“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

I struggle with carrying on traditions, just because they are long held.  That goes for religious, patriotic, even family traditions.  I may or may not express that struggle verbally, depending on my comfort level in the situation, but there is always a bit of resistance.  I struggle because I find that the further away that you get from the establishment of such traditions, the original meaning is lost, unless you continuously come back to the the origin story.  You can even build on the original or establish new/greater meaning and ownership when you collectively or individually connect the the history of those traditions to your own experiences.  I guess that’s my problem.  We don’t explicitly teach the meaning of our rote traditions and we don’t add to their meaning as we participate day-to-day.  Two traditions that I have struggled with since I left the Army is the rote singing of the Star Spangled Banner at sporting events, and when I entered education our reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance every day in school.  With all the uprisings that have occurred over the last month and with the recent celebration of July 4th, I’m not the only one that is questioning the singing of the anthem.

As a military veteran the Anthem and the Pledge have significant meaning to me.  As an 18-year-old I raised my right hand and committed to sacrificing my life in service to this country.  As I began my military career I began learn in detail about the soldiers that served Our country in war and peace time from the Revolutionary War through Kosovo. Then my time to serve in combat along with my college classmates and unfortunately lost 12 of them in gave their lives. When I hear the Star Spangled Banner it evokes some emotions as I think about my classmates that have died and those warriors that sacrificed before me.  When I moved to Maryland and attended any sporting event (professional through high school) I used to cringe every time I heard the crowd draw out the “O!” in “Oh say does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave.”

When I recite the Pledge I get chills thinking about all the experiences that I had in the military that shaped who I am.  Just 2% of teachers are military veterans, and obviously none of our students have served, so folks with direct ties to the military are few and far between that are in our schools.  I feel that it is my responsibility to have a staff that breaks down the meaning of those two texts, so that our students can have multiple perspectives, and can make informed decisions on why we do what we do and what the implications are.  Along with developing that knowledge in our students we have to be honest about the complex context these documents were written in.   The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, as part of a patriotic program for schools around the country to coincide with opening ceremonies for the Columbian Exposition in October of that year, the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the New World.  The original Pledge was revised to specify the pledging of allegiance to the U.S. flag, along with the addition of “under God” as a statement against “godless communism” in 1954.  I write this in the midst of a movement to remove all statues and symbols (like the Confederate Flag) of a white supremacy around our country.  Reciting a pledge originally written to commemorate the anniversary of Columbus is extremely problematic.  Again, why I struggle with the recitation without understanding.  Does our current status change the meaning or sentiment of the Pledge?  As I write this I am beginning to question myself about my shortsightedness on patriotism.  Just because I have a specific perspective on these two traditions, it does not make me the authority on what patriotism should look like for all of my students and staff.  Though a teacher has not served, it doesn’t make them any less willing to pledge their allegiance to our flag or connection to our country through a family member or friend that served.  How do I know that the singing of the Anthem doesn’t spur a young person’s emotions to eventually serve our country?

Reciting the pledge is a part of California Ed Code.  I’m not a rule breaker, but we will focus on understanding the meaning as a school community.  To me the last few words really get to the heart of what it means to be an American, and unfortunately we are living in a time where the struggle to make sure that there truly is “Liberty and Justice For All.”  So what do those words mean and how will they connect to education?   Liberty is freedom.  As difficult as it is to admit, I’m part of a system that doesn’t teach students true liberty.  A school that teaches liberty, builds community, helps students discover who they are, welcomes in their family and culture, teaches them not only skills, but to find their identity, the importance of intellectualism, and to think critically and ask critical questions of everything.  Justice is equal treatment under the law.  The law has to see everyone as human first of all.  If those creating the laws do not see the humanity in every individual, then we have the responsibility to get that person out of the law making role.  The same goes for those that execute the law as well.  This goes directly to our current movement to reform our criminal justice system.  Many say that it is too flawed to simply reform it and call for the abolition of the police and to rebuild the system.  There is even a movement for abolitionist teaching with our education system.  From a school admin perspective that requires me and my team to take a hard look at how we truly feel about all students, especially those that are oppressed by our policies and the enforcement of our policies.  I know these are both highly controversial topics, but does anything truly change without first being broken down?  Those that oppose the abolition movements call the abolitionists crazy thugs or terrorists that are committed to ending “our” way of life in America.  For those that are not negatively impacted by law enforcement or school systems it may seem like the worst decision possible, but for those that have been oppressed by the systems, ending the systems and giving the oppressed the opportunity to experience liberty and justice would be a relief.   Even considering those that aren’t negatively impacted by our systems, would they notice a difference if the systems were changed?  Does liberty and justice for all correspond to less liberty and less justice for those that have always experienced it?

My goal moving forward is to create a school that pursues “Liberty and Justice for All.”

This is a series of reflections on the book that my Mastermind group is currently reading, The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle.

Chapter 1 – The Good Apples.  We have to create a safe environment that says, without saying:  You are safe here.  To create this safe environment where community members feel safe to share their authentic selves, be vulnerable, and make mistakes, leaders use Belonging Cues.  The cues are non-verbal actions that signal that this is a safe space.  The Belonging Cues:  (1) Energy:  They invest in the exchange that is occurring. (2) Individualization: They treat the person as unique and valued. (3) Future orientation: They signal the relationship will continue.

