Community-Driven Leadership: Unlocking the Secrets to School Success

[: 00:00:00

I'm your host for today, Chee Tung, or C. T. And I run a company called Engage Rocket. We're a leadership listening and insights tool to help school district leaders to improve teacher retention, engagement, and ultimately, student achievement outcomes. And today in the studio, it's a great privilege for me to be chatting with Susan Elliott.

She's the superintendent of Upper Moreland Township School District, and she's going to be sharing her leadership story with us today. So welcome to the show, Susan.

[: 00:00:40

[00:00:42] CT: So Susan, tell us a little bit more about Upper Moreland Township School District. What makes it special? What's unique in your experience?

[: 00:00:48

And what's unique about us we're a suburban Philadelphia school district. So we're outside of Philadelphia area. What is unique is that we are. One community, one township one police department, one fire department, one school district, all serving about eight square miles of a community that is community of people who have really invested in living here many of our staff are alumni.

Of the school district many people want to move back into this community to raise their Children and really value what upper Moreland brings, not only as a school district, but also as a community serving the people that live there.

[: 00:01:53

[00:02:07] Susan Elliott: We have quite a few teachers who actually, went to school and may have. Taught somewhere else for a little bit, but look for that opportunity to come back to upper Moreland and want to teach in upper Moreland where they actually graduated from school and have a lot of pride in the community.

Not only as teachers, but just even as community members, people take a lot of pride in In the school district and what the school district offers for our students and the activities that we have Many of those are activities that become a community event And really draw people to come to celebrate together.

[: 00:02:46

Engaging the community and, being active on social media and making sure that making sure that your community's voice is heard. How, like, why do you do that?

[: 00:03:18

But also, how can we also help make the community in which we serve a place that helps prepare our students for what we talk about in Upper Moreland as preparing our students for success in [00:04:00] a complex and interdependent world that starts within our small community, but we're a microcosm of a bigger community in which in which we belong.

We do a lot of trying to engage community members in various things. For example, This year, we're starting some strategic planning for setting our goals for the next five years as a district and a big part of that strategic planning process is involving community members, parents, faith based groups, all in.

Helping to think about what our current reality is and then set our long range goals for the future for the district. So I value the expertise of many different voices because I believe that having different voices makes your experience richer and really helps you fully understand what we can do to best meet our students needs.

[: 00:04:56

So how do you balance all of these different voices and give them equal I guess we equal time in the sun and not necessarily equal weight.

[: 00:05:25

I listen to a lot of groups of people. And as you said, it can sometimes feel like, overload of information, but I find that in making note of [00:06:00] important points and key themes and conversations that I have, whether it's conversations with my student advisory groups that I meet with on a periodic basis, my parent and my staff advisory groups, or even just having conversations with community members.

If I'm attending a sporting event or a performing arts event and have an opportunity to talk to people, I always listen to what they're ha what they have to say and try to put all that information together to best understand what does that say about. Where we are as a district and where we need to go as a leader I really value my leadership team, which is my cabinet members and then my building principals and other administrators in the district.

of that information together [: 00:07:00

[00:07:07] CT: I know you're in the midst of the strategic planning process right now. You're probably getting input from all of these different quarters and at a very high velocity at a very high volume. Is there an example where you're getting conflicting input or input That would make you have to choose between competing resource priorities.

And, I don't know if you're open to share, but, just maybe talk through the approach of how you're dealing with with just prioritization process because you can't, you can't do everything. Your resources are limited and you got to pick and choose. How do you do that?

[: 00:07:40

And that committee was a group of mixed of students, staff members, community members, business leaders who brought their expertise to the table and we looked at data together, looked at our data, but also looked at what does the industry and our society say about what students need to be successful.

So looking at things like the world economic forum for information and. Engaging those people in looking at the information that they read and then bringing their own experiences, we had opportunities where there were a lot of discussions of what's important, what's not important when it comes to characteristics or attributes of a graduate, and there were times where there was.

engage people in listening, [: 00:09:00

This is our target. We're going to come at this through consensus, which means that you may not a hundred percent agree with everything that's there, but. As long as we reach a consensus as a group that we believe this best represents our discussion and what we feel then we'll be comfortable with that.

And setting guardrails along the way as we're engaging in these discussions to, to check in with people. As I'm facilitating sessions, I'm watching body language. I'm looking at who seems to be a little uncomfortable with where a conversation is going. Might do a separate check in with that person.

d direct as needed to really [: 00:10:00

[00:10:03] CT: And I'm glad you touched on that because one of the hardest things about being a leader is you're when you make the call, not everyone is gonna have their way. And you mentioned consensus, but it sounds like you're not deciding by committee or you're pulling everybody's input in and then making a decision from there.

And there's subtle difference. So in the cases where you have different groups of people who might feel like the decision has gone against their input, how do you approach them in those private sessions that you're talking about one on ones in a way that still engages them with the process, engages them with the rest of.

The strategy that you're pushing through.

