WELCOME!

Since September 2019, I have worked in the position of Vice-Principal for the Huron Superior Catholic District School Board. My initial placement was at St. Mary's French Immersion, a vibrant and well-established school community known for its high academics and overall achievement. What a blessing it was to enter into this space where staff, students and families were so well-acquainted. I cherished the early months as I truly felt welcomed by all. In this role, I prospered from relationships quickly forged on mutual respect and trust. I recognized my role as an outsider, one who should value the knowledge and established relationships of many individuals who truly viewed the school as an extension of their own families. I was rewarded with their trust and enduring relationships that continue today. Among those was an effortless connection to my co-administrator, the principal of the school who demonstrated professionalism, warmth, wisdom and genuineness at every turn. Though we encountered many challenges that year (work action of all union groups, pandemic closures, and remote learning), we made it through together, and came out stronger on the other side for having navigated those difficult moments. We are truly stronger together. 

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In September 2020, new challenges were presented with a reassignment to St. Basil Catholic Elementary, the largest elementary school in the Board. This honour was not without reservation, as I was moved to a new school with new staff and students of whom I could only get to know by their eyes, voice, and mannerisms. Pandemic restrictions brought unprecedented challenges with concerns for student and staff safety. The list was long and overwhelming. Former practices had to be reimagined to keep 450 young students safely learning and moving through shared spaces. Hallway schedules, additional nutrition breaks, contract tracing, and enhanced cleaning all had to be incorporated into already tightly-woven schedules and practices. It would have been easy to be defeated had it not been for my co-administrator, who offered many words of wisdom from the 7 Habits of Successful Leaders. "Be proactive" helped me to anticipate and address small problems before they became big ones. "Put first things first" helped me to learn the importance of balancing competing demands. And "recognize what is within your circle of control" helped me to understand that I cannot control all situations, but I can control how I respond to them. So, as a frontline worker, I worked tirelessly with my co-administrator to do everything in our power to keep people safe. I marked report cards wearing face shields, masks, gowns and gloves so the Covid Support Worker could take a break. I initiated the breakfast bin program so students could still access nutritious food, disinfecting and shopping every week, which was adopted by other schools. And I stepped into classrooms so educators could step out and cry, letting them lean on me so they could find strength to return another day. I focused on the many little things we could do to keep people learning and feeling supported. Little by little, we took on the challenges of each day, always trying to "keep the end in mind", anticipating the day when pandemic learning would finally fade away. 

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With the promotion of my principal midway through my second year at St. Basil, in February 2022, I found myself once again getting to know a new administrator. This time however, I was in the position to welcome my colleague, instead of being welcomed. What evolved very quickly was an easy working relationship, in which we supported each other in different ways. I offered school-specific knowledge valuable to an incoming administrator. I continued to work hard to support the daily operations while he acclimatized to a new role. In turn, he brought something that I was missing from my own practice as an administrator: humour. The strains of the pandemic weighed heavily on my conscious as I worried often about many things. His ability to be relaxed, yet professional resonated with many people, including me. I witnessed staff members drawing energy from laughter, which benefitted staff and students alike. I saw once again how yet another different style of administration can be effective. What is more, my co-administrator brought balance to my life at a time when I was not. I became a better administrator for the focuses outside of school that I was encouraged to pursue, which led to me embarking on a new leadership journey.

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With the encouragement of many colleagues, I stepped into a newly created position: Vice-Principal of Instructional Leadership and Learning Recovery. For the 2022-2023 school year, I juggled responsibilities in this new role, with those of St. Basil as well. No longer a full-time release VP, I taught Tier 3 reading intervention, supported my school as VP for the remainder of the morning, and traveled the Board each afternoon in my new role. It was busy and exciting, and not at all easy, but I embraced the challenges of working with new people every day. At the heart of it was working alongside experienced literacy teachers, specialists in their field, to provide training, professional development and support to primary and Learning Resource Teachers. In a year when nothing was mandated, it took incredible personal resources to be able to connect with people and encourage them to be open to new learning. I traveled the Board, visiting every school multiple times and meeting incredible people. They learned much about literacy, while I in turn learned about them and their students. It was in invaluable experience that taught me the importance of building both professional knowledge and relationships with others. At the same time, I also had to build a relationship quickly with another co-administrator to join St. Basil. Once again, I shared my school-specific knowledge, particularly on scheduling, so that certain portfolio responsibilities could be shifted in my absence. I am proud to see operations continue successfully, knowing that I contributed by first learning and then sharing that knowledge with others. 

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This year, I returned to co-administer with my colleagues in a nearly full-time capacity. I retained some instructional blocks, selfishly in part to stay connected with my students, but also allowing our newest administrator the opportunity to continue learning all the roles. With only one more task left to teach (master scheduling), there is no doubt that my co-administrators will be able to effectuate all school-specific operations when the time comes for me to embrace a new leadership position. Their openness to learning from me reflects that which I experienced myself along my own leadership journey. In working together, we learn from each other, and we become the best versions of ourselves that we can be, for no one person can do it on their own. We are truly stronger when we work together. We each have special gifts, and it is in recognizing those gifts that we truly build relationships and organizations. And have we ever! Our school now stands as the pillar of the Board, hosting over 760 students and 20 different languages. These surges of enrollment and diversity would be challenging, were it not for how well we work together as a team. As we worked hard to build relationships with each other, we now get to enjoy the beauty of our growing school and diversity, knowing that we can navigate any challenge together. 

 

Therefore, though I have loved the last five years working as Vice-Principal, I am ready to step into leadership, in the role of Principal for the Board. The incredible leaders that I have been fortunate to work alongside have all instilled in me invaluable lessons, such as the importance of hard work, and never giving up. They have also demonstrated the attributes of effective Catholic leaders that I now see in myself: professionalism, warmth, wisdom, genuineness, hard-work, determination, proactiveness, humour, kindness, resilience, and openness, among many others. As the Board's next Principal, I will work everyday to support all members of our organization so that they may grow to become the best individuals they can be, and see leadership in themselves, as other people saw in me. 

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