The Culture We Deserve: A January Reset on Trust and Leadership
January has a way of telling the truth about a school’s culture. The excitement and anticipation of a new school year has worn off. Daily routines are established. The stress points such as attendance, behavior, morale and communication have resurfaced. And in these moments, what becomes most visible isn’t the poster of our mission statement or strategic plan but the level of trust that exists within our organization. Every school has a…
Perfect Match for Inclusion: One Mentorship Sparked a Cross-School Celebration of Belonging
From a wide-open, carpeted gymnasium with a huge screen where dozens of students raced, cheered and played together – to a heated pool with every safety feature needed to ensure security for all involved, students from Highland Pines and Schall Elementary Schools engaged with their cross-school partners while their teachers observed and facilitated. This Inclusion Celebration was the vision of Stephanie VanPetten, Highland Pines School Assistant Principal and her staff. There to…
Alison Hildebrand, Academy Administrator & Associate Principal, Shares All About Stevenson MADE
Eleven years ago, Utica Community Schools sent a group of educators to visit the Academies of Nashville, a high school model partnered with Ford Next Generation Learning to provide career-focused academies. When teacher, Mark LaCombe, got off the bus immediately following a tour of one of the Nashville schools, he excitedly asked Associate Principal, Alison Hildebrand, “When are we doing this?!” Now, eight years into their work at the Stevenson Center for…
Inviting the Superintendent into Your School Community and Elevating Student Voice
As secondary principals, we often act as the primary liaison between the "District Office" and the daily life of our students. While our Superintendents are deeply invested in student success, the nature of their role—filled with board meetings, budget cycles, and policy—can sometimes make them feel like a distant figurehead to the average teenager. When students see a Superintendent as a person rather than a title, trust grows. When Superintendents hear directly…
Guidance for Responding to a Subpoena
A subpoena arrives at your school, demanding student records or summoning an employee to testify at a hearing. What are school officials and subpoenaed staff required to do? What should they do? Before acting, school principals should consider the following guidance. Contact Legal Counsel First, before talking with the person who sent the subpoena, principals should notify the school’s central office of the subpoena, and then the school’s administration should contact the…
Registration Open! MDE LGBTQ+ Students Project, Winter/Spring 2026 Offerings
LGBTQ+ students are still at disproportionate risk for persistent bullying, harassment, and victimization. In response to requests from school districts across Michigan, the MDE LGBTQ+ Students Project staff created a suite of online professional development workshops to build the capacity of schools to provide a safe, supportive, and inclusive culture and climate where all students can thrive. We are honored to partner with school districts and parents to make these highly requested…
Leading When the Ground Is Moving: What AI Is Teaching Us About Behavioral Edge
Artificial intelligence has become one of the clearest examples of what large-scale change looks like in schools today. It is fast moving, poorly understood, value-laden, and already present whether we are ready or not. But the most important leadership lesson AI offers us may have very little to do with technology. It has everything to do with leadership behavior. When leaders step into conversations about AI, they often expect to wrestle with…
Catalyst 2025 and the AI Moment: What We Learned and Where We’re Headed
At Catalyst25, we set out to do more than talk about artificial intelligence. We wanted to listen. We wanted to create space for students, teachers, coaches, and school leaders to wrestle honestly with what AI is already doing in schools, and what it could make possible next. Through hundreds of conversations, reflections, and interactions with the Catalyst25 Compass AI bot used by Catalyst2525 attendees, a clear picture began to emerge. Not a…
Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals and Michigan College Access Network collaborate to cultivate transformative leaders
The Michigan Leadership Fellows program, a groundbreaking collaboration between Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals and Michigan College Access Network, is set to empower its third diverse, state-wide cohort of six rising educational leaders. This 18-month, project-based fellowship was designed to build a robust pipeline of equity-minded, transformative leaders who will champion postsecondary educational access and success for all Michigan students. Program Goals Equity-Driven Leadership: The fellowship focuses on an instructional leadership…
NASSP Membership Expansion: A More Unified National Home for School Leaders
Recently, NASSP members voted to approve a significant proposal that will shape the future of our national association and strengthen the voice of school leaders across the country. The membership approved the expansion of NASSP eligibility to all PK–12 principals and assistant principals and the move of NASSP’s corporate entity from Washington, D.C., to Delaware through a Plan of Domestication. This decision represents an important step toward creating a more unified national…