my wonderful wifeSharon and we got married and
family and the rest is history.
And I'm a Texan.
I've now been in Texas longerthan I was a New Yorker.
I still consider myself a NewYorker but I love San Antonio,
texas, with all my heart.
Principal JL (03:33):
Oh, awesome.
Yeah, that's really neat tojust kind of hear that story
about going from New York andgoing to Texas and kind of what
gets people there.
That's really great to hear.
Now let's talk about teaching.
Right, you got this job, you'rein Houston.
What about teaching did youlearn to help you become the
leader you became?
(03:55):
You know what was it aboutteaching and coaching that kind
of got you going, and what aresome lessons you learned as your
time as a teacher and coachthat did prepare you for that
next step in leadership?
Todd Bloomer (04:07):
You know relationships.
You know, at 22 years old I wasa teacher and a coach and some
of those kids that I taught myfirst year I'm friends with on
Facebook and you know they're intheir forties now and, like you
know, I'm like holy cow.
Holy cow I'm not a young pupmyself, but holy cow.
And so building thoserelationships with those kids
(04:29):
and really being on my own, likebeing 1,800 miles from home I
packed up a Geo Prism with a TVin the back and every clothing
item I owned and moved to Texas,so really having to force to
grow up on my own and really beable to carry myself well.
And I'll tell a story that isreally relevant to just my
leadership journey because, asfunny as this sounds, my first
(04:51):
year in Texas I taught Texashistory.
It's a seventh grade class,that was a social studies class
and, jeff, I knew nothing aboutTexas.
I knew the Alamo and you know,I knew the TV show Dallas and
you know the Cowboys and theSpurs and I mean that's, that's
about it, right.
And so you know, I'm teachingTexas history and I vividly
(05:11):
remember my first year.
We're teaching a unit about theamount of rainfall in El Paso,
texas, and I've still never beento El Paso, texas, and I have a
good friend that you know livedthere and I worked with from El
Paso beautiful city.
You know live there and Iworked with from El Paso
beautiful city.
And this kid raises his handand with all honesty, and says,
uh, the hell do I care how muchrainfall El Paso gets, I'm never
going to leave Houston.
(05:32):
And uh, not a disrespectful way, but just in a matter of fact
way.
And it really made me consider,right there on the spot, that
if I'm just trying toregurgitate information from a
textbook, I'm going to be backin New York by Christmas because
this is going to fail.
And so really, I had to connectwith kids, I had to empower kids
(05:53):
, I had to seek a voice fromkids to be able to say what's
the best way to learn?
How do you learn?
Like you know, do you want towork on a project instead of
this?
Like, how can we do this?
Can we do a talk show insteadof a report?
And really honestly, in 1996, Istarted dabbling in some really
cool ways to bring instructionto life that were just outside
(06:16):
of the box, that were just notthe norm of what I was taught in
college for instructionalpractices, because if I didn't,
my kids would have hated it.
Now I had a good classroommanagement and good rapport, so
kids would have done what Ineeded them to do but they
wouldn't have gained anythingout of it.
And through that interaction andthrough that getting to know
and through that really checkingon kids and then really
(06:38):
differentiating and seeing itallowed kids that might not have
enjoyed history or Texashistory to really come alive,
because they got the experiencein a different way.
It wasn't a worksheet,worksheet, worksheet, test on
Friday.
It was let's stand up and let'sact things out, let's stand up
and be unique in what we'redoing.
And so you know that really,you know, drove me, and so to
(06:59):
take that into the assistantprincipal and the principal role
, you know the school is as muchthe kids as it is ours, and
students have a voice andoftentimes, you know, we ask
teachers about voice in a schooland we ask parents about voice,
but we don't ask kids.
But I did and I do, and it'simportant that I have the pulse
of the campus.
(07:20):
Now, if the kids came to me,jeff, and said we want an open
campus and want to leave, to goduring lunch.
Well, I can't allow that,that's a district policy that we
can't have.
But I can listen and it'simportant that there's a
differentiation, because it'simportant for voice and vote.
