 |
Talk with a Seattle educator for 10 or 15 minutes about school reform, and you're certain to hear the name John Stanford spoken in respectful, even reverent, tones. The retired Army general raised a few eyebrows when, without the usual education credentials, he took the superintendent's post in 1995. But he so entirely won over the doubters that when he died of leukemia just a few years into his tenure, all eyes were as misty as Lake Washington at dawn. A year and a half after his death, the Seattle Times describes a city "still infatuated" with his memory. Education Week, noting that new schools chief Joseph Olchefske has "big shoes to fill," asserts that Stanford casts a shadow larger than another prominent Seattle "icon," the Space Needle. What was it about this man that so energized the flagging district? Why were disenchanted parents suddenly giving the district a second look? Why were disheartened staff feeling transfused with new optimism? Those who worked for him point to his zealous commitment to Mount Rainier-like standards for each and every student and staff member — a commitment that infected the district from top to bottom. "He changed our vision from 'every child can learn' to 'every child will learn, and everybody needs to do whatever it takes to see that through,'" the district's spokeswoman Annemarie Hou told Education Week soon after Stanford's death. "A John Stanford only comes along once in a lifetime, but the whole community is committed to keeping that focus alive." At John Hay Elementary School on Queen Anne Hill, not far from the central office where Stanford worked, the principal is consciously putting Stanford's vision into practice. "John Stanford had a way of making people feel that there was some greatness in them," says Joanne Testa-Cross. "I have tried to carry that with me." This legacy — bringing out the greatness in every teacher and every child — is, she says, her main mission as building leader.
| ||||
|
The New Principal Special Report:
| |||||
|
This document's URL is: Home | Up & Coming | Programs & Projects: Northwest Education | People | Products & Publications | Topics © 2001 Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory
Date of Last Update: 9/28/01 
|
