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INDIANAGRAM A publication of the Indiana Association of School Principals

SEPTEMBER

VOLUME 28

NUMBER 8

Lead with Intention Build Systems that Sustain Excellence What systems are helping your people succeed—even when you're not in the room?

Indianagram SEPT.

President’s Letter

LEADER LENS We Are What We Design

From the IDOE

THE BIG IDEA When Leadership Happens Without You

THE TOOLBOX Intention Isn't a Mindset. It's a System

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT Building Student Voice into School Leadership

Riley Kids Caring & Sharing Update

LEGAL REVIEW KGR Law Briefing

THE LAST WORD From the Editor in Chief

VOLUME 28

NUMBER 8

The Indiana Association of School Principals leads in the advocacy and support of all principals in their commitment to every child.

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Dr. Tiffany Barrett Greg Bodie Kert Boedicker Julie Crone Rick Hunt

11025 East 25th Street Indianapolis, IN 46229 1-800-285-2188 or 317-891-9900 www.iasp.org tbarrett@iasp.org © 2027 Indiana Association of School Principals All rights reserved. Any duplication without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.

President’s Letter SYSTEMS FOCUS TEAMS & BOOST IMPACT Background: Staff engagement stumbles when effort does not result in positive outcomes. Teams must work toward a common goal, finding ways for individual actions to multiply into results worth celebrating. We must do more together than we can do individually. Successful teams have clear objectives, focused expectations, and specific roles that align our effort and enhance collective strengths. We use common systems in our schools: MTSS, PLCs, PBIS, School Improvement, and UDL. We also use very context-specific systems or processes for different functions: safety, staff evaluations, attendance, hiring quality staff, academic interventions, data collection and distribution, budgeting, curriculum, monitoring initiatives, staff access to resources, transportation, processing feedback, and managing meetings, just to name a few. While systems must be clearly known, understood, and monitored, they often work best when taken for granted, hiding below the surface, while making work feel seamless, coherent, and less burdensome for those contributing. Wonderful products, consultants, and companies exist to provide systems as solutions for school leaders. Taking time to reflect, to identify challenges, and to develop setting-specific systems can build buy-in, trust, and confidence when your teams create and implement systems that work effectively. We can develop effective systems using a resource as simple as Google Sheets, a white board, and markers. Your IASP network is a vast source of tools, ideas, and time-tested systems to help you move forward. Benefits: One goal early in my career was to elevate, revise, and create systems to help our school navigate the expected chaos that naturally occurs. Spending less energy on the anticipated challenges opens up the capacity to take on unexpected curveballs that inevitably arise and smack us in the face. Common friction points emerge during the year if a system is missing or not working in sync with other systems. Listen to your team’s conversations. Issues manifest verbally from team members as concerns, questions, or exhaustion. Developing consistent, user-friendly systems is preventative maintenance for the complex engine of our schools, especially when systems function together as a unified whole. Systems preserve the staff’s energy for the critical instructional work that benefits our students most. Time spent “recreating the wheel” or spinning in confusion is time and energy spent away from students. Effective systems help educators to be more emotionally present and focused on their core responsibilities. Systems evaporate the fog of the work and choreograph complex moves into predictable and fluid actions that can be shared between team members who possess diverse strengths and interests. It is essential to include stakeholders’ voices and perspectives who will be part of the system’s work so that the elements of the process move efficiently in a way that makes sense for those who are working within the system. Systems do not dehumanize people, nor do they undermine professional autonomy. Systems protect and empower the people who make the greatest difference for our students each day. Reflection Questions: What is one point of friction that requires your attention? How could a new system (or a modified existing system) help you solve this challenge as you collaborate with the team? As you analyze the interactions between your school’s different systems and the way the staff works within those systems, do those systems boost or undermine hope within the team? What is your next step as a building leader?

