Episode 306: When the School Calls, What Do Parents Expect? with Dr. Ted Huff

Darrin Peppard (00:00)

Alright, my friends, welcome into episode 306 of the Leaning Into Leadership Podcast. Leaders, picture this: a parent is at work. The phone rings, they look down and they see your school's phone number. What is their first thought? Is it, I wonder what great thing happened today? Or is it, what happened now? That reaction tells us something about the relationship.

We've built. And if we want families to trust us when the conversation gets difficult, we have to be intentional about the conversations that happen before that moment. My guest today on the show is Dr. Ted Huff, and we're digging into what it means to lead with parents. Now, Ted and I first met in Washington, D.C. back in 2016. Ted was the Missouri Secondary School Principal of the Year. I, Wyoming Secondary School Principal of the Year.

And it's really hard to believe that it has been 10 years since that time. So I was really excited to finally bring one of our conversations here onto the podcast. And today, Ted shares how something as simple as scheduling positive calls home can begin changing the relationship between a school and its families. He also tells a story about taking academic support into an apartment complex clubhouse and what.

Happened when those families saw the school showing up for their kids. Now, before we get into it, let me thank the partners who helped make these conversations possible. Let's begin with CLI, the Curriculum Leadership Institute.

Leaders, clarity matters. Our teachers need clarity about what students should learn, how instruction supports that learning, and how we'll know students are making progress. That's why I appreciate the work of the Curriculum Leadership Institute. CLI partners with districts to connect curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional learning in a system their educators help build and can sustain. I've worked with CLI twice. As a principal,

And as a superintendent. I value their commitment to working alongside a district and supporting implementation. Visit Cliweb.org to learn more, mention the Leaning Into Leadership Podcast, and receive 5% off your first year. Another big thank you. This one, our friends at HeyTutor. When we identify students who need additional support, the next leadership question is: how are we going to make that support happen? HeyTutor.

Partners with K-12 schools and districts to provide in-person, high dosage tutoring in both math and English language arts, giving students consistent opportunities to work with tutors and strengthen their learning. If your team is exploring how tutoring could fit into your student support plan, visit heytutor.com to learn more, or even better, hit the link down in the show notes because that lets them know you heard about them here on.

The Leaning Into Leadership Podcast. Now, let's talk a little bit more about this conversation. One thing that I really appreciated about sitting down with Ted is just how much he understands the hesitation some leaders feel around family engagement.

Ted and I talk about the hard conversations, the parents we struggle to reach, and the assumptions we sometimes make before we've taken the time to listen. And there's a question that he shares that I want you to keep in mind. What are the hopes and dreams you have for your child? Think about what might we learn if we were to start there.

This connects directly to the clarity and intentionality we talk about here every single week. We have to be clear about the partnerships we want with families and be intentional about making the time to build them. Here's my conversation with Dr. Ted Huff. Enjoy it, and I will see you on the other side.

Darrin Peppard (00:00)

All right, everybody, welcome back into the studio. Joining me today, Dr. Ted Huff. Ted, how are you, my friend?

Ted Huff (00:07)

Darren, I am doing great. I'm excited to be with you this afternoon.

Darrin Peppard (00:11)

I'm excited to have a chance to sit down and visit with you. Folks, I gotta come clean with you on this one. I have known Ted for 10 years. Ted, can you believe this? I think you actually were the one who shared this on social media not too long ago. 10 years ago, we were together along with some other absolutely phenomenal leaders in Washington, D.C. Together when you and I first met in person, 2016, Missouri.

State Principal of the Year, Ted Huff. Of course, I was 2016 Wyoming principal of the year. man, I can't believe that was 10 years ago that you and I first met.

Ted Huff (00:49)

It doesn't seem possible. That popped up, popped up on, you know, my Facebook, you know, feed and it said, you know, 2016. I'm like, what? my gosh. And when you and when you commented back, I'm like, it took me way back, you know, conversations with yourself and Billy Barry, you know, from South Carolina

Darrin Peppard (01:04)

Yeah.