As I write this post we are in the middle of the second semester of the school year and the heart of the second round of teacher observations. I can’t help but focus on the cues that we as instructional leaders, and myself specifically, are sending to our teachers during that stressful post-observation meetings.  Are our phones silenced, and screens turned off? Are we moving in close and making good eye contact? Before we dig deep into the lesson or during our review, are we making a personal connection over a common interest?  Are we discussing not only the structure of the lesson, but the thought that went into planning that specific lesson for that specific group of students? Are we not only talking about next steps for growth, but are we also talking about teacher-leader opportunities or preferred schedules for next year?  I feel like the discussions around questions like these are triggering that sense of belonging and safety that will help build and maintain the positive culture within my school.

This is the first in a series that I’ll be doing to reflect on the book that my Mastermind group is currently reading, The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle.

Introduction – This book is going to focus on the author’s experience researching some of the most successful groups to identify the skills necessary for long term success.  There are three mains skills:  Skill 1 – Build Safety – Safety is the foundation on which culture is built.  Successful cultures use established signals of connection to generate bonds; Skill 2 – Share Vulnerability – Mutual risk drives trusting cooperation; Skill 3 – Establish Purpose – narratives create shared goals and values.  The introduction tells the story of a scenario where different groups are given the task of constructing a tower with uncooked spaghetti, transparent tape, string, and a marshmellow.  Groups consisted of business school students and some groups were kindergarten students.  I, like many others would think that the business school students would build the tallest tower, but trial after trial showed that it was the kindergarteners that built the tallest structure! “We focus on what we can see – individual skills.  But individual skills are not what matters.  What matters is the interactions.”  The business students have a ton of knoweldge and experience, but they are also worried about how they are perceived with in the group, afraid to offend other members, and their individual role, while the kindergarteners are constantly experimenting and not worried about the formalities.  This makes me think of one of my favorite quotes, “Hustle beats talent when talent doesn’t hustle.”  To me those that hustle are focused on getting the job done no matter what.  They’re not worried about the formalities or the way that things have always been done.  Hustlers attack the challenge relentlessly and will do the little things that it takes to be successful.  For the hustler there isn’t just thinking outside the box, often they don’t see a box.  I feel as though the more formal educational experiences we have, we allow ourselves to get stuck in the box.  Those business school students were stuck in the box.  If I’m in a space where I feel safe, I’m more likely to use my creativity to get the job done.  As a leader, I want to create a culture that encourages creative solutions to the problems that we face as an organization.  We live in such a dynamic world and as an educator I am responsible for supporting and preparing students for an increasingly evolving work world.  If I’m not just as dynamic in my thinking and problem solving, then I’m probably not doing enough to support my students.  One of the main reasons I’m in the Mastermind is to learn from some of the most dynamic and innovative leaders around who want new strategies and tools to solve old and new problems.  It’s hard work stretching your thinking, but I’m here for it’s and I’m exited to dive deep into the three skills that make a long lasting and consistently successful organization.

Clear communication is an ongoing challenge for me.  Specifically, closing the loop/following through on conversations and requests.  In my roll as an administrator, things come at you at such a fast and furious pace that it is easy to begin a task, then get distracted with another immediate need, and forget all about that original item you were working on.  I’m not making excuses, just putting forth my reality.  When your overall focus is supporting students and staff, and you don’t do that in a timely manner, it gets frustrating and can be stressful.  Part of my solution is improving my organization.  I struggled early this school year with tracking what I needed to do and where I needed to be, but I’ve gotten much better by focusing on documenting my weekly tasks, appointments, and critical conversations that need my follow through in my notebook, which I affectionately refer to as “my brain”.  I owe a lot of this new found organization to my Mastermind group, “Guiding Principals,” because we are able to share our challenges and brainstorm solutions to support one another.

I missed one instance a couple months ago that didn’t come to my attention until recently, and that spurred this post.  My principal approached us assistant principals and asked if any of us remember an interaction between one of our staff members and a parent that also works in the district.  As previously stated, there is always something going on, and I often forget interactions that I had a couple hours ago, let alone a possible interaction from a couple months ago.  Anyway, the message was communicated from our staff member to district leadership and back down to my principal, that our staff member didn’t feel supported by admin. My principal dug a little deeper and found out that I was the admin that didn’t provide the support. Ouch!  I take pride in making staff feel supported, but in this case I didn’t.  I had handled the situation with an angry parent after this staff member had to deal with them initially, but because I didn’t come back to my staff member to let them know that they had handled it appropriately on their end, they didn’t feel like their effort was validated.  In such a face paced role, things fall through the cracks, but it is important to mitigate that as much as possible, especially when it comes to making your people feel valued and supported.  Since finding out about this situation I’ve added a section to my notebook titled “Close the Loop” where I keep track of the people who brought something to my attention, so that if not the same day, then the next day I am able to follow up with them.  It seems to be working because over the course of a couple weeks I’ve received several pieces of positive feedback from families and staff members.  Focusing on closing the loop is now an integral part of my daily leadership journey.