Head of School Blog

In the first team meeting of every season, regardless of the sport, when I was growing up, my coaches would always share with the parents and players their strategy for the upcoming season. They wanted us to understand the plan so we could work toward a common goal, usually to win a championship. Now, as a coach, I prepare my team’s strategy and present it to them at the beginning of a season. I want them to buy into the strategy so we can be the best we are capable of that season. Having a strategy is vital for athletic teams to be successful and reach their potential. The same is true for organizations like The Edison School. 

About a year ago, I worked with a couple members of Edison’s administrative team to develop the strategy that we believe is setting us up to impact kids and their families for years to come. There are three parts to Edison’s strategy that compliment our core values and help us live out our mission to foster a community of connection and dignity, ensuring every child receives the unique support they need to thrive. 

1. We partner with parents – parents know their kids better than anyone, and we are intentional about our role in the lives of their child. We know parents are the driving force in their child’s education, and we want to come alongside them to help their child grow and reach their potential. One thing we do to partner with parents is have them fill out a form at the start of a school year that asks a guiding question…”What should education as unique as your child look like?” The answer to this question drives our partnership for the sake of their child.
   2. We prefer kindness over niceness – kindness comes from a place of care and concern for the well-being and personal growth of someone else. Kindness requires the courage to have honest and often difficult conversations with others to help them become their best. Niceness avoids difficult conversations because they make us uncomfortable. At Edison, we would rather get uncomfortable with each other because it makes us better. 
   3. We treat everyone with dignity – A child’s value is not based on what he/she does, the grades they earn, how well-behaved they are, or what they can do for us. Their value and worth are inherent by the simple fact that they are alive, and every human deserves to be loved, seen, and cared for. 

   
   This three-part strategy is simple and intentional, allowing Edison to transform the lives of our students and their families. 
    

1992 was the year I began my career in education, and at the time I didn’t think about the long-term impact I might have on my kids. I started as a physical education teacher, so I taught fitness, sports, winning and losing, and having fun. I tried to teach good sportsmanship and character. I wanted them to be good kids who were well-rounded. I talked about doing the right thing and being a good example for others. But I don’t remember thinking about how those kids would one day become teachers, business professionals, leaders, parents, etc. 

Over thirty years later as an administrator, I am still preparing kids for life, but now I am intentionally thinking about their future roles and the impact they will have on the world. It seems as I get older, the more focused I am on teaching kids to do the right thing, develop good character, be selfless, and work hard. While I may not be the person directly teaching these things to kids at The Edison School, I am talking about them with my team and reminding them to teach these to our students. All of this can be summed up in our third core value – cultivate an exponential impact. 

What we mean by cultivating an exponential impact is that we teach life skills, character development, and we are focused on the whole child. When we do this with excellence, we transform the lives of our kids and their families. We talk to them about their future and remind them that they will one day have an opportunity to lead, teach, and be parents, which means they will be making an impact on other people’s lives. As a team, we cannot transform every child’s life, but we can transform the lives of those who enroll at Edison. In turn, we want them to think about how they can transform the lives of people they encounter after leaving Edison. 

We have found that this core value is a result of consistently living out our other two core values, creating meaningful connections and striving for excellence. When you have strong connections with kids and are pushing them to be their best, they will have real-life examples of impact that they can turn to for the rest of their lives.