Just because students wantsomething doesn't mean they
automatically get something.
(07:43):
And so, really, from that lessonwhere that kid raised his hand
and said he don't care aboutrainfall in El Paso, it taught
me that I have to listen to mystakeholders.
I have to listen and there aretimes where their voice is
relevant and it matters andtheir opinion is just as
important as opinions of anybodywithin there, and sometimes we
have to change because of whatour clientele or our students
dictate to us.
And so, really, back in 1996,in the fall of 96, teaching
(08:07):
about the limited number ofrainfall in Texas took me 29
years to really seek voice.
And within my book I talk alittle bit about the Bloomer
Triangle of Success and it's akind of a tongue-in-cheek way to
put it, but if you can picturea triangle and a triangle is the
strongest shape in geometry,and on each point of the
triangle it's got three partsthat need you to be able to
solicit voice from teachers,parents and students.
(08:30):
And so, really, from thatlesson, I think that from that
day in class really took me tobe the leader that I am today.
Principal JL (08:38):
just that one thing kind of just sets your
course.
That's really great and awesometo hear.
Now let's talk about that nextstep.
Okay, you kind of have thatexperience in the classroom and
then it was like, hey, I'm goingto move into the assistant
principal role.
And so let's talk about whatwas it that had you go classroom
(08:59):
teacher coach into assistantprincipal.
Um, you know what was that?
What was that story?
What's the story behind that?
What inspired that?
Todd Bloomer (09:07):
I worked with a coach at my middle school when I
moved from Houston to SanAntonio and he was going through
and doing his master's afterpractice and he'd come back Eric
Ornley, he's the principal inSan Antonio He'd come back and
in the, in the you know the, thecoach's lounge and the coach's
office you know we talk sportsand then he'd talk about what he
(09:29):
was learning in his instructor,in his classes, and it really
inspired me and I convinced afriend of mine, hector Perales,
who was a coach and a teacherwith me at the middle school, to
to go back.
And really it was, you know,surrounding yourself with just
great people and like I alwaysfelt like I had a command and a
presence, that I could be aneffective leader.
(09:50):
I started volunteering to workon my off period with assistant
principal on the campus andreally enjoyed the day-to-day,
the investigations, the you know, the referrals that they gave
me working with parents, tryingto problem solve, working with
kids, working with teachers andit really inspired me and that
little bit of taste of what anassistant principal was like one
(10:10):
period a day, really fueled meto want to go back and get my
master's and you know, ifanybody's out there, listening
and thinking about it, dragalong a friend, like, honestly,
we went.
There was four of us that droveabout 60 miles really, before,
you know, online was vogue, andwe drove about 60 miles and we
(10:31):
went every other Saturday andthen we went all through the
month of June and, like, thefour of us together, misery
loved company, and so we wereable to band together to be able
to do that.
And so, really, you know,inspired by a good buddy of mine
who's a heck of a principal anda good friend, and then brought
along a couple others, and I'mhappy to say that, hector
Perales, who I dragged alongreluctantly, I hired him to be
(10:52):
an assistant principal at thehigh school that I was at.
And so, you know, really goodstuff.
And so, really, just inspiredby people like and you know,
nick Saban says it, you know,surround yourself with winners
or sit with winners.
The conversation's different.
And when you get around peoplethat really want to change the
world, uh, for lack of betterterms or ideas, like that's what
I was in I was in those circlesof people all of a sudden that
(11:15):
were like, hey, we don't have toaccept this and let's, let's
make change and let's stoptalking about it.
Let's, let's do it.
Principal JL (11:21):
Yeah, that's let's do it.
Yeah, that's really importantto surround yourself with people
that are like-minded, where,hey, we want to change things,
we want to do things differently, because what's currently
working is not working, sothere's got to be a better way
to do things.
No-transcript some lessons youlearned as an assistant
(11:55):
principal that helped you, um,when you took that principal
ship down the road.
Todd Bloomer (12:00):
Uh, problem solving number one um, you know
problem solving number one um,you know problem solving time
management.
