Last summer, I worked tirelessly to save a school from despair after the school leader made countless mistakes while summer planning.  Contrary to popular belief, the summer is an extremely busy time of year for school leaders.  If there are an inordinate number of staff vacancies or a major construction project is occurring at the school, the summer may be the busiest time of year for school leaders.  When school leaders fail to appropriately execute summer planning activities, they create a “planning hole” that may adversely impact their ability to lead for the entire year.  Below is a list of common mistakes leaders make when planning during the summer.

On a cold-dreary night in December, I attended a board meeting for a charter school of which I am a board member.   I have served on this board for the past four years.  Five years ago, this school was identified as failing by the authorizer (governance board who “approves” the school).  At that time, the school was given an option, drastically improve or “close your doors”.   In four years, this school has made tremendous growth. As a matter of fact, the school was highlighted for making the largest academic gains in the city.  As I reflect on the progress of the school, I would be remiss to overlook the fact that each month’s board meetings are well-structured with a sole focus on issues that matter.  The board understands the importance of maintaining a professional relationship with staff, but never oversteps or interferes with the authority of school leaders.  While serving on this board has been a tremendous experience, there are hundreds of charter boards serving underperforming or failing schools.  How do you know if your charter school is failing? I have included 5 Sure-Fire Ways for you to determine the status of the school.

#1 Teacher/Staff Turnover

If you want to understand the overall health of the school, pay particular attention to staff retention rates both during the school year and annually (school year to school year).  To gain a comprehensive understanding of the issues, I recommend the school board/school districts have a process in place to conduct exit interviews. Ultimately, if teachers are resigning at high rates, the board needs to understand the rationale behind their decision to depart.  In my experience, when a school is performing well, very few staff will resign from their positions.

#2 Leadership Turnover

If there is a revolving door of school leaders, chances are, your school is either struggling or failing.  Effectively leading a school is a difficult job that typically takes a person more than one year to understand all the factors needed to be successful.  This is not only the case with new leaders, but can also be applied to veteran leaders.  When leaders resign or are terminated every year or every other year, the school never benefits from sustained growth.  With the school remaining at “phase 1” on the spectrum of success, it is one bad decision from officially being in a state of disorder, disarray, or disaster.  If a school has a difficult time retaining talented leadership, it could be indicative of an ineffective board, executive management, or central office.

#3 Fiscal Uncertainty

When the budget or flow of money does not pass the “smell test”, potential dangers are lurking.  This is especially true with small local education agencies (LEA) where the budget should be easier to track.  Small LEAs would include small school districts, charter schools, independent schools, etc.  It is very common for a school business administrator or CFO to deliver budgets at public meetings.  If the budget presentation fails to result in a clear understanding of financial transactions and spending plans, there could be potential issues.  If you do not possess a non-financial background, don’t assume that you cannot understand the presentation due to the financial jargon being spewed.  The job of the presenter is to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the budget, even for a layperson.  When in doubt, ask clarifying questions.  Budgets are not rocket science and should not be treated as such.

#4 Student Retention

Students and parents are the clients of schools.  When students transfer from the school at high rates, there are issues within the school.  Generally speaking, effective schools retain 90% of their students from one year to the next.  As a parent, you understand the hassle involved in trying to find a school that is a “good fit” for your child.  A parent would never want to endure this process unless the current school is failing to meet the needs of the individual students or is a “bad” school.   To gain insight into the issues at a school, conduct “transfer interviews” with families transferring from the school.  Please understand, when conducting these interviews, you will be engaging a population that will likely share a biased perspective against the school.

#5 Unclear Presentation Of Information

Effective schools possess a clear future and past, inclusive of the leader’s ability to clearly articulate both.  Like with the budget, when information about the school does not make sense, there are potential issues.  You should not need an undergraduate degree in education to understand information regarding activities, class placement, grading criteria, etc.  In my experience, I have seen educators using educational jargon in an attempt to hide the problems within a school.  Beware of the overly chatty presentations, laced with educational language, designed to “throw you off the trail” of the truth.

#6 Constant Presence By The Authorizer

This point specifically addresses charter schools.  If the authorizer is overly involved in your school, your school has issues.  While the role of the authorizer is to ensure a high-quality educational program is being delivered to students as stated in the approved charter application, this should not require the authorizer to be a regular presence in your school.  When the authorizer begins to poke around, request documents, or conduct unscheduled visits, their intent is not to provide support.  Actually, I would argue the authorizer’s intent is to build a case to close the  school.

As I reflect on my 20 plus years in education, I can’t help but ask, “Do we overthink schools?” As a young teacher in 1994, I was an effective teacher and educating students was fun.   I would voluntarily collaborate with team members without all of the research based requirements mandated in today’s schools. My students thrived on standardized tests, but their success, or lack there of, did not result in administrators and teachers being terminated; or even worst, the school being closed. During my early years, if you could manage your classroom and ensure students were learning, you were applauded as a great teacher. It really felt like schools made sense.

Not long ago, prior to the days of Facebook, Linked in, Instagram or even My Space, it was very easy to pass judgment about a person by simply listening to them speak.  Often times, the inflection of their voices and use of the English language provided insight into level of education, race, age, etc.  At a moment’s notice, it was critical for folks to master code switching, the art of modifying your language to be consistent with those in a particular environment.  Historically, this served as an effective mask for folks occupying a range sub-cultures.

I recently attended a lecture by Michele Alexander, the author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. If you have not read her book, it provides statistical data that supports the notion that disproportionate penalties for drug crimes in the United States, have been used to legally discriminate against both the minorities and poor people. This was rooted in federal policies created during the Ronald Reagan presidency (War on Drugs).

While recently working as an executive coach with a leader of a government agency, I noticed a few simple mistakes hindering her ability to effectively manage her team. She had been tasked with leading a small staff of 5 people and needed some feedback on how to lead more effectively. While she did not have a dominating personality, she was well on her way to leading her team by determining the organizational structures needed to be effective.

For the last two years, you have been supervising a staff of 15 employees. You are approaching the end of the second quarter and you realize for the first time in your tenure, your team is not on track to achieve the annual goals you established in January. To make matters worse, employees are beginning to whisper about your inability to effectively lead your team.

Effective leaders can be the most critical component of an organization. Regardless of the skill of your workforce, ultimately, leaders either positively or adversely impact the overall performance of an organization. As a turnaround principal of multiple schools, I understand the importance of providing thoughtful, competent leadership that elevates the performance of your organization. All organizations and companies can benefit by having a Rock Star leader.