Shaping ed. Sharing strengths. Staying chic.
Welcome to The Modern Principal, a collection of thoughts to redefine the role of leadership in our schools. We use our voice to steer the new generation of those invested in education to see themselves as leaders regardless of their title. We shape education through practical problem solving, real relationships, and system solutions. Students are the core of every decision made, but we also find fault in the saying 'students' needs over adults'.'
We don't believe it's an either / or conversation. Quality school leaders make it a priority to connect, serve and guide the adults in the building to achieve greatness for our students.
This is a Modern Principal.
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Our mission is to work with building and district leaders to face the real problems in our schools today head-on, stay connected in the process and inspire others to be the leaders our schools need!
THE MODERN PRINCIPAL
GET TO KNOW US
CHRISTY LAMB
Christy Lamb is an elementary principal in a PreK-5th grade building with the district’s gifted program. After learning in her Sociology degree program (a highly sought-after and lucrative career path) that for-profit prisons were using 3rd grade African American boys’ reading levels to determine the number of prisons to build in the future, Christy applied to and was accepted to the Teach for America program in Houston, TX. Educational equity is the name of her game! She has hopped back and forth between elementary and middle school serving as an ELA teacher, instructional coach, reading specialist, admin intern, assistant principal, and principal. Up until the 11th year of her career, she had never had the exact same job/classroom/building/district two years in a row. A self-proclaimed “horrible colleague” in her early years due to many moves, Christy now craves collaboration with professionals both in and out of education to help make her dream of an equitable learning environment a reality.
KAREN HILE
Karen Hile is an elementary principal in a PreK-4 building with the district’s behavior program and one of the district’s life skills classrooms. While becoming an educator was always the end game, Karen completed her BA and BS in Psychology, which has turned out exceptionally useful in leadership roles. She then decided to get her masters while taking on her first teaching job in fourth grade through the residential internship program. After teaching in both the Kansas City School District and a district nearby, she felt ready to expand her impact in leadership roles. Going from teacher to instructional coach, to admin intern to principal in urban, suburban and rural schools for the past 17 years would have never been possible without the incredible network of educators she learned from and beside. It's crucial to ensure every school has a network of self-proclaimed lifelong learners, growing and refining for their students. Karen believes the work to reform our schools, ensuring no student or staff feel isolated, experience school-related trauma and everyone has equal access is a never-ending mission, but the most important work we are called to do.