Dr. Bret Bailey

IASP President Principal, Hamilton Heights Middle School

Sponsor Shoutout

THE INDIANAGRAM GUIDE Your guide to the sections and stories featured in each issue. Look for the colored labels throughout the publication to find the content that interests you most. THE BIG IDEA Featured leadership story

THE TOOLBOX Practical templates, checklists & resources

PRINCIPAL VOICES Perspectives from Indiana school leaders

TRY IT TOMORROW One actionable strategy

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT Student voice

AI CORNER AI prompt of the month

LEADER LENS Reflection and leadership insights

THE LAST WORD A closing reflection 4

LEADER LENS Dr. Jeremy Coleman Assistant Clinical Professor, Educational Leadership Superintendent, University Schools, Ball State University WE ARE WHAT WE DESIGN I first read Atomic Habits around 2020, and I keep coming back to one line James Clear wrote. “People don’t usually rise to the level of their goals, they fall to the level of their systems.” We often set goals and mean well, but we get busy and then life starts “lifeing”. When overwhelm hits, we revert to whatever our previous routines were. Whether our goals are to read 5 books or lose 20 pounds, our routines are often better predictors of success than anything we turn into S.M.A.R.T. goals. We are what we repeatedly do. Or put differently, we are what we design. Raise your hand if you ever wanted to exercise but you had a tough day at school so that workout was postponed. This happens to a lot of well meaning people, but it also happens to well meaning administrators. If you are reading this newsletter I’m guessing you care deeply about your staff and you want to lead effectively. That’s not the problem. The problem is that caring is not a strategy and intentions are not systems. Remember, we are what we design. Let’s use relationships as an example. A relational system is the set of conditions that decide how people are treated, especially around conflict. Not when everyone’s calm and not on our best day. It’s how mistakes are handled. It’s about which students receive grace and which students receive consequences. Success means no student has to rely on luck, charisma, or getting the “right” teacher to belong. They can rely on the system. For a long time, I made the mistake of treating these interactions as personality rather than practice. I would admire a teacher who always seemed to know what a struggling student needed, and I assumed it was instinct. Eventually I realized it usually was not. It was a habit that the teacher had built on purpose, one that could be taught, named, and shared with every other adult in the building.

That realization changed how I led as a building principal. Instead of asking who on my staff was naturally gifted at building relationships with students, I started asking what specific practices they used, and whether those practices could become shared expectations rather than individual talents. I identified three relational routines my strongest teachers already used: a consistent greeting at the door, a check-in with any student who seemed off, and a specific way of naming effort during feedback. I did not invent anything new. I simply named what was already working, taught it explicitly during a staff meeting, and asked every teacher to try it for two weeks. By October, visitors could not tell which classrooms belonged to my most experienced teachers and which belonged to my newest hires. The routine had become the culture. As you head into the fall, consider the adults in your building who seem to get it right without being told. What are they actually doing? And what would it take to make that practice something everyone owns?

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LEADER LENS

From the IDOE Dr. Katie Jenner Indiana Secretary of Education

USING DATA WITH PURPOSE: MAKE EACH DAY COUNT As many of you know, we recently released results from the 2026 IREAD and ILEARN assessments. To help bring this data to life, we invited several schools to share their literacy successes, reminding us that statewide improvement is made up of countless individual success stories.

This is why we invest so much in both. From universal screeners beginning in kindergarten…to IREAD at second grade…to the ILEARN checkpoints throughout the year…in Indiana, we have a variety of tools that help us understand each student’s path and make each day count.

Parkside Elementary School’s Principal Chris Smith shared one of those stories and made a statement worth repeating: “It’s not about a score…it’s about having successful readers and lifelong learners in the future.”

The key is how to best leverage the data to move the needle forward for our students. Here are some options below, which are designed for Hoosiers, by Hoosiers…

We all know this as educators, yet hearing it grounded in a real student’s journey reinforces the purpose behind our shared work. Principal Smith described a student who struggled with reading in second grade. Her early IREAD results identified the need for direct, intensive support. Through consistent data collection, her teachers saw she was making progress. Because of this work, she ultimately passed IREAD in third grade…and most importantly, she is now a reader! With this new skill, her confidence grew, she is better equipped to learn in other subjects, and she enjoys visiting the kindergarten class to read to them. That is what it’s all about...the individual student success stories. Learning is so much more than an assessment: it’s about the journey and the outcome.

