August 4, 2025 • 34 mins
That moment when you've built a solid foundation, but find yourself staring at the ceiling wondering, "What's next?" This summer, after three years of transformative work as building principal at Hastings High, I hit that wall.
We'd successfully tackled culture, transforming our school from "welcome to the jungle" into a place where students and staff felt valued. We'd implemented systems that increased daily attendance by nearly 4% and reduced chronic absenteeism by 8.9%. The electronic hall passes, thoughtful device policies, and collaborative approach had worked. Yet success created its own challenge: identifying our next mountain to climb.
The answer came from Ted Lasso's iconic dart scene and the powerful philosophy of being "curious, not judgmental." This mindset shift illuminates everything we're doing this year. When a student struggles, rather than judgment, we exercise curiosity. When district initiatives emerge, rather than resistance, we seek understanding. When teachers face challenges, we ask questions instead of making assumptions.
Our next frontier is clear: instructional excellence. While maintaining our cultural gains, we're focusing on growing instructional capacity through peer observation, curriculum alignment, and deeper professional learning communities. I'm committing to spending at least one block period daily in classrooms, engaging in curious conversations rather than evaluative walkthroughs.
Four questions now guide my leadership: Do people love coming to our school? Would I send my own child here? How can I be 1% better today? How can I exercise curiosity in every interaction?
Whether you're a seasoned administrator or an emerging leader, this episode offers a transparent look at the cyclical journey of educational leadership – how building culture enables instructional growth, which further strengthens culture. What's your next mountain to climb, and how might curiosity transform your approach?
Episode 8: Reducing Chronic Absenteeism in Schools!
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Episode Transcript
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Principal JL (00:00):
Let me ask you something what do you do when
you've spent three yearsbuilding something and you
suddenly realize you're not surewhat comes next?
That was me this summer,staring at the ceiling,
wrestling with questions notabout where we've been, but
where we're going.
We've tackled culture, we'vereimagined systems, we've
(00:20):
improved attendance, but nowit's time to ask what's the next
mountain to climb?
Today, I want to take youbehind the curtains.
This episode isn't aboutprograms or policy.
It's about reflection, renewaland powerful mindset shift
that's guided everything I dothis year Be curious.
(00:41):
Ted Lasso said it, but it'sdeeper than a quote.
It's a challenge, a call tolead with empathy and grow with
purpose.
So let's talk about it whatwe've built, where we're going
and how curiosity just might bethe key to unlocking our next
chapter.
Now let's get to the episode.
(01:02):
Welcome back everybody foranother episode of the
Educational Leadership Podcast.
I am so excited.
If you watch my videos onYouTube or on TikTok, instagram
(01:25):
any of those platforms you'll beseeing behind me my brand new
neon sign Educational Leadershipwith Principal JL.
It's sweet.
My family got it for me for mybirthday.
So my daughters and my wife allgot together and got me this
sweet sign.
And then just this past weekend, I actually painted and redid
(01:50):
the studio area that I record inso I could have this sign ready
to go.
I'm super excited to kind ofshow off this sign today in this
episode.
If you're listening on thepodcast you can't see it, so
watch out for some videos comingup.
You'll get to see it in thosevideo clips that I create when I
do my episodes.
(02:11):
Well, in today's episode I'mgoing solo.
Today I have some things I'vebeen really kind of just
thinking about.
This summer's been really agreat summer for me, but at the
same time, if I'm beingcompletely honest, I kind of hit
a wall.
I'm kind of like going man,what's next for us?
I needed to be ready for the 25, 26 school years of the
(02:35):
building principal.
What do I need to get my staffready for?
So there's a lot of thingsgoing on.
I got some time to get away fora while, be with my family, do
some camping, boating, doingsome fun stuff like that.
I also got to go to theNational Principal Conference
and got to meet up with somepeople that have been on this
(02:55):
show, like Dr Cynthia Rapeto.
We have Dr Ed O'Eckett, youknow I got to meet.
Oh yeah, dr Sanfilippo, I'mgoing to leave some people
Principal Mo I got to meet allof them in person, as well as
getting to meet like PrincipalCaffele, principal L, you know
meeting some really great peopleand really having to do some
(03:19):
really cool just learningthrough the conference and those
things like that.
So if you've never gone toNational Principal Conference, I
would encourage you to do thatas well, as well as doing the
state conference as well.
Also, bill Curry he's theNebraska Middle School Principal
of the Year.
He was out at the NationalConference.
(03:40):
I also got to run into him atthe state conference here in
Nebraska, got to meet up andtalk with him.
Him and I had some fun while wewere up in Seattle.
So it was a great time to justnetwork and get to see those
people and I would just stronglyencourage people to network and
do those things if you get achance as well.
With the state conference I gotto meet and get to see a bunch
(04:03):
of people in the state.
Some of you guys listen to thepodcast.
I really appreciate those ofyou that have said hey, keep
going, we really like whatyou're doing.
That means a lot to me, comingfrom the people that I network
with and things like that.
But I also have some reallygreat guests coming up on the
podcast.
(04:23):
I got Principal Erin Jones.
She is actually a Region 4president.
I'm going to have her on theshow coming up.
I'm going to have Bill Curry,the Middle School Principal of
the Year in Nebraska he's goingto be on the show.
Jerry Mack he's the High SchoolPrincipal of the Year from the
state of Nebraska and I'm goingto have him on the show as well
(04:45):
as Jemay.
Jemay is also at principal ofthe year out of Iowa and I'm
going to have her on the show,so I'm excited to bring her on,
as well as Dr Donovan small.
The second is also scheduled tobe on the show.
So I have a lot of great gueststhat I'm going to have coming
up here over the next months andhave some more guests on the
(05:06):
works.
I'm not going to really say whothey are until they actually
get scheduled in but, like Isaid, I got some really great
things going on with the podcast.
I'm really excited.
But with that further ado, Ireally want to dive in to some
things I was thinking about,like I said, this summer.
You know I hit a wall.
I was lost and trying to figureout what to do and, to be
(05:30):
honest, these last three years,as being the building principal
of the school that I'm at rightnow, we really focused on
culture.
We really focused on being ateam, working together,
collaborating, creating awelcoming environment for our
kids, for our staff, for ourcommunity, because when I got
(05:53):
here, there's a lot ofnegativity surrounding the
school and we really wanted tochange that narrative.
Something that I learned fromDr Joe Sanfilippo is you want to
control that narrative from DrJoe Sanfilippo, is you want to
control that narrative?
You want to be the one sayingall the great things that are
happening, find the joy in yourjob.
Those things like that reallyresonated with me as a young
principal and something that Ireally thought about a lot this
(06:17):
summer when I was thinking aboutwhat's our next step, which way
are we going to go?
