Episode 49: Proud Principal: Tony Cattani's Leadership Journey

Doors closed, minds open or the other way around? Our conversation with NASSP’s 2025 National Principal of the Year, Tony Cattani, pulls back the curtain on how a large high school built a culture where teachers learn from teachers every single day. Tony walks us through the exact system that turned isolation into collective efficacy: a strengths inventory across four core areas, 25-minute targeted classroom visits, collegiality cafes that showcase teacher-designed practices, and a simple feedback loop that amplifies wins to supervisors and the entire staff.

We get personal, too. Tony shares the moment he nearly quit, why trying to be the hero almost broke him, and how vulnerability and intentional routines brought joy and effectiveness back to the job. From hiring for strengths to weekly shout-outs, he shows how recognition can be both precise and public—fueling a schoolwide appetite for better classroom management, dynamic lesson design, checks for understanding, and growth mindset. The result? More than 4,000 peer observations, richer cross-department collaboration, and teachers who feel seen for the 39,000 minutes a year when craft usually goes unnoticed.

Beyond instructional culture, Tony digs into future-facing work: AI integration that supports planning and feedback, student and staff leadership academies that cultivate confidence, and robust career pathways—from welding to health services—aligned with the four E’s: enrolled, enlisted, employed, and entrepreneur. He also shares why he launched the Proud Principals Podcast and how connecting leaders across the country accelerates innovation back home.

If you’re a principal or teacher who wants practical, repeatable steps to improve instruction and morale without gimmicks, this is your playbook. Subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a review telling us which strategy you’ll try first—we’ll shout out our favorite takeaways next week.

Connect with Tony Cattani:

Email: tcattani@lrhsd.org

Instagram: @tonycattaniproudprincipal

X: @CattaniTony

Proud Principal Podcast:

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Chapters

• 0:00 Meet Principal Of The Year
• 3:38 From Athlete To Educator
• 7:08 Early Teaching And ISS Lessons
• 12:54 The Leap Into Administration
• 19:09 Becoming Principal Amid Renovation
• 24:34 Crisis Of Confidence And Rebound
• 29:59 Birth Of The Peer Observation Model
• 38:30 Building Systems And Buy‑In
• 46:32 Culture Change And Recognition
• 52:42 Automating Feedback And Sharing Wins
• 58:52 National Recognition And Purpose
• 1:04:42 Starting The Proud Principals Podcast

Transcript

Principal JL: 1:01

Today I'm excited to bring Tony Cattani on the show. Tony has spent 27 years in education, 22 of those in administration, and the past 19 years leading Lenape High School in Medford, New Jersey. This past summer, he was named the 2025 National Principal of the Year by the National Association of Secondary School Principals. He is known nationally for a groundbreaking peer observation model that's generated more than 3,000 teacher visits, igniting collective efficacy, and created a culture where everyone, and I mean everyone, grows together. From collegiality cafes to popcorn lesson invitations, Tony has built something truly special. Tony is also the host of the Proud Principals Podcast, where he shines a spotlight on educational leaders across the country. Now let's get to our conversation with the Proud Principal himself, Tony Cattani. Welcome back, everybody, to another exciting episode of the Educational Leadership Podcast. Today I am so excited to get Tony Cattani on the show. He is the 2025 Principal of the Year for the NSA NASSP. And Tony, welcome to the show.

Tony Cattani: 2:33

Thanks so much for having me. I'm super excited to be here with you, Jeff.

Principal JL: 2:37

Awesome. Well, Tony, I'm gonna go ahead and jump right in.

Tony Cattani: 2:40

Let's do it.

Principal JL: 2:41

I asked a question to everybody on the show. What inspired you to become an educator?

