March 26, 2019
MSA Servant Leaders Helps schools with Hurricane Recovery
The Department of Educational Leadership has partnered with Craven County Schools to deliver the Master of School Administration (MSA) degree to a cohort in New Bern, NC. The College of Education’s MSA program incorporates the practices and principles of service-learning and servant leadership. ECU’s MSA program builds “servant leadership capacity” through a leadership development model that starts with authentic service opportunities in local schools. The MSA students complete Service Leadership Projects each semester and serve and support real improvement efforts, as they collaborate with their school partners.
The fourteen members of the ECU MSA Craven Cohort completed their first Service Leadership Projects this past fall as Craven County experienced the devastation and aftermath of Hurricane Florence. Craven County Schools were closed for several weeks. Many of the initial Service Leadership Projects were set aside to focus on meeting the basic needs of students and their families. Two MSA students, Jenn Blair and Whitney Hernandez focused their Service Leadership Projects on hurricane relief efforts and the transition back to school after the hurricane. Read more HERE.
Jenn Blair serves at Arthur W. Edwards Elementary School in Havelock, NC and her Service Leadership
Jenn Blair
Project was entitled, Transitioning Back After Hurricane Florence. Her school has an enrollment of 640 students and 60 staff members. Under the supervision of her principal, Kathy Leffler, Jenn organized a temporary meeting space at a local church for school staff to regroup and share their hurricane experiences and how they could help each other. Jenn also facilitated a Staff Cookout to boost morale, a Meet and Greet Night for parents to come and pick up review work at a local park, and a Welcome Back Night for families when students returned to school. During the Welcome Back Night, a free meal was served to almost 500 people and free school supplies were given to the students.
Whitney Hernandez
Whitney Hernandez serves at Roger Bell New Tech Academy in Havelock, NC and her Service Leadership Project was entitled, Hurricane Relief Supply Cabin at Roger Bell New Tech Academy: We’re All in This Together. Her school has an enrollment of approximately 380 students and over 40 staff members. Under the direction of her principal, Michelle Lee, Whitney reached out to the larger community to gather donations and supplies for her school community. She received over 30 donations from local community members and other organizations from far away as Martinsville, VA and Little Rock, AR. Over 50 families and over 75 students have benefited from the supply cabin. The supply cabin has addressed many basic needs so that families and students can focus on caring for each other and their school success.
An overview of ECU’s MSA Principal Preparation Program can be found in a recently published article in the International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation written by Dr. Hal Holloman and Dr. Dan Novey entitled, Developing a National Model for Principal Preparation through Service Leadership.
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