Ted Huff (01:04)

and Don Gately from New York. And it was just, it all just kind

Darrin Peppard (01:07)

Yeah.

Ted Huff (01:07)

of came back. And so I I can't believe it was it was 10 years ago we were together in DC.

Darrin Peppard (01:12)

Yeah, absolutely. And some incredible relationships. You mentioned everybody there. man, I think about guys like Jay Dostell, who was principal of the year from Nebraska then, who's become

Ted Huff (01:21)

Yes.

Darrin Peppard (01:22)

a good friend. Danny Steele, who was principal of the year in Alabama, who's become a good friend. let's see. my goodness, so many, so many good ones. but anyway.

you know, some some folks that we definitely had a chance to build a great relationship with and have continued to. And you of course being being one of those for me, we've stayed in in contact for sure. So super excited to have you here on the podcast. And I know we're gonna talk really about

parent engagement, which I think

Ted Huff (01:50)

Yes.

Darrin Peppard (01:51)

is such a fascinating topic. And I think most people when they think about parent engagement probably go one place, but there's probably a lot of other places they can go. So I want to wrap two questions here together real quick. One, just even though I've told people a little bit, share a little bit more about Ted Huff, but then also maybe chase that what really is parent engagement all about bit as you as you answer that.

Ted Huff (02:16)

Absolut absolutely, Darren. So I am a retired administrator. I spent 31 years in education as a high school theater teacher, assistant principal, and then building principal. And in those years did quite a bit of work with curriculum instruction. And then I would say my last 10 years or so, I really started looking into the whole family engagement piece. And so when I was at Franciselle Middle School, we had a pretty active

parent group. We had two. We had a PTO and then we had our pit crew. And our Pit crew, they designed parent learning. And and then the PTO did the fundraising. And so they stayed separate. And so what's interesting is is Darren is that that's how I perceived PTO fundraising. That's of course that's on me, right? And so and then I went to the national conference in 2014 after

working on a book study Joe Mazza called Beyond the Big Sale. And and then I realized I learned that okay, fame engagement is very different. And so I met with my PTO president and my ape one of my APs and and she said, Amber said, Ted, PTO, we're we're we're not we're not doing well. We're we're you know, we're just we're we're crumbling. I said, what's wrong? She said, we're only doing fundraising and we're so much more. I said, you're what you're

There's so much more. And she talked about that. So then we merged the pit crew and the PTO together, and that became the face team, which is family and human engagement. They became the face of our school and they let out fundraising and parent learning. And we realized that what you have to engage parents first before you can really ask them for money. Because if you only focus on fundraising, parents are wanting

Are are just assuming you're going to go for the wallet every time you talk to them. And that's not our intent. Our intent really should be to bring the parents into the school so they can understand, they can learn more about their child's learning and the school environment, and then also how they can participate, how they can share their talents with the school. And so that's where Leading with Parents sort of evolved in 2024, is that I began working specifically with that framework.

To go in and work with schools to either create a parent group or redesign it and then begin working with that parent group throughout the year to help them begin developing activities and functions. And then another separate wing of that, Jay, is the is the leadership piece. So I work on administrator professional learning in the area of family and community engagement. So I work with districts at the admin level on coaching them.

on family and community engagement.

Darrin Peppard (04:47)

all excellent work and all very, very important work. And I I I think it you know if I'm if I'm an administrator today and I'm listening to this episode and I'm I'm hearing you talk about that, I'm thinking, okay, well that's all well and good. But right now in our society, and this isn't true everywhere, but in a lot of spaces, parents have gotten super involved and we have seen

legislators get super involved, and I think some administrators get a little gun shy, get a little bit skeptical with parents maybe overreaching into curriculum, into books, into wanting to be more involved in the hiring process and and some of those things. So one, maybe alleviate some some of those fears, or or two, maybe speak to

what you're seeing. I know you're in Missouri, but but obviously well connected throughout the entire country. Talk a little bit about some of those hesitations that especially earlier career administrators might think, man, that sounds good, but I don't know that I can take that on.