Um, going back again tosoliciting voice and listening,
uh, and then working with adults.
Um, you know the the problemsolving is is is the best, and
as a as a former coach, you knowwe're problem solving all the
time.
You call a play and it doesn'twork.
(12:21):
You got to figure something out.
You got like 30 seconds to doit and you know you can't just
practice it during the game.
You have to have preparationleading up to it and so the
planning for it, and so you knowI would make a calendar each
day.
I'd arrive before the sun cameup on as assistant principal and
I'd get my stuff done because Itruly believed you know people
before paper, and, and one ofthe things that I learned, you
(12:44):
know, just being a coach and ateacher, transitioning to an
assistant principal and then toa principal, was I didn't want
to be in an office, Like Ienjoyed people, and you can get
trapped in an office and playassistant principal, play
principal all day long and youcan do it.
There's lots of things to do.
You got reports and emails andcalls and meetings and yada,
(13:04):
yada, yada.
You name it.
You got stuff to do, but youknow what.
You can't run a school from anoffice.
You have to be visible and youhave to be out there interacting
with people and you have to setthe tone.
And if you expect teachers tointeract with kids and the
principal, by golly you betterbe leading the example and
interacting with every kid thatwent by and saying hi to every
teacher that went by.
(13:25):
And so really time management,really problem solving and
really just being out withpeople.
And then, lastly, the thingthat I think separated me from a
lot of other assistantprincipals and then into the
principalship I loved my job andI had great joy in my job
wherever I went.
And I loved lunch duty.
I love talking to kids aboutfantasy football during lunch
(13:47):
duty.
I love passing period duty.
I love finding the quarterbackof the football team, the drum
major, the cheerleader captain.
I love talking to the kid thatI saw working at McDonald's and
just acknowledging them andmaking sure that they felt
recognized and supported.
And I did that as an assistantprincipal and I transitioned
that into the principal role.
Principal JL (14:08):
Awesome.
So what was it that inspiredyou to go from assistant
principal into principalship?
Todd Bloomer (14:13):
You know I'd been an assistant principal seven
years.
I'd been an assistant principalboth the middle school and the
high school and I fell in lovewith the high school Like
honestly, I just fell in lovewith the pace, the energy, the
older age of the students, theextracurricular and I always
knew I wanted to be a highschool principal In our district
, the one that I just retired.
(14:36):
So in the district I justretired from, really the path
was become a middle schoolprincipal and then become a high
school principal.
That was the blueprint tosuccess that they had.
It was a very good blueprint.
Before you can run a school of2,500, let's see if you can run
a school of 750 or 1,200.
And so I was given anopportunity to go.
I was blessed.
(14:57):
I applied for a lot ofprincipalships that I didn't get
, never gave up.
I always sought feedback fromhow I could do better, always
self-analyzed and thought, okay,it's not my turn and sometime
my turn will come up.
I landed a principalship at awonderful middle school, a
secret gem, about 1200.
Kids loved it.
(15:17):
Could have stayed there forever, I could have retired from
there.
But you know, jeff, we'releaders, we're competitive
people.
We're, you know, we're coachesby nature and we always want to
try something and we always wantto leave something a little
better than we found it.
And I had reached four and ahalf years as a middle school
principal and I felt it was timeand the neighborhood school
(15:39):
that I live in that all five ofmy children went to uh, that
high school opened up and I wasthe assistant principal there
for four and a half years uh,four and four years, uh, uh.
Before I became a middle schoolprincipal, I lived a mile down
the road.
The church that I went to wasthe same church the kids went to
.
The grocery store was theirgrocery store.
The park I ran in I saw kids,my neighbors were my kids and I
(16:03):
thought, you know, this is acommunity I love and I wanted to
make a difference, and whatbetter way to make a difference
in a community is, then, serveyour community.
And so I applied and in 2019, Iwas named principal of Winston
Churchill High School in SanAntonio, texas, and I had
reached the epitome of my careerand really honestly you know,
jeff, I just left the professionabout a month ago and I still
(16:27):
have gas in the tank and,honestly speaking, I left where
I fell on a high, like I'd hiredall my assistant principals,
all my counselors but one.
