August 2024 CLEE News

August 2024

Our collective power expands when we support each other to foster the unlimited potential of each and every student.

Introducing our New PRN Cohort!

CLEE welcomes our new cohort of Aspiring Principals into the Principal Residency Network (PRN). These courageous educators are advancing their careers and leading for innovation through equity. While some are beginning the second year of their residency, most are starting their journey this summer. 

• Alexa Levesque, Rise Prep Mayoral Academy

• Claire Howard, Classical High School

• Colleen Preusse, Achievement First Providence Middle School 

• Courtney Macropoulos, Hopkins Hill Elementary School

• Dana Hurley, Achievement First Providence Mayoral Academy

• Daniel “Dan” Parsons, Blackstone Valley Prep JHS 

• Faith Johnson, Achievement First Envision Elementary School

• Jennifer “Jenn” Paolozzi, Nuestro Mundo Public Charter School

• Jessica “Jess” DePolito, North Kingstown High School

• Joseph “Joey” Fink, Achievement First Iluminar Mayoral Academy

• Joshua “Josh” Lombardi

• Kathryn Mazzucca, Rise Prep Mayoral Academy

• Kerri Luchka, Western Coventry Elementary School

• Kristine Lapierre, Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center, East Bay 

• Michelle Carvajal, Raíces Dual Language Academy

• Peter Lau, Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center, Unity

• Stephen Emerson, La Salle Academy

• William “Bill” Sheehan, Blessed Sacrament School

• Christine “Christy” DaSilva

• Christopher LeBlanc, Archie R. Cole Middle School

• Marissa Minutelli, Central High School

• Tara Mollo, Emma G. Whiteknact School

Are you interested in obtaining your RI Prek-12 Building Administrator Certification? PRN is one of the first and most distinguished residency-based principal certification programs in the United States. Contact us to learn how to join our 25-26 Cohort!

CLEE’s Collaborative Equity Audits: Engaging Student Voices to Uncover Inequities 

CLEE’s Collaborative Equity Audit is an inquiry-based collaborative experience for school, district, and community stakeholders to identify district strengths, uncover inequities and their root causes, and pinpoint high-priority areas for improvement. The voices and perspectives of each stakeholder, as well as input from the larger community, bring this process to life. Students, families and guardians, educators, and community members join together in this work to build equitable opportunities for all students.

Centering student voices is an important part of the Collaborative Equity Audit. Student voices help to frame perspectives for adults in the room, helping them think more deeply about assumptions they may hold. 

In Milford, MA, students played a prominent role in the Collaborative Equity Audit. District leadership prioritized student involvement, and students showed up! Students participated in both in-person sessions, where relationships and trust were formed, and virtual focus group sessions, where they joined with a group of their peers to share their experiences in Milford Public Schools. Student voices kept everyone engaged in the process and grounded in their ultimate purpose: how can we strengthen a sense of belonging where all students feel respected and heard? This allows for all stakeholders to feel respected and heard.

Looking at data is often a new practice for many participants, including students. It is a practice and skill that we build with students, alongside adults, for everyone to uncover inequities and their root causes. This builds capacity and confidence to dig deeper. The audit provides concrete data to say this is what we know versus what we think or assume to be true, and empowers leaders to take on the uncovered inequities more directly to better serve students. 

Students in the room provide context for what we find in that data and keep the audit centered on why it is important. They represent the unlimited potential of the students in their community which drives the work of all stakeholders to stay engaged in the process, and committed to follow through with the improvements they co-create. Our students have so much to say, and through the Collaborative Equity Audit process, they are heard loud and clear. We have much to learn from them.

Remembering Dr. Jonathan Ponds

Living and Leaving a Legacy

By Donna Braun, CLEE Executive Director

It is with the saddest of hearts that we share news that CLEE Board Director, Dr. Jonathan Ponds, passed away. Dr. Ponds had an incredible impact on thousands of students, educators and families in Massachusetts and New Jersey. He is a beloved husband and father to three amazing sons whom we send our deepest condolences to, as well as the whole Montclair Community.

Jonathan had a tremendous impact on CLEE and me. His wisdom and care came through in so much more than his words. He listened with his whole self – his brilliant mind, his wide-open heart, and as a humble learner. When he spoke, what he shared stayed in your mind for weeks, nudging you to step up, hold tight, let go, or whatever it is you needed in that moment. 

