This fall, SDCOE launched a Community School Principal Community of Practice to bring together principals and assistant principals in a space designed for learning, connection, collaboration, and coherence.
Facilitated by Dr. Vanessa Lerma and Dr. Monica Loyce, the series provides professional learning, reflection, and peer collaboration. Both facilitators are former school principals, with firsthand expertise and insight into the critical role principals play in the community schools strategy. Their unique perspectives ensure the Community of Practice is practical, purposeful, and meaningful, grounded in the realities of leading transformative change. They understand what it’s like to navigate challenges, build relationships, and drive student-centered initiatives at the site level.
We encourage all community school principals and assistant principals to participate. To learn more and register, visit the SC R-TAC website. Upcoming sessions will cover:
- Best Practices: Student and Family Engagement – Jan. 27, 2026
- Seeing the System – Building Alignment and Coherence – Feb. 24, 2026
- Centering Teaching and Learning in Community Schools (Part 1) – April 21, 2026
- Centering Teaching and Learning in Community Schools (Part 2) – May 12, 2026
The first three sessions, held on Sept. 30, Oct. 28, and Nov. 18, focused on:
- Transformational School Leadership and Reflective Practice
- Implementing the Community School Strategy for School Transformation
- Continuous Improvement in Community Schools
You can access the Attendee Copy Home Base Document- Principal CoP 2025-26 to view session deliverables, such as the slide deck, note catchers, readings and resources specific to the topics discussed.
Participants have shared that the sessions have strengthened their ability to build trusting relationships at their sites and support collaborative leadership practices, noting how the series has helped them: “Really focus on the four key conditions for learning,” “Improve planning and clarity of our site plan,” and “Use some of this learning to help with professional development.”