I had football coach, my banddirector numerous positions.
I loved the staff.
I loved going to work.
Teacher satisfaction was offthe charts.
Students' involvement was offthe charts.
(16:47):
Academically we're progressingin all the right spots.
And I thought to myself I don'tknow if I'll ever be able to
have this kind of year again andI decided it's time to step
away.
I'm going to hand the schooloff to another wonderful
assistant principal who's goingto take it to places I couldn't
take it to.
But I loved 24-25 as aprincipal.
When I look back, that was myquote unquote favorite year as a
(17:10):
principal.
And so why do know, why do youleave?
Well, you know I left and sadlywe have a narrative in our
profession of people leavingbecause of burnout and being
forced to leave.
I didn't leave because of that.
I left when I still loved myjob, like I'd get up and go to
work with a, with a beat in mystep, and my wife would say to
me what time are you coming home?
And I'd be like 10 o'clocktonight and while that wears on
(17:34):
a man after a while, it didn'tbother me Wherever I was.
I loved my job.
If I'm at a band concert onTuesday, man, I loved it.
If I was at a musical or a playon a Wednesday, that was my
Broadway and I brought my wifealong, my father was along for
the journey and all my childrenwere there, and so you know, I
kind of summarized the questionright there.
But you know, I jumped inbecause, like it was an
(17:56):
opportunity to serve thecommunity and, honestly, um
little known fact about me, Ihave a couple of tattoos and I
even debated at one pointgetting a tattoo with the high
school on it, you know, but butI I chickened out and I didn't.
But I love the community that Iserved and that's why I jumped
to be a high school principaland I feel like it's important
(18:18):
to tell people why I left.
Also, I left because I stilllove my job.
But I would hate, jeff, onemorning to wake up, my wife say
what time are you going to behome and then me to complain
about it or me not to want to goto that band concert or that
choir concert or that you know,cross country meet at 730 on a
Saturday after I worked.
(18:38):
A Friday night football gameuntil 1030 at night and I've
worked three Saturdays thismonth Like I owe it to kids and
parents to be all in.
And if you're a high schoolprincipal out there and I'll
just speak to high schoolprincipals out there the only
way you can do it is all in.
You know, the late great MacMiller said you know you can't
swim unless you jump in and it'sthe only way to do the job.
Principal JL (19:01):
And.
Todd Bloomer (19:02):
I have a full, not a full, tank, Jeff.
I got about two-thirds of atank of gas, but I worried that
next February that could begetting close to you know, E and
my campus deserves the best andthat's why I stepped away.
Principal JL (19:14):
Yeah, no, I mean, I think that's really important.
I know, like in my my journey,my personal journey, if I ever
get to the point to where Idon't like what I do or I don't
love what I'm doing, that's mycue to say you know a time to
step away, but I absolutely lovewhat I'm doing.
I'm a high school principal aswell.
You know I've been in, you know, small rural schools.
I've been in the Metro andOmaha.
(19:36):
I've been up.
You know all different sizes ofschools and high school is kind
of like where my niche is.
I knew high school is where Iwanted to be and that's where
I'm at and I love what I do.
And you know I'll be going intomy fourth year at the current
principal ship that I'm at rightnow.
Now we all know running largerschool buildings and schools in
(19:59):
general it's time consuming,there's a lot going on.
But how do you build a strongculture?
How do you build that team youkind of talked about?
Hey, I got this school fromthis point to this point, to the
point to where you know whatit's in a great place and I know
the next person is going to beable to come in and take it even
to greater things.
So how did you build that?
(20:21):
What was it like when you gotinto the role?
And then how did you build thatup to this past year, to where
you just guys were humming andjust going on also, yeah.
Todd Bloomer (20:31):
You know culture is, you know, created each day,
each moment, and luckily Iinherited this great school also
, you know the the previousprincipal, dr Justin.
I actually became my boss he'sat central office now as
executive director and so heleft me a good ship.
