A Sense of Occasion

No matter what one’s leadership style may be, nor how one handles discipline in a school, it is hard not to feel for Suzanne Lukas, Superintendent of Bonny Eagle School District in Maine. At... Read More »

Embracing Adulthood

In the last posting of The Commons, Laura Walker wrote of the joys of summer reading. Taking her advice in stride, I recently took up Dan Heischman’s newly published Good Influence: Teaching... Read More »

Summer Reading

As a school administrator, I always found it amusing when parents threw out these words as the school year came to a close: “So, I guess you look forward to three months of vacation!”... Read More »

The Grace of Imperfection

Forget your perfect offering Your bell is cracked It still can ring That is how the light gets in. — Leonard Cohen Sometimes it can feel as though school life is all about the “perfect... Read More »

Stand by Me

The search for meaning remains at the heart of the soul’s journey, and at the heart of meaning-making is relationship—with God, self, others, the world. But as new ways to connect... Read More »

A Matter of Time

At the recent NAES Head’s Retreat in Chicago, facilitator and former school head Fran Scoble led the group through a series of powerful reflections and engaging questions. Sitting together... Read More »

The Importance of Being Generalists

At our recent conference for school chaplains, one of the concerns raised by this group was the degree to which the trend toward specialization is forcing many chaplains to re-think or re-clarify... Read More »