[: 00:10:43

Here's why something has to be a certain way. And sometimes those reasons are very legitimate reasons that we can't afford it financially to do it that way. Or sometimes, with education, there are things where perhaps a community member or a parent, someone who may not, Be as familiar with some of the requirements that our state sets for us for education that I have to remind them.

Unfortunately, this is a. This is the way the state requires us to do this. So this is why we need to do this way. But always making sure that in, even when there's a disagreement I let them know that I greatly appreciate their perspective and continue to value what they bring to the table, even if the outcome isn't what they were hoping.

And helping them understand that what they did contribute helped us to get to where we needed to be with the decision.

[: 00:11:53

[00:12:18] Susan Elliott: In my experience here as superintendent at Upper Moorland to date I have not had any single group come to me and say they're not represented and not that won't happen because I'm sure at some point it probably will in my previous experiences, I've had that where different groups, whether it's teachers or some parents have expressed concern that their perspective was not being heard and you Depending upon what my role was in, in different contexts, I would evaluate first whether or not that was true and if it wasn't be able to talk with them about how I can get their perspective involved, or maybe why for this particular conversation or this particular [00:13:00] committee it wasn't something we were able to accommodate And then try to find other ways to get them involved in the future to make sure they know that their perspective is valuable.

[: 00:13:10

Where did this come from? Because you're, I want to go into your personal leadership journey a little bit. You have you have served as an interim superintendent before in a previous school district assistant superintendent also. But would it be correct that this Upper Moreland's your first full superintendent, superintendency?

[: 00:13:48

[00:13:51] CT: Yeah, and why did you say yes to that role? It's, It's a challenging role at the best of times and it's it is a capstone appointment within education, but at the [00:14:00] same time, it comes with a lot of stresses, a lot of having to deal with so many different stakeholders making tough decisions.

Why did you say yes to that?

[: 00:14:08

And that's what has the impetus for [00:15:00] all of my decisions throughout my career. How do I make a difference? And looking at the superintendency I felt that. Particularly here at Upper Moreland there was a match for my values my skill set and what Upper Moreland needed in in their leader and felt that this was an opportunity for me to continue to make a difference in the lives of, students and staff and be a positive influence on education And in the success of our community here at Upper Moorland, I

[: 00:15:33

And I'm curious as to where you built that in your career, like where did you feel like you had that crucible moment in your leadership [00:16:00] journey that prepared you for this role?

[: 00:16:01

Whenever she was, the door was always open. I was very comfortable with her being in my classroom and I would occasionally then talk with her and ask her questions about what it's like to be a female leader. What does she value about being a superintendent? What are the challenges?

position I could see myself [: 00:17:00

And I think I can make a difference in this role.

[: 00:17:42

It's not as simple as that. How did you go about nurturing creating and nurturing these mentoring relationships over the years.

[: 00:18:12

I think that, the crux of all of that comes down to the real value and the importance of relationships that [00:19:00] make a difference for a relationship. For people and really for educators to be successful.

[: 00:19:05

[00:19:26] Susan Elliott: Most of it was pretty casual. I would say I've never had other than The like mentor relationships that you're first assigned when you first start teaching, which is given to you. Most of my mentor relationships have been very casual relationships, people that I've gotten to know in different contexts, and then I continue to build that relationship and Reach out to them for support or ask them, can can you help me?

in my life as a career. I'd [: 00:20:00

So I also look for mentors or even just support groups that will help me step back and maybe think about something a little bit differently. So for example, I belong to here outside of Philadelphia, the university of Pennsylvania has a Penn study council for superintendents in the area, and one of the things that they've established as an offshoot of that study council is women in education group.

pectives in that group while [: 00:21:00

It's an open group where people bring those perspectives in helping others think through challenges that they might be experiencing or questions they have. And it really helps to broaden my perspective of thinking about things through a different lens that I might not be currently experiencing.

[: 00:21:24

To, to face that and to be willing to ask for help sometimes. And it sounds like you've done that and it's definitely add a lot to you. Do you find, was it difficult at any of those times to be that vulnerable in front of others?

[: 00:21:59

[00:22:42] CT: Absolutely. And reflecting on your experience growing as a leader. Especially, with a nontraditional path, when you think about growing other leaders within your district, how do you approach that? What is it that you think about any kind of frameworks or approaches that you use?

[: 00:22:59

So really working to build relationships and trust to create those safe spaces. And a lot of that is. Is grounded in my experiences and growing as a leader and, my experience. Also, I tap into a lot of my experience as an athlete and playing on a team and how, as a team, you're working together towards.

players on the field. [: 00:24:00

And that when one of your teammates is maybe struggling a little bit that day with, they're not hitting the ball as well as they usually do, they need encouragement. They need. They needed to support them. And that can help them grow. So I take my lessons that I learned as both an athlete and a coach into my role as a leader of leaders in my district and creating those spaces, looking at that as I have.

A team of administrators who were all in this for the same reason, which is the 13 year journey that we have for our kiddos from kindergarten through 12th grade. We want them to be successful and we all need to work together and bring our unique skills. But I also work to create spaces where. They are learning from each other and I am learning from them too.