You know, like the ship wasn'tbare, the ship was going in the
(20:52):
right direction.
So I inherited something thatwas an excellent, you know
school, and so the way I enhancethat is, you know, you hire
strategically and you know I wasable to hire all five of my
assistant principals and youknow each one of them has unique
strengths and I was able topick them based on the strengths
(21:13):
, and one of the things that Ireally like and value is people
that live in my community.
I shared a little bit that mychildren went to school there.
Three of my assistantprincipals either currently live
in the community or hadchildren that attended our
school.
Churchill, and I think when youdo that, you work just a little
bit harder, because that's yourchildren's school, those are
(21:33):
your neighbors, those are yourfriends, and so I think that's a
unique dynamic to our campus.
I also wanted to make sure thatthe shout out to Ginger
McDaniel, a teacher on my campuswho coined a phrase long timers
.
Those are people that have beenon my campus, teachers that
were there longer than the kidshave been alive, that were on
the campus.
So you're looking at 14 yearsplus and really embracing that
(21:57):
knowledge and really walkingalongside of them and listening
to them and tapping into theircorporate knowledge for what you
have and really embracing themand then hiring really well for
rising teachers coming to thecampus, for rising teachers
coming to the campus and, youknow, really working with those
first-year teachers on thecampus to be able to make sure
they had a good structure onboarding and foundation to where
(22:19):
they felt a part of the culture.
You know, jeff, you talked alittle bit about a large high
school 225 adults on the campus.
You know there are adults indifferent departments that you
know have no idea who you knowin the math department, they
have no idea who in the mathdepartment.
They have no idea the sciencedepartment, they only know their
people.
And so how do you bring them on, how do you make them feel at
home?
Because every campus, everyleader you talk to, says we
(22:42):
build a family culture on ourcampus.
Well, if you don't know who'sdown the hall from you.
That's not a family culture andI, as the principal, will have
to model that.
And so, honestly, the see thepeople mantra.
I tried to visit every teacher'sclassroom every single day and
I failed at that every day, butthat was my goal and that got me
out of the office and got meinto different buildings.
Like Churchill High School hadnine buildings and about 35
(23:05):
acres, a very open campus, andif you played in the office all
day long, you may not make it tocertain parts of a building,
but like once a month, and thenimagine if that teacher was off
that period.
You know teachers may never seethe principal and so, honestly,
how does that culture, you know, get built?
Like it starts with theprincipal.
Like, honestly, you have tomodel what you expect and then
(23:25):
you have to, you know, inspect,you know what you have to make
sure that you are holdingyourself accountable and your
team accountable to what youexpect of your staff.
I always look for reasons tosay yes, you know, jeff, if you
came to me and said, hey, my kidis getting an award, they're in
fourth grade, I want to bethere.
Well, that was my job, not foryou to take a sick day or a half
(23:46):
day, but my day, to get yousome coverage to get down there,
because that's what we do forfamily, to get down there,
because that's what we do forfamily.
You know, jeff, if you had aloved one that was sick or hurt
or God forbid passed away, youknow we need to do what we need
to do to take care of you andyour family and that's what we
tried to be able to do.
I sent a Monday morning email730 every Monday.
I delayed delivery and hit theinbox every Monday morning at
(24:07):
730.
And, honestly, the first twoparagraphs talked about what I
did with my wife and kids overthe weekend and that was my way
of telling them like, family isimportant and you need to do
this and we actually.
It evolved into places that Iwent to eat and I would say
something like man, I had thebest hamburger and it was here,
and if you've got a good burger,let me know.
(24:28):
And people started sharing likethat.
And so, like, organically, like,like you connected with people
that you might not connect with,over things you might not have
ever thought before, we lost acat over COVID and um, a
morbidly obese cat, you know,named Meatball, and Meatball,
you know, passed away and Ishared that journey in my Monday
(24:48):
email and a teacher reached outwith a homemade cat recipe to
try to save Meatball.
And I had struggled to connectwith this teacher, you know just
, you know, for no other reasonbut myself, and you know that
was our bond.