Recently, as part of the larger redesign of ILEARN, we worked closely with educators and parents to develop real-time, user-friendly resources and improved data reports to better understand each student’s assessment results and pinpoint exactly where additional support is needed. AVAILABLE NOW; ADDITIONAL UPDATES AHEAD: Frameworks and Standards Spotlights Assessment Frameworks bring all key assessment resources together in one place, making it easy for educators to find everything they need in a single location. Instructional Frameworks translate Indiana Academic Standards into daily classroom learning and intervention opportunities, providing guidance on best instructional practices, interventions, and student learning and growth across each standard for core content areas.

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SEPTEMBER 30

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LEADER LENS These resources continue to be updated with new research and refreshed examples. Academic standards assessed on ILEARN Checkpoint 1 are available now, and additional updates will continue according to this expected publication timeline. Standards Spotlights include short, easy-tofollow videos and one-page resources designed for teachers and parents that highlight key skills aligned to assessed standards. These simple examples can be replicated in the classroom and at home. Spotlights are currently available in the Indiana Learning Lab for mathematics (grades 3-8). Additional mathematics and English/language arts (ELA) videos and resources will be released on a rolling basis throughout the 2026-2027 school year and into summer 2027. AVAILABLE NOW: Math Support Toolkit Courses - Now available in the Indiana Learning Lab, these courses provide practical, evidencebased strategies to help schools strengthen instruction and ensure students receive the right level of math support based on each student’s unique learning needs (Tier I, II, or III)

COMING SOON: Making the Shift: Elevating Instruction Courses - These new grade-banded courses for ELA and math provide a deep dive into the content students should master at each grade level and how best to teach it. Courses to support math instruction will begin releasing later this month in the Indiana Learning Lab. These tools are about helping educators (and parents!) understand and act on the data we have to support each student, each day. Understanding a student’s reading and numeracy proficiency are very important and our focus must continue to be on helping students master the content they need to be successful this year, next year, and beyond. Thank you for the essential role you play in supporting our teachers, strengthening communication with families, and creating an environment where students feel loved and supported in their learning. By making each day count, you are creating a brighter future for individual students and our entire state. Keep up the great work!

THE BIG IDEA Julia Crone Assistant Principal Cascade High School

WHEN LEADERSHIP HAPPENS WITHOUT YOU I am raising two young boys, and nurturing comes pretty naturally to me. I like taking care of people. I like anticipating what they need, solving problems, and making life a little easier. But parenting has taught me something important about ownership. When I do everything for my boys, they may appreciate it, but they are not as invested. They do not have to notice what needs to happen, take responsibility for it, or feel the satisfaction of making it happen themselves. Leadership can work the same way. At the beginning of every school year, I like to stop students in the hallway and ask, “What are you a part of?” I believe there is something powerful about having a place where you belong and a role that matters. When students have ownership, they become more connected to their school. I want our teachers to feel that same sense of ownership. My principal and I wear many hats, and some of the things that matter most to school culture can easily slide to the bottom of the list when the daily demands of school take over. Celebrating people. Caring for staff. Building community. Supporting one another. Those things matter, but they rarely come with an urgent deadline. So we created four teacher-led committees and gave each one something meaningful to own. But rather than beginning with a list of tasks, we started each group with a question.

Our Tech Titans considered, “What would make technology integration easier for teachers and students?” Our Staff Care Crew asked, “If someone described our staff culture a year from now, what would we want them to say?” Our Show Up & Show Out Squad wrestled with, “How can we make sure recognition reflects the diversity of talents, efforts, and personalities in our school?” And our Community Outreach Committee started with, “When you think of strong school spirit, what do you hear and see?” Those questions gave each group a destination without telling them exactly how to get there. The committees are important, but the structure behind them is what makes them work. Giving people ownership is not enough; ownership needs a system that helps good intentions turn into consistent action. Each group has a clear purpose, defined responsibilities, regular meeting time, and a simple agenda for identifying tasks, assigning ownership, and setting deadlines. We also give them opportunities to share their work through staff meetings and newsletters. The goal was not to create more meetings. It was to create space for people to lead. Then comes the hardest part for a nurturer: getting out of the way.

