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How a Clicker, a Mindset Shift, and a Hiring Hack Transformed Three Schools

Author

Danny Bauer
March 13, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes

👋 Hey Ruckus Maker — welcome to a 🔒 subscriber-only 🔒 edition of The Ruckus Maker News+. You can learn more about this premium newsletter here.

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Running a school isn’t for the faint of heart. Some days, it feels like being the CEO of a startup where half your employees are under the age of 12 and think glue sticks are a food group.

That’s where our Ruckus Maker mastermind comes in—a brain trust of school leaders tackling challenges head-on.

This week, we cracked three major leadership headaches: taming classroom chaos, supporting a struggling veteran teacher, and hiring the right boss (yep, hiring up the chain).

Here’s how we did it—and how you can apply these solutions in your own school.

First time reading? Sign up here and join 5,704 Ruckus Makers Doing School Different 🎉

THE RUCKUS MAKER ADVANTAGE

Inside The Ruckus Maker Mastermind: 3 Real Leadership Challenges Solved

Most principals get generic advice that sounds good but fails in the real world.

Meanwhile, Ruckus Makers in our mastermind are solving complex problems with innovative approaches you won't find in any leadership manual.

Here's an exclusive peek behind the curtain at three tough challenges our members recently tackled—and the unconventional solutions that worked.

The Behavior Crisis: From Classroom Chaos to Student Ownership

The Breaking Point:

Principal Morgan was losing her school to behavior issues. Nine major incidents in a single day. Teachers threatening to quit. Students running wild. Traditional discipline methods were failing spectacularly, and the school culture was in free fall.

Traditional approaches weren't working:

  • Writing referrals created paperwork but no change

  • Punitive measures led to power struggles

  • Parent conferences became blame sessions

  • Staff morale plummeted with each incident

The Ruckus Maker Solution:

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