Educational Leadership with Principal JL
Principal JL is an educational leader who explores various topics facing educational leaders today! The Mission of this podcast is to inform and inspire other Educational Leaders on how to be their best for their Schools by honing their skills and talents so they may impact their teachers, staff members, students, parents/guardians, and community members positively for their School District! Come with a Growth Mindset as we journey through Educational Leadership!
Educational Leadership with Principal JL
Episode 43:The Cardinal Way: Building School Culture with Bill Curry: 2025 Nebraska Middle School Principal of the Year
Ever wonder what makes a truly exceptional school leader? Bill Curry, recently named Nebraska's 2025 Middle School Principal of the Year, offers a refreshing perspective that might surprise you.
Curry's journey into education began unexpectedly when a high school crush asked for help with algebra. That simple tutoring session revealed his natural teaching ability and set him on a path through classroom teaching, college basketball coaching, and ultimately school leadership. His candid admission that he secured his first principalship partly by agreeing to drive the school bus reveals a leadership philosophy grounded in humility and service—do whatever it takes to make your school successful.
At Boone Central Middle School, Curry and his team have created what they call "The Cardinal Way," a framework that transformed a struggling school culture into one of shared purpose and consistent achievement. Through intentional systems designed to withstand leadership turnover (the school has had five superintendents in six years!), they've created remarkable stability and success for students. Their approach focuses on three core values: building character, creating opportunities, and striving for success.
What's most striking about Curry's leadership is his passionate belief that credit belongs to his teachers. "They don't give coach of the year honors to coaches who coach mediocre teams," he explains. "Teachers have a way of making principals look pretty good." This perspective underscores a crucial truth about educational leadership—supporting excellence in others creates the conditions for everyone to thrive.
For aspiring leaders, Curry offers practical wisdom: identify your personal strengths, build a strong support network, and learn from mentors who've positively influenced you. Rather than trying to be someone you're not, leverage your authentic self to connect with students and staff.
Ready to rethink what makes an award-winning school leader? Listen now to discover how genuine relationships, sustainable systems, and a commitment to celebrating success can transform educational communities.
Connect with Bill Curry:
Email: bcurry@boonecentral.esu7.org
Click Here: to be a Bus Driver in Nebraska
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Today I am honored to be joined by Bill Curry, the 2025 Nebraska Middle School Principal of the Year. Bill has had a remarkable journey in education, starting as a middle school teacher at Kearney to coaching basketball at the University of Nebraska, Kearney, to leading schools through growth and transformation. Growth and transformation. He is currently the principal at Boone Central Middle School, where he and his team are making big impacts on students' lives through what they call the Cardinal Way. Now let's get to our conversation with Bill Curry. Welcome back, everybody to another episode of the Educational Leadership Podcast. Today I have my partner crying from Seattle. Yes, that's right, we met out in Seattle. We were driving around our electric scooters and bikes together, having a great time at the United Principals Conference. So today, on today's show, I'm bringing in Bill Curry from Boone Central Middle School. Bill, welcome to the show, hey great to be here.
Bill Curry:When you invited me on, I was like, well, who's going to want to hear about my story? But then I started listening to your podcast and, wow, you've had some really cool people on here, so I'm pretty honored that I get to be, I get to be a part of this. This is a cool thing you got going.
Principal JL:Yeah, bill, thank you very much. Thank you for listening. I'm going to get into the very first question. I asked everybody that comes on this show what inspired you to become an educator.
Bill Curry:Well, I was in high school we were in an Algebra 2 class. I remember this very specifically and all of us were struggling, like this is a tough class. We were having a hard time understanding the concepts and this girl that sits in front of me, that you know, I kind of had. I kind of like, oh man, she's cute, she turns around and goes Bill, do you understand this stuff? And I said, yeah, I had no idea, like I'm just as much lost as everybody else. But I said, oh yeah, it's easy, she goes the best words ever. Well, oh yeah, it's easy, she goes the best words of it. Well, can you teach it to me? Yes, I can. And so I I took that night and I worked, I studied it, I figured it out, and then we got together on a little study date, went to the library, helped her kind of figure it out. She ended up getting a B on the test. Well, then she tells all her cute friends hey, bill can teach this stuff better than the teacher can.
Bill Curry:And that turned into we'd get a group of us going down to the library and we had algebra dates, we had calculus dates, we had we had count parties at the library. Like how nerdy is that? Well, we had a group of people that get together and just study together. That shaped my idea to go into college. I thought, if I can do this with my friends, maybe there's a living in it. And I found out I had a gift to teach. That's what got me into education and I've loved it, like I've just found a. I found a niche and I feel like I'm making a difference. Very rewarding and I've really enjoyed my journey.
Principal JL:Hey, that's a first right. You got into education because of girls.
Bill Curry:There's a hot chick that wanted help with algebra, like I'm in.
Principal JL:There you go. Hey, that's awesome. So what did you teach when you got in and once you finished college? What? What's subjects?