And so now we talk, you knowpets and cats all the time
because of those small things,and so you have to model family,
(25:09):
you have to stress theimportance of it, but you also
have to be visible and you alsohave to be the biggest champion
of your school, and so in thatMonday morning I made it a point
to shout out and to celebrate,you know, not just the score of
the football game, but that coollab that we went into in
science, that activity I saw insocial studies, that the
academic UIL, the speech anddebate, the band, all of those
(25:31):
things that were extremelyimportant to what you had.
And then I was visible.
Kids could come up to me andask me anything, and I made it a
point to talk to kids and getto know kids, and I wanted every
kid on my campus of 23 or 2400kids to think I knew their name.
I didn't know every kid's namebecause that's next to
impossible, but I wanted them tothink, jeff, if you walk off
(25:53):
campus, I know who you are andyou know what.
I've lived in the community 25years.
I probably know your mother orfather because I've dealt with
your family before.
I might even text them rightnow to call them if you left.
And so that, just living in thecommunity, embracing who I was,
being Mr Churchill at timesbecause I had a chip on my
shoulder about my campus, I wasan advocate for it.
(26:14):
I was visible, I walkedalongside teachers, I supported
teachers.
I also supported kids to thepoint where you know we were
family and to the point whereyou know kids, you know, kind of
just referred to me as abloomer and it was cool because
I had, like this relationshipwith them.
And then, last thing, I'll justtell you I weren't a pair of
Adidas every day to school, likebig campus, and it was just
(26:36):
hard to be around and outsideit's South Texas, it's hot all
the time and, uh, kidsconstantly commented on my shoe
game and so those were type ofthings that just built this like
weird culture that you can'tquantify, that all of a sudden,
kids started commenting on myfit and I had to look up urban
dictionary, forgot what fit wasbecause I didn't understand.
But you know, those are typethings.
(26:57):
And then, honestly, you saystuff like hey, jeff, what music
are you listening to?
What Netflix shows are youwatching?
And then you build thisrelationship with kids so that
the next time, jeff, you'rehaving a bad day, I got to
relate hey, it's Bloomer.
Jeff, let's go take a walk andtalk, because you know what?
You told me that your favoritegroup was Morgan Wallen, and
(27:17):
let's talk Morgan Wallen songsas we walk down there.
It's just building that and Ithink it's hard because you
can't read about this in books.
You just have to do this andyou have to model it.
And then pretty soon, teachersare wearing Adidas or Hokas to
school and teachers are startingto ask kids about interaction
and teachers are showing up toevents and all of a sudden, that
culture is there.
(27:37):
And then, when you have thatrelationship, the most important
thing that we do is we teachkids.
But you can't teach an18-year-old you know this if
they don't think you care or ifthey don't know you or if they
don't understand the relevancyof it.
And so building that rapportand that relationship with kids,
uh, modeled to teachers, allowsour schools to be able to trend
in the right directionacademically, extracurricular,
(27:58):
co-curricularly, co-curricularand just you know, all of those
types of things.
Principal JL (28:02):
Wow, you hit on a lot of great things there, a lot
of things to unpack there, todd, you know.
Thank you for sharing that.
We're kind of winding down hereon the show and so I want to
kind of get into your book, theBlueprint.
Todd Bloomer (28:17):
Let's go.
Principal JL (28:19):
You know the blueprint book that you have to
survive and thrive as a schooladministrator.
What inspired that book andwhat will people take away from
that?
Todd Bloomer (28:30):
Great, Great.
My brother, Sean, is anassistant principal, you know,
North of San Antonio, and itstarted as an email to him.
Honestly, you know, big brothersupport, you know, Sean, do
these four or five things.
Pretty soon it was a littlebigger in email, became a Google
doc and pretty soon I hadthought I had something to share
.
And so, you know hard, I'm alsoa high school principal, so
(28:51):
when the heck do I have time todo this?
And so it became a project overabout five years and at some
point, you know, it was like,you know, I've never given birth
but I felt like I just had toget this thing off my chest.
