Demetrius Ball on Leading with Purpose as Principal of the Year

Quick take

Award-winning Principal Demetrius Ball reveals how intentional leadership, strategic decision-making, and being consistently present creates a school culture where students feel more connected than ever before.

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A MESSAGE FROM EXPRESSABILITY K12

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🏴‍☠️ BREAKING DOWN THE OLD RULES

In this episode, Demetrius Ball challenges traditional education paradigms:

Key Insight #1: Strategic Decision-Making as a Leadership Superpower

• What's broken: Rushed, reactive decision-making without challenging assumptions

• The shift: Slowing down to journal, identify assumptions, and strategically question each one before implementing changes

• Impact: More meaningful staff collaboration time and professional development aligned with actual teacher needs

Key Insight #2: Intentional Presence Transforms School Culture

• What's broken: Administrators hidden in offices, disconnected from the daily pulse of school life

• The shift: Being consistently present—greeting students at drop-off, walking campus, attending after-school activities

• Impact: Students reporting they feel more connected to school than ever before, with meaningful learning experiences

Key Insight #3: Building Administrative Teams Around Complementary Strengths

• What's broken: Hiring admin team members who mirror the principal's skills and style

• The shift: Intentionally seeking team members with diverse skills that fill identified gaps

• Impact: A more versatile, aligned administrative team that presents a united front while bringing different strengths to challenges

✌️ YOUR DO SCHOOL DIFFERENT CHALLENGE

Ready to implement these ideas? Start here:

1. Tomorrow: Start your day by walking a complete lap around your campus, popping into hallways and classrooms

2. This Month: Survey your staff about what they need, then use AI to identify the main themes from their responses

3. This Semester: Evaluate your admin team's collective strengths and weaknesses, then recruit specifically to fill the gaps

✅ CONNECT AND CONTINUE

🎯 Get the full episode transcript: here
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🤝 TODAY’S RUCKUScast IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:

• IXL: Meet your students where they are and take them where they need to go. Join over 1 million teachers who trust IXL to drive data-informed excellence in their classrooms. 🔍 Learn more here

• Expressability K12: Your inbox isn't a task manager. Your mind isn't for storing mundane processes. It's time to break free. With Expressability K12 Ruckus Makers can prioritize student success by offloading time sucking tasks. Visit Expressability K12 to learn how here

• ODP Business Solutions:  "Our STEAM program is too complicated" = Code for "We're doing it wrong"   Stop letting fear kill innovation. While some schools struggle with integrating STEAM, other leaders are using a 3-part framework to transform their programs. The secret? It's not what you think.  Get the playbook: here

Podcast created by Danny. Audio engineered by Dragan. Show notes written by Christina. Email sent by Soniya