Bill Curry:So I be. I became a math and PE teacher is what I studied to be. And then I decided to get I was going to be a high school math or PE teacher. To get into my middle school endorsement they needed at the time I needed three different disciplines and looking at my credits, oh, I'm pretty close to social studies endorsement. So I had, I got my math. Social studies PE was what was on my teaching certificate. And then I student taught in Kearney at Sunrise Middle School and did a little bit of student teaching in social studies and math. My cooperating teacher took a job as a principal. They hired me to fill his spot and that's how I got my foot in the door and I became a math teacher.
Principal JL:Awesome. Now we kind of have a little bit similar. I was math, PE and DORS, so I had those. I did a new social stay. I'll do three. I wasn't going that far, but outside of that that's kind of a unique connection that we have for sure. So you're in the math room, you're teaching, you know at the time. So what are some lessons or what are some experiences you had as a math teacher that helped you become an educational leader down the road?
Bill Curry:I think I just I liked the, I liked the, the idea that I was helping kids figure things out right, like just there's just that aha moments. There's a lot of personal satisfaction seeing kids have those aha moments. I think one of the things I think about is just being intentional with what matters, right, like when I, as a teacher, what do successful teachers have in common? They're very intentional with what they want to do. And when you see that those connections you're making with kids I don't care if it's teaching, if it's coaching, if it's administration being intentional with what matters, being a good listener, being empathetic, being able to give support, those things make a difference. That is very rewarding.
Principal JL:Now you also did some coaching. I understand you were a basketball coach, so coaching how did that help you? What are some things you learned as a coach as well, to help you with your leadership?
Bill Curry:So just a crazy, how do you go from being a eighth grade math teacher to being the assistant women's basketball coach in UNK for a couple of years? What a journey, right, like I'd like to say that they saw my expertise in coaching, teaching or coaching third grade, or teaching C team girls basketball. And then all of a sudden but just connections it was, you know, my connections with Coach Stevens at the time was the head coach there. I did get to do a little bit of coaching. Funny story my last year at UNK we had a graduate assistant, amy Gusso, and who is now Amy Williams, who is our head women's basketball coach for the Huskers. And so my story is I at one point in my life we shared an office in the bottom of the health and sports center at UNK and I actually had the bigger desk because she was the GA.
Bill Curry:She went on the same unfortunate and is having a fantastic run for the Huskers. I went a different direction. I coached junior high girls and got myself into school administration. But you know what, when you're around highly driven people, when you're around people who do things at a high level, they can get frustrated with the status quo.
Bill Curry:And, as a leader, I've got some highly motivated, highly successful teachers. What am I doing to support them and helping them become even better? Like? Those are the teachers that it's easy to forget about, right, like, oh, they're good, they're doing what they're supposed to do. I don't have to worry about them. No, it's not about worrying about them or not worrying about them. These are people that are very good at their craft. What can I do to bring them more joy, or what can I do to support them and help them become even better? And that's what I really enjoy about leadership right now. It's not about who needs the help. It's about what can I do for everybody and how can I be that support person for the people that I work with.
Principal JL:You bet.
Bill Curry:That's probably why you're probably middle school principal of the year as well, right? No, no, no. I think I've taken all the other applications and thrown them in the trash, so mine might've been the only one that made it across the table.
Principal JL:I bet you I'm pretty sure you had some people supporting you along the way as well. But you know you talk about supporting teacher, especially the teachers that are really good. Right, what can you do to help them? It's just like in the classroom where you have a kid that's like excelling how do you push them to become better? You do the same thing with teachers. Like excelling how do you push them? They become better? You do the same thing with teachers. Yeah, we spend some time with our you know novice teachers and helping them and supporting them, but we can't forget about our seasoned teachers. And how do we support them? Because they're the rock stars and we also don't want to put more on their plate than they need just because they're good. So that's another thing you got to think about when you're talking about those rockstar teachers. We don't want to burn them out, we want to keep them. We want to make sure they stay right.
Bill Curry:Why are we giving 90% of our work to the 10% of our teachers? You know the great ones are highly like oh, we need somebody to do. We need somebody on the school improvement team? Oh, let's go, let's put that on their plate. Oh, we need somebody to do. We need somebody on the school improvement team? Oh, let's go, let's put that on their plate. Oh, we need somebody on an MTSS team? Let's ask them, because you know they're going to do a good job. But, like you said, I think that's a great point they don't want to put more on their plate. What are we doing as leaders to help them be successful? Them be successful. That's the. That's the. That's a shift in in our approach to leadership. That, I think, is creating some really cool opportunities that we're having here and when you think about schools that are successful. Listening to some of the educators and leaders that you have on your podcast, I hear a common thread about that support that you're trying to give the people that you work with.
Principal JL:Yeah, but you know you went from math teacher to, you know coaching basketball and we kind of got into some of your principalship a little bit. But do you have a story of what motivated you to pursue becoming a principal? What was that journey like for you, going from the classroom into your first principal job?