Tony Cattani: 2:47

I'll tell you, I I've told this to her a few times lately where um I really didn't went to college not thinking I was gonna be an educator. I wanted to work in the business field. And I had an opportunity when I was playing football at Rowan University here in South Jersey. My my coach put me into an event for Special Olympics, working with some young folks. And I felt like I was being really helpful and I felt like I liked what I was doing. And after like two or three different events, my coach Casey Killer, who's now the head coach at Temple football, said, I think, I think you might want to think about being a teacher and a coach, man. Like you're you're pretty good with those kids. You have a nice way about you. And I never saw myself as that. My father, mother, sister, grandmother, nobody in my family was a teacher. And I never really saw it. I didn't really love high school education. I loved high school sports, but I really didn't love school like going there every day. And so I listened to what he said. I thought he was a wise man, and I went into the field and started interacting with some people, and I just picked up on their energy and started to fall in love with it and helping people and teaching and coaching. And the next thing I know, man, I'm I'm teaching in South Jersey at Cherokee High School and then administrator at Shawnee High School, then a principal for the last 19 years at Lenape High School, and now the national principal of the year. So it's been a whirlwind. Uh, this was never part of the plan. None of this was ever part of the plan.

Principal JL: 4:04

Yeah, I mean, just like a lot of people that have on the show, we really, it's kind of like education wasn't like the first thing that we're thinking about. Hey, I want to go, I wanted to be a physical therapist. I thought maybe going to be a trainer at like a professional football team would be like my call-in, but learn that really, you know, go through coaching kind of similar to my experience as well. Is that kind of what got drove me into education? So, Tony, what subject area did you teach? What levels did you teach, you know, when you were a teacher?

Tony Cattani: 4:33

Yeah, so my first year I started as an in-school suspension director, right? Because they were kind of had a spot. So I sat with kids that were in school, in-school suspension. I sat with them for six hours a day. And it really helped me. I look back on it, it didn't make sense to me when I was doing it, to be honest with you, Jeff, right? Like, why am I doing this? I'm a health and physical education major, a health and exercise science major from Rowan. And that's what I wanted to teach and coach and do, particularly health. But I was in-school suspension director my first year. So I got to work with kids, help them in a variety of different areas, whether it's math, social studies, history, or just listen to them and try to better understand them. I was with them for 180 days, six hours a day. And then I taught senior health and a little bit of physical education, but I really leaned towards the health. I really wanted to be in the health classroom. I felt like teaching freshmen and senior health, I could really connect with the kids and I loved it. But I only taught for four years. I was in the classroom five years, including the in school suspension directory year. And then I was right into administration at the age of like 29 years old for three years as an assistant principal and then 19 years as principal.

Principal JL: 5:32

Awesome. Yeah, there's a lot of parallels there. Like, you know, like I was a physical education teacher and a math teacher. Okay. Um, I didn't teach a lot of physical education, but I taught a lot of math. Okay. I got my jobs because I was a math background, not because I was PE uh background, but it did help me with the coaching and things like that. So that's really interesting. With that experience, with that, you know, the one year as a ISS director and then four years as a physical educator. What are some things that you learned as a teacher that helped you when you became that assistant principal down the road?

Tony Cattani: 6:11

Oh, well, I think in school suspension was pivotal for me about just listening to every kid and all and finding out their stories, right? I one, I had no other choice sitting in a room with these students for such a long period of time, but I wanted to learn a little bit more about them and hear their story and sometimes why they were there or what how they can make better decisions and how we could educate individuals. And it really gave me, it was almost like a counseling session for them, but they were almost like a little bit of a lab experiment for me. And then when I when I was able to get classroom and do some teaching, it was different to diversify my abilities to engage students in different ways and try to be super creative. And I wanted students to enjoy my class. The the funny part is, you know, I thought I was a really good teacher until I became an administrator and I saw a lot of other teachers doing amazing things and I knew I could have been better. But in the same way, I think it prepared me on a variety of levels. Coaching, I was coaching football at the time, running the weight room, involved in a couple different clubs there at Cherokee, loving my experience, uh, the school spirit, seeing what kids really wanted. I had a ton of experiences that really led me to be where I am today.

