Book Update!
Imperfect Leaders! You can now order my book, An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action. Click on the link here. Or if there is no hyperlink, go to peterstiepleman.com, you can order it there.
My Guest: This week, Brian Troop is my guest.
One of the more powerful back to school administrator meetings I ever led was when I took all the administrators to see Bad Kids, a documentary about an alternative school in Yucca, California.
That documentary and another one, Bully, shaped for me some of my thinking about schools, the cultural field we create for children, and the different pathways we need to create for them as well.
In fact, following the showing of Bad Kids, I invited a panel of kids enrolled in our district’s small boutique high school (sometimes called an alternative high school) to talk about how their building was different from the comprehensive high schools in the district. Specifically, I wanted them to talk about their connection to the principal and her staff saved their lives. It was such a moving moment.
My guest this week was similarly inspired. For Brian Troop, it was the documentary, Most Likely To Succeed. The film pushes schools to consider how the world is ever-changing and how schools need to adapt to tomorrow’s needs. We talk about something called the Portrait of a Graduate, the skills and traits children must have to be successful after they leave the school district.
What’s cool about Brian’s district is how they engaged their local community, their business community, and others to help them define life readiness. And one of their goals is to create the environment so that their graduates will consider moving back to the community when they’ve finished their next level of learning – whether that be a trade school a 2 year or 4 year program, the military or internship.
Thanks for listening.
BIO: Dr. Brian Troop became Superintendent of the Ephrata Area School District in Ephrata, Pennsylvania in July 2013. Before that, he served the district as Assistant Superintendent. Brian is a creative leader and a collaborative leader. He and his team have worked to provide opportunities for children. For example, The Cornerstone Projects, year-long projects for each grade level that connect students with a community partner to help build engagement and strengthen relationships between the school and community is so innovative. It’s no wonder Dr. Troop was recognized as the 2023 Pennsylvania Superintendent of the Year.
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An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is supported by ILAA, LLC, a firm dedicated to supporting aspiring, new, and established leaders. For more information, please find them at http://www.human-centeredleaders.com.
Music for An Imperfect Leader was written and arranged by Ian Varley.
Sam Falbo created our artwork, a wood-print inspired daruma doll butterfly.
http://www.peterstiepleman.com
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