Bill Curry:Yeah, that's a great question. After coaching at UNK I got a job as a math teacher at Color Middle School in Lincoln. It was kind of an inner city middle school. 52nd and Vine was there for five years or so. Loved that job, like those kids. There was just a different level of need and really felt like you're making a difference.
Bill Curry:But teaching there I had several of my colleagues you know, they just conversations you have in the hallways and stuff Well gosh, are you going to get your admin degree? And there was just some people that I respected as teachers, some of the principals I worked with. They thought I'd do well in that role. Hey, have you thought about going back to getting your admin? So that peer encouragement when your colleagues recognize some things, that some of your skill sets that maybe would be successful in an area you listen to that right, if I didn't have those people telling me, hey, man, you should think about this, I'm not sure if I'd had the courage to take that jump I did when I was at UNK.
Bill Curry:I thought you know, maybe leadership's in my future, because I had a personal desire to kind of have a bigger footprint on what I could do to positively influence people around me. You know, as a teacher, I had a lot of influence on my classroom. As a principal, I have a lot of influence on all the classrooms in my building. That's a bigger footprint. That was something I wanted to do and now as a principal I've been a principal for 19 years, I get to do that but it was that reaffirming and, I think, for people getting into the business, I think you need to be listening for when people that you respect, people, you trust the mentors in your life, when they're saying things like wow, you're a really good listener, or man, I just appreciate how you approach these tough situations. You should think about this. When people are saying those things, you need to listen because they're seeing something in you and that was enough for me to make that jump.
Principal JL:All right, that's a great story, yeah, when people see things in you that you don't maybe see in yourself at the time and you just get a lot of validation. So that's really a really neat story there, bill. Now, bill, you decided, hey, I'm going to go become a principal. What was the journey like? Did you have to do a bunch of interviews? Did you get denied a bunch of jobs? How did you land on that first principal ship at Shelby and Rising City? Gosh, that's a great question.
Bill Curry:I remember back then we kind of were trying to figure out where we wanted to be. We didn't know what that was going to look like. We prayed about it. But my job in Shelby it was the first job I applied for. It was the first interview I had and I got it. It's not supposed to be that easy, but I'll tell you a secret, and those of you that are listening to this podcast I'm going to give you a cheat code to get your first job. Can I do that? Is that okay? If I do this, yeah, go ahead. Okay, listen up, this is a cheat code on how to get your foot in the door During my interview at Shelby.
Bill Curry:It's a small school, right D1 size school. They're asking me questions about leadership and being a principal. Well, then they get to the other duties as assigned. Hey, I see you did some coaching in your day. Would you be willing to help us with some coaching? I said yes. They said, hey, we need a senior class sponsor. Could you do that? I said yes, hey, we could use a little bit of help. Like we need some. We're one period short on PE teaching, if you think I have time to do this here. Yes, the two board members that were in the. I had the.
Bill Curry:This was the part of the interview. I had two board members in the suit. The one guy says to me, bill, can you drive a bus? And they both looked at each other and laughed and I said, well, I have my CDL, so if you need a substitute as a driver, I suppose I could go down and get my sub. Like, I could be a sub for you, guys, I could get my bus endorsement and be a sub for you. They looked at each other.
Bill Curry:I really believe that I got the job because I said I was willing to drive a school bus. There's your cheat code, like be willing to do the things that other people aren't willing to do, get your foot in the door and then be faithful with the jobs that you need to do. Right, but I did not go to that expecting to drive a bus. But here I am, like I uh, I had a CDL because, as a teacher in Lincoln, my summer side gig was working at a fireworks warehouse and packing up fireworks and putting them in a budget truck. And then I was. I got a CDL so I could drive fireworks to different stands across the state. Very simple I'll go down and get my bus endorsement. I drive fireworks to different stands across the state. Very simple I'll go down and get my bus endorsement. I think that's what got me the gig.
Principal JL:Yeah, that's one thing we have in common. I actually drove a bus before I became a principal. So one time a superintendent at my first place at Twin Rivers was like hey, would you be willing to get your CDL and bus driver's license? We need help with bus routes. And then it turned into oh, we need you to drive your football team to games, you know. So, yeah, I started driving buses at my first job. My dad carried over to Hershey. When I get into Omaha they were like, ah, you don't need to worry about that, but I still have my CDL. They were like, ah, you don't need to worry about that, but I still have my CDL. I'm at Hastings and they do know that I can drive a bus. They haven't asked me yet. If they said, hey, we need your help, I would do it At the time. You know we don't need it at this time, but that's kind of cool. You know we both kind of have that. So did you drive the bus? Did you do all those things that?
Bill Curry:they asked you to do. I drove route. We actually had to let a driver go. It wasn't a safe driver and it's hard to fire a bus driver when you don't have another one. And so I really struggled at that point because I had to drive the morning and afternoon route. I was driving activities. And then when do I have time for IEP meetings? When can I have my staff meetings? When do I meet with parents and kids before and after school? And so it motivated me to find another driver.
