Page 34 - EdViewptsSpring2017

Inspiring Aspiring Administrators:

Building Internal Capacity and

Leveraging Leadership

By Jennifer A. Sharp, Ed.D. Director of Personnel, Freehold Regional

High School District, Freehold; and Ane Turner Johnson, Ph.D. Associate
Professor, Rowan University

While retirements and res- measures that build capacity within as recruit, hire and retain quality leaders?
ignations are a natural and well as connect to quality external candi- One way districts are able to do this is
through offering an internal leadership
dates (Rothwell, 2010). This need is
recurring event in every organi- urgent; there is a strong link between development program. One such pro-
zation, school districts are particularly principal succession and overall school gram exists at the Freehold Regional
vulnerable to their impact. Schools performance at a time of historic ex- High School District: the Aspiring
are legally responsible to provide a ternal pressures for accountability. A Administrators Academy (AAA). Con-
thorough and efficient education to hastily-selected candidate, whose skills ceived of as part of the district's 2012
students who cannot afford to wait for are not an ideal match for the school, Strategic Plan, this program exists
services while a district finds a suitable begets a cycle that can lead to stake- to both empower teachers and build
replacement for an outgoing principal. holder dissatisfaction and more frequent the district's own internal capacity in
School districts, like all organizations turnover. What can local school districts preparation for inevitable leadership
must find ways to proactively plan for realistically do, in addition to, or as a succession events.
leadership succession by adopting change in current practice to prepare,

Educational Viewpoints -32- Spring 2017