Principal Matters: The School Leader's Podcast with William D. Parker

A quick note to listeners:   Before this week’s interview, Jen Schwanke and Will Parker take a few minutes to discuss the following listener question: As I step into a new role at a new school, how can I make a difference in a school that is struggling with disengaged teachers without being seen as a ‘monster’ by the teachers I want to help? Listen in to hear their response! Also, Jen Schwank...

Lessons from Climbing Mt. Massive On June 26, 2025, my son Jack and I summited Mt Massive, at 14,429 feet, the 2nd tallest peak in Colorado. That one sentence sums up an impossibly difficult-to-describe one-day adventure that he and I have dreamed about for a long time. The day began at 4:30 AM, when we made coffee, ate a quick breakfast, and drove to the base of the mountain, parking in a gravel...

A Quick Note to Listeners:  Before this week’s interview, Jen Schwanke and Will Parker take a few minutes to discuss the following question: What should I be thinking as I step into the school year, especially if I am starting a new role? Listen in to hear their response! Meet LaVonna Roth: With almost 20 years of experience speaking on four continents, LaVonna Roth helps leaders across various in...

Welcome back to another installment of Monday Matters! This week, Dr. Jen Schwanke and I are discussing chapter 13 from my new book Whose Permission Are You Waiting For? An Educator’s Guide to Doing What You Love. The focus of chapter 13 is based on avoiding the mindset that our greatest joy has to be in the work we do. It can be really easy to let your work define your whole identity. As individu...

Meet Karen Borchert: Karen Borchert is the founder and CEO of Alpaca , a company with a mission to make it easier to support teachers. Karen started off in secondary education, but most of her career is as an entrepreneur, helping to grow high trust, highly aligned teams.  Karen started Alpaca to combine her passion for education with her experience in building employee engagement, leadership and...

In this episode, I wanted to share some feedback from another Mastermind group I’ve met with in 2024-25. These leaders include: Julieta R. Flowers – Principal, Discovery Community School, Toledo, OH Kelly Brodzenski – Principal, Beacon Academy, Canton, OH Laura Krulik – Assistant Superintendent & Title II/Civil Rights Coordinator, Utica Shale Academy (Southern Local Schools), Salineville, OH S...

Happy Monday, Principal Matters listeners! This week, Jen Schwanke and I are talking about chapter 12 from my new book, Whose Permission Are You Waiting For? An Educator’s Guide to Doing What You Love. The premise of this chapter is on something I like to call “life liturgies”: practices, routines, and rituals that define a person and their beliefs. Defining one’s life liturgy can be hard, so Jen...

A Quick Note to Listeners: Before this week’s interview, Will Parker and Jen Schwanke spend some time talking about Jen’s upcoming book: Trusted: Trust Pillars, Trust Killers, and the Secret to Successful Schools . Listen in to hear more about this book, as well as where you can pre-order it. Thank you for doing what matters! Meet Mike Fitzpatrick:   Mike Fitzpatrick is the Founder and...

Welcome back to another Monday Matters! I can’t believe it is already summer. This week, our Monday Matters Podcast is going to be a little different than usual. As listeners may already know, the focus of recent Monday Matters episodes have been on the chapters of my new book Whose Permission Are You Waiting For? An Educator’s Guide to Doing What You Love . The chapter we are covering this week i...

A Quick Note to Listeners: Before this week’s interview, Will Parker answers a question from a student in Jen Schwanke’s graduate class at OSU. The question is: From your experience as a podcaster, what are the most compelling or surprising insights you’ve gained from other educational leaders regarding human capital management? (This question is asked by Brenna Cropper, a first grade teacher in W...

Welcome back to another Monday Matters. As school leaders across the country are wrapping up their school years, Jen and I are wishing everyone a happy summer! This week’s episode is a discussion of a chapter on coaching from my book, Whose Permission Are You Waiting For? An Educator’s Guide to Doing What You Love . Coaching is a reflective activity that is extremely valuable to people across diff...

A Quick Note to Listeners: Before this week’s interview, Will Parker answers a question from a student in Jen Schwanke’s graduate class at OSU. The question is: Through your consulting work, what common human capital challenges do you see schools facing and how can principals proactively address them? (Question from Madeline Platfoot, 6th grade math teacher from Columbus, Ohio) Listen in to hear h...

