The Role of the Principal

The Important Focus of Leaders

Principals are visionaries, advocates, and leaders in community schools, emphasizing the importance of building trust, fostering collaboration, and driving systemic change to support students and families.

Principals who are new to leading a community school focus on: 

Developing their leadership team

Structures for collaboration & cohesion with their community school coordinator

Messaging the community school strategy & the coordinator role to the school community

"You must see your coordinator as your partner; if you cannot see them as a leader in your school, things are not going to change."
Elise Jones
Easton Area Middle School, Easton Pennsylvania

Resources for Learning

What is a Community School?

Strategic Planning

Evaluation & Continuous Improvement

For more about The Role of the Principal in Community Schools, click here

"This is an equity strategy. That is how I guide all my conversations; it's about equity. "
Marco Harris
Assistant Superintendent, Albuquerque Schools

Questions Guiding A Community School
Leadership Mindset

Organizing work around equity, leadership, and the whole-child approach supports the mindset required to lead an evolving community school. 

Use these questions to guide the work of creating your vision, building strong relationships, and implementing day-to-day community school operations. 

Equity literacy

How does our community understand and address the current and historic inequities and leverage our assets to address those inequities? How will the policies and practices in our community school impact the most marginalized members of our community? 

To learn more about equity literacy: Equity Literacy Institute

Adaptive leadership

What are the root causes and complex issues our community must address so all children can thrive?  How can we create conditions for the community to work together to foster the transformative conditions to address these adaptive challenges? 

To learn more about adaptive leadership: Adaptive Leadership: How Great School Principals Lead for Change

Whole child approach

How do the system, practices, and organization of our community school support both children’s bodies and minds? 

To learn more about the Whole Child Approach: Whole Child Policy Toolkit

Community School Voices

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