November 2025: School Administrator
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Additional Articles
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Finding Common Ground on Religion in Public SchoolsThe Freedom Forum鈥檚 newly updated First Amendment guide captures a consensus across the ideological and religious spectrum.
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Listening to Muslim StudentsThe unaddressed needs of students related to religious understanding, biases and bigotry, according to a research study by the co-authors.
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Contractual BenefitsThe categories of contractual benefits superintendents receive have changed markedly over the last 10 years.
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Custodial ConundrumOur ethics panel analyzes whether school staff should accept communication from a troubled student鈥檚 grandmother when her parents are uninvolved.
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Negotiating Your Second ContractAn attorney鈥檚 take on the distinctive challenge of a superintendent鈥檚 first contract renewal, offering a few practical measures.
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Public Listening While Conducting BusinessEnabling public comment opportunities for community members in the management of efficient school board meetings.
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Leading in the Age of Screenshots and SharesDrawing the lines between personal and professional social media posts for educators.
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Listening Softly to Our Native American PartnersPreserving identity and history by consulting a neighboring tribe on a school name change.
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Creating a Multitiered Approach for Young ReadersA school district鈥檚 steps for raising literacy outcomes from multiple perspectives.
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Diplomacy Without Compromise: Advocacy in Public EducationA veteran superintendent reframes what it means to be both tactful and resolute when pressing for what鈥檚 important in schooling today.
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The Vitality of District Data as Fed Research Fades
Your district鈥檚 in-house data must be the very tool to gauge what鈥檚 working in schools.
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Staying True to Your Course and YourselfLeaning into values of student-centered inclusion helped the 91制片 president when dealing with controversies.
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Leading from Your CoreGrowing effective school leadership through principal supervisors.
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An Accumulation of Honors for 91制片 PublicationsThe association鈥檚 monthly magazine and national conference e-newsletter captured awards in six national publication competitions.
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Hard Conversations and Decisive ActsThe superintendent in Anne Arundel County, Md., leads decisively through tough calls.
Staff
Editor's Note
Exploring Faith
I鈥檝e gotten to know 91制片 member Deborah Wortham over the past couple of years, so I want to acknowledge her as a principal inspiration for devoting the editorial theme of this issue to the role religious faith plays in education leadership.
Wortham devoted 15 years of effective work as a superintendent of several highly challenged school communities in New York and Pennsylvania. But it wasn鈥檛 until I reviewed her book Setting the Atmosphere: Beliefs, Practices, and Protocols for Faith-Filled Educational Leaders early in 2024 that I gained an appreciation for how someone leading an organization in the public sphere could speak sensitively and respectfully about applying one鈥檚 religious beliefs to day-to-day responsibilities. As she puts it: 鈥淔aith truly is the foundation of impactful leadership.鈥�
We subsequently published a My View commentary by Wortham on the subject in September 2024 that generated a multitude of appreciative responses from readers. Her Thought Leader session at 91制片鈥檚 national conference this past March attracted a full house. That led me to create this month鈥檚 issue.
The content here is rich and inspirational. In particular, I point our readers to the series of four first-person essays by superintendents identifying themselves as followers of Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh faiths and to Charles Haynes鈥� article about the latest consensus guidelines on the place of religion in public schools. In regard to the latter resource, 91制片 played a notable role in the drafting and publication of the first set of consensus guidance developed in the late 鈥�90s by a cross-section of religious and educational organizations. (Read more about it on the same page.)
As always, I welcome hearing from those who have read this issue, those who welcome our unusual attention to these sensitive issues and perhaps from some who don鈥檛.
Jay P. Goldman
Editor, School Administrator
703-875-0745
jgoldman@aasa.org
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