In order for us to really moveforward, I have to think about
what we have done over the lastthree years.
In the last three years, wereally focused on creating that
warm, welcoming environment.
One of the things we did, weuse our PBIS team in this
(06:38):
situation to where we wanted tohave people understand like, hey
, we want to greet kids in thehallway, we want to say, hey,
we're glad you're here whensomebody is not there and
they've been gone.
For instead of saying likewhere you've been and give them
the business and 99 questionsand trying to figure out and
having that.
You know that type of rapport.
(06:59):
It's more like hey, you know,we're glad you're here.
Hey, you know I missed you.
Know, we're glad you're here.
Hey, you know I missed you.
I'm really glad you're here.
If there's anything I could doto help you get caught up, I'm
here to help you.
Things like that, like that justchanges the flow or just the
energy that you give those kidswhen they are gone.
Because when I got here, kidsdidn't want to come to school.
(07:21):
They were just like no man, Iwant to be there and we have
kids just wandering the hallways.
It felt like just a crazyatmosphere.
Really we talk about welcome tothe jungle at our school and
really it felt like a jungle inthat first year with everything
that's going on.
You know, I listened to thestaff.
I got my school improvementteam involved and we really
(07:42):
started working in that firstyear.
How do we change the things?
What are the things that areholding us back and what do we
need to do to make those changes?
Not just talk about them, butactually create real change,
have systematic approaches andthings like that, so that first
year we're talking aboutwelcoming the kids, welcoming
the staff, and I had to model.
(08:04):
I had to go out and go.
You know what, if I'm asking myteachers to do these things,
I'm going to do them too, and soI really wanted to greet kids
and get to know them, get toknow my staff, do my interviews.
I talked about that in my otherepisodes.
I went around and purposely,intentionally, got to know my
staff by name and things I like.
(08:25):
Those were really importantsteps I had to take in that
first year, but it really wasthe collective effort of our
school improvement team.
We already have a leadershipteam.
That was really great, becauseit's our leadership within our
building that we'd look to tryto help kids.
That's where we run our MTSSprocess through and everything
like that.
The school improvement team isthat team of teachers where we
(08:48):
get people from each departmentbe able to go back and go.
Hey, here's some things wetalked about.
Here's some things we need todo.
Here's some things we'rethinking about Get that input,
bring it back to the group andreally just have dialogue and
talk about what are next steps.
How are we going to make thosechanges?
So, really, in that first yearthat School Improvement Team
tackled these issues we had totackle.
(09:12):
What are we going to do aboutthese personal electronic
devices?
That's where we looked atupdating the policy we have on
hand.
The other thing is is there'skids everywhere?
I felt like we were chasingkids, trying to get them back in
class.
We're going here, we're goingthere, so how do we get those
kids to class, be where theyneed to be?
That was another issue that wetackled as well, and so these
are the things that they came upwith.
(09:33):
Hey, we're going to create aelectronic device, a personal
electronic device policy, towhere you can't access these
things during the class time.
Yeah, you can have it betweenperiods, you can have it at
lunch, before and after school,but if class time, instructional
time, we're going to hold tighton that and we're able to roll
that out.
(09:53):
The other thing was is wecreated the e-hall pass system?
We didn't create it, we justgot the e-hall passes because
we're selling paper passes right.
That's ridiculous to keep doingthat with a thousand kids and
the staff we have doing theelectronic passes.
We're something that we reallywere interested in.
We were able to do that as well, and the teachers asked for
this hall monitor stuff.
(10:14):
They used to have it a longtime ago but they wanted to
bring it back and I was, likeyou, sure this is going to add
an extra duty.
And we talked about it and theysaid yes, and they were really
dedicated to making this better.
Well, we implemented all thosethings in year two and I will
tell you, man, it really cleanedup the hallways.
Kids were in class.
I had students saying, hey, I'mpaying attention more in school
(10:36):
because I'm not on my phone,I'm not on my electronic
personal device because I knowI'm not supposed to be.
At the same time, we have these.
We're one to ones withcomputers, so there's really no
reason why they need to be onthem.
But at the same time, there'saccountability.
Everybody was on the same pageand the best part about that is
the teachers were the ones thatrolled this out, and that was
(10:57):
the best part about it is beingthe collaborative team mindset
and be able to do these thingstogether and so we had about a
95% approval rating after thesecond year with all these
things and, like I said, theyalways got cleared, kids were in
class.
It seemed like, yeah, man,we're doing really, really good.
But we still had this underlyingproblem was chronic absenteeism
(11:20):
was a huge deal, and it's notjust a huge deal in our school
but it's a huge deal across thenation.
And so that's when, in year two, the school improvement team
took what, my assistantprincipal and my former
superintendent came back andsaid, hey, we saw this at admin
days.
Let's look at it.
We did, we looked at it and wejust basically thank you, norris
(11:40):
High for the attendance policy,because we took their
attendance policy and we createdit for Hastings High School and
make it work for us.
And how do we do that?
And we have a holistic approachto attendance.
We have an MTSS system that werolled out in year three from
the work in year two to roll outto create systems for
(12:05):
attendance.
We were able to help kids rightaway.
We were you know, hey, you'remissing a day.
Boom, you know, our attendancecoordinator was right there
asking those kids were.
You know, really, you know whatcan we do to help you make sure
your school, because we'rereally really got tight on our
attendance and we really wantedto help kids and so we wanted to
(12:25):
help kids, want to help theirfamily.
We have it to where.
You know, we have three layersof supports and you can check
this out.
I have a whole episode on howwe battled our chronic apathyism
and how that whole systemworked.
You can check that out.
I will have to put that episodein the show notes because I'm
not remembering off the top ofmy head right now, but I'll put
(12:46):
that episode in the show notes.
It really talks about thatchronic apathyism and how we
battle that through oursystematic approach.
But that was year two, that weare year three.
We implemented from year two,you know, school improvement
team and this last year was kindof like man, what do we do next
?
And so we talked about a lot ofthings.
Well, one thing we kept goingback to this third year as a
(13:11):
school improvement team istrying to get our freshmen off
to a great start right, and sogetting our freshmen off to a
great start.
I'll be honest with you thelast three years.
Our freshmen are coming in,they're looking around, they're
like going holy crap, this is alot to take in.
There's a lot of things goingon.
I'm not understanding thisblock schedule very well.
It's a modified block, sothat's added more confusion to
(13:34):
them.
But at the same time, ourmiddle school kids are in a team
concept middle school and ifyou don't know what that is,
that basically means you have awing of sixth graders, a wing of
seventh graders and a wing ofeighth graders and they stay on
those wings.
