ABSTRACT
You cannot do this job by yourself. Not an easy admission for many who have been successful as a classroom teacher. The best training ground I had as a young teacher occurred during my first teaching position in an under-resourced Catholic school. I remember being impressed that as I was about to start a unit in European Imperialism on the African Continent I had a map that detailed the claimed ownership of the lands by the European powers. It was only after a more careful examination that I saw the map was actually from the 1940s and was, in fact, a “current” map from that period. What I took away from that year was to be self-reliant, creative and work with whatever I had at the time; there was no safety net. The leader of a school district is in charge of much more, in fact, everything: school curriculum, personnel, and the reputation of everything and everyone associated with the school; and is also a labor leader, special education overseer, financial officer, political lobbyist, and negotiator. And, of course, there is no safety net here either.
