Jan. 5, 2026

Episode 56: Lindsey Allen’s Leadership Journey: How a Principal Scaled Influence, Protected Teacher Time, and Boosted Student Achievement

Episode 56: Lindsey Allen’s Leadership Journey: How a Principal Scaled Influence, Protected Teacher Time, and Boosted Student Achievement

Send us a text A school changes course when leadership starts by listening and then protects what matters most: time, clarity, and opportunity. We sit down with Lindsey Allen, Georgia’s 2025 Principal of the Year and principal of Walnut Grove High School, to unpack the simple, rigorous moves that drive real results. From ten years in the classroom to district hearings and a Title I turnaround, Lindsey shows how credibility is earned, standards are set, and culture shifts when you hire for bel...

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Send us a text

A school changes course when leadership starts by listening and then protects what matters most: time, clarity, and opportunity. We sit down with Lindsey Allen, Georgia’s 2025 Principal of the Year and principal of Walnut Grove High School, to unpack the simple, rigorous moves that drive real results. From ten years in the classroom to district hearings and a Title I turnaround, Lindsey shows how credibility is earned, standards are set, and culture shifts when you hire for belief and hold the line with care.

We dig into his three-part rallying cry, every student should have a meaningful school experience, graduate on time, and leave enrolled, enlisted, or employed, and how it reshaped decisions. That led to expanding AP from five to eighteen courses so students could truly compete for UGA and Georgia Tech, while growing career pathways in construction, healthcare, and engineering to match Georgia’s job market. The goal isn’t a handshake at graduation; it’s a real plan for the next step.

Lindsey also shares why safeguarding teacher time is a leadership superpower: purposeful pre-planning, fewer and better meetings, and a calendar built to be canceled when staff need margin. We talk about mentoring new leaders, reading as a non-negotiable habit, hiring to complement your blind spots, and using tools like StrengthsFinder and DiSC to build a balanced team. Looking ahead, we explore AI as a practical classroom ally, returning hours to teachers, supporting differentiation, and elevating the human work of feedback and relationships.

If you care about educational leadership, teacher time, AP access, college readiness, workforce pathways, and using AI to improve instruction, this conversation is a blueprint you can use tomorrow. Subscribe, share with a colleague who needs a lift, and leave a review telling us the one change you’ll make this week.


Connect with Lindsey Allen:

Email: lindsey.allen@walton.k12.ga.us 

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00:00 - Introducing Principal Lindsey Allen

03:38 - Early Influences And Teaching Start

07:13 - Lessons From The Classroom

12:33 - Guarding Teachers’ Time

17:39 - Choosing Leadership And Expanding Influence

22:44 - Hard Lessons: Hearings And Tough Conversations

28:09 - Turning Around A Title I School

35:35 - Coaching Principals And District-Level Work

40:00 - Building A Vision At Walnut Grove

45:45 - AP Expansion And College Access

51:32 - Recognition As Principal Of The Year

55:22 - Mentoring New Leaders And Networks

WEBVTT

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Today I am honored to welcome a guest whose work in Georgia has not only transformed schools, but raised the bar for what leadership rooted in relationships, integrity, and high expectations can achieve.

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My guest is Mr.

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Lindsey Allen.

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He is currently the principal of Walnut Grove High School and the 2025 Georgia Principal of the Year.

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With more than 28 years in education in Georgia's public schools, Mr.

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Allen has done it all.

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He's been a teacher, assistant principal, principal at multiple levels.

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Yes, that's right.

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Elementary, middle school, and high school levels, he's been he's been there, done that.

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He's also been a district leader and a principal supervisor.

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You name it, he has done it.

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Under his leadership, Walnut Grove High School has reached record levels of performance, the highest graduation rate in school history, and statewide recognitions, including the Math Leader Award and the Literacy Leader Award.

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This is just scratching the surface.

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Today we get to unpack his leadership journey, the lessons he's learned, and what drives him forward.

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Now let's get to the conversation with Mr.

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Lindsey Allen.

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Welcome back, everybody, to another exciting episode of the Educational Leadership Podcast.

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Today I am excited to have the 2025 Georgia Principal of the Year, Lindsey Allen, to join me.

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Lindsey, welcome to the show.

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Thanks, Jeff.

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I appreciate you having me.

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All right, Lindsey.

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I'm gonna go ahead.

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I'm gonna ask you the same question I ask everybody on the show.

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What inspired you to become an educator?

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Believe it or not, it was my sister.

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I'm the youngest of three.

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My sister is 12 years older than I am, and she started uh always want to be a teacher.

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And so I was five years old when she started her college career trying to be a teacher.

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So she practiced on me.

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And, you know, I really I just love my sister.

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She's like a second mother to me.

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And when I got to college, I was a college baseball player and kind of, you know, I really was trying to figure out my way.

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Believe it or not, I changed my major seven times.

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And it was, I just I just couldn't figure it out.

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And my sister came to see me and she said, you know, Lindsay, you've always enjoyed working with students and you like to coach.

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And, you know, she goes, Have you ever considered being a middle school teacher?

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See, we always need men in middle school.

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And she goes, I think you'd be great at it.

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And, you know, it's again, I she's like my mom.

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And I said, You know what, Bonnie?

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That's like a great idea.

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And uh sure enough, I became a middle school teacher in 1998.

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Interestingly enough, uh, my sister taught at the same school.

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It was a very large middle school, over 3,000 kids in Gwyneth County Public Schools and right inside in the metro area of Atlanta.

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And a few years later, actually, we taught together in the same team, which was really cool.

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But that's how I got into education, it was really just the influence of my sister.

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And she was to this day, has just you know been my one of my biggest supporters.

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Well, that's awesome.

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I like my youngest daughter is about 11 years apart from the oldest, you know, middle child, not the oldest child, but the middle child.

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And so that's kind of unique to hear you talk about that because I see that with my older daughter, with my youngest daughter, kind of like, you know, coaching them up or like helping them out and giving them advice.

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And so I really find that really interesting.

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Now, you're a middle school teacher.

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What did you teach in middle school?

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So I I started off teaching social studies and I did seventh grade social studies, which was like the Middle East, North Africa, uh, that area of the world, South Asia.

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And then I moved into teaching math.

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And so for the rest of my teaching career, the next six years, I taught algebra one in eighth grade.

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You know, it was I loved them both.

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I really enjoyed teaching algebra.

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That was that was uh great.

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And that time Gwynette County was transitioning from eighth grade from ninth graders taking algebra one to all eighth graders taking algebra one.

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So it was a pretty interesting transition to uh be part of that.

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And but I I enjoyed it.

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And honestly, I never thought I'd actually become an administrator.

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That was that was actually the coaching of the principal that I worked with who saw you know, he saw leadership potential in me and pulled me aside and said, Hey, I I think you can do this.

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And I thought he was crazy, but I think we all have those moments where you're not like for me, I wanted to just coach and teach.

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That was my goal, right?

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I I graduated college, I became a head football coach, and I was a math teacher, and so I was like thinking I had it made, and it wasn't until my my wife's grandpa put that you know, that bug in my ear, and I'm like, Yeah, no, that's no, I don't think so.

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But uh, here I am, right?

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So, as a teacher, you know, you you're teaching social studies, you're teaching math.

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What is something that you learned as being a teacher that helps you with your leadership today?

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What's something that you could take away and go, this helped me become a print the principal I am today?

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You know, I I think one thing that I think helped me.

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Well, number one is I was in the classroom for 10 years.

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And, you know, and I and I and that that mattered to me.

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And when I tell teachers that, they're like, oh, okay, because there are a lot of administrators, you know, they have a skinny minute and they're there in administration, and they they have not really experienced the ups and downs and the challenges of the teacher.

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You know, one thing I'll tell you that my teachers love about me, I'm real funny about pre-planning.

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When we do our pre-planning schedule, nothing irritated more me more as a as a principal, I mean as a teacher, was all of my pre-planning being taken up by meetings, uh all these things going on.

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But yet you want me to be ready for open house, you want me to have my lessons ready, you want me to make calls to uh all my kids, but yet you're going to encumber all of my time.

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And so my my I actually have my assistant principals who, you know, I've been very fortunate.

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I've I've had 13 assistant principals become principals in my in my career, but I have them actually create the pre-planning schedule, and then I have them calculate how much time our teachers have.

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And if if when they create the plant pre-planning schedule, if they don't have more than 65 to 70 percent of time free, I tell them to go back and redo it.

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So there's one example of how that impacts how I think about teachers.

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Um, you know, that's yeah, I think that's great.

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I mean, that's awesome because you kind of hit something that I believe in as well.

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I spent 11 years in the classroom.