THE BIG IDEA Recently, our Staff Care Crew messaged me that they had delivered a care package to a staff member who recently underwent surgery. I did not organize it. I did not remind anyone. I was not even in the room. And maybe that is the point. We do not want to build a school where every good idea requires an administrator to make it happen. We want to build a school where people have the purpose, structure, ownership, and permission to act.

So perhaps the better leadership question is: What could you build today that would allow others to lead tomorrow—even when you’re not in the room? STEAL OUR SYSTEM Ready to create teacher-led teams in your school? Access Cascade High School's committee descriptions, kickoff questions, and planning templates.

The goal is not to become less important to your school. The goal is to build systems that allow great things to happen without you.

Staff care Crew organized staff pitch-ins for Thanksgiving, christmas, Indy 500 and More!

The Show Up and Show Out Committee organized several student pep rallies and invited our community!

THE TOOLBOX

Al Remaly Director of Business Development Five Star Technology Solutions

INTENTION ISN'T A MINDSET. IT'S A SYSTEM. Excellence doesn't happen by accident. In schools, in businesses, in any organization trying to do good work day after day, real performance isn't just about passion or willpower. It's about design. When leaders lean on individual effort alone to carry success, burnout and inconsistency aren't far behind. Lasting growth comes when leaders stop just reacting to whatever's on fire and start building systems that hold up over time. That's what it really means to lead with intention: knowing where you want to go, and building the structures that get you there. It's a lesson we've had to learn ourselves at Five Star Technology Solutions. We work alongside school districts across the Midwest every day, and we recently realized we couldn't ask districts to build better systems if our own support model still ran on effort alone. FROM PUTTING OUT FIRES TO BUILDING ON PURPOSE Anyone who's spent time in a school district knows the feeling. Without the right support in place, good people spend their days solving the same problems over and over instead of moving the mission forward. I see this constantly in K-12 technology, where IT staff and educators get stuck troubleshooting instead of teaching, planning, or leading. The fix isn't more effort. It's better systems: ones that automate the routine stuff, simplify communication, and give leaders real visibility into what's happening. Remove the daily friction, and your team gets its time and energy back for the work that actually matters. WHAT THIS LOOKED LIKE FOR US For years, our own support model relied heavily on individual technicians' memory, effort, and skillset. Good people doing their best, without connecting one ticket to the next. So we rebuilt it. First, we built SPARK, a help desk that pairs AI with our own K-12 technicians so routine issues get resolved fast, often before anyone needs to drive to a building. Then we designed Elevate, a single portal where district leaders can see everything happening across their technology environment, instead of piecing it together from emails and phone calls. The result wasn't just faster support. It was calmer support. Our team stopped spending energy on repeat problems and started spending it on work that actually moves districts forward. The districts we serve got the same benefit twice over: real visibility for their leaders, and hours given back to their staff. 10

THE TOOLBOX That's the part I think gets missed. A strong system doesn't just make an organization more efficient. It changes how it feels to work there. THE LONG VIEW Leading with intention is really about foresight — investing in systems today that protect your team's focus and energy tomorrow. The payoff isn't always obvious in the moment, but it shows up when you need it most. The districts that sustain excellence year after year aren't the ones working harder than everyone else. They're the ones who took the time to build something that could carry the weight, so their people didn't have to.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

Dave Strouse Assistant Executive Director The Indiana Association of School Principals (IASP) BUILDING STUDENT VOICE INTO SCHOOL LEADERSHIP “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” - Jack Welch. That belief is at the heart of a growing effort to lead with intention, and one of the most meaningful ways schools are doing this is by inviting students into the decisions that shape their own communities. When students help set the tone for culture and vision, they do not just watch leadership from the sidelines. They live it. We are excited to share that this idea is already

Check Out Our New Program: Reel Impact Our new statewide digital media competition puts student voices in the spotlight.

