Gray Fellowship for New York City Principals
The Gray Fellowship for Principal Excellence is the realization of the vision of NYC principal, Kevin Froner, a former Wall Street options trader. Kevin understood that the key to transforming school districts that experience extraordinary education disparity was to shift the professional development of the leaders of those schools. He suspected that through dialogue, self-reflection, and experimentation, principals could access their individual and collective wisdom to focus on a few key leverage points that held potential to transform their schools. He knew change must begin with school leaders, with the invitation to leaders to “ be the change they wish to see.”
From the time it was an unfunded dream, Insyte Partners, on behalf of the Presencing Institute, has supported Kevin and the founding associate director, Noah Angeles, in offering a customized week-long Theory U-based leadership development series. Since its inception, the Fellowship has:
- Empowered nearly 40 NYC principals to radically reflect on their own leadership and step fully into their highest leadership potential.
- Provided principals with tools and perspectives they need to help lead a paradigm shift in the NYC education system.
- Deepened relationships between leaders throughout the NYC education ecosystem as a source of ongoing experimentation and leadership activation.
- Activated compassion, connection and accountability for the wellbeing of each other, and the system as a whole.
- Prototyped transformation on three levels – self, school and NYC education ecosystem including initiatives to: embed mindfulness in the educational experience; employ distributed leadership to empower students, faculty, parents and administrator teams; and lift up racial justice issues through innovative self-assessments and experiences.
The intention is to bring the Gray Fellowship experience to 200 principals (in annual cohorts of 20) over the next decade. The third cohort launches in time for the 2021-2022 school year.