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I feel like, you know, the best leaders that I've seen have people that have gone through the ringer in, you know, doing the work in the classroom.

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I'm not, I don't want to put down other people that spent three, four, five years in the classroom and jumped to administration, but I think you lose something by doing that.

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When you actually can say I was in the classroom 10 years or 11 years, you have some more credibility with those teachers when you do hit that role because you could talk about the ups and downs.

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Like I was in year nine learning things, you know.

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It wasn't just year one, two, three.

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I was in year nine, ten, eleven going, man, I can get better at this, I could do better with this.

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And so I think it's really important to be able to speak to what it's like to be in that classroom.

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And you taught math, I taught math, so that's a subject kids may not like very much.

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And so you're teaching kids to try to learn something they necessarily don't want to sometimes.

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And when you have parents that say, I was terrible at math, so my kids are gonna be terrible.

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I'm at like they have this defeatist attitude.

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You're like, no, no, don't do that.

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And so I really, really like that you you hit that point.

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And I also really want to echo talking about you don't want to waste your teacher's time with things, you want to give make it productive, you want to make sure if we're gonna do some, there's gonna be a purpose behind it.

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And I'm really like that as well.

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To where I'm not gonna call a needless meeting.

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Um, if I don't have to meet with you, I won't.

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And if we when we meet, we're gonna do something, it's gonna be purposeful.

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And so, you to be aware of that and you learn that.

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And I I I can say I did that as well.

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I hated going to meetings that were meaningless, and so to have that perspective to hear that is really, really refreshing because not a lot of us, not a lot of people in our position do that, and I really do appreciate that you do that for your staff.

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Yeah, they're they're worried about saying we did it as opposed to saying they they were able to absorb it and it be useful.

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And yeah, um, you know, I I that's just one example.

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I mean, another thing we do too is I built our calendar during the summer.

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I mean, we put every meeting we we can think of on there because what I've learned is, and I'm my teachers will tell you, I can't tell you how many times I cancel meetings, and you know how much they love it when they get an email from me and says, Hey, we're canceling today's faculty meeting.

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Uh yeah.

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And they will tell you, I mean, it it is a big deal if I call a meeting.

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And they know it's a big deal because I I don't do it.

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Uh, because it's so much easier to put it on the calendar and then pull it off than it is to put it on the calendar because you're gonna gore somebody somewhere.

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You know, a coach who's got a plan practice or somebody who was gonna, you know, try to get their test graded, who knows?

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And so again, I the the one thing teachers never have enough of is time.

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And I'm really big about them doing the work on company time.

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So I work really hard and I and not just me, I keep saying I our team understands the philosophy is we are going to guard our teachers' time because it's the most valuable thing they have.

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It's the only thing that we can't give them more of.

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And if they can't do it on company time, they're gonna have to do it on personal time.

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And, you know, with all the coaches we have, all the extracurriculars, all the people serving clubs, that's just more.

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And so we just that that's just something I'm you know that I'm I try to be religious about is let's not take away our teachers' time.

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God forbid they have another opportunity to grade some papers while they're at school and not have them take it home.

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You know, you know, you hear about well, they're you know, they give them all this planning time.

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And your point is, yeah, they're they don't have to plan all the time, they can sit in their room and grade papers, they can sit in their room and and get get you know get prepared.

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They don't always have to be meeting with somebody all the time.

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And uh, you know, I think that's a philosophy that drives me crazy.

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I'm all about the PLC process, don't misunderstand me.

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But I'm also about giving our teachers company time to get ready and not have to take it home, if possible.

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Awesome.

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I love that.

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I love that.

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And so you you also I'm sitting here thinking, like, you know, you talk about you know giving them time, you know, the more time you can give them, the more they can get their work done.

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And I really appreciate that you do that as well.

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Something I believe in, and I think that's awesome.

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I think more people out there need to do that.

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So, you know, you've been a teacher for a while.

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You know, you said you're 10 years in the classroom.

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What inspired you to take that next step?

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You know, some people like to call it the dark side, but you know, it's not really the dark side.

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Come on now.

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It's it's one of those things like you kind of get called into it or pulled into it or tapped on the shoulder.

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What was that for you when you decided, hey, I'm gonna go from teaching into administration?

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Well, there was really two things that happened.

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One was in it was about, I don't know, February 2007.

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I was actually, uh I I've told the story how many times I we had just escorted our uh students to connections.

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And I had I had one of the best principals in the world's name is Dr.

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Richard Holland.

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He was my principal for 15 years, and we were standing there talking.

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He and some other teachers, anyway, the teachers walked off, and he and I were just having a philosophical conversation, and he asked me a question.

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He said, Lindsay, have you ever considered getting into administration?

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And I said, Why would I want to do that?

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You know, I love leading my students, I love uh working with my team.

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And he goes, Well, let me ask you this question Why did you get into education to begin with?

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And I was like, Well, because I want to influence people and I want to, you know, influence as many students as I can in my career.

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And he goes, Well, so let me explain something to you.

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If you're a teacher, your influence is really limited to the kids in your classroom.

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But if you become an administrator, the entire school, you will be able to influence every kid in the building.

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He goes, So if that's what you think is your mission, he goes, you really need to get into administration.

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And I mean, that was like a light bulb going off.

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I I never thought of it that way.

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That I had the what if I really wanted to expand my influence, it was, and that was that's my personal mission statement is you know, to make a difference in people's lives by positive influencing their thinking, development, and direction.

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And if that's the case, then that's why I did it.

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It wasn't for more money, it wasn't for the prestige of it, because you and I both know there's not a lot of prestige a lot of times.

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You take on people's problems, but really it was about trying to fulfill what I believe was my mission statement.

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And so anytime I take a job, that's what I think.

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Does this help me move closer to influencing more people and making a difference in their lives?

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And so that that was that was probably the aha moment.

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The other one was, believe it or not, I had a uh a medical situation not a few months after that that almost took my life, and I realized that I wasn't given tomorrow and that I wasn't necessarily all these dreams and hopes and plans that I had, I wasn't promised those days.

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And so if I was going to do it, I needed to get into it.

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And that that's really the two the two events that really happened that got me into administration here.

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I'm 18 years later.

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Awesome.

00:15:03.280 --> 00:15:06.400
Well, I really appreciate you being vulnerable on that.

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I mean, not everybody goes through those types of experiences and things like that.

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So I really appreciate that.

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So you've served a lot of different roles as an administrator because I'm going through your bio, man, we could talk about this, this, this, this.

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I'm gonna let you pick and choose a little bit.

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Like, talk about the different roles you have and kind of go through them that led you into your principalship today, and just you know, tell us a little bit about each one.

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What did you learn from each role, and how did they help you into the next role?

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Because, like I said, you've done a lot of different things as an administrator.

00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:45.200
Yeah, it it's it's a little deceiving.

00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:49.520
Well, I, you know, I was assistant principal for six years with that principal I told you about who influenced me.

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I ended up being his assistant principal for six years.

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But I also served as a hearing officer for Gwinnett County Public Schools.

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So it was actually a dual role that I did.

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And I'll be honest with you, you know, everything from kind of gets you ready for principals because we have difficult conversations, but nothing's better than being a hearing officer.

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Uh, and I did over 700 plus hearings for Gwinnett County Public Schools and learning how to, you know, uh navigate those processes.

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Everything's recorded.

00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:17.760
You could end up, you know, on the news.

00:16:17.760 --> 00:16:19.600
I mean, you it was all sorts of stuff.

00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:22.480
But it really helped me to choose my words wisely.

00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:26.720
It really helped me to know how to deal with difficult situations, particularly with parents.

00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:38.000
They're coming into a hearing knowing that they're gonna potentially be combative or they're concerned with the the what how the school's case is, but also working with the school and helping sure, making sure their processes are clean.

00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:44.240
So, you know, you just had to learn you learn how to have the uncomfortable conversations every hearing.

00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:47.520
So um, so that that that was a real good training.

00:16:47.520 --> 00:16:51.920
The other part, you know, I end up Gwynette is a very large system.

00:16:51.920 --> 00:16:59.440
I end up uh my wife and I end up moving, and my kids, we end up moving down to Macon, Georgia, which is the middle of the middle of the state, which is where I'm actually from.

00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:02.880
My my father had passed away, and and I'm my mom's only child.

00:17:02.880 --> 00:17:18.400
So we moved back down there and I took over a Title I school uh that was in the bottom five percent of all schools in the state of Georgia, and it's it's 90% African-American community uh students, and all of my kids were either in poverty or one or one generation out.

00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:20.480
They were 100% free and reduced lunch.

00:17:20.480 --> 00:17:24.879
And the school I came from in Gwynette, we were we had a real diversity.

