From Huffington Post: 7/23/12 Bold Leaders for our Public Schools by Martin J. Blank | The Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education

From Huffington Post: 7/23/12 Bold Leaders for our Public Schools by Martin J. Blank | The Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education:

Bold Leaders for our Public Schools by Martin J. Blank

by jasonhonig

Strong leaders are key to building strong and innovative schools, and so I want to share some insights about the tremendous people who are leading the community schools movement. I'm talking about people like John Porter, Jan Christensen, and Richard Carranza, all superintendents and, all of whom are working to transform their local schools into community hubs.
I had the opportunity to see many of these superintendents in action at the 2012 Community Schools National Forum, which took place recently in California -- a part of the country where the community schools movement is taking off.
As I listened to these superintendents share stories about how they build community schools -- schools that offer an engaging curriculum and surround children and their families with supports, resources, and opportunities offered by non-profit, community, government, and business groups -- I realized that these leaders have a few special qualities in common.
First, they think big and set ambitious agendas. Their agendas don't simply aim to move student test scores up a few notches. Rather, they aim to improve the overall quality of life for children so that children are ready to learn