Ted Huff (05:56)

Darren, that is a current reality. I mean, you hit it right on on the nose because we we are seeing that movement, and that gives administrators that hold off here, hold off. And so the intent for parents to be involved, that is what we want. It's how we frame it and how we engage them. And so we have to under, they have to understand that the district through legislature has does designs the curriculum, they design the instruction, they lead that out.

And we should honor and respect that because they're the experts in that field. as parents, we should be the experts in raising our children. And so what we need to do is work together with the parents. And so we want to meet the parents where they are. What that means is that we have to understand the lens with which they're viewing the school, and then we help them understand how the school can support them. So you think about that, you know, Darren. You know, everyone had a different experience in school, everyone had a different

opportunity in school. And so they take that lens with them into the school. And so as a school administrator, we have to understand that and respect that and then bridge that gap and let them realize that we are here for them. And that we want them involved and this is how we want them to become involved. We want them to understand the framework. We want to understand them how we how they can support us. And supports in very different ways, not just financially. That is important, but we first want to have them engaged. In other words, have them come into the school.

Have them serve on a committee. have them join a career night and share about their expertise. just letting them know that they're welcome. And then also, all parents don't work on the same schedule as a school. So we have to think about other opportunities in different times and framework which we can which we can we can engage parents in the evenings, on the weekends. They can do things for us and bring it to the school. you know, they can zoom in and do something for the school. So

You know, having parents involved is important, but reframing it and coaching them on how they can best meet the needs of the school and the school can best meet their needs. Because, you know, when parents are involved in that school, when they, for example, when parents are helping their children with homework, we're seeing a 13% increase in their math standardized scores. When parents are reading to their children every day, we're seeing a 19% increase in the literacy by third grade.

So knowing that data, we need to encourage parents. So we need to provide parent development and say, parents, we need you to read your parent, read your children. And it's important to have that homework time together, together, not separate, but together, where you can sit down and watch, watch them do the work and support them. Parents that access school resources, we're seeing a 22% increase in graduation.

And parents that are actively involved in the college application process, we're seeing a 28% increase in students getting into those selective schools. So parents are important. And so they need to understand their importance, and the schools need to understand that importance as well.

Darrin Peppard (08:53)

Yeah. No, I

think that's all of those things are are genuinely relevant and and absolutely I don't think there's an administrator who would argue with you that yes, when we see parents who are sitting down reading with their kid, we see we see kids who are more actively interested in reading and we see increases in their reading abilities and same thing with math and and so forth. So I want to play a little bit of devil's advocate with you. So as

Ted Huff (09:15)

Absolutely.

Darrin Peppard (09:16)

you know, as as a former high school principal

And and I hear this from a lot of the administrators that that I support. I'm I'm thinking about one in particular as I was listening to you talk, one of my Omaha schools that has a very high-performing population of students. You know, they they have the kids that they're going to show up and do well no matter what. But where they're struggling is getting that engagement from parents. And so one of the things that that I know they ask me frequently is.

It's it's one thing to get the parent here whose kid's doing great, but the parent of the kid who's struggling, that's the one we can't seem to reach. So what Ted is telling me, how do I get to that parent who who the kid is struggling? Or, you know, maybe it is a parent who's working two jobs or something like that. How do I reach those parents and help them feel like they be

a part of the process truly be a partner with our school as opposed to just calling them when their kid

gets in trouble.

Ted Huff (10:16)

So calling calling them when the kid gets in trouble, if that's the first call, that's what we need we need to reframe that. We need to be making those positive calls from the get-go, just saying, hey, Mrs. Jackson, I saw Billy today at school, and I'm gonna tell you something. He was helping out a colleague at at lunch, and that just that changed our other kids whole day. And I just want you to know that. I was sitting with a principal three weeks ago and she made a positive call home, made a positive call, and when the parent answered,

Know the parent goes, Yes. She goes, Hey, this is Mrs. So and so from your daughter's school. And she said, Yes. The hesitation was right there. And then she

Darrin Peppard (10:51)

Yeah.

