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OCTOBER 2004

A Year of Change: Leadership in the Principal’s Office
by Gillian Granoff

A New PBS Series airing on October 10th was unveiled at channel 13’s headquarters shortly before this paper went to press. With Bill Baker, President of Channel 13 presiding and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein as well as Deputy Chancellor Carmen Fariña in attendance, three graduates of the unique initiative to train New York City’s principals were followed from summer training, to shadowing working principals, to finally assuming leadership of their own schools. The three aspiring principals never expected to become the subjects of their own PBS reality series.

A Year of Change, Leadership in the Principal’s Office chronicles the trials and tribulations faced by Rafaela Espinal- Pacheco, Larry Wilson and Alexandra Anormaliza. The Leadership Academy, a 15-month long “boot camp” for aspiring principals was the brainchild of Chancellor Klein and Mayor Bloomberg and funded by Christine DeVita of the Wallace Foundation. Ms. DeVita stated, “Support and sharing effective ideas in practice is the ultimate reality show. Our priority is to educate leaders for the 21st century. Chancellor Klein added that the “core of education is giving each school a great leader.” Launched in July 2003, 77 aspiring principals passed through the rigors and rewards in the life of an actual school principal. The program participants completed three phases of an intensive training program designed to teach them effective leadership skills.

During Phase one, the aspiring principals were exposed to problem–based learning scenarios that simulated the actual situations they would confront as future school leaders.  The goal was give them the skills and strategies to confront the challenges they would face as leaders.

In phase two, the principals experienced the realities of everyday life in schools under the supervision of an assigned mentor.

Larry Wilson started the school year by taking his students on an overnight trip to the Poconos, a bonding experience in which students performed activities and came to trust each other. Alexandra, founder of a school for immigrant children, spoke about developing language through interdisciplinary projects. “We must challenge and modify the curriculum to fit what we want to do.”

The evening concluded with actual roundtable discussion moderated by Bob Morris, the program’s senior producer, who questioned the participants on the challenges of navigating their new roles under the watchful lens of the camera, They were candid about the difficulties but seemed grateful for the opportunity to reflect on their progress and the work still needed to be done as leaders.

When the discussion turned to the question of whether talent and intelligence is innate or can be nurtured through experience, the three star principals’ articulate responses revealed that leadership demands a combination of dedication, intelligence and hard work. As Larry emphatically stated, “Effort is valued over aptitude; that is what the academy has instilled in us.”

The documentary provides insight and inspiration into the lives of new principals, and is proof positive of the dramatic improvement taking place in New York City public schools. The successful graduates will have the opportunity to share the rewards of their efforts with PBS ‘s five million viewers when the series premieres. One can only hope that they continue to demonstrate the same strength, poise, dedication, and determination throughout the challenging times ahead.#

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