Bill Curry:But you know, I was. I love, I love driving a bus. Now, could I? Could I do that at a larger school where I have more responsibility? Probably not, but in Shelby it worked for me and I got to, I got to know, I knew where all the kids lived. I took kids home on routes, like to just kind of see that part and know where they're coming from. I think helped me in some of my conversations that I had with some of those kids and I don't know. I just. And so, small town, small world, but I'm telling you, for people that want to get their foot in the door, be willing to do what they need, just be willing to do it and then figure out a way to make it happen.
Principal JL:Bill, I want you to kind of take us through each stop on your principalship. You started in Shelby and you ended in Boone Central as their middle school principal. So kind of tell us, hey, what did you learn at your stops along the way that got you to Boone Central?
Bill Curry:Sure, in Shelby I learned that leaders have to be willing to do anything. But I also learned you can't do everything right. Oh, we need a sub. I'll jump in the classroom. Oh, we need. We had a spill in the hallway. I got it. Oh, oh, we need you to drive the. We need you to drive the volleyball team to Clarkson. Okay, I tried to take on too much and it made it really I wasn't being faithful with the things that mattered because I was trying to do so much. So I guess my first job. I learned a lot of different parts of school and how they operated and what everything needed. But I also learned you can't do everything for everybody. I also remember you know we had a lot of successes in Shelby. There were a lot of highlights and, and you know, I got to. I remember when I, when I moved or when I told my staff that I was taking another job, I was just looking in the room during my meeting and the room was full of middle high school teachers and looking across from I I had. I've been there 12 years and in 12 years I think I had hired everybody, but maybe two or three people in that room Like those. Those are the people we're working with, like we're in the trenches day in, day out.
Bill Curry:The move to Boone was kind of bittersweet for me. I'm going to get just kind of real with you for a second. And my jump from Shelby to Shelby, rising City. Great things happened there. I got to be a part of a merger, like I got to help the community of Shelby and Rising City come together. We created or started a middle school, a small town middle school. We kept a building in rising city. There were some really cool things that happened there. All those things.
Bill Curry:The year before I applied to Boone central, I remember telling my superintendent you know, I'm just at a point where I feel like my best isn't good enough and I was so burned out, not necessarily, but just I was empty, my tank was empty and I really did. I felt like my best, I'm giving this school my best, and I didn't feel like it was good enough. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know like, am I going to be one of those statistics that you know leaders don't last? For very long I started looking at well, maybe education's not for me, prayed a lot about it, had a lot of hard conversations with my wife Thought maybe just a change of scenery would be good. So then we started looking at what jobs are out there. This one ended up being a great fit. And then from going from feeling like your best isn't good enough to having a lot of successes and getting some really cool accolades and, you know, building, kind of just building your network and feeling like you are making a difference, wow, like what a what a change.
Bill Curry:And so here in Shell and Boone, at Boone Central, you know we we've had our share of struggles too. Been here six years, been here six years. This is our fifth superintendent. My first year here we had COVID. My second year here we moved a middle school from Petersburg. It's been operating there for 20 years. The board decided to do a build and we moved everything under one building and so we closed down Petersburg middle school, you know, and brought it to Albion, and the emotions that went with that and the and the difficulties and the but to try to, you know, for the good of the district faced a lot of different things.
Bill Curry:Through that, though, I've had a great administrative team. I love the people that I work with. I feel satisfaction and reward working with great teachers, great paras, I go in and have meals with the cooks and I just I joke with them. I love the collegiality we have at Boone Central, very rewarding, like I could see myself wanting to be here for a long time because there's a great deal of satisfaction that's coming with how things are. You know what I have control over and what support I have with my colleagues and my teachers and my, my superintendent, all those kinds of things.
Bill Curry:So I don't know what the next step is, but I that's kind of it was just an interesting jump. And you know you go from teacher to college basketball to teacher to principal to principal. And then it's not just me, it's my family. My kids had to move, my kids had to make new friends. They did. They're better for it. Just kind of an interesting journey. And here we are, and now I go from nobody knowing where Shelby is to talking to you and getting to be on a list of some pretty great administrative leaders that you've talked to on a podcast. It's crazy.
Principal JL:It's kind of awesome how, like everybody's journey, how we all cross paths. Bill, I'm pretty sure you were at shelby rising city when I was at twin river. As I was at twin river from 07 through 2012, I was the head football coach there, and so we might have crossed paths, not even know it. You know, but also, living in genoa is not far from albion either so yeah, we had our battles in river and shelby.
Bill Curry:There were some good. There were some good games.
Principal JL:Yeah.
Bill Curry:Well, yeah, I remember coaching up in that cracker box of a gym and I just remember some battles on the football field. Oh yeah, that was good stuff.