00:17:24.879 --> 00:17:28.879
We had kids from almost every continent in different languages, everything else.

00:17:28.879 --> 00:17:32.159
So two very different worlds that I had grown up in making.

00:17:32.159 --> 00:17:43.039
And what I learned in that school was the importance of believing your kids can do it, and making sure you hire people that believe your kids can do it.

00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:48.319
And don't look at their skin color, don't look at their background, but believe their kids can do it.

00:17:48.319 --> 00:17:50.959
The other thing was setting a standard and not wavering.

00:17:50.959 --> 00:17:54.079
You know, you hear Nick Saban say the standard is a standard.

00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:55.279
That's exactly right.

00:17:55.279 --> 00:18:01.199
We set a standard, we held the standard, and teachers, if they didn't want to beat that standard.

00:18:01.199 --> 00:18:06.079
I had a hundred staff members after that first year, 15 of them, I let them go.

00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:08.399
Because they didn't want to work with our kids.

00:18:08.399 --> 00:18:11.759
They wanted them to be looking, look, do like them or be like them.

00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:13.359
That's fine.

00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:14.879
You need to find somewhere else to do it.

00:18:14.879 --> 00:18:19.759
And we hired the right people, we created the right culture, we taught our kids, we believed in them.

00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:24.479
And within three years, we were the distinguished high progress middle school for the state of Georgia.

00:18:24.479 --> 00:18:27.039
And, you know, our kids were getting high school credits.

00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:27.999
They never thought they'd get it.

00:18:27.999 --> 00:18:31.279
We we had kids walking out of high school, I mean middle school with five high school credits.

00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:32.799
They never even thought about doing that.

00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:38.079
But it was all about, again, setting the standard, believing those kids could do it, building relationships with their parents.

00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:42.959
You know, that that was that was probably one of the most rewarding jobs I've ever done.

00:18:42.959 --> 00:18:44.079
It was a little tough.

00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:48.479
It was a fight every day for different reasons, but it was it was really rewarding.

00:18:48.479 --> 00:18:53.279
I end up while I was there, I worked for the national superintendent of the year, Dr.

00:18:53.279 --> 00:18:54.399
Curtis Jones.

00:18:54.399 --> 00:18:56.799
And he pulled me to the district office.

00:18:56.799 --> 00:19:03.439
We had 12 uh secondary schools, and he asked me to help them kind of do what we did at our school.

00:19:03.439 --> 00:19:06.559
And they had we had great great principals all across Bibb County.

00:19:06.559 --> 00:19:08.079
We just you know needed some guidance.

00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:09.359
And so I worked with them.

00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:19.279
I spent two years working with the University of Washington Center of Educational Leadership, them developing me as a principal supervisor, which my job was really just to help develop principals and their leadership capacity.

00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:20.879
Love doing that.

00:19:20.879 --> 00:19:27.199
Then my we had an opportunity to move back up to North Georgia where my wife's from and her family's from.

00:19:27.199 --> 00:19:30.799
And uh my mom ended up getting remarried, and so she was okay.

00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:39.199
And uh we moved back and I worked at Buford High School for a year, and then we transitioned over to where I am now in Walnut Grove High School.

00:19:39.199 --> 00:19:47.039
So those eight of those so 12 years as a as a as a principal, past seven of us as a high school principal, but I've done all three levels.

00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:54.639
I've even been an elementary, an elementary school assistant principal, which after 11 months and three weeks, I was like, I'm going back to secondary.

00:19:55.679 --> 00:19:58.479
It takes special people for those elementary jobs.

00:19:58.479 --> 00:19:59.119
I'll tell you, yeah.

00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:03.999
And as soon as you realize maybe you're not that, it's okay, you know.

00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:13.839
Yeah, no, I mean I love like I've been a like 712 principal in Nebraska, so it's like a middle school, high school, and rural schools, you know, I've done that.

00:20:13.839 --> 00:20:18.719
And so what I liked about that is taking my seventh and eighth graders and getting them whipped into shape.

00:20:18.719 --> 00:20:25.359
So when they come to when they get into the high school side of things, they already know, like, okay, this is for real and all that.

00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:34.319
Hard for me now being a 9-12 principal is like bringing in those freshmen and go, hey, we have a standard here, we have things we gotta have you uphold, like we have expectations.

00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:45.999
No longer can you just get by because in Nebraska, you don't you don't have to get credits, you just get pushed on until you hit freshman year, and then you have to get credits all the way through.

00:20:45.999 --> 00:20:54.639
And so yeah, we have that issue, and that's statewide, which I really think is something we should change, but I won't get into that.

00:20:54.639 --> 00:20:57.679
It's another conversation we could spend hours on.

00:20:57.679 --> 00:21:01.039
So I really appreciate all the different things you've done.

00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:01.999
That's really cool.

00:21:01.999 --> 00:21:05.279
I've actually ate at the Waffle House in Macon, Georgia.

00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:05.999
Really?

00:21:05.999 --> 00:21:06.799
Yeah.

00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:11.199
So I'm driving through the whole great state of Georgia, going down to Florida.

00:21:11.199 --> 00:21:15.199
Um my oldest daughter did a talent comp not.

00:21:15.199 --> 00:21:17.039
Talent search type thing.

00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:18.239
I'm in Orlando.

00:21:18.239 --> 00:21:20.799
So we drove all the way down from Nebraska.

00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:23.359
It takes about 24 hours to do it.

00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:30.159
But we actually drew drove through Tennessee, down through Chattanooga, which is really pretty, and went through the whole state.

00:21:30.159 --> 00:21:37.279
So yeah, like that was the first time my wife, my current wife now ate at a Waffle House, was in Macon, Georgia.

00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:39.279
And I'm like, dude, because I was in the military.

00:21:39.279 --> 00:21:43.999
So I was up and down the eastern seaboard in South Carolina, North Carolina, all that.

00:21:43.999 --> 00:21:46.799
And I'm like, oh, dude, waffle houses are the bomb.

00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:47.519
We gotta go.

00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:50.079
The closest one to us right now is Kansas City.

00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:58.639
So anytime we go back towards the my daughter lives in Kansas City now, where she's a school teacher, we go back, I hit up a waffle house while I'm there.

00:21:58.639 --> 00:22:00.959
So that's the closest one to us.

00:22:00.959 --> 00:22:04.319
So yeah, there's a little bit of history there for you.

00:22:04.479 --> 00:22:06.719
Yeah, there are waffle houses everywhere around here.

00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:07.839
Well, no doubt.

00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:09.039
It's like the thing, right?

00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:10.399
It's like a gas station there.

00:22:10.639 --> 00:22:11.839
It is, it is, it is.

00:22:11.839 --> 00:22:14.719
Uh, and I'll tell you what, you can it is fantastic.

00:22:14.719 --> 00:22:16.399
I mean, you know, you can like get whatever you want.

00:22:16.399 --> 00:22:18.399
You can you can even get a stake there if you want one.

00:22:18.639 --> 00:22:19.519
Oh, yeah, oh yeah.

00:22:19.519 --> 00:22:26.079
Like my first time going to a Waffle House is when I had an off post pass in Jackson, uh, South Carolina.

00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:28.319
And I was at Fort Jackson of Columbia.

00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:32.959
Fort Jackson was the base, but Columbia, South Carolina, people, oh, you gotta go to this.

00:22:32.959 --> 00:22:33.839
I'm like, what?

00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:35.279
What's all what's all the fuss?

00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:35.919
Went to it.

00:22:35.919 --> 00:22:37.359
I'm like, I get it.

00:22:37.359 --> 00:22:38.399
I get it.

00:22:38.399 --> 00:22:39.119
That's right.

00:22:39.119 --> 00:22:43.999
It's good stuff, and you know, like I love the grits and the collar greens and all that stuff.

00:22:43.999 --> 00:22:49.119
Like, I'm a guy from Nebraska, and that's my first time having you know some southern comfort food.

00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:51.279
And I love southern comfort food, that's for sure.

00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:53.439
So let's get back to it here.

00:22:53.439 --> 00:22:59.119
I kind of got off on a tangent there, but hey, you kind of done a lot of leadership roles there.

00:22:59.119 --> 00:23:03.759
And let's talk about like your current role at Walnut Grove High School.

00:23:03.759 --> 00:23:10.239
You know, when you look at the growth and the success you have, what do you believe has driven the process, the success that you have?

00:23:10.239 --> 00:23:16.319
Is there something you can say this has kind of you know, kind of spurred that spurred us on to what we're doing today?

00:23:16.639 --> 00:23:24.559
Well, I've I think it's like with any any leader, it's having clarity of vision.

