Edu Change & Student Advocacy

(Inspired by and dedicated to #LeadWild, David Theriault, David Culberhouse, Jon Corippo, Dr. Brad Gustafson, Tom Whitford, Ken Durham, The Ramones, Bad Religion, The Clash, X and many others.) "PUNK IS: the personal expression of uniqueness that comes from the experiences of growing up in touch with our human ability to reason and ask questions.” - Greg Graffin, Bad Religion “The thread of culture that runs through the entire history of punk is also a dedication to challenging the authoritarian.” - Greg Graffin, Bad Religion      You can’t peruse social media, even for a minute, without coming across another book, blog post or quote about LEADERSHIP. But, here I go anyway. Leadership, and leadership theory, are applicable to all industries, endeavors and human interactions. And no doubt that leadership, and our leaders, are going through major transformations as our entire global society questions traditional approaches and yearns for more meaningful and empowerin...

     As the founding principal of Minarets High School, a 1:1, project-based high school that opened up in 2008, our primary goal was to create a classroom and schoolwide culture that was student-oriented in the digital age. Our idea of inclusive was that students would have a voice in all aspects of their learning. We wanted students to enjoy learning and own the experience. That’s what inclusive meant to us. Here are some of the highlights of our student culture and learning environment at Minarets High School and how we defined #InclusiveSpaces: The Pedagogy, Philosophy or Attitude: It starts with the talk that you have to walk: See the Minarets High School Student Bill of Rights and Student Success Ladder. We spent every moment we could reminding us of the mission and unique challenge of this school. Every summer, we had a Staff Culture Camp where we re-engaged with these and planned how to further these challenges. We continued to survey students, staff, parents and...