There is a tradition in education that refuses to die: The After-School Faculty Meeting.
Once a month, we drag exhausted teachers into the library to listen to us read a PowerPoint. We call it “collaboration,” but let’s be honest: it’s compliance.
As a new administrator, I looked at our meeting structure and asked a dangerous question: Why are we doing this?
We had a “Leadership Team” that met behind closed doors to make all the decisions, and then a “Faculty Meeting” where we told everyone else what we decided. It created a divide. It made the leadership team feel like a secret society, and it made everyone else feel like passengers.
So, we blew it up.
We killed the traditional faculty meeting and replaced it with Coalitions. Here is how we restructured our school to give every single teacher a seat at the table.
The Problem with “Leadership Teams”
Most schools have a “Guiding Coalition” or “Leadership Team” made up of Department Heads or Grade Level Chairs.
- The Intent: To have a small, efficient decision-making body.
- The Reality: It creates an “Us vs. Them” culture. The 10 people in the room feel ownership. The other 40 people in the building feel like things are happening to them, not with them.
Leadership capacity isn’t limited to a title. We have first-year teachers with brilliant culture ideas and veteran teachers who are wizards at logistics. By limiting leadership to a small team, we were leaving talent on the table.
The Solution: Everyone Joins a Coalition
We scrapped the “Sit and Get” faculty meeting. Now, during that same required time, every staff member joins a specific Coalition based on their passion and strength.
Instead of one big meeting, we have three simultaneous meetings happening in different rooms:
1. The Guiding Coalition (Instruction & Academics)
- Focus: Data, Curriculum, and Instruction.
- Who is it for? The data nerds, the curriculum experts, and the instructional leaders.
- The Work: They don’t just look at scores; they make decisions about instructional focus. They align grade levels. They drive the academic mission.
2. The Behavior Coalition (Systems & Expectations)
- Focus: School-wide discipline, hallways, and safety.
- Who is it for? The teachers who crave structure and consistency.
- The Work: They audit our systems. Are the hallway expectations clear? Is the referral process working? They don’t just complain about behavior; they build the systems to fix it.
3. The Culture Coalition (Logistics & Joy)
- Focus: Student events, staff morale, and logistics.
- Who is it for? The planners, the party-throwers, and the spirit-builders.
- The Work: They plan the assemblies, the awards ceremonies, and the “Back to School Bash.” They ensure that our school is a place where people want to be.
How it Works Logistically
- The Admin Role: We don’t lead every meeting. The Principal might sit in with the Guiding Coalition, while I float between Behavior and Culture. We are there to facilitate and remove barriers, not to dictate.
- The Communication: At the end of the meeting, each Coalition sends a quick “Blast” (email or video) to the whole staff summarizing what they decided.
The Takeaway
When you treat teachers like passengers, they act like passengers. When you give them the steering wheel, they drive.
By moving to Coalitions, we stopped wasting time on announcements and started investing time in ownership. We don’t just have a “Leadership Team” anymore. We have a building full of leaders.