The Breakdown- Episode Archive:

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  Honoring a Chapter that Shaped Us: Massachusetts ASCD

  [Press Release Linked Below] With MASCD preparing to close its doors on June 30, 2026, I have found myself thinking back over the seventeen years I spent as part of this organization. MASCD was a professional home, a community, and a place where I grew into the leader I am today. This reflection is my…

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  Facilitated Discussion: How Good Leaders Avoid Bad Decisions Under Pressure

  This discussion will be led by Mitch Weisburgh, author of MindShifting: Conflict and Collaboration. His work life-long work focuses on how leaders can recognize the biology of resistance and shift themselves, and their staff, out of survival mode and back into real problem-solving. Facilitated Discussions are not “lectures” or “webinars.” These are confidential conversations among…

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  Communication Just Got Easier for K-12 Leaders

  The first jop of a leader is to define reality. -Max De Pree.  School and district leaders are constanlty constantly developing practical strategies, solving real problems, and learning lessons worth passing on. But too often the tools for publishing those ideas slow you down and the next crisis needs attention. That is exactly why we…

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  Why Some Disagreements Strengthen School Initiatives—While Others Derail Them: How Conflict Dynamics Shape School Culture

  Imagine rolling out a new district-wide Learning Management System (LMS). The goal is clear and highly beneficial: to have one centralized platform for assignments, content, assessments, data, and communications. You present the vision, and it seems like everyone is on board. But within weeks, the resistance begins. Teachers are skipping the training sessions or constantly…

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  The Cost of Reactive Thinking in Schools: How Leaders Help School Communities Respond Instead of React

  Imagine rolling out a critical new initiative—perhaps a district-wide shift to the science of reading or a new equity-based grading policy. During cabinet and staff meetings, everyone nods along. They agree to the timelines and give the initiative enthusiastic lip service. But months later, the rollout stalls. Behind closed doors, teachers are continuing to teach…

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  A Love Letter to the Educators Who Will Guide My Grandchild

  For the very first time, my grandson will walk into a public preschool classroom next week. He is three and a half, still learning how to form certain sounds, still convinced that dinosaurs are real, and still offering hugs to everyone without hesitation. He is joyful and innocent and loving, and I am feeling the…

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  Cart Narcs & Classroom Norms: What We Owe Each Other (and Ourselves)

  I’ve been a fan of Cart Narcs for a long time. Staged or not, their videos are a mix of comedy, sociology, and chaos.  It’s like parking lot theater that reveals more about human nature than most textbooks ever could. I watch them endlessly, curious (but no longer surprised) about the behavior of people when…

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  Default to Isolation in K-12: Lessons in Cybersecurity Leadership

  “We certainly use the least privilege access control. So far so good. Also network segmentation.” That is how Mark Parsons summarizes the heartbeat of Inter-Lakes School District’s network posture. Chapter 5 of the K-12 Cybersecurity Framework calls this move “default to isolation,” a shift from trusting the internal network to allowing only what you explicitly…

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  AI-Powered Cyber Attacks and What’s Changed for K-12 Leaders in the Last 6 Weeks

  As schools opened their doors in September 2025, the cybersecurity landscape shifted beneath our feet. While educators were starting to explore the wonderful things AI can do in the classroom, a Chinese state-sponsored group was demonstrating what AI can do in the hands of attackers. In mid-September, Anthropic (Claude.ai) detected and disrupted a sophisticated espionage…

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  Cyber Leadership Essentials: Cyber Hygiene that Works in K-12

  Caroline Lightfoot still remembers the first time Dickinson ISD tried to push a security control that touched every classroom. “MFA has been one of the easiest to implement,” she told us. “Our dedicated networking team took a very hands-on approach. They made it a priority to train each campus staff during faculty meetings.” Every teacher,…