Ted Huff (10:52)

went on to say, Well, we have a positive office referral and your daughter's being recognized. my gosh, the mom changed. And so afterwards, we kind of talked about that. And I said, What do you think? And she said, You know, I needed a up front say, I have an amazing phone call for you, Mrs. You know, Mrs. Jackson. And so that the parent knows from the get-go, it's it's great because when that phone rings.

They're automatically thinking it's it's it's the negative. So in meeting the parents where they are, we need to understand where those parents are that are struggling with getting involved, or are struggling with with their work schedule. And one thing that we did was we had a group of students that were struggling academically. And so we met with the parents. And so we met at their clubhouse, at their complex, but we met with the parents on a Saturday and we waited till after 12 noon when you know it was a better time for them.

And we went in and met with the parents and said, we have a proposition for you. We would like to take every Wednesday from 3 15 to 4 15 and use that as a study time and building relationship time with the kids. And they said, Absolutely. So then we started staying. we would we would get there to their complex, you know, about three, three o'clock and get ready. And the bus dropped all the kids off at the clubhouse. So we were there, we escorted the kids into the clubhouse. We had snacks, we had, we had bottled water.

we had iPads and we just started working with on on homework and we had teachers there and so we spent that time working with them. So we told this told the parents that we care about their kids and we want to give them some structured time that they may not necessarily have. so that bridged the gap for that particular community. And it just we started seeing those parents start participating in events, coming to our our parent organization, saying, you know, I can't do this, but I can do that. And so it's just when we show them

that we're here for them. And it's it takes time. It takes a little time. And also, you know, it's important. I call I have a chapter that I'm working on in my book called Call Me by My Name. And you know, we all have titles. And sometimes some people prefer their title, some people prefer it not. And so when I mean when I meet parents, I would always say, you know, hey, I'm I'm Ted. And they'd say, Dr. Huff. And I you know, that's fine. But if you want to call me Ted, I prefer that. And if I can call you Mary and Jack, let's do that. And so

I told them that they can call me whatever they want to call me when we're meeting because I want them to feel comfortable with me and I want to feel comfortable with them and I want them to be welcome in our school at any time. And that's the same thing with our front office, Darren. When parents come into the front office, no matter it doesn't matter how many times they've been in, or if their child is is a behavior problem or or an honor student, it doesn't matter. When that parent comes in, we need to greet that parent like they are the, you know, they are amazing and and and and

We love them and we want them there. They're gonna feel welcome and they're not gonna feel like they can't come into the school. So we have we have to set the stage for parents.

Darrin Peppard (13:40)

Yeah, I think something that you're talking about there, I want to loop it all the way back to the

Ted Huff (13:44)

Mm-hmm.

Darrin Peppard (13:44)

we're calling because the kid has gotten into some trouble. And you know,

Ted Huff (13:48)

Mm-hmm.

Darrin Peppard (13:48)

I think about another district that that I'm supporting and one or two of the administrators that are just really struggling with four or five parents who just are always on

the attack. But

Ted Huff (14:00)

Mm-hmm.

Darrin Peppard (14:01)

what you're saying, and I agree with this so much, that there's just so much value to this, the more we can

front load conversations. You know, if if the parent only gets a phone call from the school when their kid's in trouble at a point in time, and I've heard this, I'm sure you have too, the parent may even just start blocking the school because they don't even want the phone call because

Ted Huff (14:23)

Yeah. They don't.

