In the early 80's, I was the proverbial "latch-key kid". I walked home from school with my key jangling around my neck to an empty house, a kitchen full of snacks, and sole control of the T.V.'s channel changing knob. I had the power to choose from one of five channels. Every afternoon at 3:00 PM, I flipped past "Donahue", "Sha-Na-Na", "Sesame Street", and "Good Times", to get to "Little House on the Prairie". For this little girl whose dad left when I was six and whose mom worked all the time, I longed to be a part of the Walnut Grove community--- a place where people worked through conflict, faced trials, and celebrated achievement together.
Fast forward a few decades, and I find myself trying to be a mom, wife, and principal of a small, private Christian elementary school. While I own all 9 seasons of my favorite show, they sit untouched in my cabinet. I rarely have time to watch them. I have grown older and unfortunately wiser to the harsh realities that conflicts aren't always resolved, trials last longer than an hour (generally without commercial interruption), and sometimes life is too busy to even recognize, let alone celebrate achievement. Yet in my heart, I still believe that my imaginary childhood hometown was and is inspired by actual events, actual people, and places. So as I gingerly step into this world of blogging and reflection, I should probably write that the basis for my leadership paradigm is found in the teachings of renowned thinkers and innovative educators, but that wouldn't be accurate. It really began with a little girl longing to be a part of something and to belong somewhere more authentic than an empty house and a TV show. First and foremost what drives me as an administrator is to have a school that radiates this message to all that are there : "You are safe and you are valuable". Every lesson, schedule, activity, decision, and detail must be enveloped in these life-giving words.
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