They have team A and team B,right, and they stay on those
teams throughout their middleschool year.
(13:55):
There's not a lot ofintermixing.
There's some.
There's a little bit, but not alot.
You come to the high school, youhave four grade levels of
craziness, it seems like forthese guys coming in.
So we really weren't giving ourfreshmen a great start to the
year, and so what we did as aschool improvement team is we
(14:15):
really say you know what, we aregoing to take a day off from
our service in service day.
So we have four pre-servicedays.
I'm taking four days andcrunching into three for what we
need to do.
And we're taking that fourthday and we're bringing it.
It's a mandatory day forfreshmen.
They have to come as a tennistaker.
(14:36):
Those freshmen are coming toschool by themselves and so
we're going to be able to dothings like hey, we're going to
run them through their schedule,we're going to feed them lunch,
we're going to have some funactivities, I'm going to do a
presentation, the activitiesdirector is going to do a little
presentation.
She's going to talk about somestuff.
I'm going to have them gothrough their schedule.
(14:56):
So we have a black day and anorange day.
We're going to have them, we'regoing to feed them lunch, I'm
going to get them ice cream andthen at the end of the day we're
going to have an activitiesfair and it's not going to be
like a full day, it's going tobe our Wednesday schedule, so
they're done by 245.
But the whole goal of that isto have the freshmen come in,
get acclimated, get to knowtheir teachers before we bring
(15:16):
everybody in and it's just acrazy zoo, it seems like at
times at the beginning of theyear we're.
Hopefully that will be a greatsuccess.
I believe it will be because itwas a collaborative effort by
our school improvement team andI'm excited about it because you
know I've been, you know we'vebeen planning for it and we got
the things there ready to go.
It's just to execute the planand really do the things we need
(15:41):
to do on those ends.
Here's some things that we had.
We had some mantras over thelast three years.
We talked about hey, how do yoube 1% better every day, making
incremental changes to getbetter so you can make those big
gains throughout the year?
We also had the theexpectations are the
(16:01):
expectations mantra.
To where?
Hey, you know what?
These are the expectations.
We're going to hold you to ahigh expectation because we
believe in you, we know you cando it, so we're going to hold
you to a high expectation whenit comes to your personal cell
phone device, when it comes toyour attendance, when it comes
to your ability to learn.
We want you to learn and be thebest you can be.
But at the same time, we'reholding ourselves accountable as
(16:24):
well, because we're creatingthese systems to help us have a
systematic approach to theseissues.
We're having and I'm going tosay this after one year of
putting in that attendancepolicy.
We increased daily averageattendance by 3.97%, so about 40
kids a day were attendingschool more regularly.
(16:47):
We dropped our chronic aptitudeby one year.
Now this is from our 2023-2024versus our 2024-25 school year
result.
So at the end of this last yearwe decreased chronic apnea by
8.9%, which is about 89 lessstudents that were chronically
absent.
Now we got a long ways to go.
(17:08):
We're not where we want to bewith it, but we're in a great
start.
So I'm really excited to seethe work that we have done over
the last three years carry over.
That's what I'm excited to see.
That stuff just keeps going.
It's not like we're going tostop worrying about culture.
We're going to stop worryingabout the things we're doing.
We're going to continue thosethings.
A we know they work.
(17:29):
B it's a collaborative effortand we have things in place to
hold ourselves and to hold ourkids and hold everybody
accountable so we can make thegains and the strides we want
and make Hastings High the besthigh school in the state of
Nebraska and, in my opinion, inthe nation.
That's the goal right.
That's what we want to do andthat's what our goal is is to
(17:52):
make it the best place possible.
That's the work we've done overthe last three years.
Now, that's where I startedgoing.
We've done our last three years.
Now that's where I startedgoing.
What's next?
What now?
What's my next step as abuilding principal?
And I was lost.
I was like going holy smokes.
We've done all these things.
We've done the, you know,building the culture,
(18:14):
environment.
What's our next step?
Well, we have some thingshappening at Hastings that you
know.
For us, there's going to be alot of change this year, right,
we're going to be having a brandnew superintendent, a brand new
curriculum director, a brandnew special education director
(18:36):
and we're a brand new operationsmanager.
Now, the operations manager isnot new to the district.
This is new to the role.
So we got like four districtoffice positions that are going
to be new, and so there's goingto be a lot of change, right,
and that made me go, you knowwhat?
This year?
We have to be curious, and becurious is the thing that keeps
(18:59):
sticking out in my mind, and so,to kind of help you understand
it I'm getting this from tedlasso, the dark scene.
Right, be curious, and to helpyou guys kind of understand
where I'm going to go with this.
I really want to play the scene, the dark scenes, about a
minute long to, where ted lassois talking about being curious
(19:22):
and not judgmental.
So I'm going to go ahead andplay that for you and then I'll
talk about it at the end.
Ted Lasso (Dart Scene) (19:28):
What do I need to win?
Two triple twitties and abullseye.
Good luck.
You know, rupert, guys haveunderestimated me my entire life
and for years I neverunderstood why.
It used to really bother me.
But then one day I was drivingmy little boy to school and I
saw this quote by Walt Whitman.
(19:50):
It was painted on the wallthere.
It said be curious, notjudgmental.
And I liked that.
So I get back in my car and I'mdriving to work and all of a
sudden it hits me All themfellas that used to belittle me
Not a single one of them werecurious.
You know, they thought they hadeverything all figured out.
(20:12):
So they judged everything andthey judged everyone.
And I realized that they'reunderestimating me.
Who I was had nothing to dowith it.
And I realized that they'reunderestimating me who I was,
had nothing to do with it.
Because if they were curiousthey would ask questions.
You know, questions like haveyou played a lot of darts, ted?
(20:38):
Which I would have answered yes, sir, every Sunday afternoon at
a sports bar with my fatherfrom age 10 to 16 when he passed
away.
Barbecue sauce.
Principal JL (21:00):
Wow, like, think about that Really, really let
that sink in.
Be curious.
What does that mean for us?
Be curious, like you talkedabout?
You know, no one asked himquestions.
No one was curious about him aswell, and so he learned that to
be curious and not to judgethings.
(21:22):
But that's kind of what we needto do coming into this school
year is to be curious about thethings that are going on around
us.
So what does this mean this iswhat sticks with me about that
scene is to be curious this year.
Let's think about it this wayyou have a student that's
(21:43):
struggling.
We don't know why they'restruggling, but be curious, try
to figure out what's going onwith that student, to try to
help them.
They could be not turning intheir homework, they could be,
you know, sleeping in class,they could be not present in
school.
