Rule book for Education Leaders

NYS CTE Flyer NYS CTE Virtual Collaboration: Challenges and Innovations June 22, 2021 KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: Digital Re-Program: Reflection, Re-Start, Reboot Patrick Darfler-Sweeney 38 years in PK-12 Education 18 years Social Studies HS Teacher; 19 years XC, Track Coach 20 years Administrator: Superintendent, Asst. Superintendent, Director of Special Education, Director of Athletics, Principal, Dean of Students USNYRRF/NYSED Project Director- P20 Partnership Principal Preparation Author: Superintendent’s Rulebook: A Guide to District Level Leadership (2018) Digital Educator Presenter: 2011 BLC; 2019 BLC; 2020 NYSCATE; 2020 Merrimack College MINTS Program A Crisis is the Mother of Reform Pandemic News: “Remote learning presents unique challenges for special needs students and their parents”; “East St. Louis students lacking internet for remote learning”; “Do schools turn in parents whose children do not participate in remote learning?”; “Teachers Consider Quitting Due to Overwhelming Hou

Web 0.0 to 2.0 and Beyond (from The Superintendent Rulebook ) I remember the sense of the importance of going to the school library of my elementary school for the first time. We were going to learn how to unlock the card catalog and the mysteries of the Dewey Decimal System. With this knowledge, we leveraged the world's knowledge contained in all of those books on the shelf. It was a huge day, and yet, I still do not remember my teachers doing much with the librarian to build it into what we did in the classroom. There would be the occasional project that we were instructed to "see the librarian" if we needed help, and, the librarian being only one person, really could not give us the time we needed. Another vivid memory is the day my father bought for us the Funk, and Wagnalls Encyclopedia set, he said we could look up anything (in alphabetical order!) and get information. So I started getting information, then copying verbatim for reports and then

As an education leader, it is important that the leader understands that it is impossible to be an expert in everything that they are charged with overseeing and leading. The solution to this challenge is to seek out the best persons available for positions and that they have complementary leadership skills to mesh with your vision and of the school and district. The key to understanding the ebb and flow of the operation of a school building and district is to understand what needs to happen and when it's supposed to happen. The reason why I wrote  The Superintendent's Rulebook  was the natural extension of the mentoring work I was engaged in with new superintendents and principals. At that time I gathered, developed, and customized organizational tools for education leaders. I built upon work of John Burkhart of the Andes CSD, Questar III BOCES, and Greg Beall of ONC BOCES; combining the calendar work and needs that I had as a leader led to the development of this three-

As I am writing, we are in the Covid-19 pandemic forcing school districts across the nation to close and in New York State create a political tension on who has the authority to close schools and for how long. Whatever the ultimate outcome is for the school closers, I hope (this is ONLY if it is safe to do so) in New York State, at least we could somehow come back by June 1st. It would be ideal to have both teachers and students again but absent that bring back in at least the teachers. This would provide an opportunity for teachers and students to put some sort of annual closer to the school year. Absent doing this, I fear that it would prevent a "clean reset" for the start of the next school year. We have witnessed schools scramble to convert to online/video lessons. My wife, Laurie, who is a Cosmetology Teacher, has transformed our living room into her laboratory. She is conducting video classes with her students in a digital environment that allows her to demons

Over the last year and a half, I have been working for the University of the State of New York Regents Research Fund as a Project Director for NYSED. The program is funded by the Wallace Foundation, whose generosity and interest in education leadership is profound. As Project Director I oversee the development and execution of six Principal Preparation Partnerships Pilot Programs (Holy alliteration Batman!). These programs represent a fresh approach to testing out ideas that NYSED previously gathered from education leaders throughout the state (superintendents, principals, teachers, college professors, leadership organizations). The motivation for the advisory committee's work in the first place was mainly a general dissatisfaction with the school building leader graduate's readiness to take on the responsibilities of being an Assistant Principal, or Principal position. They were the education version of "not ready for primetime". The focus of the committee's re