Principal JL:Yeah, no, it's been, it's been. Yeah, so it's kind of crazy, kind of like even us, you know, through our journeys we have probably crossed paths doesn't even really know, and until we connected at Seattle this summer, and now here we are doing a podcast. And so, Bill, this past year you were out in Seattle, you were named the 2025 Nebraska Middle School Principal of the Year Nebraska middle school principal of the year. So what I want to know is how did they break the news? How did you find out that you became the Nebraska middle school principal of the year?
Bill Curry:First of all, absolutely not on my bingo card. Right Like that is, those kinds of accolades are saved for people that have a presence at a statewide level. You know there's a handful of people and it's an. It's a tight network, right Like. We know the people that we know the names of the people that have kind of a presence or a reputation of being outstanding leaders.
Bill Curry:So I never thought this was going to happen, put in the application, wrote some things down, right, but I kind of was at a point where I felt like gosh, just even being in the conversation was pretty cool. There was one. It was I think it was a Saturday Patrick Moore, principal at Blue Hill, I think he at the time he's the state coordinator on the NCSA executive board. He gives me a call. He says, bill, are you sitting down Because I got some good news? And he tells me. And then there's just like this long pause. I didn't, I couldn't believe it. I'm like is he pulling my chain here? And it was just kind of like I'm just processing, like you gotta be kidding me. Well then I went from kind of quiet and processing to like wow, that's so cool. And here we are, right, like and and and then getting to, what does it really mean, though? I don't know. You know, I think personally it's a cool thing. Let's be honest, like you, you hope to be recognized by your peers for doing a good job, and to me that's kind of what this is Like.
Bill Curry:This is a re, this is a recognition, but not just what I'm doing. I feel like it's a recognition for the good things that are happening in Boone Central. I remember telling our school board president well, when he called to congratulate me, I said well, they don't give coach of the year honors to coaches who coach mediocre teams. And you're a football coach, if you had a 500 season, you're not getting coach of the year. But if you win a state championship, you get coach of the year. Your players have a way of making you look pretty good. Teachers have a way of making us principals look pretty good. Teachers have a way of making us principals look pretty good, and I've been fortunate to be around some pretty amazing teachers. So I kind of look at the, at the recognition, more as the great things that are happening at Boone Central, like it's a. It's a validation that we're doing some things right, we're doing some things well and like we, we celebrate together, we celebrated together. It is, it is pretty special.
Principal JL:I think that's great. I mean, I love how you know, yeah, you got the award. But it does take a team effort and it does take everybody working together to accomplish the things you accomplish at the building level. You know you get to be the guy at the top of that building but you need everybody underneath you to support the things, the vision, the mission that you lay out for them. So with that, I want you to really kind of brag on Boone Central. What are some things that you're proud of at Boone Central Middle School that you would like to share with other people? I'll give you a chance to kind of brag on them a little bit.
Bill Curry:All right. Well, you know what I'm going to start with. I'm going to start with a fail and then I'm going to turn that into kind of a brag. So just a couple years ago, climate and culture were not great. It kind of felt like an us versus them kind of thing. As an admin team, we weren't meeting the needs and there were some real challenges on our hands. We weren't meeting the needs of our teachers in a way that we needed to, so we had to focus on climate and culture. Well, that's exactly what we did. So we went back to the drawing board, we had a retreat, we went and sought the wisdom of some people that do climate and culture. Well, we reached out to mike lucas west side. We reflected on the things that make boone central great, we reflected on what people are proud of, and then that kind of morphed into the cardinal way and we tried to articulate the mission, vision and values of what we want to be and we put it on paper and then we tried to kind of make a little graphic about it in the cardinal way. Well, from that we are able to kind of start to identify or at least rethink, instead of focusing on the negative through the cardinal way. Now we're focusing on the positive and we're focusing on the things that we're very proud of. So climate and culture have improved. I'm very proud of that and what we've been able to improve here at Boone Central over the last few years. I'm very proud of the fact that we've been able to put some systems in place that help deliver consistent, high quality support to our staff. We've had five soups in six years. Those systems that we've put in place have been able to help us keep what we're offering at a very high level. It's not contingent upon the person that sits in that chair. I'm proud of that. Curriculum review cycles, school improvement, esu supports.
Bill Curry:We ask ourselves now if we're going to do something like well, what are we going to do at our next PD? Does it fit into our motto of building character, creating opportunities or striving for success? How is what we're doing fit into one of those three areas? If it's not building character, if it's not creating opportunities and if it's not striving for success, then the answer is no, we're not going to do it. And that has helped us kind of hone in to try not to be everything for everybody but to really dive into what's important. Well, now our scope is narrowed up a little bit. We're doing a better job with what we need to do. We like our motto building character starts with B, creating opportunities start with C, and striving for success is S, so B, c, s.