But instead of judging them, weneed to think about being
curious and figuring out what'sgoing on.
(22:04):
What can I do to help them Froma building principal standpoint
?
You know, let's just talk about, you know, staff members.
You know I get this sometimeslike, hey, the staff members
over here is late.
You know this one's taking offsoon.
You know I hear all thesethings, but my thing is I'm not
going to go judge that teacher.
I'm going to go be curious andask questions.
(22:25):
What's going on so I can helpthem.
I want to support them.
That's what that means to becurious.
Let's talk about what if thedistrict comes down and says
this is an initiative that youneed to do?
Well, instead of like you know,no-transcript.
(22:50):
I want to ask questions, I wantto understand the why behind
everything, and so that's kindof what we're talking about this
year.
Coming in is being curious.
Kind of what we're talkingabout this year coming in is
being curious.
That's going to be the title ofmy welcome back presentation
I'm going to do with my staff isto be curious and understand
that everybody is going throughit at one point or time.
(23:11):
We need to be curious, we needto give each other grace, but at
the same time, we got to dowhat we got to do to be better,
and one of those things thatwe're going to talk about this
year is how do we make growthinstructionally?
How do we become betterinstructional people in the
building?
So how am I, as a teacher,getting better instructional to
(23:32):
give that student the besteducation possible.
How am I, as a principal, goingto be the best instructional
leader for that teacher?
Am I getting in the classroom?
Am I having conversations?
Am I doing these things thathelp my staff grow
instructionally?
And that's going to besomething that we're going to
(23:53):
really focus on this year isinstructional strategies how to
get better in the classroom,because right now, we've done
the work with everything thelast three years.
This is our next step.
Our next step is to get betterinstructionally.
We have some amazing teachers.
We have some teachers that canlearn from each other in our
building, and so one of thethings I would really like to do
(24:16):
and I'm working on it, I amtalking to people and trying to
figure this out is how can Icreate a system for peer
observation so my staff can gosee other staff teach, learn
from them, take what they'relearning and implement it back
in their classroom.
That is something I'm going tobe asking teachers to pilot.
How can we make this system?
(24:37):
What is it going to look likefor Hastings High to help
teachers get better by utilizingthe people we have in the
building, you know, and figureout how can we help these
teachers get betterinstructionally, because that's
our next step.
We're also going to be lookingat doing some things with
curriculum alignment and withstate standards.
That's going to be across.
(24:58):
I know I've worked on some ofthat stuff with my core staff,
but this year it's going to beprobably more like a holistic
every.
You know SRT is going to belooking at their standards and
looking for alignment.
I know that's going to happen.
There's more to come on that.
I'm not going to really getinto that too much, but I know
we're going to continue doingthe PLC work.
(25:18):
We're just going to add alittle thing to it, to where we
can make that a better, makesure that we have aligned
standards within the curriculumthat we teach, and so with that,
that's where the instructionalstrategies, that's where being
better instructionally andgrowing instructionally is going
to be kind of where I see usgoing in this year.
(25:38):
For as a building principle andI'm going to be honest with you,
that didn't just happen.
I didn't just think of that outof the blue.
It took me time to think about.
This is where we've been, butthis is where we need to go.
These are the great things wehave done, but you know what we
can get better at this one thing.
This is where the whole gettingbetter 1% better at something.
(26:02):
So we're going to get bettercollectively instructional
strategies in the classroom andI'm going to get better as a
principal on helping that aswell.
So I'm going to do as aprincipal is I'm going to spend
at least one period.
I'm going to try one period aday.
Right, we have block periods,so we're talking 85 minute
(26:22):
period.
So one day it could be secondperiod, one day it could be
third period, one day it couldbe fourth period.
I'm going to block out time inmy schedule to get into
classrooms to have conversationsand you know what.
These aren't going to be likeme doing a walkthrough and
giving you a walkthrough everytime.
It's like going to be more of aconversation about hey, I saw
(26:43):
this, I really liked this.
Hey, tell me more about this.
This is where the whole becurious comes into play for me.
It's where I'm going to go andbe curious in the classroom and
ask teachers, have dialogue,because I want to help make them
the best they can be.
So when I have those formalobservations, informal
walkthroughs and stuff like that, I can help shape them before
(27:03):
they get to those things, and sothat's something I've really
struggled doing over the lastthree years.
But I think this year is theyear I really got to buckle down
and hold myself accountable andbe curious in the classroom and
ask my teachers that I evaluatethe things they're doing and
how can they get better.
And that's kind of where I'm atas a principal and things I
(27:23):
want to do.
Now there's going to be fourquestions I'm going to ask
myself throughout the year.
That's going to help guide meas a principal.
This year.
There's going to be fourquestions that I'm going to
think about.
First question I want to askmyself every day does the staff
(27:44):
at Hastings High School, do theteachers staff, everybody that
comes there, students do theylove coming to Hastings High?
Do they love coming to work?
Do they love coming to school?
Because if they don't, we gotto work on that.
The next question I'm going toask would I send my own child to
my school?
Would I send my own child toHastings High School?
(28:04):
If my answer is no, there'ssomething wrong there.
I got to make sure HastingsHigh is good enough for my own
child.
Hastings High is good enoughfor my staff's children.
It's good enough for people.
That's where we got tocollectively work together and
get better instructionally.
And then another thing is thethird question how can I be 1%
(28:25):
better as a principal?
How can I be 1% better todaythan I was yesterday?
Hey, you know what?
I might've slipped up andforgot to go do some
observations that one day, youknow what, I'm going to get back
on track.
There could be so manydifferent things that I can get
better every day at, and sothat's going to be my third
question is how do I get 1%better today?
(28:46):
And then my fourth thing I kindof alluded to it is to be
curious.
Be curious about everything.
I know we got a newsuperintendent.
I know we got all these newdistrict leaders.
I'm going to be curious, I'mgoing to ask questions.
I want to understand wherethey're coming from so I can
help bring clarity to my staff.
(29:06):
If I'm not bringing clarity tomy staff, then I'm not doing my
job.
And so I want to be curious andask the questions.
I want to ask my teachers, Iwant to ask my students.
You know, be curious aboutthings that come up.
We're going to go through somehard stuff this year.
It's just going to happen.
But as long as we can worktogether, we could be curious
and learn and grow together.
(29:27):
We're going to have a greatschool year there.
You guys have it.
That's kind of what I've beenthinking about throughout the
summer.
Those are things that kind oflike kind of wrapped into a
little bowl there, the directionHastings High is going to go
this year.
I'm really excited about theupcoming school year thing
coming down.
We got less than a week, twoweek and a half and we're going
(29:49):
to have kids in.
