There are probably not many principal preparation programs that include a course on how to move an entire school. Yet this summer, that became part of the job description for my colleagues, Dr. Tim Moore and Lisa O’Connor.
For the better part of last year, our district had been preparing for a significant transition. Our ninth graders would return to Howell High School, bringing all four grade levels under one roof for the first time in more than two decades. That meant the building that had served as our Freshman Campus would become the new home of one of our middle schools, Highlander Way, as their building undergoes significant upgrades from a recent bond our community passed.
On paper, it sounds fairly straightforward. Move one group out. Move another group in. Open school. Anyone who has ever been part of a school transition knows better.
While planning began nearly a year ago, the physical work accelerated in June. Classrooms had to be packed and relocated. Furniture, technology, materials, offices, signage, schedules, traffic patterns, procedures and countless other details had to be considered. And behind every classroom being moved was a teacher who had questions, concerns, ideas, and emotions about leaving one space and entering another.
Dr. Tim Moore was responsible for helping lead his middle school community through all of it.
Ask Tim about the experience and he won’t pretend it was easy. It wasn’t. There were frustrations, unexpected problems, changing timelines and probably more than a few moments when the moving pieces seemed to outnumber the people available to move them. But watching him lead through the process reminded me of something important about our profession.
School leadership is about teaching and learning, but it is rarely only about teaching and learning.
Sometimes leadership looks like instructional coaching and analyzing student achievement data. Other times it looks like figuring out where 30 desks are supposed to go, answering a parent’s question on social media, listening to a teacher who is worried about a new space or solving a problem no one anticipated six months earlier.
The work requires us to adapt.
What impressed me most about Tim wasn’t simply that the move got done. It was how he brought people through it.
He communicated constantly. He listened. He answered questions. He remained visible. He even maintained a strong social media presence throughout the transition, meeting families on platforms where they were already communicating and responding to questions in real time.
That last piece is something many administrators, understandably, approach cautiously. Social media can be uncomfortable territory for school leaders. But Tim recognized that communication isn’t just about sending information through the channels we prefer. Sometimes it means going where our community is and being willing to engage.
I had another great example much closer to me.
Lisa O’Connor, our associate principal who had led the Freshman Campus, was managing the other side of this transition. While Tim was moving a middle school into that building, Lisa was helping our ninth-grade teachers move out of it and become part of our unified high school staff.
Different direction. Same leadership challenge.
Watching both of them reinforced something for me as I begin my 15th year as a principal: Leading change requires us to slow down enough to remember that organizational change is experienced individually.
We can create timelines, checklists, maps, presentations, FAQs and detailed plans. We need all of those things.
But eventually, change reaches one person.
One teacher wants to know what the change means for her classroom. Another wonders where his materials will go. Someone else is excited. Someone is anxious. Another person has a question that seems small in the context of the entire project but feels incredibly important to them.
Tim and Lisa both demonstrated the importance of making room for those individual conversations while never losing sight of the larger goal.
That is a difficult balance.
As leaders, there is a temptation during major change to move faster. There is so much to accomplish that slowing down can feel counterproductive.
I’ve been reminded this summer that sometimes slowing down is exactly what allows an organization to move forward.
People don’t necessarily need leaders who can eliminate every uncertainty. Often, they need leaders who are willing to listen to their uncertainty. They need communication even when there isn’t much new information to communicate. Most importantly, they need to see that their leaders aren’t standing at the finish line telling everyone where to go. They need leaders walking beside them.
Most principals will never be asked to move an entire school. But every principal will lead people through change.
A new schedule. A staffing change. A new curriculum. A district initiative. A building renovation. A new policy. A difficult year. An unexpected challenge.
The specifics will be different, but the leadership lesson is the same.
Communicate more than you think you need to. Listen individually. Stay visible. Meet people where they are. Acknowledge when something is difficult rather than pretending otherwise.
And above all, don’t just lead people through change.
Walk through it with them.
This summer, I watched Dr. Tim Moore and Lisa O’Connor do exactly that.
And even after 15 years as a principal, I’m grateful to still be learning from the leaders around me.