Bill Curry:Boone Central Schools building, creating, striving it's kind of a lettering thing, but that's who we are, that's who we are and I'm proud of those things. Let's be honest Our NSCAS scores have been consistently high, even when we've had some various class dynamics that would make it difficult. Very proud of that. I'm going to brag on our counselor, mrs Nelson. Every year she puts together this character retreat where she takes eighth graders off site and spends the day doing character education, sometimes even bringing in guest speakers. It's phenomenal. Phenomenal Like. That's so easy to support. We've got middle school speech going. Our varsity speech team is very good. Well, not everybody has middle school speech. And not only are we doing junior middle school speech, but we're letting our sixth graders participate. That's something they can do. Seventh and eighth graders get to do the sports Sixth graders are looking at. Well, what can we do? You can go out for speech. That has kind of fallen into. Well, now they want to go out for speech in high school. It's a sustaining program and then just individual.
Bill Curry:Like little successes and this one isn't little, this is big. Last year we had the fewest number of missing assignments as a middle school in the six years that I've been here. We didn't do a good enough celebration of that, but that's a very big deal. Like kids are starting to do their work. How nice would it be for you if kids started to do their work at a much higher level. All of a sudden, some of these problems aren't so big of problems anymore. That's a big deal. We figured it out a little bit last year. Well, we're trying to build on that this year and but we want to. Those are some things I think that we're doing well here, or at least I'm proud of, and it's okay to be proud of that. Like we don't do a good enough job in education, of celebrating our own successes. That's not. That's not tooting our own horn so much as it is recognizing that there's a lot of good people doing a lot of good things and there's nothing wrong with that.
Principal JL:No, I'm right there with you, bill. I know public education gets beat up in the national media. So it's up to us to, you know, drive our own narrative from all the great things that we do have going on, like you're able to tell people on this podcast all the great things that are happening have going on, like you're able to tell people on this podcast all the great things that are happening at Boone central middle school. I'm able to kind of toot the horn of Hastings high school because, I'll tell you, people had a bad perception of Hastings high school and I showed up here and I was like no, you guys don't understand all the great things that actually happen here and the great people that do work here and do the day-to-day grind. And I see those things. I want to celebrate, I want people to know those things. Get it out there so people could see all the great things. Guess what, over the last three years now going to my fourth year here, the perception of Hastings High has changed, it's flipped and it all comes down to you know, controlling your narrative and showing and celebrating the great things that are happening, because people see the negatives and they dwell on that, but then when you just blitz them with all these positive things, they're like well, this one, the negative thing comes up. You have too many positive things to to counteract some of those things. So I think that's great that you've got some great things going.
Principal JL:I think creating systems is important. You kind of talk about that a little bit, but I also believe you can't get to academic success without the culture being right. If your culture is right, academic successes will come. And you're kind of seeing some of those things, even though you probably had some academic successes before, but now you've probably even taken it to another level of that. So I think thank you for sharing that piece of wisdom and what you've learned over the last few years and the things that you guys have in place.
Principal JL:I think the systems part is important because, like you said, no matter who's sitting in that superintendent seat or maybe even someday, bill, when you're not there if they have systems, they have the car in the way, they have the way they need to operate and no matter what happens, they understand what they have to do to be successful. So I think that's awesome and thank you for sharing that. So, bill, you and I met out at the Seattle President of the United Conference, and we got some good conversations there. I would love to hear some of your biggest takeaways from the United Principal Conference that was hosted by the NASSP and the NAESP this past summer. What are some big takeaways you took from that?
Bill Curry:be this past summer. What are some big takeaways you took from that? Well, this is going to sound similar to the conversation we had, maybe over a beverage or two, driving our little electric motor scooters down to a local establishment. But I love this. I've never been able to go to a national conference before, so being able to do that was a was kind of a special thing for me. I think the biggest takeaway for me was that I got to see Nebraska. Schools are doing things at a national level. You know how you always look the grass is greener. On the other side, the guy that won the national middle school principal of the year really kind of had a coach Carter kind of story. Like I'm not competing with that, like that guy's like he's amazing. Well, guess what? When we actually get to sit down and talk about what's going on and have real talk at the table, to sit down and talk about what's going on and have real talk at the table, we're doing things in Nebraska at a not just Boone, central, hastings, across the board. We're doing things in Nebraska at a very high level and there's a lot of those big time educators that would love to have the opportunities and the support that we have here in Nebraska, and so I think that was one big takeaway. Like you know what, we can compete with the big boys because we are doing some things well, but professionally too.
Bill Curry:I went to a session that Dr Toma she's a middle school assistant principal at Miller she did a session on navigating tough conversations. Wow, I'm telling you if you could get her on your podcast, she brought it and she has some great, great perspective. I got a lot out of that, thinking about situational versus systemic conversations, thinking about how we need to be an ally for all kids, and then, in those tough conversations, understanding perspective. Wow, like, okay, this isn't I'm right, you're wrong. I need to understand your perspective so that we can come together and move forward. Mind shift. That was fantastic. And then, I guess, the other one that stuck out for me Jim Knight, big name in education, been around for a long time, wrote in a lot of books, got to listen to him in person and here's what he said Engagement is the number one reason kids stop coming to school.
