For Dr. James Driscoll, facing the routine, day-to-day business of running one of the state’s best recognized school districts apparently is only one of the challenges the Tempe Elementary superintendent wants to confront. The other is when he gathers with his likewise esteemed counterparts around the country as a way to explore even more innovative ideas to achieve students’ futures.
Good news, Driscoll recently learned. The has been selected to join the 2023-24 Fellowship for Public Education Leadership cohort run by the Broad Center at Yale’s School of Management. The fellowship, made up of 19 senior-level public education leaders from across the United States, will collaborate in examining the challenges that currently affect public education, and be aimed at reimagining possibilities for students in the future. Starting this fall, Driscoll will begin the program that is said to bring the brightest minds in public education together.
The fellows are scheduled to meet four times over 10 months, during which they are to be exposed to leading management research on effective public education systems and educational policy. The topics are intended to be applied to the public school systems in which the participating leaders serve. Said Driscoll: “I am honored to be joining (the fellowship), which I believe will help bring Tempe Elementary closer to my long term goal of changing the educational outcomes for all students, and the work experiences for all employees in our district.”
“I know that I don’t have all of the answers or solutions for the problems our district may encounter. “But I know that I want to be the best leader I can possibly be for the students and employees that I proudly serve.”
Driscoll has set forth a vision for Tempe Elementary through the implementation of the district’s strategic plan, which includes the goal of “all students having access to engaging and meaningful instruction taught by high quality educators no matter what school that they attend within the district.”
Driscoll added that he sees the Broad Fellowship with which he is participating “as a communion of individuals who share a strong commitment to expand access to world-class public education to every American student, and I am excited to learn from them.” The Yale program, a think-tank-style concept, places an emphasis on connecting participants with leading practitioners in the field to help further their transformative work. Driscoll said he believes that this will help strengthen the important efforts that Tempe Elementary staff “are leading each and every day.”
Noted Driscoll: “I know that I don’t have all of the answers or solutions for the problems our district may encounter. “But I know that I want to be the best leader I can possibly be for the students and employees that I proudly serve.” As to how his upcoming experience at the Yale School of Management’s Broad Center will be useful, Driscoll added: “I believe that in starting this dialogue among my counterparts across the nation, I will be able to better help Tempe Elementary students, employees, and community obtain the outcomes I deeply dream for them to achieve.”
