Leadership magazine Jan/Feb 2016 V45 No 3 | Page 9

some demanding, multidimensional issues.
The principal is navigating exhausting challenges, including:
• Understanding and leading change with
CCSS, LCFF and SBAC;
• Learning the day-to-day intricacies of
school leadership; and
• Dealing with problems that naturally
surface in large, urban school districts.
While many of these tasks are common to
every school leader, it is important to provide
some context when discussing our district.
SBCUSD is the eighth largest school district in California, employing nearly 8,000
employees serving approximately 54,000
students and 76 schools. A staggering 93.6
percent of the students participate in the free
or reduced-price lunch program.
The demographic breakdown of our student subgroups is 74 percent Latino, 13
percent African American, 8 percent white,
45 percent English learner, and 11 percent
special education. As well, San Bernardino
is working through a bankruptcy, while operating with penetrating poverty and crime
rates. Leading a school through change with
the aforementioned conditions adds complexity and dimensions to the work.
The new principal is literally operating in
a constant “ready, fire, aim” and “trial by fire”
fashion. The persistent tug-of-war due to the
inescapable change, newness to the position,
and difficulties in large, urban environments
is unavoidable. In other words, the principal is being flipped upside-down, bent out
of shape, and stretched to the limit, so to
speak. Tough conditions and increased accountability can be merciless at times. Consequently and regrettably, only one month
into the job, the principal resigns.
This sudden and unexpected departure
prompted deep ref lection on one critical
question: What can our district do to support new school leaders better? Clearly,
this should not happen again. We needed a
systematic approach to ensure all newly appointed leaders are immediately:
• Provided clarity on the district’s vision
and mission, values, beliefs and key strategic
objectives;
• Introduced to critical networks of collegial support across the district; and
• Presented with a variety of resources to

Current challenges,
coupled with
the complexities
of change in
the educational
landscape, have
created a steep
learning curve for
even our most
experienced leaders.
perform successfully the required day-today work.
With inputs from many, the district created the SBCUSD Onboarding Program,
which aligned perfectly with the district’s
Community Engagement Plan. The district piloted the program with several new
principal cohorts in the latter portion of the
2014-15 school year and the beginning of
the 2015-16 school year. The program serves
to cultivate engagement and connections for
new school leaders from the outset. Effective
onboarding better prepares our new school
leaders for success in these trying times.

Approach to onboarding
The SBCUSD Onboarding Program offers 10 packed days of purposeful, interactive activities focused on integrating and
acculturating new school leaders. It shares
vital information, tools and approaches to
propel short- and long-term successes in job
satisfaction and performance. While there
are numerous ways to structure an onboarding program, the recently developed framework in SBCUSD consists of four distinct
elements: orientation; key stakeholder sessions; peer shadowing opportunities; and
mentorship, reflection and planning.
While onboarding programs are typically
complex and require many resources, such
as time, substitutes, materials and funding, it was important to capture the overall
structure in a simple framework. Each ele-

ment serves a clear function in the overall
goals and objectives of the program. The
subsequent sections of this article provide a
brief overview of each of the elements in the
framework, describing sample activities and
expected outcomes.

1. Orientation phase
Orientation is a vital phase in any onboarding program. Its purpose is to afford
new school leaders a “big picture” understanding of the district, its strategic plans
and its initiatives. This is the perfect chance
to assimilate new leaders quickly into the
district by sharing expectations, making
new leaders feel comfortable and safe, and
cultivating their enthusiasm as new members of the team.
Actor and author Harlan Hogan coined
the well-known saying, “You never get a
second chance to make a first impression.”
A robust orientation communicates to a new
hire that he or she is valued, important, and
worth an investment of time and resources.
This early imprint naturally stimulates the
highest level of commitment and engagement. Isn’t that a workforce all organizations
strive to create?
Orientation in SBCUSD begins the first
day on the job. During this time, participants receive the 10-day schedule and all
core materials used over the course of the
program. The orientation spends a great
deal of time introducing new employees to
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