Bill Curry:They disengage physically, emotionally and cognitively. To figure out a way to improve attendance, for principals are trying to figure out a way to deal with truancy and absenteeism. What if you approach it from a level of engagement? How do we engage these kids? How do we get these kids to feel engaged? How do we get them to plug in and want to be here? And then let's see if that doesn't take care of itself. So I just I I found that fascinating. You know, he went on to talk about instructional coaching and some other things and the effect size that has on on what we're doing.
Bill Curry:But I just loved that idea because I'm a big, big engagement guy. When I do walkthroughs, I talk about engagement. When I do my observations, it's all about engagement. How are you engaging kids? How are we engaging each other? Because I feel like you do that well, everything else kind of falls into place. But then to hear Jim Knight talk about well, that's actually the reason kids don't want to come to school, because they don't feel engaged oh, that was a good takeaway for me. So there are a couple of things aside from finding this goofy looking guy in a Nebraska t-shirt uh, just walking around all by himself, looked, looked lost, borderline, homeless, felt sorry for him, but he had a Nebraska t-shirt on, so I came up and said hi, and then all of a sudden we struck up a conversation and and then we went on an adventure and took an electric scooter downtown. And now here I am talking to him on a podcast, like that's kind of a cool thing.
Principal JL:Well, thanks for calling me homeless. I don't think I look that bad.
Principal JL:You certainly didn't have the fancy socks and shirt and tie and jacket on at the time. But you know, I played it down, man, I played it down. I was in like chill mode right. It's like, hey, let's go to this nassp event. You know that was a great event, that was fun.
Principal JL:But I do know dr anatoma. I've known her for a while. I've had, I've listened to her sessions, you know, at the nebraska state conferences as well and so yeah, she's a great person. She's at, you know, miller north middle school in the miller district. I actually was at millard at one point in my career at miller north high school. So I I kind of know the lay of the land there. But yeah, she's a great person and he had a chance to talk to her and yeah, I, I'll probably will ask her to come on eventually. I just haven't done it yet. But when it comes down to it, bill, those are great insights. I really appreciate you sharing out those things. So, bill, what gets you excited about continuing the work as a principal? What is something that's coming up that goes? You know what this was.
Bill Curry:Keep me going as a principal you know, before I answer, that I'm going to say if you make her the next person on your podcast, don't do that to me. Man, like I gotta, you gotta, give a few like can you find kind of like a soft few people, that few like can you find kind?
Principal JL:of like a soft few people that no, I'm just kidding.
Bill Curry:No, seriously, though, what? What gets me excited to continue the work that we're doing? It's relationships, right, but it's not. That's not cliche. I love.
Bill Curry:I love coming to work because I love connecting with kids. I genuinely enjoy building relationships with kids. I enjoy talking to the adults. I see myself as a support system for the people that I'm around. So, because I feel supported, I have a great admin team. I look forward to having conversations with our admin team about doing things at a district level and not challenging and encouraging each other.
Bill Curry:Like I love the collegiality that we have on our in our middle school and our staff. It's a fun working environment. That gets me excited. You know, if I'm at a point where I feel like my good isn't good enough, yeah, it's kind of hard to get excited to come to work every day, right, but when you feel supported and you are supported and you're around great people, great things happen, and that's been true in my case. I've been lucky to be able to find great people when we need jobs. I've been fortunate to work with some pretty great people and and that leads to some great connections we have with kids, and I think that's probably the biggest thing that gets me excited to come into work is just getting to have those conversations, relationship building, getting to know what makes them go, hearing their successes and just being excited for them. And that makes you a good bus driver too. Like just hey, I heard you had a great game the other night. That's awesome. Like celebrating in their successes.
Principal JL:I love it, I love it, I love it. Those are all great things. You know a lot of those things I get excited for too. You know I love going to work. I love what I do. If there ever comes a time I'm not loving it, then it's probably time for me to step away, but I don't see that happening anytime soon for me as well. You know we've had a really great conversation, Bill, and so I want you to be able to impart some wisdom on to people that might be thinking about becoming an administrator. So what would you tell people that are thinking about becoming a principal? What would you advise them on? What's some wisdom that you would give them?
Bill Curry:Well, you know, I talk about all the things that are cool and the things I enjoy, but it's not all, pollyanna, we've got to have tough conversations. I don't always like the conversations I have with the kids in my office, right Like those are tough things to have happen. You know, when you're dealing with difficult situations. We had to. We had to make a call to our school attorneys today, like not everything is great, you get through those things. So I'd say maybe, maybe just some some thoughts.
