I was struck by a local news item in The Washington Post on Brian Betts, a model middle school principal, who was found gunned down in his home. While the story obviously includes the murder aspect, I was touched by the leadership angle.
Rising to a challenge: Here was a white man who took over a school that was struggling, in a lower income community that is predominantly African America and Hispanic. Furthermore, he talked openly with parents and students about it.
Open to innovative ideas: He abolished recesses, believing that the time could be better used for instruction. When a group of graduating 8th graders proposed that he create a grade 9 in the school so they could stay under his tutelage for one more year, he listened, invited them to pitch the idea to the DC School Chancellor, and they won both of them over for not only a grade 9 but also a grade 10.
Resilent: Undaunted by first year academic test scores that were disappointing, Betts kept working with his staff, encouraging them to come up with ways to raise the results.
Operating from deeply held beliefs and values: He did not accept the prevailing wisdom that you can’t change academic achievement in the midst of poverty and broken families. Rather, he held himself and his staff responsible for changing the student results.
Leading by example: He cooked dinners for his students, tracked their progress, and admonished them when they didn’t do their homework. Most mornings would find Betts out in front of the school, literally hugging arriving students, encouraging them along and catching a few moments of conversation with parents who dropped them off.
But most of all, in two short years Brian Betts has left a legacy. Here’s how we know.
- “Every time he saw me, I was one-third his. I was a little immature. He straightened me out. He kept in my hair about everything when I did something wrong.” (Current student)
- “The worse the students were, the more he wanted to teach them. It was all he talked about.” (Colleague)
- “I can’t explain the kind of impact this guy had on my life.” (Former student)
- “He watched out for the children and everything that didn’t look right: drugs, guns, violence.” (Parent)
- “He will be hard to replace but, in less than two years, he has set a standard for learning at Shaw that will last a long time.” (Washington Post education columnist)
Brian Betts reminds us of what leadership looks like at when it rocks. Imagine what it would be like if just a quarter of our leaders were like Brian Betts!