I'm going to bring in staffthis coming up week, so it's
going to be a great time.
I'm excited to get people backin the building and to get going
.
If you guys really enjoyed thisepisode, I love it if you share
it with other people, becausethere might be other people out
there thinking some of the samethings I'm thinking.
Share it out.
I would love to hear from you,and it's more just to know that,
(30:11):
hey, you're listening.
The things that we're saying isrelevant to you.
It's something that you getsomething out of.
I would love to hear somefeedback from you about anything
that the show offers you aswell.
With that said, I reallyappreciate you guys listening.
I know people are out therelistening, keep watching TikTok
and IG and you know threads allthe different social media that
(30:34):
I put out there.
I really appreciate the supportyou guys have and I'm really
excited about where this podcastis going and the future of the
podcast.
So, guys, I really appreciateeverything and I hope you guys
are looking to be 1% better.
Let me ask you something what do you do when
you've spent three yearsbuilding something and you
suddenly realize you're not surewhat comes next?
That was me this summer,staring at the ceiling,
wrestling with questions notabout where we've been, but
where we're going.
We've tackled culture, we'vereimagined systems, we've
(00:20):
improved attendance, but nowit's time to ask what's the next
mountain to climb?
Today, I want to take youbehind the curtains.
This episode isn't aboutprograms or policy.
It's about reflection, renewaland powerful mindset shift
that's guided everything I dothis year Be curious.
(00:41):
Ted Lasso said it, but it'sdeeper than a quote.
It's a challenge, a call tolead with empathy and grow with
purpose.
So let's talk about it whatwe've built, where we're going
and how curiosity just might bethe key to unlocking our next
chapter.
Now let's get to the episode.
(01:02):
Welcome back everybody foranother episode of the
Educational Leadership Podcast.
I am so excited.
If you watch my videos onYouTube or on TikTok, instagram
(01:25):
any of those platforms you'll beseeing behind me my brand new
neon sign Educational Leadershipwith Principal JL.
It's sweet.
My family got it for me for mybirthday.
So my daughters and my wife allgot together and got me this
sweet sign.
And then just this past weekend, I actually painted and redid
(01:50):
the studio area that I record inso I could have this sign ready
to go.
I'm super excited to kind ofshow off this sign today in this
episode.
If you're listening on thepodcast you can't see it, so
watch out for some videos comingup.
You'll get to see it in thosevideo clips that I create when I
do my episodes.
(02:11):
Well, in today's episode I'mgoing solo.
Today I have some things I'vebeen really kind of just
thinking about.
This summer's been really agreat summer for me, but at the
same time, if I'm beingcompletely honest, I kind of hit
a wall.
I'm kind of like going man,what's next for us?
I needed to be ready for the 25, 26 school years of the
(02:35):
building principal.
What do I need to get my staffready for?
So there's a lot of thingsgoing on.
I got some time to get away fora while, be with my family, do
some camping, boating, doingsome fun stuff like that.
I also got to go to theNational Principal Conference
and got to meet up with somepeople that have been on this
(02:55):
show, like Dr Cynthia Rapeto.
We have Dr Ed O'Eckett, youknow I got to meet.
Oh yeah, dr Sanfilippo, I'mgoing to leave some people
Principal Mo I got to meet allof them in person, as well as
getting to meet like PrincipalCaffele, principal L, you know
meeting some really great peopleand really having to do some
(03:19):
really cool just learningthrough the conference and those
things like that.
So if you've never gone toNational Principal Conference, I
would encourage you to do thatas well, as well as doing the
state conference as well.
Also, bill Curry he's theNebraska Middle School Principal
of the Year.
He was out at the NationalConference.
(03:40):
I also got to run into him atthe state conference here in
Nebraska, got to meet up andtalk with him.
Him and I had some fun while wewere up in Seattle.
So it was a great time to justnetwork and get to see those
people and I would just stronglyencourage people to network and
do those things if you get achance as well.
With the state conference I gotto meet and get to see a bunch
(04:03):
of people in the state.
Some of you guys listen to thepodcast.
I really appreciate those ofyou that have said hey, keep
going, we really like whatyou're doing.
That means a lot to me, comingfrom the people that I network
with and things like that.
But I also have some reallygreat guests coming up on the
podcast.
(04:23):
I got Principal Erin Jones.
She is actually a Region 4president.
I'm going to have her on theshow coming up.
I'm going to have Bill Curry,the Middle School Principal of
the Year in Nebraska he's goingto be on the show.
Jerry Mack he's the High SchoolPrincipal of the Year from the
state of Nebraska and I'm goingto have him on the show as well
(04:45):
as Jemay.
Jemay is also at principal ofthe year out of Iowa and I'm
going to have her on the show,so I'm excited to bring her on,
as well as Dr Donovan small.
The second is also scheduled tobe on the show.
So I have a lot of great gueststhat I'm going to have coming
up here over the next months andhave some more guests on the
(05:06):
works.
I'm not going to really say whothey are until they actually
get scheduled in but, like Isaid, I got some really great
things going on with the podcast.
I'm really excited.
But with that further ado, Ireally want to dive in to some
things I was thinking about,like I said, this summer.
You know I hit a wall.
I was lost and trying to figureout what to do and, to be
(05:30):
honest, these last three years,as being the building principal
of the school that I'm at rightnow, we really focused on
culture.
We really focused on being ateam, working together,
collaborating, creating awelcoming environment for our
kids, for our staff, for ourcommunity, because when I got
(05:53):
here, there's a lot ofnegativity surrounding the
school and we really wanted tochange that narrative.
Something that I learned fromDr Joe Sanfilippo is you want to
control that narrative from DrJoe Sanfilippo, is you want to
control that narrative?
You want to be the one sayingall the great things that are
happening, find the joy in yourjob.
Those things like that reallyresonated with me as a young
principal and something that Ireally thought about a lot this
(06:17):
summer when I was thinking aboutwhat's our next step, which way
are we going to go?
In order for us to really moveforward, I have to think about
what we have done over the lastthree years.
In the last three years, wereally focused on creating that
warm, welcoming environment.
One of the things we did, weuse our PBIS team in this
(06:38):
situation to where we wanted tohave people understand like, hey
, we want to greet kids in thehallway, we want to say, hey,
we're glad you're here whensomebody is not there and
they've been gone.
For instead of saying likewhere you've been and give them
the business and 99 questionsand trying to figure out and
having that.
You know that type of rapport.
(06:59):
It's more like hey, you know,we're glad you're here.
Hey, you know I missed you.
Know, we're glad you're here.
Hey, you know I missed you.
I'm really glad you're here.
If there's anything I could doto help you get caught up, I'm
here to help you.