00:23:24.559 --> 00:23:26.799
And I think it starts with that.

00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:30.479
You know, when I started, it was actually April of 2020, right?

00:23:30.479 --> 00:23:32.639
COVID is when I took the job.

00:23:32.639 --> 00:23:36.799
What I did was just I met about with about a hundred different people, believe it or not.

00:23:36.799 --> 00:23:40.719
And I just asked them, what do you like about Walnut Grove?

00:23:40.719 --> 00:23:42.719
You know, where do you want us to go?

00:23:42.719 --> 00:23:44.719
What are some things we can improve in?

00:23:44.719 --> 00:23:47.599
And then I asked them, you know, what do you what questions do you have for me?

00:23:47.599 --> 00:23:49.999
And all I do is just listen.

00:23:49.999 --> 00:23:53.839
And the community will tell you what they are wanting to accomplish.

00:23:53.839 --> 00:24:01.439
And then my job was to craft the vision that married with what the community wanted.

00:24:01.439 --> 00:24:13.519
And so we were the rally cry for us has been for the past six years, we want all of our students to have a meaningful school experience, to graduate on time, and to leave enrolled, enlisted, andor employed.

00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:15.759
And so it's those three things.

00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:24.639
And we perseverate actually on that end part because in the end we realize that high school is not about graduation, that's just a mile marker in their lives.

00:24:24.639 --> 00:24:28.239
You know, I actually draw, I actually do this with every every kid that comes in our building.

00:24:28.239 --> 00:24:33.199
I do this talk with them where I draw a line from zero to 80, and I say, guys, that's your life.

00:24:33.199 --> 00:24:40.159
And then I show them from five to eighteen, that is where you're in school.

00:24:40.159 --> 00:24:43.919
And I said, look out how much left of that line is left.

00:24:43.919 --> 00:24:47.679
And I said, This these four years is all you have left.

00:24:47.679 --> 00:24:49.359
What are you gonna do?

00:24:49.359 --> 00:24:56.959
Because so much of that's gonna determine what the next part of this line is gonna look like, from the kind of job you have to what your retirement's gonna look like.

00:24:56.959 --> 00:25:00.639
So we really talk a lot about enrolled enlisted employees.

00:25:00.639 --> 00:25:06.399
And so I tell them, there's nothing worse than the kid getting a handshake, going down the stairs, and having no idea where they're gonna go.

00:25:06.399 --> 00:25:09.439
I said you're gonna end up in a low-wage, high demand job.

00:25:09.439 --> 00:25:15.199
And again, I'm I'm not disparaging you going to those jobs, but I believe you're meant for more than that.

00:25:15.199 --> 00:25:18.159
And so that's just been that's been our mantra.

00:25:18.159 --> 00:25:21.599
And when I say meaningful school experience, we talk all about about that.

00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:27.199
What are the new trends coming around?

00:25:27.199 --> 00:25:29.439
We we make changes in CTAE all the time.

00:25:29.439 --> 00:25:34.079
Like, for example, you know, the number one job in the state of Georgia is construction.

00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:35.519
So we started construction.

00:25:35.519 --> 00:25:39.119
I talked to my superintendent, he got on board and we build a construction lab.

00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:41.199
The number two job is health care.

00:25:41.199 --> 00:25:46.159
Well, we have healthcare science, you know, we have engineering, which is also marries with the construction.

00:25:46.159 --> 00:25:48.079
So, you know, we we look at those things.

00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:56.639
And the other part for us, this is something that was a big deal, but I felt we had an inequity was that you know, we have the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech right here at us.

00:25:56.639 --> 00:26:01.759
Our students were not able to get into those schools because we didn't have enough AP classes.

00:26:01.759 --> 00:26:04.959
When I walked in Walnut Grove, we offered five AP courses.

00:26:04.959 --> 00:26:14.319
Well, just the University of Georgia alone, the average number of AP courses that students have taken and gotten, you know, threes or higher is like 10 plus.

00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:15.759
We only have five.

00:26:15.759 --> 00:26:20.879
Now, I'm not even talking about Georgia Tech, which is a whole nother ball of wax when you talk about level of rigor.

00:26:20.879 --> 00:26:32.239
And so, you know, we began to change all a lot of our coursework because again, enrolled and listed or employed, and our kids wanted to get to compete and go to these schools, so we need to provide that meaningful school experience.

00:26:32.239 --> 00:26:39.999
And so we began to transition to that, and now we offer 18 AP courses in just six years, and that was a big change.

00:26:39.999 --> 00:26:48.079
I mean, that we moved a lot of people's cheese, but I we got I got a new assistant principal, and I we had one that was already there, and they helped me figure that out.

00:26:48.079 --> 00:26:49.359
And you know, how does that look?

00:26:49.359 --> 00:26:57.279
And right now, I mean, we had our largest number of students who were accepted to the University of Georgia as early or early enrollees ever.

00:26:57.279 --> 00:26:59.599
And that was just two weeks ago in Georgia Tech.

00:26:59.599 --> 00:27:00.719
We had a ton again.

00:27:00.719 --> 00:27:06.479
So, but again, they're able to compete with kids around the country and the world where they weren't before.

00:27:06.479 --> 00:27:08.479
So that's where it comes back to that vision.

00:27:08.479 --> 00:27:17.679
Everything we do, that is our distillery, does what our decision get us closer to what we're trying to accomplish because that's what the community wants, and how do we do that?

00:27:17.679 --> 00:27:19.599
So that's that's what I would say.

00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:20.959
We just that's what we did.

00:27:21.199 --> 00:27:22.479
Yeah, I think that's great.

00:27:22.479 --> 00:27:29.839
It kind of like what I really liked is what you did is you came in and you go, What do you guys want to see?

00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:31.359
What's your vision?

00:27:31.359 --> 00:27:35.759
And you're able to understand, like, okay, I see where they're at.

00:27:35.759 --> 00:27:38.079
How can I help that vision come alive?

00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:46.639
And I think that's really important to point out because you weren't coming in saying, I have all the answers, I have this big vision for everybody.

00:27:46.639 --> 00:27:51.039
You were listening to the people and going, okay, what do the people want?

00:27:51.039 --> 00:27:53.599
How can I help get to where we are?

00:27:53.599 --> 00:27:57.759
And you found solutions to that, and so you're able to just build.

00:27:57.759 --> 00:28:01.439
And so I think that was really, really great to hear.

00:28:01.439 --> 00:28:03.679
And you know, great job for doing that.

00:28:03.679 --> 00:28:07.599
I mean, taking a school that had five AP classes, now you have 18 offerings.

00:28:07.599 --> 00:28:09.439
I mean, that's a big shift.

00:28:09.439 --> 00:28:14.319
And I we we have quite a few AP offerings and do credits in our school too.

00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:23.039
Like, I know it's like it's a big deal to have those things, and that's what draw people in on us because we can offer things schools around us can't.

00:28:23.039 --> 00:28:24.559
So I think that's really great.

00:28:24.559 --> 00:28:30.719
And congratulations on making all your little Georgia Tech yellow jackets and bulldogs for future.

00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:38.639
Uh that's yeah, I'm happy, I'm happy for the yellow jackets, but I really root for my bulldogs, but you know, that's a whole nother thing.

00:28:39.039 --> 00:28:46.639
That's another we'll get into a conversation maybe at the end here, but I will say that Nebraska stole your offensive line coach from Georgia Tech.

00:28:46.639 --> 00:28:47.759
So I'm sorry, guys.

00:28:48.079 --> 00:28:49.839
Yeah, well, they can steal them all.

00:28:49.839 --> 00:28:51.199
I don't bother me from Georgia Tech.

00:28:51.519 --> 00:28:52.639
I don't bother you.

00:28:52.639 --> 00:28:54.479
Yeah, not right now.

00:28:54.479 --> 00:28:56.719
All right, okay.

00:28:56.719 --> 00:29:05.359
So, Lindsey, you were named the 2025 principal of the year for the state of Georgia.

00:29:05.359 --> 00:29:06.879
What was that like?

00:29:06.879 --> 00:29:11.839
Like, how how did you find out about the the award?

00:29:11.839 --> 00:29:14.079
You know, was there a big celebration?

00:29:14.079 --> 00:29:16.239
Was it a phone call?

00:29:16.239 --> 00:29:19.679
Like, was it a big surprise, or was it kind of just a casual thing?

00:29:19.679 --> 00:29:22.639
I was just curious how people get notified for these things.

00:29:22.959 --> 00:29:24.399
Mine was a big surprise.

00:29:24.399 --> 00:29:37.519
Uh, so my superintendent, who had just been appointed, decided to call a faculty meeting on a Friday afternoon because he wanted to celebrate our staff's results for things we done.

