Camelot

"Don't let it be forgot, that once

there was a spot, for one brief

shining moment, that was known as

Camelot."

-Alan Jay Lerner

There are a number of books about organizational leadership that describe "building Camelot". The idea is that King Arthur's Camelot was the ideal place because only the noblest of knights were admited to join the Round Table, so as an organizational leader, if one wishes to have their very own Camelot, they must first get rid of the unworthy knights and replace them with those who are worthy. From a personnel standpoint, this means getting rid of low performers and replacing them with high performers. This kind of talk gets used in the education world by people who talk about turning around failing schools. I remember shadowing a principal at a low-performing school during my graduate program, and he explained that he was the guy who was brought in to build Camelot. He spent four years getting rid of teachers who were not making the place better and trying to recruit teachers who would. From what I gathered, he was doing a pretty good job of it. 

I think some people are cut out for that kind of work. I don't think I'm some people. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy solving a good problem as much as the next guy, but I don't view myself as a "take no prisoners" fixer. People like that are often only in town for a short while because it is very hard to fire loads of people and still have personal capital left to complete the next phase of leadership, which is building a shared vision and leading into the future. It's hard to work with Gallagher if you are constantly worried he is going mistake you for a watermelon and introduce you to the Sledge-o-Matic, and if you don't get that reference, we need to have a talk so that I can educate you. 

Anyway, I don't think the people who set out to build Camelot ever get to see it completed. That is why I am so thankful each and every day that I inherited something that already pretty much resembled Camelot. As I have met with several teachers in post-observation conferences so far, I am so excited about the people we have working in this building. So often, when I network with other principals, the topic will get on "that teacher" and what they need to do about it. They all seem to have one, and I just sit there silent because I don't want to tell them I only work with Rockstars. I mean, I don't want them to be jealous and hate me. Just kidding! I totally tell them. I tell them how fortunate I am that I don't have a single "that teacher" in my building. When I do evaluations, our conversations are on how we can keep pushing the limits of what is possible instead of conversations about fixing things that need to be fixed. 

I truly feel like coming to work here with all of you is about as close to Camelot as I can imagine getting, and I feel like we are only going to keep getting better, and I think we will have more than "one brief shining moment"; I think we are built to last.