Things like that, like that justchanges the flow or just the
energy that you give those kidswhen they are gone.
Because when I got here, kidsdidn't want to come to school.
(07:21):
They were just like no man, Iwant to be there and we have
kids just wandering the hallways.
It felt like just a crazyatmosphere.
Really we talk about welcome tothe jungle at our school and
really it felt like a jungle inthat first year with everything
that's going on.
You know, I listened to thestaff.
I got my school improvementteam involved and we really
(07:42):
started working in that firstyear.
How do we change the things?
What are the things that areholding us back and what do we
need to do to make those changes?
Not just talk about them, butactually create real change,
have systematic approaches andthings like that, so that first
year we're talking aboutwelcoming the kids, welcoming
the staff, and I had to model.
(08:04):
I had to go out and go.
You know what, if I'm asking myteachers to do these things,
I'm going to do them too, and soI really wanted to greet kids
and get to know them, get toknow my staff, do my interviews.
I talked about that in my otherepisodes.
I went around and purposely,intentionally, got to know my
staff by name and things I like.
(08:25):
Those were really importantsteps I had to take in that
first year, but it really wasthe collective effort of our
school improvement team.
We already have a leadershipteam.
That was really great, becauseit's our leadership within our
building that we'd look to tryto help kids.
That's where we run our MTSSprocess through and everything
like that.
The school improvement team isthat team of teachers where we
(08:48):
get people from each departmentbe able to go back and go.
Hey, here's some things wetalked about.
Here's some things we need todo.
Here's some things we'rethinking about Get that input,
bring it back to the group andreally just have dialogue and
talk about what are next steps.
How are we going to make thosechanges?
So, really, in that first yearthat School Improvement Team
tackled these issues we had totackle.
(09:12):
What are we going to do aboutthese personal electronic
devices?
That's where we looked atupdating the policy we have on
hand.
The other thing is is there'skids everywhere?
I felt like we were chasingkids, trying to get them back in
class.
We're going here, we're goingthere, so how do we get those
kids to class, be where theyneed to be?
That was another issue that wetackled as well, and so these
are the things that they came upwith.
(09:33):
Hey, we're going to create aelectronic device, a personal
electronic device policy, towhere you can't access these
things during the class time.
Yeah, you can have it betweenperiods, you can have it at
lunch, before and after school,but if class time, instructional
time, we're going to hold tighton that and we're able to roll
that out.
(09:53):
The other thing was is wecreated the e-hall pass system?
We didn't create it, we justgot the e-hall passes because
we're selling paper passes right.
That's ridiculous to keep doingthat with a thousand kids and
the staff we have doing theelectronic passes.
We're something that we reallywere interested in.
We were able to do that as well, and the teachers asked for
this hall monitor stuff.
(10:14):
They used to have it a longtime ago but they wanted to
bring it back and I was, likeyou, sure this is going to add
an extra duty.
And we talked about it and theysaid yes, and they were really
dedicated to making this better.
Well, we implemented all thosethings in year two and I will
tell you, man, it really cleanedup the hallways.
Kids were in class.
I had students saying, hey, I'mpaying attention more in school
(10:36):
because I'm not on my phone,I'm not on my electronic
personal device because I knowI'm not supposed to be.
At the same time, we have these.
We're one to ones withcomputers, so there's really no
reason why they need to be onthem.
But at the same time, there'saccountability.
Everybody was on the same pageand the best part about that is
the teachers were the ones thatrolled this out, and that was
(10:57):
the best part about it is beingthe collaborative team mindset
and be able to do these thingstogether and so we had about a
95% approval rating after thesecond year with all these
things and, like I said, theyalways got cleared, kids were in
class.
It seemed like, yeah, man,we're doing really, really good.
But we still had this underlyingproblem was chronic absenteeism
(11:20):
was a huge deal, and it's notjust a huge deal in our school
but it's a huge deal across thenation.
And so that's when, in year two, the school improvement team
took what, my assistantprincipal and my former
superintendent came back andsaid, hey, we saw this at admin
days.
Let's look at it.
We did, we looked at it and wejust basically thank you, norris
(11:40):
High for the attendance policy,because we took their
attendance policy and we createdit for Hastings High School and
make it work for us.
And how do we do that?
And we have a holistic approachto attendance.
We have an MTSS system that werolled out in year three from
the work in year two to roll outto create systems for
(12:05):
attendance.
We were able to help kids rightaway.
We were you know, hey, you'remissing a day.
Boom, you know, our attendancecoordinator was right there
asking those kids were.
You know, really, you know whatcan we do to help you make sure
your school, because we'rereally really got tight on our
attendance and we really wantedto help kids and so we wanted to
(12:25):
help kids, want to help theirfamily.
We have it to where.
You know, we have three layersof supports and you can check
this out.
I have a whole episode on howwe battled our chronic apathyism
and how that whole systemworked.
You can check that out.
I will have to put that episodein the show notes because I'm
not remembering off the top ofmy head right now, but I'll put
(12:46):
that episode in the show notes.
It really talks about thatchronic apathyism and how we
battle that through oursystematic approach.
But that was year two, that weare year three.
We implemented from year two,you know, school improvement
team and this last year was kindof like man, what do we do next
?
And so we talked about a lot ofthings.
Well, one thing we kept goingback to this third year as a
(13:11):
school improvement team istrying to get our freshmen off
to a great start right, and sogetting our freshmen off to a
great start.
I'll be honest with you thelast three years.
Our freshmen are coming in,they're looking around, they're
like going holy crap, this is alot to take in.
There's a lot of things goingon.
I'm not understanding thisblock schedule very well.
It's a modified block, sothat's added more confusion to
(13:34):
them.
But at the same time, ourmiddle school kids are in a team
concept middle school and ifyou don't know what that is,
that basically means you have awing of sixth graders, a wing of
seventh graders and a wing ofeighth graders and they stay on
those wings.
They have team A and team B,right, and they stay on those
teams throughout their middleschool year.
(13:55):
There's not a lot ofintermixing.
There's some.
There's a little bit, but not alot.
You come to the high school, youhave four grade levels of
craziness, it seems like forthese guys coming in.
So we really weren't giving ourfreshmen a great start to the
year, and so what we did as aschool improvement team is we
(14:15):
really say you know what, we aregoing to take a day off from
our service in service day.
So we have four pre-servicedays.
I'm taking four days andcrunching into three for what we
need to do.
And we're taking that fourthday and we're bringing it.
It's a mandatory day forfreshmen.
They have to come as a tennistaker.
(14:36):
Those freshmen are coming toschool by themselves and so
we're going to be able to dothings like hey, we're going to
run them through their schedule,we're going to feed them lunch,
we're going to have some funactivities, I'm going to do a
presentation, the activitiesdirector is going to do a little
presentation.