Darrin Peppard (14:25)

that's what's happening. And I think the more we can front load that, let's I I want to I want to chase this for just a second. Then I want to I want to go in another direction. But what might be

I know you work with a lot of administrators through MLDS as well. What are some strategies that that you might share? especially we're still fairly early in a school year here. How do you go proactively with those positive calls, positive notes, that kind of thing, especially when you probably know this is a kid that I'm gonna call home on a

Ted Huff (14:58)

So

I I I tell administrators, just like you build your schedule for your teacher evaluations, you want to build a schedule to call parents. And you and you make your list. You make your list of the students that, and and you need to call all the students. You know, I called honor sighting parents and they were like, What? okay, okay. We've never had a call. Okay. And that mom was so excited because she had a very quiet daughter who was an honorable. Okay, you know.

And then the other side, you know, the parent that is just

You know, the struggling. I I think I I you know I t I tell the administrators that we need to frame it on yes, you have a parent that that is a difficult parent, but what you want to do is you want to invite them in and also don't sit at your desk, sit it at the table away from the desk. And I like to I tell them, you know, start with the what are your hopes and dreams for your st your your child? and then let them share those hops hopes and dreams. You take notes, and then

You say, okay, thanks. I want those too if that's what you want. And I'm gonna work on this together with you so that we can help your child achieve these hopes and dreams that you have for them. And sometimes it takes a while. And also, Darren, you know that sometimes parents need to come in just to vent. And once they vent it, they're like, okay, thanks. So we have to listen to parents.

And when they're talking to us, because we go all my we we automatically go into the I'm gonna resolve this, I'm gonna solve this issue. And we go into we go into resolution mode and we don't go into listening mode. So we need to not only hear the parents, but we need to listen to the parents. And when they're talking, take the notes. And we we always say don't take it personally, but we can't, you know, we can't take it personally. What they're saying when they're just so upset, we just need to let them share. And you see, you see them just kind of come whew.

You see that kind of just deflate, and then you can really get to where they are. And sometimes that might that might take six months, that might take a year. I had a family that where we were on a different page for better part of a year until the parent realized, okay, Ted, I hear where you're coming from. And, you know, I wasn't seeing my child in in the in the light that I needed to. And thank you for staying with my son. And thank you for supporting us and listening. And I said, well.

It's not about me, it's about you and your and your and your and your son. And so and we just need to all be there on the same page for your son. So

Darrin Peppard (17:14)

Yeah, I

think that's I think that's just some really, really wise advice. You as I was listening to you talk, I found myself going back to my high school principal days and and it honestly one in particular young lady, it you know, the the mom that man, we had so many conversations, but I think we built such a good relationship for very similar reasons. Me leaning in and just, you know, what what's the number one thing that you hope for your daughter? And for her simply it was

I just want to see her get across the stage. I just know that's going to make a difference in her life. And and interestingly, this is why this particular one is in my mind. About a week ago, the mom reached out, saw something that I had put on on social media or somebody had tagged me or something.

Ted Huff (17:56)

Uh-huh.

Darrin Peppard (17:56)

And so she sent me a friend request and and we connected and, you know, we messaged back and forth a little bit, and she kind of caught me up on what was happening with life and begged me to come back and be the high school principal again. And I

said,

No, that's not gonna happen.

Ted Huff (18:09)

Yeah.

Darrin Peppard (18:10)

But thank you for that, right? but but I think that's what it really is. And and I like how you talk about being so intentional with the listening part. So often we just wanna solve the problem or we gotta move on to the next discipline issue or whatever the the case may be. And and sometimes parents come in frustrated because they're as frustrated with their kid as we are with their kid, right? So

Ted Huff (18:29)

Yes. Yes.

Darrin Peppard (18:30)

we've just simply gotta take some time.

And listen. And and and that takes me to to what I want to talk about next. We were discussing this before we hit record, but part of the leading with parents work that you're doing, and you you you briefly touched on it, but I want to go deeper, is actually coaching and supporting districts and school leaders on this work. And without

Ted Huff (18:52)

Yes.

Darrin Peppard (18:53)

without talking about the specific district, you had mentioned, you know, hey, we've got like six sessions we're working on and

Tell tell me what that looks like when you're coaching and supporting school leaders and districts specifically to this family engagement piece.