I had to birth it Right.
And so I was going toself-publish and the Amazon
self-publish route was great,and and I felt like I had this
insight and these wisdom, thestructure of these systems, this
(29:18):
relevant information, uh, thestory of my journey, successes
and failures, advice from peoplearound the, uh, the nation to
share, and and I pitched it toeverybody and I got rejected by
a whole bunch of people and youknow that's cool, you know
they're lost.
That was, you know, the way Ilook at it.
You know, as a great MelRobbins said, you know, let them
.
You know, now I'm going to letme go find a way to be able to,
you know, to get this.
And so our friend, DarrenPepper, who you know wrote
awesome, you know came in,published my book and it came
(29:40):
out in August of 2024 andreceived some really good praise
.
It's relevant, it's practicaland, honestly, as we're getting
ready to, a lot of us havealready started our summer, just
ending up schools on the EastCoast it's the perfect book to
read at the pool or the beach.
It's easy read.
It gives advice and structuresand systems.
(30:00):
It'll make you laugh.
It's good for aspiringprincipals.
It's also good for veteranprincipals because it's great
reminders as to you're not alone.
It's great reminders to all ofus have failed and there's a way
out of the failure.
And so, you know, right now thebook is.
I'm really trying hard, bycreating some Instagram reels,
(30:22):
to highlight and promote thebook, because I do think it's
got a practical value to peopleand I do think if you pick it up
and you read it, you'd walkaway with that.
Now, last thing before I leaveif you only got time to read one
chapter of the book, I wouldread chapter six.
Chapter six has 10 actionableitems that I would do
differently if I could do itover again as a principal,
(30:45):
because the job is difficult togrind.
And these are 10 things that Iwould do differently to extend
the longevity.
You know, like I said, I stillhave gas in the tank.
There are friends out therethat are reaching out and I
refer them back to chapter 10.
Just pick one of these.
One of these, I think would beinsightful to be able to help
you survive and thrive as aschool administrator.
So thanks for asking thatquestion.
Principal JL (31:06):
Yeah, no problem man.
Yeah, no problem man.
Yeah, I know I see you on IGall the time and you're putting
out some great stuff.
There's some great contentthere, so I would recommend
people to give Todd a follow,and all the information that
he's getting out there has beenreally great.
So, todd, you know we got, youknow, a little bit of time here,
(31:26):
and so let's talk about, justlike, what's next for you.
And then the last thing I wantyou to end on is what advice
would you give to aspiringprincipals or people that are in
the role?
What would you say for advicefor them to have to end off the
show today?
Todd Bloomer (31:47):
Yeah, great, thank you for asking that.
I'm excited.
In July I start as the directorof school leadership for the
Archdiocese of San Antonio.
I'll be working with Catholicschool principals and I'm
excited to be able to walkalongside principals in a role
of coaching and support in thatcapacity.
It's a brand new position.
(32:08):
So I'm excited also because itwas just created coaching and
support in that capacity it's abrand new position.
So I'm excited also because itwas just created and so we'll be
able to find that kind of as wego and selfishly, I'm hoping
that some of the systems andstructures from the blueprint
will be able to go into.
I'll be able to put intopractice for them.
But honestly, I'm lookingforward to getting to know these
leaders.
It's a different realm for me.
While I am a Catholic and I wasan altar boy growing up, I was
(32:29):
a public school kid the wholeway and worked in public school,
and so being able to tap intoyou know leading, starting all
meetings in prayer, you know andworking with you know people
that are walking in faith, alsoalong with academic and
extracurricular stuff, it'sreally exciting to me and so I'm
excited about that.
That'll start up in the nextmonth.
You know what is next.
A second I'm working on theblueprint part two new and the
(32:52):
blueprint part two is meant tobe a companion to my first book
and it is a month by month guidefor what principles should
focus on.
And so one of the things thatpeople reached out to me after
reading the blueprint was hey, Ineed a little more structure.
Like October, like what theheck man, nobody warned me about
?
Shocktober, like how do Ihandle this and nobody warned me
(33:12):
about.