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taking shape in classrooms and clubs across our schools. Several buildings, spanning our elementary, middle, and high school levels, are currently piloting new student leadership lessons designed to build these habits early and grow them over time. These lessons were developed using the School Leader Paradigm, a framework that organizes leadership growth into meaningful themes across the school year. The lessons begin with students developing self-awareness and a sense of community that leadership grows from. As lessons continue, they will evolve in helping students see how organizations work and how their own contributions matter. Each lesson is thoughtfully brief, lasting just fifteen to twenty minutes, so it fits easily into a busy school day. While the lessons are being written with weekly use in mind, we designed them to be flexible.

A National Honor Society chapter might use them once a month. A Student Council might build a meeting around one. Advisory and homeroom teachers might use them as a weekly anchor, while classroom teachers may simply weave them into instruction whenever the moment feels right. Our hope is not rigid implementation but a warm, ready tool that school leaders can shape around their own students. What makes this pilot so meaningful is what it teaches us about leadership itself. When school leaders make space for student voice, not as an occasional gesture but as a steady practice, they model the very intention they hope to inspire. Students learn that leadership is not a title.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT It is a collection of habits that builds trust,

Following the pilot, we encourage you to look for

cultivates a growth mindset, embraces

opportunities to bring the student leadership

accountability, allows for self-reflection, and

lessons to your clubs, classrooms, athletic teams,

thinking beyond oneself.

or any organization within your school where you want to grow student leaders.

Our goal is simple and heartfelt. We want to give students a shared language for leadership and

Our mission at the Indiana Association of School

give school leaders a welcoming tool to help them

Principals is simply All Principals/All Kids, and in

get there. Leading with intention begins with

the words of a past president of IASP, Dr. Crystal

listening, and these pilots are one meaningful way

Thorpe, "We grow leaders." These leadership

our schools are making sure every student has a

lessons serve both our mission and that heartfelt

voice at the table.

mantra of growing leaders.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT Riley Children’s Foundation Youth Philanthropy Team Riley Kids Caring & Sharing RILEY KC&S UPDATE Youth philanthropy plays important role in helping to raise $62.6 million for Riley kids and families in 2025-2026 Thanks to your hard work and spirited generosity, your school communities helped advance pediatric research, improve children’s mental and physical health, and made it easier for families to access Riley Children’s Health’s supportive care. We appreciate your dedicated philanthropic partnership! 2025-2026 Youth Philanthropy by the numbers Indiana PK-12 schools raised $1,985,090.40 ($2,053,764.97) through a variety of fundraising models with 294 of 360 schools, or 81%, raising more than $1 per student to achieve Red Wagon School status. 84 schools, including high school dance marathon model fundraisers, utilized an online-giving opportunity to augment their traditional in-person fundraising activities. 27 schools raised more than $5,000 to sponsor a Riley Red Wagon. 27 schools raised $3,000-$4,999 to achieve Red Wagon Booster status. 14 school corporations achieved Red Wagon Corporation status with each member school raising more than $1 per student (Attica Consolidated School Corporation; Bloomfield School District; Cowan Community School Corporation; East Allen County Schools; Fairfield Community Schools; Frontier School Corporation; Greater Jasper consolidated Schools; Lanesville Community School Corporation; MSD Bluffton-Harrison; North Vermillion Community School Corporation; Rossville Consolidated School District; Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation; Wabash City Schools; Warsaw Community Schools). 68 school corporations achieved Riley Corporation status with every member school engaged at some gift level, or the participating schools collectively raised more than the corporation’s population. Families from all 92 Indiana counties turn to Riley Children’s health each year. We are seeking active school-based philanthropy partners to join us from these 18 counties: North – Benton, Blackford, Carroll, Jay, and Miami; Central – Fayette, Franklin, and Union; and South – Brown, Clark, Crawford, Floyd, Jefferson, Knox, Martin, Ohio, Ripley, and Washington. Annual school and school corporation recognition The Riley Hospital impact report and 2025-2026 recognition decals were mailed mid-August to the principals of all participating Indiana PK-12 schools. Please let your Youth Philanthropy representative know if you need a new or an additional KCS recognition plaque to showcase your legacy of support. Red Wagon Corporation and Riley Corporation certificates are in the works for a September distribution.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT New resource for Riley philanthropy coordinators Our youth philanthropy team is here to help your students gain valuable leadership skills while developing their philanthropic spirit. To help “train the trainers”, we are debuting a newsletter for PK – 12 school philanthropy coordinators this September with best practice information, school project highlights, and engagement ideas. We may have only the school principal’s contact information and would appreciate your help in creating an efficient contact directory. Please share the electronic newsletter with your Riley philanthropy coordinator and encourage them to respond to our short communication preference survey. Your gifts at work With your support, Riley Hospital opens a new 11-bed Pediatric Medical-Behavioral Health Unit in September to serve children and adolescents who require medical and behavioral care at the same time. It will be the first of its type in Indiana and one of few in the US. Designed for children with complex conditions that cannot be managed in traditional medical or psychiatric inpatient units, Riley anticipates caring for more than 325 patients annually who require treatment for eating disorders, catatonia, encephalitis, anxiety, depression and other psychiatric conditions that occur alongside significant medical needs. Unit staff will include specialized dually boarded pediatrician/child and adolescent psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, therapists, social workers and behavioral health specialists. The unit includes a classroom, sensory room, recreation room and a dedicated space for art therapy and therapeutic programming. The opening of the Pediatric Medical-Behavioral Health Unit reflects the urgent need as nearly 40% of high school students report persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness, more than 20% seriously consider attempting suicide and nearly 10% report a suicide attempt, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

