We were fortunate to speak with an outstanding New York City High School principal for this week’s podcast to get a better understanding of what it’s like to lead a school in the time of COVID. Dimitri Saliani has been an educator for 24 years, helped found Eleanor Roosevelt High School as a high school teacher, and has been leading the school for a dozen years. Needless to say, this year has been one of the most challenging. But Mr Saliani has been seeking to make the most of it. He noted his desire to provide as much normalcy and continuity as possible in the midst of the pandemic, enabling youth to connect with one another and their teachers but in different ways--for ex, shortening periods to 18 minutes. He’s also been paying attention to what might actually work BETTER, noting that some students have excelled in this context, which is helping their school community think differently and more deeply about teaching and learning.