You know what I should be doingin July to prepare for August,
or how I should prepare in Mayfor coming back to school, and
while lots of districts havegreat checklists, you know
checklists are kind of stagnant.
You just kind of look at themand you kind of forget about
them.
So this is interactive.
It's got a inspiration to beginwith, it's got a scripture to
begin with, it's got topics totalk about at monthly faculty
(33:33):
meetings.
It's got checklists.
But it's also like I expand ona lot of things and I share
things that help me get throughthose months, and then each
month I have a differentprincipal that writes about that
month and how they kind of getthrough that.
So I'm excited about that.
I'm pushing hard to to get itto market, but I'm not sure it's
going to get to market beforethe start of the school year,
(33:53):
and so maybe a soft launch inthe fall and then coming back
hard in the spring.
I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm not sureabout that.
How do we end this?
I end this with um, uh, youknow advice to you, know what I
(34:15):
would give to you, jeff, formyself, if we could rewind time.
And um, here's what I would saymake sure that your spouse and
your children understand thedemands of the job.
Make sure that, uh, your spouse, um, shout out Sharon,
hopefully you're still listeningto me, babe.
You know love you.
Um, you know she took a backseat to my, my career, and
that's unfair's unfair, and youknow I'm lucky she stayed with
me, beautiful woman inside andout, and you know she helped
raise our kids while I was offraising other people's kids, and
(34:35):
so you know it makes youemotional when you think about
that, because you know timepasses and you can't rewind time
, and so I would make sure thatyour spouse understands that
this job and here's what itcould do to a family, or with
time, jeff, you're a high schoolprincipal.
You know if something happens inthe evening.
They're calling you and you maysay you know after six o'clock
(34:57):
or after seven o'clock it'sfamily time.
You got an emergency at school.
They're calling the principal.
You know they're not callingthe.
You know the science teacherand stuff and so you know, like
your spouse has to understandthat there, the science teacher
and stuff, and so your spousehas to understand that.
And there's been many nightsthat family events have been
ruined because of somethinghappening on our campus.
Now we all get better at thatas we move along the profession.
(35:18):
But I didn't do a good job oftalking to my wife early on to
say, hey, babe, my whole careeris going to dictate where we go
on vacation, what we do, whatSaturday looks like, what Sunday
looks like, what Wednesdaylooks like.
And then honestly I would sayto any principal that has
children never miss an eventthat they have.
Now you know we got to go tograduation, we got to go to big
district meetings.
You know that is what it is.
(35:38):
But if your child, you know,shout out to my son Andrew.
He got the role in third orfourth grade as a weed.
He was him and a couple of hisbuddies were weeds in a school
play no lie, weed number weed.
He was him and a couple of hisbuddies were weeds in a school
play.
No lie, weed number one, twoand three.
And Andrew Bloomer was a weedand I went to it and it was, he
had no lines, he just stoodthere and it's still a family
memory that we have to this dayand I think about I could have
(35:59):
said oh, he's just a weed, I'llget him next time and so you
know being able to kind of goand and do that.
So I would say, jeff, that's myadvice Make sure your spouse
knows and your kids know.
Principal JL (36:10):
All right, awesome .
Now, if you guys want to getconnected with Todd Bloomer, I'm
going to put all thisinformation down in the show
notes.
Todd, it was great to have youon the show today.
Thank you for being a part ofthe Educational Leadership
Podcast.
Todd Bloomer (36:24):
Thank you for what you do, jeff, and thank you for
being patient with me.
Principal JL (36:32):
It's a long time coming.
We connected what an episodewith Todd Bloomer.
His journey in education isinspiring and gets you thinking
about how you can lead yourschool more effectively.
His honesty, experience andwisdom are exactly what school
leaders need to hear.
I hope this episode resonatedwith you today and if it did,
please share it with someone whoneeds to hear it.
And don't forget to follow Toddon his social medias and grab a
(36:54):
copy of his book.
The Blueprint Links will be inthe show notes for you.
And until next time, be 1%better you.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.