The specialized pediatric medicalbehavioral health unit helps address the growing pediatric mental health crisis by providing integrated care for children with complex medical and behavioral health needs.

LEGAL REVIEW

KGR Law Briefing Séamus Boyce KGR Law

Keith Butler KGR Law

KGR LAW BRIEFING: FLYING THE FIRST AMENDMENT FLAG @ SCHOOL As educators settle into their classrooms and spice up the walls and their attire, we use this article to brief a case regarding school décor out of Maryland. Sayed v. Taylor (D. Md. 2026) involves a teacher decorating her classroom and wearing symbols in support of Palestine. The Sayed case focuses on a middle school science teacher who decorated the inside of her classroom door with a four-inch-wide sticker of the Palestinian flag. The teacher wore a keffiyeh, a traditional Palestinian scarf, as an expression of her support for the Palestinian people. She also wore a shirt that said “Gaza: The Soul of my Soul” that she purchased as part of a fundraiser for humanitarian aid to Gaza. The shirt commemorated a three-year-old Palestinian girl apparently killed by Israeli armed forces. The school principal removed the flag sticker from the classroom and instructed the teacher not to wear the keffiyeh saying that could be construed as antisemitic or supporting terrorism. In response, the teacher put a sticker of a watermelon on her door. The watermelon became a symbol of Palestinian identity because its red, green, white, and black colors mirror the Palestinian flag. It emerged as a substitute symbol during periods when the flag has faced restrictions. While the teacher intended the sticker as a political message in support of Palestine, it was indistinguishable from other images of watermelons. Regardless, the school instructed her to remove the watermelon sticker.

The teacher alleged that no written or unwritten policy existed. She claimed that other teachers had Black Lives Matter and Pride flags in their classrooms, and the school did not ask that they be removed. Similarly, the school permitted other teachers to wear pins and t-shirts in support of the LGBTQ community and Black Lives Matter t-shirts. The teacher also claimed that the Palestinian flag sticker was not used as part of any lesson and that it was not intended to convey any message to students. The teacher sued alleging the school violated her freedom of speech under the First Amendment. Specifically, she claimed to be the target of viewpoint discrimination. The school argued that the speech was not protected by the First Amendment because it was curricular. The court relied on the precedent from the Supreme Court case Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988) which gave schools broad authority to regulate school sponsored expression bearing the school imprimatur. However, in Sayed, the court ruled that the facts alleged did not show any evidence of prior school-imposed restrictions on material posted on a classroom door. Therefore, the court allowed the lawsuit to proceed to the next stage of the proceedings since there was not undisputed evidence that the teacher’s attire and classroom décor were curricular speech.