She's going to talk about somestuff.
I'm going to have them gothrough their schedule.
(14:56):
So we have a black day and anorange day.
We're going to have them, we'regoing to feed them lunch, I'm
going to get them ice cream andthen at the end of the day we're
going to have an activitiesfair and it's not going to be
like a full day, it's going tobe our Wednesday schedule, so
they're done by 245.
But the whole goal of that isto have the freshmen come in,
get acclimated, get to knowtheir teachers before we bring
(15:16):
everybody in and it's just acrazy zoo, it seems like at
times at the beginning of theyear we're.
Hopefully that will be a greatsuccess.
I believe it will be because itwas a collaborative effort by
our school improvement team andI'm excited about it because you
know I've been, you know we'vebeen planning for it and we got
the things there ready to go.
It's just to execute the planand really do the things we need
(15:41):
to do on those ends.
Here's some things that we had.
We had some mantras over thelast three years.
We talked about hey, how do yoube 1% better every day, making
incremental changes to getbetter so you can make those big
gains throughout the year?
We also had the theexpectations are the
(16:01):
expectations mantra.
To where?
Hey, you know what?
These are the expectations.
We're going to hold you to ahigh expectation because we
believe in you, we know you cando it, so we're going to hold
you to a high expectation whenit comes to your personal cell
phone device, when it comes toyour attendance, when it comes
to your ability to learn.
We want you to learn and be thebest you can be.
But at the same time, we'reholding ourselves accountable as
(16:24):
well, because we're creatingthese systems to help us have a
systematic approach to theseissues.
We're having and I'm going tosay this after one year of
putting in that attendancepolicy.
We increased daily averageattendance by 3.97%, so about 40
kids a day were attendingschool more regularly.
(16:47):
We dropped our chronic aptitudeby one year.
Now this is from our 2023-2024versus our 2024-25 school year
result.
So at the end of this last yearwe decreased chronic apnea by
8.9%, which is about 89 lessstudents that were chronically
absent.
Now we got a long ways to go.
(17:08):
We're not where we want to bewith it, but we're in a great
start.
So I'm really excited to seethe work that we have done over
the last three years carry over.
That's what I'm excited to see.
That stuff just keeps going.
It's not like we're going tostop worrying about culture.
We're going to stop worryingabout the things we're doing.
We're going to continue thosethings.
A we know they work.
(17:29):
B it's a collaborative effortand we have things in place to
hold ourselves and to hold ourkids and hold everybody
accountable so we can make thegains and the strides we want
and make Hastings High the besthigh school in the state of
Nebraska and, in my opinion, inthe nation.
That's the goal right.
That's what we want to do andthat's what our goal is is to
(17:52):
make it the best place possible.
That's the work we've done overthe last three years.
Now, that's where I startedgoing.
We've done our last three years.
Now that's where I startedgoing.
What's next?
What now?
What's my next step as abuilding principal?
And I was lost.
I was like going holy smokes.
We've done all these things.
We've done the, you know,building the culture,
(18:14):
environment.
What's our next step?
Well, we have some thingshappening at Hastings that you
know.
For us, there's going to be alot of change this year, right,
we're going to be having a brandnew superintendent, a brand new
curriculum director, a brandnew special education director
(18:36):
and we're a brand new operationsmanager.
Now, the operations manager isnot new to the district.
This is new to the role.
So we got like four districtoffice positions that are going
to be new, and so there's goingto be a lot of change, right,
and that made me go, you knowwhat?
This year?
We have to be curious, and becurious is the thing that keeps
(18:59):
sticking out in my mind, and so,to kind of help you understand
it I'm getting this from tedlasso, the dark scene.
Right, be curious, and to helpyou guys kind of understand
where I'm going to go with this.
I really want to play the scene, the dark scenes, about a
minute long to, where ted lassois talking about being curious
(19:22):
and not judgmental.
So I'm going to go ahead andplay that for you and then I'll
talk about it at the end.
Ted Lasso (Dart Scene) (19:28):
What do I need to win?
Two triple twitties and abullseye.
Good luck.
You know, rupert, guys haveunderestimated me my entire life
and for years I neverunderstood why.
It used to really bother me.
But then one day I was drivingmy little boy to school and I
saw this quote by Walt Whitman.
(19:50):
It was painted on the wallthere.
It said be curious, notjudgmental.
And I liked that.
So I get back in my car and I'mdriving to work and all of a
sudden it hits me All themfellas that used to belittle me
Not a single one of them werecurious.
You know, they thought they hadeverything all figured out.
(20:12):
So they judged everything andthey judged everyone.
And I realized that they'reunderestimating me.
Who I was had nothing to dowith it.
And I realized that they'reunderestimating me who I was,
had nothing to do with it.
Because if they were curiousthey would ask questions.
You know, questions like haveyou played a lot of darts, ted?
(20:38):
Which I would have answered yes, sir, every Sunday afternoon at
a sports bar with my fatherfrom age 10 to 16 when he passed
away.
Barbecue sauce.
Principal JL (21:00):
Wow, like, think about that Really, really let
that sink in.
Be curious.
What does that mean for us?
Be curious, like you talkedabout?
You know, no one asked himquestions.
No one was curious about him aswell, and so he learned that to
be curious and not to judgethings.
(21:22):
But that's kind of what we needto do coming into this school
year is to be curious about thethings that are going on around
us.
So what does this mean this iswhat sticks with me about that
scene is to be curious this year.
Let's think about it this wayyou have a student that's
(21:43):
struggling.
We don't know why they'restruggling, but be curious, try
to figure out what's going onwith that student, to try to
help them.
They could be not turning intheir homework, they could be,
you know, sleeping in class,they could be not present in
school.
But instead of judging them, weneed to think about being
curious and figuring out what'sgoing on.
(22:04):
What can I do to help them Froma building principal standpoint
?
You know, let's just talk about, you know, staff members.
You know I get this sometimeslike, hey, the staff members
over here is late.
You know this one's taking offsoon.
You know I hear all thesethings, but my thing is I'm not
going to go judge that teacher.
I'm going to go be curious andask questions.
(22:25):
What's going on so I can helpthem.
I want to support them.
That's what that means to becurious.
Let's talk about what if thedistrict comes down and says
this is an initiative that youneed to do?
Well, instead of like you know,no-transcript.
(22:50):
I want to ask questions, I wantto understand the why behind
everything, and so that's kindof what we're talking about this
year.
Coming in is being curious.
Kind of what we're talkingabout this year coming in is
being curious.