Ted Huff (19:11)

Absolutely. So Darren, I met with I met with the I met with the sup assistant superintendent and we talked about his vision and what he wanted. And so he has a two-year goal with with the families. I said, great. And so I gave them a list of of several topics. And so we narrowed it down to six. So we started in August. We'll go August to December. And so we're gonna meet between 60 and 90 minutes once a month during their executive council. And this is

All of the administrators in the district. Now we kicked off August with all leaders, which meant that it was the principals, assistant principals, and also the central office personnel, then also the directors. So I had the director of transportation, the director of special location, director of food services, because they needed to hear this piece because those groups also have an opportunity to impact the students.

Darren, you know this. You think about the cafeteria and how that staff impacts. Our bus drivers, they have a huge role. And so we I wanted we wanted them to be a part of that piece. So they got the first piece. We'll do more things with them. And so our first session was on just communicating with parents and communicate and developing strong parent groups. And Darren, in our districts, in this particular district, some of them have parent organizations, some buildings do not.

And so we want to then once we get to that place where we are comfortable, we're gonna build that framework of a parent group, for example, at the high school. And so we take that, we did and so, and then just recently we talked about meeting parents where they are, not where we think they are, because we think we know where the parents are, but we don't. Not until we get to meet the parents and we understand them, do we know where they are? Because we have a first impression, which could be absolutely incorrect.

So we we spend time talking about best practices, and then we have we have breakout groups where we we go we dig deeper into scenarios and we talk about, for example, there are four links to family community engagement. You know, we have stakeholder voice, family connection, beyond the boundaries, and level leadership. Those are the four links to family engagement. And so we took a look at each of those four, and then I and I have some questions that I have them answer.

On where you are as a building in a district. And so they they took some time and they they dug into that and they did some transparent work and talked about what they're doing and also made a list of what they want to do. And so we put that framework together for them. And so we're going to use that framework as a constant reminder of where we are and where we're going. And so we use that framework that they developed from those four links to build their fame engagement from the administrative team level.

And then we will take it in in the fall, we'll take it to the buildings.

Darrin Peppard (21:49)

I think that sounds awesome. mo most importantly, I think the thing the thing that I maybe love the most, in addition to everything of how you're laying this out, is the fact that that assistant superintendent has a two year plan. This is and I love that you asked this too, like where do you want them to be? As opposed to just, hey, let's talk about, you know, family groups or

Ted Huff (22:10)

Mm-hmm.

Darrin Peppard (22:10)

you know,

a parent teacher organization, something like that. Like let's really talk about where do we envision for our parents. Because I think very, very few, and you can correct me if I'm wrong here, Ted, but most districts in their strategic plan aren't saying here's where we want families to be in two years, three years, five years. We're talking about

maybe where we want our facilities to

be, what we want to see for student,

Ted Huff (22:33)

Yes.

Darrin Peppard (22:34)

you know, student outcomes, what we wanna see in terms of teacher turnover, those types of things. But very rarely are we intentional about where we want to see families be. So I I'm just gonna let that hang and let you run from there.

Ted Huff (22:48)

So that is very that's very true. So Darren, there there is a district that I'm not working with, but I've worked, I've walked alongside and we've had some conversations. And they have that family engagement piece in their in their in their comprehensive school improvement plan. and so and then so you have that you have that overarching piece, but then it then it depends on the building level what you do with that.

Because you know, we can build different things. We can build frameworks for anything that the district wants us at the building level, but are we implementing it? And so you and you know this. So goes the principal, so goes the building. When the principal sneezes, the building catches a cold. So the principal has to believe in the initiative for it to be successful. So that's why it's so important to get them on board and have them understand, you know, where we are. But you're right. And so it's it's it's a slow process.

to get that at that level. And once you get that, once you have that into the improvement plan, it's much easier than to start working with the individual buildings.