And really work to [: 00:25:00

I believe in the importance of modeling. What I expect from them as well. So modeling practices and protocols that can be used with their faculty or their their departments to help grow and build capacity of their teachers and their members of their departments. And I'm very explicit when I do that, when I, pick a particular protocol or activity that we do as a leadership team, I will then.

that they're seeing in me a [: 00:26:00

[00:26:11] CT: And do you find that people respond to this time and space that you're giving them differently? Some perhaps are a little bit more eager to advance themselves in leadership. Others, maybe not so much are quite comfortable doing what they're doing. And how do you calibrate your approach to these different types of individuals?

[: 00:26:32

They are distracted because they're having an issue with a bus that's not getting, Kids home on [00:27:00] time or something's happening and our student safety is first and foremost top priority So they need to do that. So I will You know, gauge what's the distraction or what? Why might this person not be really there today and look for opportunities to support them?

It comes back to the relationship piece and really knowing about each of my people, my leadership team. I know things about them. I know. Things that some of them are dealing with personally in their lives or challenges they're having within their departments. So I make a point to check in on those things.

be as fully engaged in this [: 00:28:00

At another time, but I'm here for you and you have the resources that I'm showing you and I will help support you as well as my cabinet will help support as well to help us move forward.

[: 00:28:12

How do you think about that within your district?

[: 00:28:36

that I meet with to really tap into those folks as leaders. We have structures where there is some leadership among teachers through department chairs or grade level leads and really making sure whether it's through me or through my assistant superintendent or other cabinet members, are you Giving those people some leadership opportunity.

Tell me how you're helping them to take some ownership. What are you doing to ensure that they're feeling like they're an important part of the work that you're doing? And so having some of those conversations to some of my folks build that. That reflective practice of, okay, am I doing this?

Am I really helping them grow and providing some insight for them too when I observe things and some good feedback so that we can continue to help our, help grow folks in our ranks and give those people opportunities as they arise.

[: 00:29:53

People are now taking out more. They're more engaged in their work. They're more engaged with the kids. What are some of the indicators that you use to monitor this?

[: 00:30:25

Are we seeing the benefits of the work we've been doing to build capacity of others and work together to build our team and our our collaboration together as a team. I also get feedback from teachers. So [00:31:00] I do throughout the year, different conversations where I actually spend time whether it's in, in a building for a full day or over a couple of days where I have open office hours.

And I invite teachers to all staff members, actually, not just teachers, but also support staff and to come in and give me feedback. And I've done it now two years in a row. The first year, I, when I did that, it was very open ended to let people share whatever they wanted to share. And last year I wanted to get a little bit more targeted feedback from them.

g that you think needs to be [: 00:32:00

And then, I also ask them to give me feedback on how am I doing? What can I do better as your superintendent? And, those four questions were Very eye opening for me and gave me some key themes that then I could take to their building principals or supervisors to talk about here's what I'm hearing, here's some of the, here's the positives that are happening, here are the things we could work on, and also gave me some really good actionable items to be able to make a difference with something that, to maybe you or I Seems insignificant, but to that person is really important, and if I could have a hand in making a change for example, our one of our transportation people asked for, it'd be really nice to have a color printer in our transportation office because they print Colored tags for the buses.

frog bus or the you know The [: 00:33:00

And that went a long way to, helping to, build that capacity of that person is okay, I had agency there. I was listened to. I brought something forward and I was able to Get some action as a result of something that I brought forward as a concern. I

[: 00:33:32

So that's super powerful. And I love that you shared that. As we're coming to the end of this episode, if I can ask you for one piece of advice that you have for aspiring leaders, people who [00:34:00] maybe aren't yet at the pinnacle of their careers and they're aspiring for the next step, but they're not sure what they need to do to get there.

What is a couple of pieces of advice that you have for them to think about that next step?

[: 00:34:13

And Then really being able to understand that first before you respond. I think that oftentimes in our fast paced world, and we're all, we all fall victim to it, I know I do as well, where I'm listening to somebody and while I'm listening to that person, I'm already trying to figure out the solution to their problem before I've actually really listened to what they [00:35:00] want me to hear.

So that would be probably the most important piece of advice. I think that ability to really actively listen. It is going to really help someone who anyone who's aspiring to be a leader, and I cannot underestimate the importance of relationships and valuing those relationships as something that makes you stronger.

As a leader and also helps you to build build your tribe, so to speak of your network of people that will help you to grow and help you to help others to grow as well. And those are relationships, within your organization outside of your organization. Those 2 things I think would be the most 2 most important things to helping you to be a successful leader.

[: 00:35:43

For the show notes of this episode, as well as for our entire archive of other episodes and other guests, head over to k12. engagerocket. net, and you'll find this whole repository just waiting for you. It's a treasure trove of knowledge and leadership stories from all over. in different industries and different contexts.

I'd advise head over there as quickly as you can. Thank you so much, Susan. Really appreciate it. I'll chat today. And this has been CT and I'm sig