That's going to be the title ofmy welcome back presentation
I'm going to do with my staff isto be curious and understand
that everybody is going throughit at one point or time.
(23:11):
We need to be curious, we needto give each other grace, but at
the same time, we got to dowhat we got to do to be better,
and one of those things thatwe're going to talk about this
year is how do we make growthinstructionally?
How do we become betterinstructional people in the
building?
So how am I, as a teacher,getting better instructional to
(23:32):
give that student the besteducation possible.
How am I, as a principal, goingto be the best instructional
leader for that teacher?
Am I getting in the classroom?
Am I having conversations?
Am I doing these things thathelp my staff grow
instructionally?
And that's going to besomething that we're going to
(23:53):
really focus on this year isinstructional strategies how to
get better in the classroom,because right now, we've done
the work with everything thelast three years.
This is our next step.
Our next step is to get betterinstructionally.
We have some amazing teachers.
We have some teachers that canlearn from each other in our
building, and so one of thethings I would really like to do
(24:16):
and I'm working on it, I amtalking to people and trying to
figure this out is how can Icreate a system for peer
observation so my staff can gosee other staff teach, learn
from them, take what they'relearning and implement it back
in their classroom.
That is something I'm going tobe asking teachers to pilot.
How can we make this system?
(24:37):
What is it going to look likefor Hastings High to help
teachers get better by utilizingthe people we have in the
building, you know, and figureout how can we help these
teachers get betterinstructionally, because that's
our next step.
We're also going to be lookingat doing some things with
curriculum alignment and withstate standards.
That's going to be across.
(24:58):
I know I've worked on some ofthat stuff with my core staff,
but this year it's going to beprobably more like a holistic
every.
You know SRT is going to belooking at their standards and
looking for alignment.
I know that's going to happen.
There's more to come on that.
I'm not going to really getinto that too much, but I know
we're going to continue doingthe PLC work.
(25:18):
We're just going to add alittle thing to it, to where we
can make that a better, makesure that we have aligned
standards within the curriculumthat we teach, and so with that,
that's where the instructionalstrategies, that's where being
better instructionally andgrowing instructionally is going
to be kind of where I see usgoing in this year.
(25:38):
For as a building principle andI'm going to be honest with you,
that didn't just happen.
I didn't just think of that outof the blue.
It took me time to think about.
This is where we've been, butthis is where we need to go.
These are the great things wehave done, but you know what we
can get better at this one thing.
This is where the whole gettingbetter 1% better at something.
(26:02):
So we're going to get bettercollectively instructional
strategies in the classroom andI'm going to get better as a
principal on helping that aswell.
So I'm going to do as aprincipal is I'm going to spend
at least one period.
I'm going to try one period aday.
Right, we have block periods,so we're talking 85 minute
(26:22):
period.
So one day it could be secondperiod, one day it could be
third period, one day it couldbe fourth period.
I'm going to block out time inmy schedule to get into
classrooms to have conversationsand you know what.
These aren't going to be likeme doing a walkthrough and
giving you a walkthrough everytime.
It's like going to be more of aconversation about hey, I saw
(26:43):
this, I really liked this.
Hey, tell me more about this.
This is where the whole becurious comes into play for me.
It's where I'm going to go andbe curious in the classroom and
ask teachers, have dialogue,because I want to help make them
the best they can be.
So when I have those formalobservations, informal
walkthroughs and stuff like that, I can help shape them before
(27:03):
they get to those things, and sothat's something I've really
struggled doing over the lastthree years.
But I think this year is theyear I really got to buckle down
and hold myself accountable andbe curious in the classroom and
ask my teachers that I evaluatethe things they're doing and
how can they get better.
And that's kind of where I'm atas a principal and things I
(27:23):
want to do.
Now there's going to be fourquestions I'm going to ask
myself throughout the year.
That's going to help guide meas a principal.
This year.
There's going to be fourquestions that I'm going to
think about.
First question I want to askmyself every day does the staff
(27:44):
at Hastings High School, do theteachers staff, everybody that
comes there, students do theylove coming to Hastings High?
Do they love coming to work?
Do they love coming to school?
Because if they don't, we gotto work on that.
The next question I'm going toask would I send my own child to
my school?
Would I send my own child toHastings High School?
(28:04):
If my answer is no, there'ssomething wrong there.
I got to make sure HastingsHigh is good enough for my own
child.
Hastings High is good enoughfor my staff's children.
It's good enough for people.
That's where we got tocollectively work together and
get better instructionally.
And then another thing is thethird question how can I be 1%
(28:25):
better as a principal?
How can I be 1% better todaythan I was yesterday?
Hey, you know what?
I might've slipped up andforgot to go do some
observations that one day, youknow what, I'm going to get back
on track.
There could be so manydifferent things that I can get
better every day at, and sothat's going to be my third
question is how do I get 1%better today?
(28:46):
And then my fourth thing I kindof alluded to it is to be
curious.
Be curious about everything.
I know we got a newsuperintendent.
I know we got all these newdistrict leaders.
I'm going to be curious, I'mgoing to ask questions.
I want to understand wherethey're coming from so I can
help bring clarity to my staff.
(29:06):
If I'm not bringing clarity tomy staff, then I'm not doing my
job.
And so I want to be curious andask the questions.
I want to ask my teachers, Iwant to ask my students.
You know, be curious aboutthings that come up.
We're going to go through somehard stuff this year.
It's just going to happen.
But as long as we can worktogether, we could be curious
and learn and grow together.
(29:27):
We're going to have a greatschool year there.
You guys have it.
That's kind of what I've beenthinking about throughout the
summer.
Those are things that kind oflike kind of wrapped into a
little bowl there, the directionHastings High is going to go
this year.
I'm really excited about theupcoming school year thing
coming down.
We got less than a week, twoweek and a half and we're going
(29:49):
to have kids in.
I'm going to bring in staffthis coming up week, so it's
going to be a great time.
I'm excited to get people backin the building and to get going
.
If you guys really enjoyed thisepisode, I love it if you share
it with other people, becausethere might be other people out
there thinking some of the samethings I'm thinking.
Share it out.
I would love to hear from you,and it's more just to know that,
(30:11):
hey, you're listening.
The things that we're saying isrelevant to you.
It's something that you getsomething out of.
I would love to hear somefeedback from you about anything
that the show offers you aswell.
With that said, I reallyappreciate you guys listening.
I know people are out therelistening, keep watching TikTok
and IG and you know threads allthe different social media that
(30:34):
I put out there.
I really appreciate the supportyou guys have and I'm really
excited about where this podcastis going and the future of the
podcast.
So, guys, I really appreciateeverything and I hope you guys
are looking to be 1% better.
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