Thursday, July 9, 2009

Mr. John Percevault

Today we had John Percevault come in a speak to us. He seems like a very motivated individual with not only a vision for technology integration, but also a lot of leadership qualities.
The most striking of these qualities is his ability to look at the future and plan for events. He is able to help others see the future from his perspective and "come on board". This allows him to lead people through his vision. He has worked together with a number of stakeholders to develop a sustainable plan for school district #51 for years to come.
One of the big ideas that I found he stressed in his presentation was equitable access. This seems to be a big deal in all of the schools and school districts that we have examined so far. In the past two years, under his leadership, the school district has been able greatly decrease the digital divide that was a reality in many of their schools. With equitable access to educational technology, the school staff have placed their trust in him and are willing to work alongside him for his plans instead of each school doing whatever seemed right in their own eyes.
John, by implementing an overarching plan for the district. He also provided the schools with a framework that allows them to plan in accordance with the district plan. This systemic planning has been another key in implementing change within the district.
Finally, the last thing that stuck out to me was the commitment for communication and collaboration with a large group of people to constantly reevaluate the plan and make needed changes. I think that since we live in a society where change is the only constant, this will prove to be invaluable. This also allows for lead teachers from school to share best practices and pass them on to other schools in the district.
John really has a lot of great qualities that contribute to his successful leadership. I hope that my university work and future experiences allow me to develop some of the same qualities, so that I may be able to follow his example of leadership.

1 comment:

  1. I think you've made a good point about the powers of communication. John didn't go into a lot of detail in this area, but (for me), it's of huge importance. You can see that this board has strong communication when you realize how similar the two presentations were. It's so nice to see their theories (shared vision) in practice!
    -Monti

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