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Originally published as “Comfortable Tension” in the Winter 2023 edition of SchoolCEO Magazine. A school board can make or break a district—or a superintendency. Tension between boards and their superintendents has caused too many highly adept leaders to exit the industry. The effects of the pandemic only amplified this reality. And unfortunately, educators who haveContinue reading “Comfortable Tension”

After more than two years of leading our districts through the pandemic, many superintendents are faced with the reality that there is no “returning to normal.” Instead, we have a remarkable opportunity to pick up the pieces around us and build something new. I am feeling optimistic about the future and what could come ofContinue reading “The Four Steps to Becoming a ‘Leadership Artist’”

July and August are often where the winds of school leadership are in a state of flux. The pandemic weather pattern has meant countless changes in school leadership across the country. There were planned and accelerated retirements, fresh starts, and even some departures for careers outside of education. I am one of the many “pandemicContinue reading “Winds in the East, Mist Coming In”

I was humbled to play a small part in this publication with Battelle for Kids regarding our work on the Portrait of a Graduate. The development of a shared vision has never been more important than now. 03/10/2021 by Stephen Fujii, in partnership with Matthew Montgomery, Ph.D., Superintendent of Revere Local Schools Revere Local SchoolContinue reading “Vision of a Minuteman”

I was recently watching an episode from season six, episode two, of The Crown.  Spoiler alert: stop reading if you are a loyalist to the show and haven’t watched this far.  The episode focuses on the relationship between the Queen and then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.  Towards the end of the episode the Queen cautionsContinue reading “Don’t Want Enemies…Don’t Choose Leadership”

As I sit here and write this last Friday message of 2020 to staff there are countless memories of the year running through my mind.  Of course, some of them are wonderful and others are not so wonderful.  When I reflect on the year, it is not any different from other years in terms of theContinue reading “Finding Joy”

As some of you know, I am a bibliophile.  I just finished the book Factfulness (2018) by Hans Rosling.  Towards the end of the book, Rosling wrote about the importance of teaching our children critical thinking.  I found that interesting because critical thinking shows up in our work with student engagement.  In fact, the high school used criticalContinue reading “We should be teaching our children…”

The partnership between community, parents, and school has never needed to be stronger than in present times.  Our children and students are faced with many challenges that are unique from what today’s adults were faced with in their own time of adolescence.  As a district leader and parent of four, I often wonder what proactive stepsContinue reading “Jump…off social media”

Revere began our journey to create a Portrait of a Graduate (Vision of a Minuteman). Some people may wonder why we would dedicate the resources and time to invest in creating a vision instead of merely proceeding with everyday work. I have had the pleasure and honor of being a district superintendent for over sevenContinue reading “The Power of Vision”