00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:39.119
I'm going, oh my, are you kidding me?

00:29:39.119 --> 00:29:41.999
He's doing a and by the way, this was football Friday night.

00:29:41.999 --> 00:29:43.519
This is not just a regular Friday.

00:29:43.519 --> 00:30:41.019
I'm like, anyway, so we did it, and the uh GASSP uh president, uh he was there, and so the superintendent brought me on stage, and then he came out, like my family came out, and and you know, they they let me know then.

00:30:41.019 --> 00:30:43.419
And it was uh it was special.

00:30:43.419 --> 00:30:50.539
It was special really to be with my staff and my family because you and I both know you don't get those awards without them.

00:30:50.539 --> 00:31:03.579
And really, I told them there, I said that this award is really more about the sacrifices my family has has is made for me to do this job well, and it's about the staff who believe in what we're trying to accomplish.

00:31:03.579 --> 00:31:06.460
And it's about the kids who've also bought in as well.

00:31:06.460 --> 00:31:13.659
So, you know, I I told them, while this is a it's got my name on the award, this is as much everybody in this room as is mine.

00:31:13.659 --> 00:31:16.139
And uh, I just happen to be the one getting it.

00:31:16.139 --> 00:31:27.339
And so it was really humbling because I I just know what my 18 years administration, you know, you don't get there if you don't have a supportive wife and a supportive family because you're not there a lot.

00:31:27.339 --> 00:31:35.899
And you don't get those awards if you don't have a staff that believes in division, that you're cascading and gets behind you and supports you and a community that way.

00:31:35.899 --> 00:31:41.019
And you know, I you know, I it was again, it's still humbling, truthfully.

00:31:41.019 --> 00:31:47.819
I wish I could get every one of them an award with their name on it because that award is as much theirs it is mine.

00:31:48.059 --> 00:31:48.939
Well, that's awesome.

00:31:48.939 --> 00:31:50.139
I'm glad you got a surprise.

00:31:50.139 --> 00:31:53.339
I'm really surprised your family was able to keep it from you.

00:31:53.339 --> 00:31:56.619
Yeah, that doesn't happen very easily.

00:31:56.859 --> 00:31:58.779
Yeah, I noticed things, man.

00:31:58.779 --> 00:32:02.619
I'm uh yeah, I'm a detailed person as they would I'll drive them crazy.

00:32:02.619 --> 00:32:05.659
I'm so detailed, but but uh they were able to pull that one over.

00:32:05.659 --> 00:32:11.500
It really, my uh my administrative assistant, uh Miss Gibson, she was really the culprit.

00:32:11.500 --> 00:32:14.539
She was the one and and she's unbelievable.

00:32:14.539 --> 00:32:19.019
I mean, just unbelievable lady and just uh a great leader of our school, too.

00:32:19.019 --> 00:32:26.059
But it was really it was really her who was uh this who was able to deceive me to orchestrate everything.

00:32:26.379 --> 00:32:29.980
Yeah, She's just well that's awesome.

00:32:29.980 --> 00:32:37.019
So, you know, after being named the principal of the year for the state of Georgia, so what opportunities have opened up for you?

00:32:37.019 --> 00:32:43.500
So what what is how is that the you know with this recognition, you know, what has that been like for you?

00:32:43.500 --> 00:32:45.019
It's been a whirlwind.

00:32:45.019 --> 00:32:47.659
What's what's you know that like for you?

00:32:48.220 --> 00:32:49.579
Not really a whirlwind.

00:32:49.579 --> 00:32:53.500
I I think what I I have I don't know how to say this.

00:32:53.500 --> 00:32:54.859
I guess I would say this way.

00:32:54.859 --> 00:32:58.379
It's just giving a little more credibility to when I make when I say things.

00:32:58.379 --> 00:33:13.659
You know, I'm saying like there's a little more weight when I share things, whether it's in the district or in the state or you know, in our community, you know, there's just uh a little bit, a little heaviness if Lindsay says that, you know, well, let's let's consider it or whatever.

00:33:13.659 --> 00:33:18.379
So, you know, and I leverage that as best I can for Walnut Grove and for Walton County.

00:33:18.379 --> 00:33:19.659
I think that's one thing.

00:33:19.659 --> 00:33:25.899
The opportunity, again, to share our story and figure out how I can help other principals.

00:33:25.899 --> 00:33:31.099
You know, our our principals are struggling, whether they want to admit it or not, but they're struggling.

00:33:31.099 --> 00:33:32.699
I mean, talking to Dr.

00:33:32.699 --> 00:33:42.619
Alan Long, who who uh is our president GASSP, he was telling me because there's so many new leaders in our in our in our county, I mean, excuse me, in our school system and in throughout the state.

00:33:42.619 --> 00:33:47.019
And they don't really have a network of of people to talk to and connect with.

00:33:47.019 --> 00:33:54.779
So, you know, I've been able to serve as a mentor for some of the assistant principals that are aspiring to be principals and kind of talk through that with that.

00:33:54.779 --> 00:33:57.579
And so that's that's I've enjoyed that.

00:33:57.579 --> 00:34:00.460
But I mean, it's I don't know.

00:34:00.460 --> 00:34:01.659
Uh you know, that's about it.

00:34:01.659 --> 00:34:02.220
I mean, it's been great.

00:34:02.220 --> 00:34:12.779
I'm gonna tell you what, going to NASSP, getting to connect with all those state principals, and I mean, you know, like Tony Katani, who is uh the national superintendent, I mean principal of the year in New Jersey.

00:34:12.779 --> 00:34:16.219
He and I just hit it off probably because I'm married to a New Jersey girl.

00:34:16.219 --> 00:34:18.139
So I think that helped a little bit.

00:34:18.139 --> 00:34:28.219
You know, Tony, Matt Epps, you know, over in Alabama, you know, it's just there's so many people that we've just you've been able to connect with and and reach out to.

00:34:28.219 --> 00:34:29.659
That's that's been really cool.

00:34:29.659 --> 00:34:32.779
This you know, like you and I met, I I think through Tony.

00:34:32.779 --> 00:34:36.379
Uh and you know, so that's some of those opportunities.

00:34:36.379 --> 00:34:40.219
Yeah, I really want to want to build the profession and I want to invest.

00:34:40.219 --> 00:34:44.939
Again, I told you I got into I got into leadership because I wanted to influence more people.

00:34:44.939 --> 00:34:51.019
So this is just another platform to to have an opportunity to influence people beyond now, even our state.

00:34:51.019 --> 00:34:53.659
So, but that's that's probably what I would say.

00:34:53.980 --> 00:34:55.019
Yeah, that's awesome.

00:34:55.019 --> 00:34:56.779
I really appreciate you sharing that.

00:34:56.779 --> 00:34:59.659
And yeah, Tony Katani, I actually met him.

00:34:59.659 --> 00:35:06.779
I was actually out in Seattle for the NASSP National Convention there, and so that was a really good time.

00:35:06.779 --> 00:35:20.139
But actually listened to the podcast he did with Darrin Peppard leaning into leadership because he was doing all the national finalists for the NASSP, um, middle school, high school contestants.

00:35:20.139 --> 00:35:23.980
And so I listened to his and he talked about this peer observation thing.

00:35:23.980 --> 00:35:28.300
And so I had the opportunity to meet Tony um in person.

00:35:28.300 --> 00:35:37.740
I had him on my podcast, and he's like, Hey, this is be somebody, you know, here's some people, you know, because we really enjoy just sharing other people's stories.

00:35:37.740 --> 00:35:43.659
And my thing is I learn, you know, the great things that you're doing, and I learn from that.

00:35:43.659 --> 00:35:45.740
Is there something I could steal from Lindsay Allen?

00:35:45.740 --> 00:35:46.139
Probably.

00:35:46.139 --> 00:35:47.740
I'm gonna figure that out tonight.

00:35:47.740 --> 00:35:50.220
So uh so that's kind of what we do, right?

00:35:50.220 --> 00:35:58.699
And so just being a part of this podcast and having you on to help other leaders get those insights, and I think another thing is also confirmation, right?

00:35:58.699 --> 00:36:03.420
Hey, I'm doing some of the same things that these people are doing, so I'm on the right track.

00:36:03.420 --> 00:36:06.219
So it gets you excited about what you're doing.

00:36:06.219 --> 00:36:08.299
So I think that's important as well.

00:36:08.299 --> 00:36:13.980
You kind of talked about helping, you know, people in you know, new leadership, right?

00:36:13.980 --> 00:36:16.139
People that are coming into the job.