Bill Curry:If you're thinking about being a leader, reflect on what your personal strengths are and then use that to your advantage. If you're a relationship person, be a relationship leader. If you're a data-driven person, be a relational leader that uses data to make informed decisions. That's not a bad thing. Find your strengths. Be intentional with leveraging those strengths to be who you are as a leader, and then you're going to find success. If you try to be somebody you're not, you're going to be disappointed. So I think that think about your personal strengths, think about how you can use those to be a great leader. I'd also say build your network of support to be a great leader. I'd also say build your network of support, like when you get that first job, who are three people you can call after hours if you need help. That's the start of your network. And then go from there, think about here's the other one.
Bill Curry:Think about who the mentors are in your life. You know, if you were coming to me saying, hey, I'm going to be a, I'm going to be a principal, if I told you, think about the mentors that are in your life, there's a few people that come to mind. Well, what were they to you and what did they do differently than other people in your life? Well, they took a real interest in me. They seemed to care what I had to say.
Bill Curry:Oh, be that in your first job, reflect or think about the things that you liked, about those mentors which will shape the way you are as a leader, those traits, those relationship building characteristics, the things that made you a great teacher, the things that you aspire to be in the mentors that were in your life. That carries over to administration. Yeah, there's the tough conversations, there's the not so fun stuff. There is a higher burnout in administration because it's hard. We're not always supported as leaders, but you can be successful if you know who you are, are, you have a network of support and you try to reflect the things that worked for you and the leaders that you respected, and try to become that. That will help you in your process to being successful. I have no doubt about it. It's worked for us.
Principal JL:Yeah, I love it. I mean, for me, I learned from the people that were in leadership positions. I took things from them and I always say, like, if I could take this from this person, this from this person and apply those things, that's going to help me become better. But yet I am who I am. I am my authentic self and I'm not going to change who I am. I am my authentic self and I'm not going to change who I am. But at the same time, I learned from other people.
Principal JL:Like Bill, I'm sitting here learning from you right now, and so there's some things like I have man right on, they do some things. Maybe I can think about getting better as well. So I really appreciate you know, the insights there and, like you said, this is a tough job. But we also got to look at finding the joy in the job, finding the joy in what we do, and that's something I talked to my staff about like, hey, this job's not easy. It's tough sometimes, so let's find the joy in what we do and let's attack each day in a way that we're trying to help kids and do what's best for kids.
Principal JL:So those are some things that you know I've talked to my staff about and just some, some just a mindset that we try to have here at Hastings High School, as well as other schools do the same stuff. So, you know, we don't want to reinvent wheels. We want to take from other people and apply those things, cause when you do the things that other great people in this position do, you're going to be successful at it, and so I think those are some great takeaways, bill. So, bill, you know it's been a great conversation. If people wanted to connect with you, how could they do that?
Bill Curry:Well, they could sign up for my bus driving class. Learn to be a bus driver. I teach classes for the Nebraska Safety Center. I'm trying to help districts meet the needs they have for van a bus driver. I teach classes for the Nebraska safety center. I'm trying to help districts meet the needs they have for van and bus drivers. So take my class and become a bus driver.
Bill Curry:No, actually I don't have a very strong media presence I. That's an area that of growth I need to do a better job at. They can email me. I am on Twitter X at Mr Bill Curry.
Bill Curry:I listen and follow a lot of educational things. I don't post a lot of stuff. I'm a taker, not a giver, so this has been a step out for me a little bit. But you know what, when you asked me to do this, I thought to myself you know, I remember conversations I have with kids. I remember conversations I have with kids.
Bill Curry:You tell kids who do you want to be. Put people in your life that you want to be like and you're going to be a better person. Put good people around you Professionally. Let's do the same, right? I'm open, but I'll tell you my hits and I'll tell you my misses, I'll tell you my successes and I'll tell you my fails, but put people in your life. Great people when great. When you're, when you surround yourself great people, great things happen. And yeah, I, you can follow me, you can email me. I'm not sure you're going to get anything more than you. You can listen to the Principal JL podcast, right, you bet there's a lot of ways there, but this has been great. It doesn't even we've been talking for almost an hour. It doesn't feel like it. It just feels like one of those conversations we had over a beverage in Seattle and man, it's just what a cool thing. I just appreciate this connection and wish you much success this year. Wish you and your listeners have a great, great year.
Principal JL:Awesome. Well, bill. Hey, I appreciate you being on the show and I'll get your information in the show notes so people can connect with you. If you would like, I'll put down the information of. I'll be coming to bus driver in the episode too, as well. So that's you know what I could do for you to try to help, you know, maybe create some more bus drivers in the state of Nebraska. So, hey, bill, it was great having you on the show. I appreciate everything. You know. I will talk to you down the road. Have a great evening.
Bill Curry:You too. Thanks for having me on what a great conversation with Bill Curry.
Principal JL:It is clear that his leadership dedication to building a positive school culture has transcended through his staff and students. If this episode resonates with you, please share it with someone who needs to hear it. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast platform so you won't miss another powerful episode to fill up your cup. Until next time, be curious and 1% better.
