Education Week - March 5, 2014 - Leaders to Learn From - S36

rooms and staged equipment in the
parking lot.
Even though it was summer and
classes weren't in session, the district
arranged for families in the
evacuated area to meet with counselors
at the schools and helped
coordinate the distribution of supplies,
like toiletries.
The district did not lose any
school buildings in the fire. Mr.
Gledich still remembers his relief
when he entered a brick building
in the middle of the fire zone and
smelled nothing but air freshener.
But 100 students and about 15
staff members lost their homes.
To ease their loss, the district
assembled counseling teams and
support groups for families that
met in school buildings. Staff members
worked to meet the needs of
families who lost their belongings
and homes, even reprinting damaged
and destroyed photos from old
yearbooks.
After the school year started, the
district used money raised through
a relief concert, which was hosted
by area organizations, to transport
students who had relocated to new
attendance zones so they could
continue to attend classes in their
original schools.
"I realize that we are educa-
tors, and our number-one goal is
educating students so that we can
experience the handshake after 13
years of school," Mr. Gledich said.
"But another goal is making sure
we take care of the social and emotional
needs of our students."
Wisdom Shared
As employees of the district im-
plement his "guiding principles,"
Mr. Gledich collects examples and
posts them online as a way of celebrating
people who "create awesome."

One of his favorite examples of
the principles in action was teachers
who rallied to buy new supplies
for their peers whose classroom
materials, stored in their
garages, went up in smoke.
"What an awesome example,"
he said.
A year after the Waldo Canyon
fire, a fresh blaze, the Black Forest
fire, burned in the hills near
the district.
Even before it was clear that
Colorado Springs' schools wouldn't
be threatened by that fire, Mr.
Gledich directed his administrative
team to call their counter-
parts in the nearby Academy
school district to offer advice and
support.
Mr. Gledich and other Colorado
NISL'S EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR SCHOOL LEADERS
"
We've been able
to take our school
to the next level."
Todd Rogers
PRINCIPAL, CHISHOLM TRAIL
MIDDLE SCHOOL, RHOME, TX
I'm fortunate to work in the
Northwest Independent School
District, a district that values
the power of instructional leadership
and has built the capacity
to deliver NISL training to its
leaders. In fact, the prior principal
at my school, Dr. Robert
Thornell, was a NISL graduate
and under him, Chisholm Trail
Middle School was awarded the
prestigious "School to Watch"
designation. My
own NISL
training has helped me to lead
my campus to achieve even
greater results. Using the skills
and processes learned in NISL,
we've been able to take our
school to the next level.
Upon joining the school
as principal, I spoke with staff
and gathered data to help identify
areas of need. We decided
to work on improving the culture
on campus, primarily by
addressing behavioral issues. A
new focus on learning, along
with strategic safety nets put in
place to support students has
created a more positive environment
that encourages academic
success. Within just one year,
discipline problems decreased by
55 percent. We've built on this
success by expanding our inclusion
programs, implementing a
cross-curricular workshop model
and reinforcing gains in teaching
through instructional rounds.
I've participated in many
professional development programs,
but NISL has been the
number-one training that's influenced
my day-to-day work. It
gave me the tools to lead my staff
to refine Chisholm Trail's mission,
ensure that our staff adapts
to change, and ultimately, have a
huge impact on the trajectory of
the school.
NISL congratulates Todd Rogers
on his successful leadership of
Chisholm Trail Middle School,
which was recently re-designated
a "School to Watch" by the
National Forum to Accelerate
Middle-Grades Reform based
on its academic excellence,
responsiveness to developmental
challenges, and social equity.
www.nisl.net/results/rogers
Springs leaders helped Academy's
administration solve problems
and advised them how to focus
their resources to best assist students
and their families, said Nanette
Anderson, a spokeswoman
for the Academy district.
"At every turn where we wondered
how to handle something,
our finance people, our risk-management
people felt that they
could call District 11 and ask how
they handled things," she said.
Colorado Springs educators
said the superintendent's careful
approach to the fire plan was in
keeping with his response to every
challenge the district has faced,
including enrollment declines.
"He doesn't leave anything to
chance," board President Long
said. "He wants to make sure that
he's very precise in the things that
he does. But he also takes people
into consideration in all things."
Business Plans
As a district leader, Mr. Gledich
anchors all long-term goals in a
business plan, and he works with
his administrative team to critically
consider approaches to problems
as they emerge. He considers
both risks and opportunities in
every decision, making his thought
processes visible and understandable
to parents and staff, and motivating
others to become involved
in solutions, colleagues say.
"Any situation he looks at, he also
looks at the opportunity that exists
and how to take advantage of it,"
said Jason Ter Horst, who oversees
a cluster of schools in the district.
Mr. Gledich came into a district
that was losing enrollment as
families took advantage of Colorado's
broad school choice laws to
transfer to other districts or move
to charter and private schools.
District leaders knew they needed
to shut down some schools, a process
that is never popular, especially
in the neighborhoods most
directly affected by the closures.
While the closure decisions were
still met with criticism by some,
Mr. Gledich "thought win-win" by
considering unexpected positive
outcomes, Mr. Ter Horst said.
In assessing the district's existing
programs, Mr. Gledich didn't
just look for things to shut down,
Mr. Ter Horst said. When district
leaders consolidated several vocational
and community education
programs onto the campus
of a former high school, they also
added college classes for high
school students, which the district
lacked.
And when the district opted to
P: 202.449.5060
E: INFO@NISL.NET
close an old elementary school,
Mr. Gledich helped negotiate with
local beer enthusiasts to open
a brewery in the former school
building, which has become a fixture
of the neighborhood, Mr. Gustafson
said.
"That neighborhood has been
revitalized," he said. "It's busy all
the time." n
S36 | LEADERS TO LEARN FROM > leaders.edweek.org
EDUCATION WEEK * March 5, 2014
http://www.nisl.net/results/rogers http://www.nisl.net/results/rogers http://leaders.edweek.org
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