There is a particular kind of quiet that settles over a school building when the person in charge of it has made fear the primary tool of leadership. Not loud fear. Not shouting or public humiliation. Just a steady, low-grade current that teaches everyone, without anyone saying it directly, to ask permission for things that should never have required permission in the first place.
The first staff meeting I ever led as a new principal, I stood in front of a room that would not fully look at me.
The instruction came before the plan did, and I said yes anyway.
The first week after I stepped away from a high-stress leadership role, I woke up every morning at the same time out of habit, reached for my phone, and stared at a calendar with nothing on it.
There was a Tuesday not long ago when I sat staring at my inbox and felt something I did not expect. Not overwhelm. Resentment.