Hi, Principal Matters listeners! Thank you for tuning in for another episode of Monday Matters. This week, Jen Schanke and I are talking about chapter 10 from my book, Whose Permission Are You Waiting For? An Educator’s Guide to Doing What You Love. Before we jump into that discussion, Jen announces all of the places she will be at the ASCD/ITSE annual conference. Listen in to hear all of the deta...

A Quick Note to Listeners: Before this week’s interview, Will Parker answers a question from a student in Jen Schwanke’s graduate class at OSU. The question is: How did you ensure equity and fairness in staff evaluations, promotions, and leadership opportunities? (Question from Diona Ross, High School Intervention Specialist from Columbus, Ohio) Listen in to hear his response and thank you for doi...

Hi, Principal Matters listeners, and welcome back to another episode of Monday Matters! This week, Jen Schwanke and I are talking about building systems that produce the outcome you want (Chapter 8 in Whose Permission ). I want to talk about systems on Monday Matters because Jen Schwanke has helped me understand systems better. Jen shares that systems is something she is really passionate about in...

A Quick Note to Listeners: Before this week’s interview, Will Parker answers a question from a student in Jen Schwanke’s graduate class at OSU. The question is: What practical strategies did you use to boost staff morale and prevent burnout, especially during times of high stress or change?   (Question from Cameron Carter, first grade teacher from Worthington, Ohio) Listen in to hear his resp...

It’s Monday, so that means it’s time for another Monday Matters episode! This week, Jen and I are continuing a series of conversations that revolve around the chapters from my new book, Whose Permission Are You Waiting For? An Educator’s Guide to Doing What You Love . The chapter we’re discussing this week is called “Let’s Talk About Money”. Even though many educators love what they do, they often...

Happy Friday, Principal Matters listeners! This week’s encore episode is a conversation between myself and Pete Hall from 2022. Pete is a veteran school administrator and education consultant who has authored many books and articles on leadership. In this episode, we talk about his book Chasing the Show , a YA novel. Listen in to hear our full conversation, or read the original blog post to...

A Quick Note to Listeners: —- The Question of the Week is supported by Summer Pops Math Workbooks. Principals, when students practice math over the summer, math scores go up. What’s your summer math plan this year? A great way to start is by ordering FREE summer workbook samples at Summer Pops Workbooks.com. —- Before this week’s interview, Will Parker answers a question from a student in Jen Schw...

Hi, Friends! Welcome back to another installment of Monday Matters! This week, I am joined by Jen Schwanke to talk about a chapter called “Will It Fly?”  in my new book, Whose Permission Are You Waiting For? An Educator’s Guide to Doing What You Love .  When I wrote this chapter, I wanted to share with readers advices on the following themes: Giving yourself permission to try something n...

Happy Friday! We’re back this week with another encore episode. This one is an interview from 2022 with Dr. Keri Launius, an administrator who has served in various roles throughout her education career. At the time of this interview, I was working alongside her team to facilitate learning and growing for her team of aspiring and assistant principals. Keri shares how her team has benefitted...

A Quick Note to Listeners: —- The Question of the Week is supported by Summer Pops Math Workbooks. Principals, when students practice math over the summer, math scores go up. What’s your summer math plan this year? A great way to start is by ordering FREE summer workbook samples at Summer Pops Workbooks.com. —- Before this week’s interview, Will Parker answers a question from a student in Jen Schw...

Welcome back to another episode of Monday Matters! This week, Jen and I are talking about chapter 6 from my new book, Whose Permission Are You Waiting For? An Educator’s Guide to Doing What You Love. But before we jump into that discussion, we would like to share some details about some upcoming conferences we will be attending and other exciting work we are doing.  Jen talks about attending:...

Happy Friday! We’re back this week with another encore episode. This week’s pick is from 2022, when I talked with Brad Gustafson about his book The 6 Literacy Levers . Our conversation is filled with great advice for school leaders to rethink literacy through the use of Brad’s six literacy levers: The Compass The Invitation The Walking Stick The Utility Knife The Catapult The Col...

A Quick Note to Listeners: —- The Question of the Week is supported by Summer Pops Math Workbooks. Principals, when students practice math over the summer, math scores go up. What’s your summer math plan this year? A great way to start is by ordering FREE summer workbook samples at Summer Pops Workbooks.com. —- Before this week’s interview, Will Parker answers a question from a student in Jen Schw...