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Principal Leadership Academy Draws $400,000 in Support
Unum, Joseph Davenport and an anonymous donor have committed $400,000 toward the creation of a Principal Leadership Academy that will better prepare future principals to lead their schools. Support for the Hamilton County Department of Education academy underscores the connection between strong public schools and local economic vitality.
"A school principal is much like the CEO of a business," said Bob Best, Unum chief operating officer. "He or she must have a clear vision for success and the skills and preparation to make that vision a reality. If we want strong schools, we must have strong school leaders."
Partnering with Hamilton County Schools in the academy project are the Chattanooga Chamber, the Public Education Foundation and UTC. The Principal Leadership Academy will involve 12 to 16 assistant principals who want to become principals.
The Academy will launch in July with two weeks of intensive training along with monthly one-day seminars on instructional leadership, building management and finances, among other topics.
Chamber President and CEO Tom Edd Wilson said he is pleased with the Academy’s business training component and expects other businesses will join Unum in supporting the Academy. "By combining a strong focus on business skills with administrative topics, we are pioneering a whole new way to prepare our future principals," Wilson said. "The Chamber will support the Academy by recruiting business leaders to serve as mentors, helping shape the curriculum and participating in fundraising efforts."
"One of my primary goals has been to establish a principal preparation academy," said Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Dr. Jim Scales. "A principal has an incredibly demanding job, and we need to give new principals every tool available to be successful in that role."
Each Academy participant will be assigned two mentors over the course of the program: a veteran principal and an executive partner from the business community. Academy participants will shadow mentors, receive advice regarding leadership issues and visit high-performing schools outside of Hamilton County.
Currently, Hamilton County Schools and PEF are providing 26 assistant principals with a series of workshops, supported financially by the Benwood Foundation, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee and Electric Motor Sales & Supply, Inc. These workshops feature introductions to some of the same concepts that will be developed more fully in the Academy.
"Research shows that no school has ever reached greatness without a strong principal at its helm," said PEF President Dan Challener. "The director of the Academy will work with our staff and partners to coordinate all of the elements of the Academy, and to help future principals learn to use data in a targeted way, recognize effective teaching and build the collaboration needed to create academic success for students."
UTC education and business professors will help design and deliver a curriculum focused on critical leadership and management skills as well as instructional leadership, the use of instructional data and establishing a positive school culture.
"UTC is an engaged metropolitan university," said Chancellor Roger Brown. "Through the Principal Leadership Academy we will be helping to shape not only the future leaders of our public schools but also, by extension, the students they serve." |
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