We talk a lot about mentoring and mentors in our work with leadership development, and it is something special to meet one of your mentor’s mentors! This podcast features Joy Warner, who has long been someone that my friend and mentor Tom Miller has referred to as the best school leader he has ever seen. Joy is the founder and executive director, and also high school principal, at Community School of Davidson, a K-12 public charter school north of Charlotte, NC. Joy and her team have built one of the most cohesive models that I have seen in charter schools. Much like Buffy Fowler a few episodes back, Joy has focused and refocused constantly over the past decade to ensure that their school’s values permeate their decision making. As you listen, see if you can count how many mission and values based intentional decisions have led to this school’s success as one of the model public charter schools in all of North Carolina. The format for this episode is a little different than those in the past. Rather than having a one-on-one conversation, we actually recorded this at one of our Regional Charter School Consortium meetings, which Joy and her team graciously hosted, so you will hear many voices asking the questions, and also hear some responses from other members of the administration. Buckle up, this is a good one. Enjoy and thanks for listening!
2:50 Intro to Joy Warner and the history of CSD
9:50 How do you navigate the freedoms given to high school students here?
14:50 What are your non-negotiables for working at this school?
19:15 How do you approach staff to buy into the big mission and vision?
29:01 What is the attendance for your annual all staff retreat?
30:41 How do you give all 200 employees feedback?
33:01 Why does everyone think it’s so hard to do high school?
38:15 Would your model work anywhere, and what would you need to adjust if it was in another location?
41:09 The Teacher Leadership Program
Link to Freshtake: http://www.csdspartans.org/about_us/our_annual_teacher_conference
Link to Regional Consortium: http://leaders-building-leaders.com/regional-charter-school-consortium-2017-2018/