Darrin Peppard (23:47)

Yeah, absolutely. No, and and again, it comes back to just simply being intentional about really keeping that piece in in the forefront. Man, so much good stuff today, man. This has just been so much fun. it's it's that time in the show where I'm gonna ask you the same question, Ted, I ask everybody here on the podcast. This this is the Leaning Into Leadership Podcast. So, Ted, my friend, how are you leaning into leadership right now?

Ted Huff (24:09)

Darren. So

for me, leaning into leadership is is two parts. Leaning in is my learning and my growing. So I am constantly reading. And so I think that's what helps me is that I have to make sure that I am not stagnant, that I'm always growing. So I'm leaning into that. And then the other piece for me in leaning into leadership is then guiding and supporting others.

So you know my work with MLDS, the Missouri Leadership Development System. So then I lean in and I I coach cohorts here in the Metropolitan St. Louis area. And so that's the piece there. So that. And then of course leaning in is that I want to then also guide and direct districts in fame and community engagement. So for me, it's my personal learning and then it's staying true to the mission of a teacher and leading and coaching other administrators in all those areas.

Darrin Peppard (25:02)

Outstanding stuff right there, man. I appreciate that. So people will want to get in touch with you. They're going to want to check out more about leading with parents. what's the best way for people to get connected with you?

Ted Huff (25:12)

So they can they can email me at Tedhuff at leadingwithparents.org. They can also go to the website, leadingwithparents dot org. They can also catch us on LinkedIn, Leading with Parents. and then that's the best way to get a hold of us. And we will email's probably the quickest because if you email me, then I get right back to you and I can support you however you need.

Darrin Peppard (25:37)

Outstanding stuff, man. This was so much fun. I'm so glad we got a chance to sit down and hit the record button on one of our conversations. Always great to spend some time with you, Ted.

Ted Huff (25:43)

I am too. I am too.

Who who knew when we met in Washington DC in twenty sixteen that we would be here today? You know, that's what's the it's just it boggles my mind that the journey we've we've we've each taken in ten years and our colleagues that that

Darrin Peppard (25:59)

Yeah.

Ted Huff (25:59)

we mentioned earlier.

Darrin Peppard (26:01)

Yeah, for sure. Outstanding stuff, man. Thanks so much.

Ted Huff (26:04)

All right, hey, take care.

All right, man, I cannot tell you how much fun it was to have a chance to sit down and have this conversation with Ted here on the podcast.

I did get to see Ted here this past summer.

I keynoted at the MLDS Missouri Leadership Conference in June in Columbia, Missouri, and had an absolutely wonderful time and got a chance to catch up with Ted there. But this was so much fun to be able to sit down with him here on the podcast and talk about that really important and often overlooked parent partnership with schools. And now it's time for a pep talk. I want to talk today about that intentional leadership piece.

More specifically, intentional team resets. Now I had a conversation earlier this week with one of the administrators that I've been supporting for probably just over a year. And some some things have been challenging a little bit within their leadership team, and now they've kind of got everybody back and together and and focused. But her question to me was, when is it time for us to sit down and reconnect?

And get refocused collectively as a team. I told her if you're thinking that it needs to happen, then it is time. And I would challenge all of you to think about that. You know, it's the end of October and you're well into the grind. And a lot of times we've maybe lost connection with whether it's a school improvement plan or it's, you know, some specific goals or a strategic plan or something like that that we're working on. Because again,

We get down in the weeds, we get focused on the work, and we're not taking the intentional time to take that step back. So that's my challenge for you this week, folks, is find that opportunity, even if it's just 20 minutes collectively as a team where you won't be interrupted, to come back to focus, get everybody back on the same page, get everybody synchronized, and moving forward as one unified unit. You'll be glad you spent the time on it. Hey, that's what I've got for you this week, folks.

As always, thank you so much for joining me here on the Leaning Into Leadership Podcast. Please rate, review, and subscribe, and of course, share this with somebody else who might enjoy Leaning into Leadership. Get out there, folks, and have a road to awesome week.