00:36:16.139 --> 00:36:20.460
What advice would you give to aspiring administrators?

00:36:22.219 --> 00:36:25.019
I I'd probably start with Abraham Lincoln.

00:36:25.019 --> 00:36:30.380
He he once said that you're not a leader when you get the title, you should have been leader before you got it.

00:36:30.380 --> 00:36:37.980
And so what I I see a lot of people want the position, but they really didn't prepare themselves for the position.

00:36:37.980 --> 00:36:41.500
Like, you know, experience is a brutal teacher.

00:36:41.500 --> 00:36:43.179
It is a brutal teacher.

00:36:43.179 --> 00:36:48.299
And my my view is the best leaders, they do a few things.

00:36:48.299 --> 00:36:49.579
Number one, they read.

00:36:49.579 --> 00:36:54.860
You know, Harry Truman says not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.

00:36:54.860 --> 00:36:59.500
And I I can tell you, and my staff will tell you, you won't you won't outread me.

00:36:59.500 --> 00:37:04.779
So I might not be the brightest crayon in the box, but I can tell you this: you're not gonna outread me.

00:37:04.779 --> 00:37:13.900
I'm gonna read research, I'm gonna look at leadership books, I'm gonna continually try to build my capacity because I believe in the law of the lid, to quote John Maxwell.

00:37:13.900 --> 00:37:17.099
And as far as I've gone is as far as I can take anybody else.

00:37:17.099 --> 00:37:20.539
So I think it's behooves anybody who wants to get into leadership.

00:37:20.539 --> 00:37:22.860
It is your responsibility to develop yourself.

00:37:22.860 --> 00:37:24.779
And that starts number one with reading.

00:37:24.779 --> 00:37:31.659
And number two is to find somebody who's doing it well and become their friend.

00:37:31.659 --> 00:37:41.500
And, you know, my pastor says this way he goes, tell me who the five people, who your who their closest five friends are, and what you're reading, and I'll tell you where you'll be in 10 years.

00:37:41.500 --> 00:37:49.819
Because what you read and who you're around are going to influence you, they're gonna influence how you think, what your beliefs are gonna be, what your values are gonna be.

00:37:49.819 --> 00:38:05.340
And I just can't express enough how important it is to get around people who are doing the job and doing it well, because a wise man learns from experience, a wiser man learns from other people's experience, and it sure is a whole lot less painful.

00:38:05.340 --> 00:38:07.500
So those are the two things I would tell them.

00:38:07.500 --> 00:38:10.779
And and they sound simple, but I I can't tell you.

00:38:10.779 --> 00:38:12.139
I mean, I I can't tell you.

00:38:12.139 --> 00:38:15.980
I I ask all the time the people that I mentor to what book are you reading?

00:38:15.980 --> 00:38:19.579
You know how many people have told me a leadership book?

00:38:20.779 --> 00:38:22.219
Oh, how many?

00:38:22.219 --> 00:38:23.019
Zero.

00:38:24.059 --> 00:38:24.619
Not one.

00:38:24.860 --> 00:38:25.420
We're not talking about.

00:38:25.420 --> 00:38:29.900
I think that might be my next interview question when I have to bring in a new administrator.

00:38:29.900 --> 00:38:32.380
Well, how are you personally uh growing?

00:38:32.380 --> 00:38:54.219
So I think that's really important to hit on because I think, you know, like you said, you know, yeah, you go through college, you get the administrative degree, but there's there's more to it than just theory and what you may think you're gonna have to do when you actually gotta be in the mix of it and actually doing the job.

00:38:54.219 --> 00:39:06.059
And so when you learn from people that have actually done it and they've done it well, I think that's really important to understand because that's kind of what I'm learning, you know, doing this podcast.

00:39:06.059 --> 00:39:13.579
I've learned from so many different people, but I'm able to get ideas because I'm not shrinking, my box isn't shrunk.

00:39:13.579 --> 00:39:19.659
It's like I've expanded the people that I've connected with, but that's helped me grow personally.

00:39:19.659 --> 00:39:28.860
And I'm, you know, and I'm hearing you say some of the same things here is like, you know, hey, I'm gonna expand my network, I'm gonna learn from other people and and things like that.

00:39:28.860 --> 00:39:39.500
So if there's a leadership book that you have read that you would, you know, you know, not you know, endorse, but what leadership book would you say, hey, this would be a great one for you to think about?

00:39:39.500 --> 00:39:40.619
Oh my god.

00:39:40.619 --> 00:39:45.340
You know, and I and there's still there's a lot of them out there, but I just want to know one.

00:39:45.819 --> 00:39:49.179
Well, you know, I tell people is tell me what you want to get better at.

00:39:49.179 --> 00:39:57.099
And that's what I that's what if if they're talking about just general leadership knowledge, I tell them to go read John Maxwell's Developing Leader Within You 2.0.

00:39:57.099 --> 00:39:59.659
That is a great broad overview.

00:39:59.659 --> 00:40:07.019
If you're looking at, you know, leadership laws, you know, you do John Maxwell's 21 laws of irrefutable laws of leadership.

00:40:07.019 --> 00:40:13.500
If you're looking at how to develop teams, go read Patrick Lencioni's, you know, five dysfunctions of a team.

00:40:13.500 --> 00:40:19.259
Uh, if you're looking at hiring, go read Patrick Lencioni's I'd say Ideal team player.

00:40:19.259 --> 00:40:20.940
That's a great book.

00:40:20.940 --> 00:40:26.539
If you if you're what if you're thinking about getting to leadership, go read The Motive by Patrick Lencioni.

00:40:26.539 --> 00:40:32.779
As you he has got so many leadership books, and I'm they're not education-based in any way, but they're about leadership.

00:40:32.779 --> 00:40:33.900
Go read those.

00:40:33.900 --> 00:40:36.059
I'm reading a book right now called Influence.

00:40:36.059 --> 00:40:43.500
If you want to under try to better understand that what we do in our job is about uh influencing the behavior of adults.

00:40:44.779 --> 00:40:46.299
Well, you're heading on something there.

00:40:46.299 --> 00:40:47.739
I might have to check this one out.

00:40:47.900 --> 00:40:53.099
Yeah, it is it is actually I was I was actually coaching up my assistant principal today about that.

00:40:53.099 --> 00:41:00.940
One of those it's in chapter two about reciprocation and the power of reciprocation and how to leverage that, you know.

00:41:00.940 --> 00:41:10.460
And I and I gave her the example in the book where this this this uh I think it was a Scott Psychologist, just to prove the point, sent out a bunch of Christmas cards to people he didn't know.

00:41:10.460 --> 00:41:18.860
And you wouldn't believe how many of them send them Christmas cards back because of the power of reciprocation and how you could, you know, how you can leverage that.

00:41:18.860 --> 00:41:38.460
And you know, so but understanding that we as what we do as leaders is we're trying to influence adults to go to a place they probably don't want to go, and sometimes we've got to know how to do that because pedagogy, which is the practice of teaching, is very different than andragogy, which is about adult learning theory.

00:41:38.460 --> 00:41:47.259
And what we do is we put leaders from teachers into administrators, and they are still trying to use pedagogy with adults and it doesn't work.

00:41:47.259 --> 00:41:54.380
Androgogy is a very different concept, and so that's that's what I would say is uh again, there are lots of great leadership.

00:41:54.380 --> 00:41:57.340
I could keep go all day about leadership books, it just depends again.

00:41:57.340 --> 00:41:59.500
What you're trying to hone in on.

00:41:59.500 --> 00:42:06.219
But if you're just trying to start out, hey, I just want just want to start, I would tell you, you know, do the developing leader within you 2.0.

00:42:06.219 --> 00:42:12.059
Another book I would say when it comes to leaders, a lot of leaders don't know themselves well.

00:42:12.059 --> 00:42:18.699
They don't know what their strengths are and don't know that they should know their strengths so they can leverage those so they know their blind spots.

00:42:18.699 --> 00:42:20.860
They hire with your blind spots.

00:42:20.860 --> 00:42:33.500
And but if you don't know what your your strengths are, well, go to Strengths Finder 2.0 by Gallup, and that'll give you kind of your strengths and kind of understand why you do what you do and how you leverage those strengths.

00:42:33.500 --> 00:42:34.619
Like I'm an achiever.

00:42:34.619 --> 00:42:37.500
So, you know, you talked about how I talked about meetings.

00:42:37.500 --> 00:42:38.539
Well, I'm an achiever.

00:42:38.539 --> 00:42:40.779
You don't want to ask me to a meeting unless it has a purpose.

00:42:40.779 --> 00:42:42.219
I'll call someone else.