This does not mean that the teacher will be successful if the case proceeds to trial, but it is never a good sign for the school when the case cannot be dismissed early in the process. The Seventh Circuit, where Indiana is located, has decided several cases that give schools wide discretion to determine what is considered “school speech” by teachers. Just this year, the Seventh Circuit explained in Smiley v. Jenner (7th Cir. 2026) that “speech within the scope of a teacher's job duties isn't limited to speech that presents official curriculum.”

Almost twenty years ago, the Seventh Circuit also determined that “[t]he Constitution does not entitle teachers to present personal views to captive audiences against the instructions of elected officials.” Mayer v. Monroe Cnty. Cmty. Sch. Corp., (7th Cir. 2007).

What is the legal lesson from this breif? Schools have broad discretion to dictate content shared with students by employees on the job. This goes beyond lesson plans and can include how teachers decorate their classrooms or what political opinions they express to their students in various media. While a federal court in Maryland may not be controlling for Indiana schools, it does provide some insights on how our courts would address the issue. Even with the deference provided to schools, the problem for schools in situations comparable to Sayed is lack of a “record” that the school had a policy against the instruction or that the teacher was using it to impart knowledge to students. Teacher’s use of classroom décor should be anticipated intentionally through policy when there is no controversy. Also, while the intention behind the policy may be to keep politics or controversial topics out of the classroom, that may not be how it is perceived by staff or the community. Be thoughtful on both the policy content and how it is communicated. Further, inconsistency is very problematic. Permitting classroom decoration and employee attire supporting one message or perspective can really hamstring a school’s ability to cleanly restrict subsequent employee décor and attire.

Need Help? We at the KGR Legal Help Desk are here to address these and any non-personal employment legal issues for IASP members. Until the next KGR Law Briefing, we hope you minimize time spent on any controversial flags!

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THE LAST WORD FROM THE EDITOR IN CHIEF

IASP Executive Committee Dr. Bret Bailey President Dr. Jane Bitting President-Elect

THE LAST WORD: LEADING WITH INTENTION Leadership rarely announces itself. More often, it shows up in the moments no one else sees. It is the pause before we respond. The decision to listen a little longer. The conversation we choose not to avoid. The system we strengthen today so someone else can succeed tomorrow. That is the work of intentional leadership.

Duke Lines Vice President Raimeka Graham NPA State Coordinator

As school leaders, our days can quickly become consumed by what is urgent. There will always be another email, another meeting, another decision waiting for us. But leadership asks something more of us than simply managing what arrives. It asks us to remain connected to what matters most: our purpose, our people, and the leader we are becoming. The School Leader Paradigm reminds us that leadership begins with the Learning Leader, but it does not end there. Our personal growth should ultimately strengthen the people, relationships, and systems around us. When we lead with intention, we begin to create a Learning Organization that does not depend solely on us to move forward. Perhaps that is one of the greatest measures of leadership: not how much happens because we are in the room, but how much continues when we are not in the room, because of what we have built and how we have led. So, as September moves quickly and the school year finds its rhythm, I hope you will protect a little space to reflect. What are you building intentionally right now? Not simply what are you completing. Not what you are managing. Not what is demanding your attention. What are you building? Is it a stronger culture, a greater trust, a better leadership capacity in someone else, or simply a better version of yourself that leads with greater clarity, courage, or purpose? Whatever your answer, keep building it. Because our calendars may reveal where we spent our time, but our impact will reveal where we placed our intention. Lead with purpose. Lead with people at the center. And never underestimate what can happen when small, intentional acts of leadership are repeated day after day. Lead on, Indiana!

Dr. Tiffany Barrett Editor-in-Chief, Indianagram IASP Assistant Executive Director

How can we support you? Indiana Association of School Principals 11025 E. 25th Street Indianapolis, IN 46229 317-891-9900

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