ATHABASCA — Aspen View Public School (AVPS) trustees heard the results from the first year of principal engagement with educational leadership consultant Sandra Woitas, and will welcome her back for a second year for more sessions on dynamic leadership.
“I want to thank (Constantine Kastrinos) for starting this because this was a very good brain child, because it was yours, and I was delighted to get the phone call,” said Woitas, a former teacher and principal turned consultant, with nearly 50 years of experience in education.
Woitas was hired by the board to facilitate engagement sessions with school leaders within the division, and act as an external sounding board for feedback from head administrators.
Superintendent of Schools Constantine Kastrinos, who had previously been a participant in Woitas’s workshops a decade ago, felt her expertise and experience could help the board and division administration bridge the gap between head office and schools, and even between schools and staff themselves.
“I remember just having the opportunity to do some of the connecting and to have that safe place for conversations and to really benefit from her expertise,” said Kastrinos. “I wanted to create something like that on a smaller, even more intimate scale, and I wanted to bring in some assistant or aspiring or younger leaders.”
Woitas joined principals and assistant principals from across the division in three full-day seminars, held at Métis Crossing south of Smoky Lake. The sessions were filled with activities to find common ground between educators dealing with kindergarteners to high schoolers, and designed to create an atmosphere of openness and constructive sharing.
“It was about giving people a safe place to talk, to be vulnerable,” said Woitas. “When there’s a field of trust, people are being okay with being vulnerable and saying, ‘I don’t know how to do that, I need help’. And we know that asking for help is a sign of confidence, and that’s what we want to nurture.”
“There were tears, and I welcome tears,” she added. “That was people being vulnerable and asking for help, saying ‘I’m so frustrated.’ And I’m hearing other people say, ‘You think you’re frustrated? Let me tell you how frustrated I am.’”
“To me, it sounds like AI: authentic interaction,” said trustee Dennis MacNeil.
The sessions, facilitated in a way to be constructive rather than only compliance-heavy, were intended to gather feedback, and also to instill qualities of what Woitas calls dynamic leadership. When explaining her definition of dynamic leadership to trustees, she used examples from the Edmonton Oilers' recent playoff run.
“The Oilers coach didn’t cling to static game plans, or rigid loyalties. He made line-up changes based on current performance, he rewarded readiness, not reputation, and he made decisions period by period, and that is what dynamic leadership looks like," said Woitas.
“Like a head coach, principals must be able to make critical decisions in real time, they need the freedom to recalibrate based on what’s happening now. And in order to do that, they need to feel trusted, because feeling trusted enables agility."
Woitas said one of the most common themes amongst the sentiments expressed in the sessions was a desire by school leaders to be seen and supported, through regular, recurring issues like difficult parents, or navigating and guiding changes in school culture.
She said listening and acknowledging, even in the form of a personal note or a phone call, can be the difference between staff feeling recognized and appreciated.
“They all want to be seen, heard, and understood, and the more you can do that, the better,” said Woitas. “All people need to be told they’re doing a good job.”
Trustees asked Woitas questions about how to better support staff in leadership roles, and her assessment of the group’s potential to continue the work she started themselves.
While she said another year of consultations, comprised of visits to each school and one-on-one sessions with individual principals, is needed, she hopes the group will be able to lean on each other without the need for a facilitator.
“I can teach skills, but I can’t teach attitude. But what I saw there is people that are waking up every morning and wanting to do the best they possibly could at their school.”
“How I know I can bow out, and I will do so gracefully, is when they’re beginning to help each other find solutions to their everyday, and sometimes bigger than everyday problems. But you got to create that environment where they feel comfortable in doing that,” said Woitas.
In addition to leaving AVPS principals with more qualities needed for dynamic leadership, she hopes staff will also update their definition of what it means to be a good leader in 2025.
“Leadership at one time was looked upon as having all the answers, but if you look at the shift in leadership now, it’s how vulnerable you appear, how willing you are to get answers from many sources, and that not all of us can know everything,” said Woitas.
“Principals think they have to answer everything right away, and hopefully I’ve given them permission to be a little more thoughtful, in order that you’re not being reactive, and a little more responsive.”
Trustees expressed their gratitude to Woitas for bridging the gap between head office and the division’s schools, citing her idiosyncratic methods and style as highly effective and always engaging.
“I’ve been very fortunate to hear you speak many times, and you are absolutely amazing,” said trustee Elohne Chizawsky. “Your energy is contagious, so I’m so grateful Con has brought you in because I truly believe you are making a huge difference for our administration.”
As an end to her time in front of the board, Woitas, a long-time player in the education world, encouraged trustees to continue their work to represent and advocate for their community public education.
“I am worried about what’s happening in this province, and I’m counting on you to continue to carry the torch and to be the sane people who are saying, “I don’t think we need to ban books, I think we need to raise fees, we need to have funds in our schools.”