00:42:42.219 --> 00:42:46.699
And so, but but but I know that about myself, if that makes sense.

00:42:46.699 --> 00:42:48.539
I'm also my number one is a learner.

00:42:48.539 --> 00:42:51.340
As you can see, I like to read, so I leverage that.

00:42:51.340 --> 00:42:54.139
So, but I'm not Mr.

00:42:54.139 --> 00:42:56.380
Woo hugging everybody.

00:42:56.380 --> 00:42:58.059
So, you know, that's one of the strengths.

00:42:58.460 --> 00:42:59.500
Yeah, I know the woos.

00:42:59.500 --> 00:43:07.819
I know exactly what you're talking about because I've actually done that strength finder, and we've actually done it here at our district with all our admin a couple years ago.

00:43:07.819 --> 00:43:13.420
I actually did it when I was in my leadership academy when I was at my what Ralston High School.

00:43:13.420 --> 00:43:14.219
I worked with Dr.

00:43:14.219 --> 00:43:15.579
Adler, he did it there.

00:43:15.579 --> 00:43:22.779
I did it again um within my first couple of years here, and I go, Well, I'll redo it because you know things have changed, and they did.

00:43:22.779 --> 00:43:28.460
My leadership style has grown since you know I've been a principal when I started eight years ago up to now.

00:43:28.460 --> 00:43:32.219
And so I really think you know revisiting those things.

00:43:32.219 --> 00:43:38.539
We started saying woo because we have a guy that was a woo, and we always like, yeah, that's your woo coming out.

00:43:39.980 --> 00:43:43.340
I didn't say yeah, I have Coach Cochran and I have Dr.

00:43:43.340 --> 00:43:45.099
Branley, and they are both woo.

00:43:45.099 --> 00:43:46.219
I am not woo.

00:43:46.219 --> 00:43:48.860
And uh, but but you know, I hired that way.

00:43:48.860 --> 00:44:46.579
I mean, I knew my team and I knew what I'm not, and that's another thing the administrators don't realize is the principal hires that to compliment their team.

00:44:46.579 --> 00:44:48.659
It's about the it's about the principal.

00:44:48.659 --> 00:45:09.460
It's really they don't realize that it's about you because you're the chief leader of that school, and you gotta know what you do well so you don't overhire what you already are good at and hire a bunch of you, hire people that aren't like you and they can compliment your your where your blind spots are so you can shrink that blind spot.

00:45:09.460 --> 00:45:12.340
And you know, and again, I could keep going, man.

00:45:12.340 --> 00:45:19.539
I mean, the other one I tell them to take the disc assessment, which is about your personality, you know, it is just so many things.

00:45:19.539 --> 00:45:23.699
Like I said, so I can go all day about what they should read or what they should do.

00:45:23.699 --> 00:45:27.219
And and again, the the more you know about yourself, better off you're gonna be as a leader.

00:45:27.460 --> 00:45:27.940
You bet.

00:45:27.940 --> 00:45:38.900
And I appreciate all the things that you have mentioned there, because there's a lot of great advice in there about you know, wanting to get in the leadership, knowing who you are, you know, how do you work?

00:45:38.900 --> 00:45:44.659
Because I think that's really important because that helps inform you so you can make better decisions.

00:45:44.659 --> 00:45:54.900
And I really like the thing that you pointed out about getting staff around you that aren't you, because that's kind of what I did when I had an assistant principal to hire.

00:45:54.900 --> 00:46:00.340
I wanted to find somebody that had certain things, but also had strengths that I don't have.

00:46:00.340 --> 00:46:02.500
Like, oh, this person can do this.

00:46:02.500 --> 00:46:04.820
This is you know, there you go, buddy.

00:46:04.820 --> 00:46:19.460
You know, you can do these things, and I'll continue to do these things, but you know, the have you know things complement each other is really important because we all have our strengths, and I think that's really important for people to know and understand of when they're in that role as well.

00:46:19.460 --> 00:46:23.059
So I really appreciate you pointing that out as well.

00:46:23.059 --> 00:46:30.420
So, future of education, what gets you really excited about when you think about you know the future of education?

00:46:30.420 --> 00:46:35.539
I know a lot of people are doom and gloom in education right now, but let's talk about some positive.

00:46:35.539 --> 00:46:40.099
Let's talk about something that maybe you know gets you excited about the future.

00:46:40.579 --> 00:46:43.219
I mean, uh it I'm excited about AI.

00:46:43.219 --> 00:46:46.099
We've been we've been talking about it for almost three years now.

00:46:46.099 --> 00:46:48.500
I mean, well, two and a half years now.

00:46:48.500 --> 00:46:59.539
When when I I tell you, I saw the Khan Academy video and and I got to watch Khan talk about what he was doing with AI, with open AI on that TED talk.

00:46:59.539 --> 00:47:07.539
I I just realized for the first time ever, we're really going to be able to individualize instruction at some point in time.

00:47:07.539 --> 00:47:23.779
And that was exciting to me because again, I taught for 10 years and I had 30 kids in my Algebra one class and trying to give them feedback and trying to meet all their needs and all the different levels, you know, it and throwing out the worst different instruction and all this other stuff.

00:47:23.779 --> 00:47:27.139
Basically, you want me to be multiple of me to try to meet it.

00:47:27.139 --> 00:47:29.299
Well, AI is gonna be able to do that.

00:47:29.299 --> 00:47:38.179
Um, and I believe that if done well, our teachers are gonna be able to have a tool that'll help individualize instruction.

00:47:38.179 --> 00:47:42.739
I mean, I'm already, you know, so what we did is we actually leveraged, we knew how they were gonna respond.

00:47:42.739 --> 00:47:47.299
We stood, I started talking to them about it, immediately they go to, well, they're gonna be able to cheat.

00:47:47.299 --> 00:47:49.380
And so we didn't leverage that.

00:47:49.380 --> 00:47:50.579
We leveraged time.

00:47:50.579 --> 00:47:52.739
Again, you know, I'm all about time for my staff.

00:47:52.739 --> 00:47:55.059
So we showed them how they could get time back.

00:47:55.059 --> 00:48:06.340
And when I started getting some of my best and veteran teachers, uh starting to realize I don't have to spend 10 hours doing a rubric, I can get it done in two minutes, you know.

00:48:06.340 --> 00:48:08.579
And uh they they began to realize.

00:48:08.579 --> 00:48:10.340
So I'm excited for that.

00:48:10.340 --> 00:48:19.619
I think that's gonna help, it's gonna give some time back to our teachers so they can have normal lives as best they can at home and be able to leave some stuff at work.

00:48:19.619 --> 00:48:22.739
You know, also, I mean, it's it's a I'm excited because it's a companion.

00:48:22.739 --> 00:48:23.779
You know, think about you and I.

00:48:23.779 --> 00:48:29.539
We went to we went to college, we're writing these lesson plans and trying to figure all this stuff out.

00:48:29.539 --> 00:48:45.860
Man, you've now got you've now got a white-collar worker that's an expert that can help you figure out the best pedagogical methodology of how to deliver this lesson or give you some ideas about what that might look like, or to help you find resources that are that could be at your fingertips.

00:48:45.860 --> 00:48:47.539
So that's what I'm excited about.

00:48:47.539 --> 00:48:55.059
I'm excited about it a tool to help our teachers get some time back and also to improve them, you know, themselves.

00:48:55.059 --> 00:48:56.900
So that's what I'm excited about.

00:48:57.139 --> 00:48:59.380
I think you mentioned something really important there.

00:48:59.380 --> 00:49:04.900
You said tool, yeah, like it's a tool that we can use to leverage and see.

00:49:04.900 --> 00:49:10.900
And I've hear people like, oh my gosh, AI is the worst thing in the world, you know, all these things are gonna happen.

00:49:10.900 --> 00:49:21.059
And but if you utilize the tool correctly, like AI needs a person to prompt it, AI needs the person to tell it what to do, it can't just do whatever it wants.

00:49:21.059 --> 00:49:41.619
And so something that we did last spring is we piloted the magic school AI platform and my teachers, and I sold it with I sold it with, hey, this will help you differentiate instruction, this will help you save time, and that's how I leveraged it, just like you just talked about.

00:49:41.619 --> 00:49:46.420
And so when they started seeing it and I started asking questions, they really enjoyed it.

00:49:46.420 --> 00:49:58.179
Even some of my, you know, like you said, teachers that have been doing this for a while, were like, Oh wow, this really does help me able to do my job better because I'm able to do these things.

00:49:58.179 --> 00:50:16.019
I would take me hours to do, and so even like my English teacher being able to differentiate instruction, she was like, Man, I'm able to save so much time now because I have a tool, and so then we went ahead and we got the you know, the the full package we're in the enterprise package um for my building.