Dr. Ponds is known for frequently saying, “keep the main thing, the main thing”. I am incredibly fortunate to have met Jonathan as a fellow student in our JWU doctoral program over 15 years ago. Since then, we found a multitude of ways to stay connected in our endeavors to lead for educational equity. We visited each other’s schools when we were school leaders, Jonathan served as a guest instructor in our Principal Residency Network, and most recently, Jonathan served on our CLEE board as one of my board evaluators. I, like so many others, was graced with his brilliance and care as invited me to be braver in “keeping the main thing, the main thing”. That always meant grounding every decision and action in making schools better for students. Every interaction with Jonathan made me stronger in my belief that we adults have the capacity and power to always do better together in our service to the unlimited potential of youth. 

Jonathan’s probing questions zapped your heart and mind at the same time, and left you knowing that you had the capacity to make a real difference. We need so much more of this right now. We will miss him beyond words and try our very best to live his legacy in our practice. In honor of our inspiring colleague, we are naming our Fall Meeting Scholarships the Dr. Jonathan Ponds Scholarships. Jonathan once said to me, “shared leadership IS equity” and we hope those who receive the scholarship will carry on Jonathan’s legacy to build communities that really listen to each other, value divergent perspectives, deeply collaborate and always challenge each other to be better for our youth.

Join Me at the Fall Meeting! – Teri Schrader

The Fall Meeting originated with our colleagues at SRI as an annual gathering of learning with the entire community. We are pleased to bring this event back to give educators the opportunity to share and learn from colleagues all over the world.

“Fall Meeting is worth leaving my school. I never leave, but I want to leave my school to attend. It is that good. You gotta go; I’m going!”

I never call Fall Meeting a conference. It isn’t a traditional conference where there’s a menu and you pick and choose between sessions to listen in on. Or skip and go shopping! We have built the Fall Meeting into an important professional gathering with powerful common experiences for participants. Our community became accustomed to Fall Meeting as a space for professional growth, renewing relationships and building new ones. I am so glad it is back and we have the opportunity to work with brilliant and passionate educators. Fall meeting is a meeting: a meeting of the minds. We spend just a few days together and by the end you always get a sense of “Oh these are my people!” 

I’m really looking forward to being in a home group to see what people bring to share. I always bring something that is important to me, something my school or my colleagues or students need me to get to. I gain so much from the feedback on my work in my small group. At Fall Meeting, not only do we get what we need, we also end up getting what we didn’t know we needed from our group.

It will be exciting to be with people in this way again; to be together in big and small groups, and meet colleagues, old and new. I’m thrilled to see what it sounds and feels like in this new era of our work, and what it is like to be in a room with so many colleagues. 

Fall Meeting is worth leaving my school. I never leave, but I want to leave my school to attend. It is that good. You gotta go; I’m going!

Join our international gathering that is not just another sit-and-get conference. We learn from each other by giving and receiving feedback and sharing important dilemmas. We each bring and share our own expertise and passion to create more equitable outcomes for each and every student.

Fall Meeting Program

This will be an opportunity to connect and learn with educators and those who support education from across the country as we explore what leading for equity looks like in our current world. We need to connect and support one another more than ever!

Small Groups
Participants will spend a majority of their time giving and receiving feedback and sharing dilemmas and facilitating tools in small groups that model a Community of Practice (or you may know it as a Professional Learning Community or Or Reflective Learning Community, etc.).

Workshops
We will also spend time sharing our practices, tools, and learning in topic-based workshops presented by the CLEE Community, and that includes you! Keep and eye out for proposal submissions.

Keynote – Lorén Spears
An Indigenous perspective on Leading for Equity in a Changing World
Lorén M. Spears, enrolled Narragansett Tribal citizen and Executive Director of Tomaquag Museum, holds a Master’s in Education and received a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, from the University of Rhode Island for her dedicated work. She is an author, artist, and through the museum shares her cultural knowledge.

Support Your Initiatives with Professional Learning

Regardless of your time and budget constraints, CLEE offers support and services to meet your needs and goals. We are currently offering 3 open learning opportunities that can benefit everyone, regardless of where they are on their pathway. All sessions are open to any educator. Make time for one, two or all three of these programs to increase your impact on student outcomes.

CLEE Fall Meeting is an in-person national gathering that taps the vast expertise of the field to provide an immersive experience over two days. Learn More

CLEE’s Community of Practice is a virtual group of colleagues that meet four times a year to provide quick and actionable feedback and learning. Learn More

Facilitative Leadership Institute are virtual sessions to develop your facilitation skills and improve your ability to lead and engage in transformative adult learning. Learn More

Each month, CLEE offers a question or two to help you reflect on what you are experiencing. Thinking about the importance of questioning and what your answers mean is one more step in your growth as a leader for equity.

Join CLEE on social media to follow the monthly questions and share your answers.

How will you keep the main thing, the main thing?

Resource Books!

The Resource Book is a selection of protocols curated into a spiral-bound book and organized into sections, ideal for both new and experienced practitioners who want easy access to our most popular tools.