Tales from the Principal's Chair

In episode 107, Cassandra Washington interviews Dr. Nadia Lopez, former Principal at Mott Hall Bridge Academy in Brooklyn, New York, and discusses how principals need to put their mental health first in a job that requires so much of them.

Dr. Nadia Lopez is an award-winning educator who became a viral sensation after the popular blog Humans of New York featured her as one of their most influential people. Disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline, Dr. Lopez founded Mott Hall Bridges Academy, a STEAM-focused middle school in Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York, in 2010 and served as the principal for ten years.

She was named LinkedIn’s 2019 Top 10 Voices in Education and received the Black Girls Rock award–alongside Michelle Obama in 2015. That same year Dr. Lopez visited the White House with President Obama, and in 2016 she was recognized as Varkey Foundation’s Top 50 Global Teacher Prize Finalist. Her TED Talk on the “Education Revolution” has garnered more than a million views. She also serves as a guest lecturer at Harvard University’s Graduate School for Education and various colleges around the world, teaching students on the subject matter of Transformative Justice, Education, and the School-to-Prison Pipeline. She is the author of the book, The Bridge to Brilliance and Teaching In The Fourth Industrial Revolution. In 2020, Dr. Lopez ended her tenure as Mott Hall Bridges Academy’s principal to focus on her work as a mental health advocate and wellness enthusiast. After developing a stress-related illness that threatened her life, she dug deeper into her passion for educating, providing workforce training and coaching through her company, The Lopez Effect.

In this episode, Cassandra Washington interviews Jeff Dase, the Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning for Decatur Public Schools.  

Jeff Dase has been committed to the students and communities of Illinois since 1998. Jeff Dase became the Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning for Decatur Public Schools on July 1, 2019. In his first year, Decatur Public Schools met seventy-two percent of measurable academic goals aligned with the district’s strategic plan. Jeff Dase previously served as High Schools Network Operations Manager for Chicago Public Schools. He was charged with supporting 20  of Chicago high school principals with developing, implementing, and monitoring systems and structures to improve school-wide student achievement. He rose through the ranks of Chicago Public Schools as a teacher, Assistant Principal, Principal, and Chief of Schools. In each position, he had a proven track record of success, such as taking a low-achieving all-male class from failure to success with a 100% benchmark promotion rate, being a catalyst in removing Percy L. Julian High School from probation, to increasing Edward Coles Academy’s Meet/Exceed scores from 48.1 to 76.5 in five years and ultimately being removed off the district’s probation list with a Good Standing: Level 1+ school status during his nine-year tenure as principal. Good Standing: Level 1+ is the highest school status for Chicago Public Schools. Under his leadership as Chief of Schools, there was an increase in good-standing school status designations and overall student academic performance among the 35 schools he was charged with supporting, which included 30 elementary schools and 5 high schools.

In this episode, Cassandra Washington interviews Jamal Maxaum a leader who has a passion for education. 

As a Principal, I was known for turning struggling schools around by igniting people and processes. It was challenging but rewarding. I learned a lot of hard lessons about how to deal with people, the politics of the job, how to grow other leaders, and about myself.

Then one school year, I was moved to the high school to support the Principal in turning around that school. I didn’t want to go to the high school; the school where I was leading was doing well, and there were some challenges with the staff, but that is a normal part of leading others. I was voluntold, so I went.

Halfway through the school year, I was told I was doing great and could stay at the school next year, but it would be my choice.

The rest is his principal story. 

In this episode, Cassandra Washington interviews Dr. Tasha Thompson Gray- a principal turned children's book author who encourages leaders to explore different roles out of the principalship. 

Dr. Tasha Thompson-Gray is a mother, 28-year veteran educator, and children's book author/publisher. Dr. Thompson-Gray is committed to inspiring children to love reading. As a children's book author, she creates literature that explores relevant topics. When Dr. Thompson-Gray is not working with children, she enjoys traveling and spending time with family and friends.

Dr. Thompson-Gray’s teaching career began in Alabama after she graduated from Alabama State University. She has served as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, MTSS facilitator, dean, assistant principal, and principal. Dr. Thompson-Gray is currently serving as the assistant principal of a middle school in a suburb of Chicago.  Her mantra is “The children who are the hardest to love are the ones who need it the most.” Dr. Thompson-Gray’s mantra came from the influence of the first principal she worked under, and it created her passion for low-income schools. Her dissertation research focused on teachers who remain in low-income schools despite the challenges.

In this episode, we have a conversation with  leader, Dr. Michelle Edwards, and her transition from school leader to other side of leadership. 

Dr. Michelle Edwards is the Executive Director at Live It Learn It, an experiential learning nonprofit that partners with schools and cultural institutions to create and deliver experiential learning opportunities for elementary students in Washington, DC. Michelle is a native Chicagoan and a career educator who found her way to the east coast as a resident principal in New Leaders, Inc. during its inaugural year in Washington DC.  She also served as a principal in Anacostia at Boone Elementary for almost a decade. 

Michelle has had the pleasure of sitting on several boards including Live It Learn It, The Backpack Project, An Open Book Foundation, ISEEN, and Center for Responsive Schools, where she is currently the Chair. Michelle earned a Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Organizational Management from the University of Pennsylvania and received a Certificate in Executive Nonprofit Management from Georgetown University. One of her passions is coaching and developing people as they aim to fulfill their passions and potential in life. She’s currently completing her practicum for coaching and is building her coaching, mentoring, and consulting business, The Idari Collective.  Michelle also advocates for social justice and racial reconciliation as a leader of the DC Unity and Justice Fellowship. She is a trained Urban Missionary and a proud, 25+year member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc

Being a principal is lonely work, so how do you carry the load of leadership? Listen as Cassandra Washington digs deep with our guest, Dr. Jamie North.

Welcome to Tales from the Principal’s Chair, a podcast brought to you by The Educator’s Room, a national, nonpartisan collective focused on constructing a community of education professionals that is affirming, amplifying, and inspiring and to use our collective expertise to have a positive, lasting impact on education. This first episode will focus on the story of a former principal in Chicago Public Schools and her road to being a principal and what she wished she had known.