00:50:16.019 --> 00:50:19.460
I'm trying to get my district to pay for it, but that's another story.

00:50:19.460 --> 00:50:22.820
But we're utilizing it, it's really working well.

00:50:22.820 --> 00:50:45.699
You know, I I found some money in my budget and I was able to get it, but at the same time, the staff has used it really well, they used it to leverage to get time back, and they really, really like if they don't, it's one of those things you give them something, there's no way I can take it away from them now because it's something that they they go, you know what, this is something we needed, even though they didn't realize it.

00:50:45.699 --> 00:50:52.420
And I was just like, I don't want to push anything on you, but I'm gonna give you an opportunity to leverage something that not a lot of people have done.

00:50:52.420 --> 00:50:59.940
I think we were the third high school in the state of Nebraska that leveraged that tool, and I think there's a lot more schools now starting to get on board with it.

00:50:59.940 --> 00:51:02.900
So I think you know, AI is here to stay.

00:51:02.900 --> 00:51:09.139
We might as figure out a way to leverage it to help us and not worry about what it's you know, it's gonna take jobs.

00:51:09.139 --> 00:51:11.619
I don't think it's gonna take jobs, I think it's gonna make us better.

00:51:11.619 --> 00:51:14.340
And that's I I really appreciate you saying that.

00:51:14.579 --> 00:51:21.219
Well, we had I'll say this for your for your listeners we had a speaker come and he said AI is not gonna take your job.

00:51:21.219 --> 00:51:26.659
The person who understands how to use AI is gonna take your job, and that's that's what you need to understand.

00:51:26.980 --> 00:51:29.299
Bingo, bingo, you're right on that.

00:51:29.299 --> 00:51:31.940
So, hey man, this has been a lot of fun.

00:51:31.940 --> 00:51:37.059
I mean, I've really enjoyed getting to listen to your story and learn from you today.

00:51:37.059 --> 00:51:39.299
So, what's next for you?

00:51:39.299 --> 00:51:42.980
What you got some things coming up, you got some things in the fire, you know.

00:51:42.980 --> 00:51:50.500
You know, I know you're the principal at Walnut Grove High School, but you know what what's next for for Lindsey Allen coming up?

00:51:50.739 --> 00:51:54.900
You know, I really don't to be honest with you, right now it's gonna be the principal Walnut Grove High School.

00:51:54.900 --> 00:51:58.659
You know, I we you know it's hard, you know how it is.

00:51:58.659 --> 00:52:00.579
It's hard to predict the future in education.

00:52:00.579 --> 00:52:06.500
You don't know what's gonna come around the corner, you don't know who's gonna, you know, what what opportunities may open up.

00:52:06.500 --> 00:52:11.779
But my my my most immediate plans are to continue to be the principal of Walnut Grove High School.

00:52:11.779 --> 00:52:15.460
I have my last last kid graduating this year.

00:52:15.460 --> 00:52:18.820
I'll have give all all giving all three of my kids their diploma.

00:52:18.820 --> 00:52:23.460
And I've got my first grandkid due in May, so I'm excited about that.

00:52:23.460 --> 00:52:26.019
So that that may play into what I do next.

00:52:26.019 --> 00:52:34.820
But uh, but right now my most immediate focus is gonna be can getting ready for next year, which you know, right on the corner will be getting ready for next year.

00:52:35.299 --> 00:52:36.500
Already planning it.

00:52:36.659 --> 00:52:37.460
Yeah, exactly.

00:52:37.460 --> 00:52:40.900
So a lot of people don't realize that good principles are six months ahead.

00:52:40.900 --> 00:52:43.380
So we're already thinking about summer within my summer planning.

00:52:43.380 --> 00:52:50.500
We're thinking about you know what are we looking at next year already, and uh so right now that's my that's what I plan to do right now.

00:52:50.739 --> 00:52:53.940
Well, I want to say congratulations on becoming a grandpa.

00:52:53.940 --> 00:52:59.460
I'm a grandpa too, I have almost a three-year-old granddaughter, so it's a lot of fun.

00:52:59.460 --> 00:53:02.099
It was one of those surprise things.

00:53:02.099 --> 00:53:03.860
I'm like, I'm too young to be a grandpa.

00:53:03.860 --> 00:53:06.099
I was a grandpa at what age 44.

00:53:06.340 --> 00:53:08.820
I got yeah, you know, and I'm just like, really?

00:53:09.139 --> 00:53:14.739
Like that's supposed to be like 50 or 60 or something, but it's a blessing.

00:53:14.739 --> 00:53:19.059
So I'll be honest with you, being a grandparent is so much better.

00:53:19.059 --> 00:53:22.579
Yeah, well, it's better to be like spoil them and kick them back.

00:53:22.579 --> 00:53:23.219
See ya.

00:53:23.219 --> 00:53:25.380
I've heard that, I've heard that quite a bit.

00:53:25.380 --> 00:53:27.139
Yeah, no, you'll enjoy it.

00:53:27.139 --> 00:53:31.380
And I and I say, Yeah, I enjoy that the grandkid when it comes for sure.

00:53:31.380 --> 00:53:32.900
And congratulations on that.

00:53:32.900 --> 00:53:35.779
So, Lindsay, you know, we've been talking a lot.

00:53:35.779 --> 00:53:40.820
You know, people are really interested in the things you're doing and want to get connect with you.

00:53:40.820 --> 00:53:42.579
How could people do that?

00:53:42.900 --> 00:53:44.500
I just tell people to email me.

00:53:44.500 --> 00:53:48.340
I that's how people have been reaching out, and I mean I'll respond that way.

00:53:48.340 --> 00:54:01.219
And uh my uh email is Lindsay L-I-N-D-S E Y dot allen a l-l-en at walton.k twelve dot g a dot us.

00:54:01.219 --> 00:54:10.820
And it you can go also go to the Walnut Grove High School website, and uh you can also see my uh email there, and you can email me directly from that as well.

00:54:10.820 --> 00:54:14.659
But you know, I'm I'm happy to help if I anywhere I can or share anything I can.

00:54:14.659 --> 00:54:19.940
Uh we we we we're you know, I believe it I'm a learner and I'm and I'm a teacher all the time.

00:54:19.940 --> 00:54:24.820
So I'm uh I try to share whatever, I try to learn from as much of people as I can as many people as I can.

00:54:24.820 --> 00:54:28.019
I'm the sum of the of the people I've been around in my lifetime.

00:54:28.019 --> 00:54:32.500
And so I believe it's my responsibility to share as much as I can and invest where I can.

00:54:32.820 --> 00:54:33.299
Awesome.

00:54:33.299 --> 00:54:34.179
I appreciate that.

00:54:34.179 --> 00:54:41.779
And we will have that information in the show notes so you guys can just scroll down and grab his email and connect with Lindsay here.

00:54:41.779 --> 00:54:44.579
So Lindsay, it was great having you on the show.

00:54:44.579 --> 00:54:48.019
And before we go, do you have any last things you'd like to say?

00:54:48.579 --> 00:54:52.500
I I just, you know, I I just a firm believer in public education.

00:54:52.500 --> 00:54:53.219
I'll tell you that.

00:54:53.219 --> 00:54:54.820
That was a that's my platform.

00:54:54.820 --> 00:54:58.099
You know, I believe you can't remain both ignorant and free.

00:54:58.099 --> 00:55:01.460
And uh I am to quote one of our founding fathers.

00:55:01.460 --> 00:55:11.699
And so I am a big proponent of public education, and uh I believe that public education can solve so many of our problems in our country, and I believe it's the foundation of our country.

00:55:11.699 --> 00:55:20.099
And uh I appreciate all educators who've put their hand to the plow and every day get up and go to try to make a difference in kids' lives and their communities.

00:55:20.099 --> 00:55:23.539
And and I I sincerely appreciate that and and thank you.

00:55:23.940 --> 00:55:26.579
Well, thank you, Alan, for all you do as well.

00:55:26.579 --> 00:55:28.659
So I'm gonna go ahead and let you go.

00:55:28.659 --> 00:55:30.340
I'll talk to you soon.

00:55:30.340 --> 00:55:33.779
What an awesome conversation with Mr.

00:55:33.779 --> 00:55:34.820
Lindsey Allen.

00:55:34.820 --> 00:55:43.139
If today's episode gave you insight, encouragement, or spark you needed, share it with another educator or leader in your circle.

00:55:43.139 --> 00:55:50.019
And don't forget to subscribe to this podcast so you never miss another impactful conversation like this one.

00:55:50.019 --> 00:55:55.219
Until next time, be curious and one percent better.