Educational Leadership

Online Only
For Principals:
A Social Media Support Group

To increase your comfort zone with social media, join Eric
Sheninger (principal of New Milford High School in New
Jersey) and Joe Mazza (principal of Knapp Elementary
School in Lansdale, Pennsylvania) on Leadership 2.0
( www.ed Web.net/leadership). This professional learning
community (PLC) offers free webinars, live chats, and
online discussions that help principals expand their
personal networks, integrate technology into learning,
connect with parents and the community, and get
practical advice about how to get started with social
media. Monthly webinars tackle such topics as the
fundamentals of leadership 2.0 and maximizing
engagement in a Common Core environment.

Relevant Reads

The Principal: Traversing the High-Wire with No Net Below by Don Sternberg (RoseDog Books, 2012)

Sternberg, an award-winning
principal with a 42-year career
in public education, likens
the principalship to being a
high-wire aerialist: “At times,
as principal, you can feel that
you are a hundred feet off the
ground, traversing your career alone—spotlight beaming
up at you—and with no net under you.” The bottom line
is that there is only one principal, whose every decision
is scrutinized by multiple stakeholders. Sternberg offers
practical advice for remaining balanced.

“The last thing anyone wants to hear is a principal standing in front of a large gathering of school stakeholders and asking the group to trust him or her. Asking for trust won’t get it! What people do want is to work with a principal who can be trusted day in and day out, and whose credibility and integrity are never in question.” (p. 3)

World Spin
Let’s Hear It for Local

In New South Wales, Australia, school principals will now have greater control over their school budgets. More than 200 public schools will switch to a funding model that provides extra money for schools that have large proportions of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, Aboriginal students, English language learners, and students with disabilities. When fully implemented, this model will enable schools to control 70 percent of the total school budget as part of New South Wales’ Local School, Local Decisions autonomy plan.