7
story continued _______________________________________________
Steve Murphy of Carbondale Community
165, Dr. Kathie Pierce of Fenton Community
100, Dr. Nick Polyak of Leyden Community
HS 212, Dr. Tami Roskamp of Schuyler
Industry 5, and Dr. Andrew Wise of Olympia
District 16. Dr. Kimberly Boryszewski of
Schiller Park 81 was unable to attend the
final weekend and will complete her
graduation at the next ISAL gathering in
January.
The two-year ISAL program included
developing a personal professional growth
plan as well as developing a district plan for
student
achievement
that
included
conducting a comprehensive needs
assessment. Each of the ISAL students was
assigned a veteran superintendent as a
coach.
ISAL
also
studied
the
superintendent’s role through five leadership
lenses:
1)
facilitator of shared moral purpose, 2)
change agent, 3) relationship/culture promoter, 4)
capacity builder, and 5) coherence maker.
The notion of a school for advanced leadership
goes back to 2005, and a design team composed of
veteran superintendents and educational leaders was
formed in 2008. After two years of work, the ISAL
program was rolled out in 2010. Dr. Nancy Blair,
professor of leadership studies at Cardinal Stritch
University in Milwaukee and an author of three books
on leadership, facilitated the program.
“I think this program is unique. It compares to
what we do in our doctoral programs at Cardinal
Stritch with regard to transformational leadership. We
work deeper than most programs, from the inside
out,” said Blair.
Clark talked about that personal aspect of being a
leader in his remarks at the graduation ceremony
Saturday, June 14 at IASA headquarters in
Springfield.
“When the leader is on balance, the chances of
the organization that you lead maintaining a
semblance of balance is increased,” Clark said.
“Years ago, I wrote a paper about that and I listed
five domains. Only one, professionalism, directly
pertains to being a superintendent. The other four –
family, friendships, health and faith – have to do with
maintaining your balance as a person and as a
leader.”
The rigorous two-year journey having ended,
Clark told the group of 19 graduates that the real
work of transformational leadership was just
beginning.
“Go forth and set the
example,” he said. “Do good
work, do it with fidelity and
focus on the things that matter.
Influence others, be a mentor
and change our profession.
Everyone talks about return on
investment, and in this case it
will be making a difference in
public
education.
The
challenge is to go home, stick
with it and carry it out over a
sustained period of time.”
Clark said IASA is now
accepting applications for ISAL
III, which is scheduled to begin
in January of 2015.
(Continued from page 6)