Principal JL: 7:14

Awesome, awesome. I love that. So you're teaching, you've done it for five years now. What was it that goes, you know what? I think becoming an administrator is a great idea. Was it someone that inspired you? Was it a tap on the shoulder? Like, how was it you go from hey, I'm a PE teacher, I'm loving what I'm doing, I'm coaching, I'm doing all these fun things, to hey, you know, I'm gonna become a principal down the road here. What was that for you? So I like for you.

Tony Cattani: 7:40

It's funny, Jeff. Like, so after I graduated from Rowan University, I had an opportunity to be a graduate assistant at Rowan for their football program. Casey Keeler invited me back, and I said, Coach, I'm I'm done with college. I want to go teach, I want to make some money. And he invited me to be a graduate assistant, but I had to get a master's. And he said to me, Well, you should get a master's in school administration. Someday you could be an athletic director, right? Don't limit yourself. And that's I was like, Coach, I don't know if I want to go back to classes, whatever. And I ended up getting the master's, going into getting my master's that first year of starting that, but it wasn't an athletic director. It was an uh educational leadership at Rowan University. And then when I went to Cherokee the following year, after I said, GA is not for me, I'm not going to coach college football the rest of my life. I started doing projects at Cherokee to complete my master's degree. And I started working with some really strong leaders in the building at Cherokee High School and seeing what they were doing. And at a young age, I felt like I could do this, I could have a really big impact. I I always liked being someone that had my hands in things, that had some decision making. I liked that people felt that they could come to me and I could support them. I was a quarterback, and I think that was just inbred into me of one, celebrating other people, taking responsibility for other people's shortcomings at times, right? Sometimes getting the praise, but also getting, you know, the booze when we lost. And I felt like I was able, I had the thick skin and I was built that way since I was a little kid of being quarterback since I was six years old. And I felt like I always wanted to be the quarterback of the team. I wanted to have my hands and my brains involved and helping make decisions and helping people be successful as a team. And I felt like I've I've always been a pretty good team player, pretty humble, and don't need to be out front to lead, but I'm willing to be out front as well. So I think there were moments when I was uh, you know, working my first and second year at Cherokee that they were putting me some really good spots to really diversify my opportunities, whether working through helping assist the senior trip planning to a prom to working on conduct to assisting in professional development, but just being involved and learning different parts of the building. And I think it really impaired me.

Principal JL: 9:42

Awesome. I really love that. So you were assistant principal, if I remember right, for how many years?

Tony Cattani: 9:49

Yep, three years.

Principal JL: 9:50

Three years in those three years as an assistant principal, because we all know being assistant principal is a little different than a building principal. What are some lessons you learned in those three years as assistant principal that helped you as a building level principal?

Tony Cattani: 10:03

Yeah, so as a health and physical education person, they transferred me to a different school so I could cut my teeth at a different school and develop my leadership skills versus being you know that young buck at my original school. And I didn't like it at first. But one of the things I learned was that as a health and um health and exercise science major, I was in charge of the first year, 29 years old, family consumer science, business technology, security, graduation, 400 kids in the freshman class, health and physical education department, right? And a ton of other small responsibilities, running the pep rallies, and I had a lot of things. And I think one of the things I really learned was that while I didn't have the content for business tech or family consumer science, I was gonna work my tail off on learning it because it was important for my staff to know that I was vested in them and I could be the mouthpiece for them at my district level if I needed to make curricular changes or something instructionally for them, but also that I was gonna be there to better our our students' opportunities at Shawnee when I was there. And it really provided a work ethic for me of developing that of even though I had a chip on my shoulder because you know you were called like the gym teacher, and now I'm sudden leading up business, tech, and family consumer science. And I sat around people that were business and tech and family consumer science and teachers and supervisors for years. And I was young and not experienced, I was inexperienced in some of those areas, but I wasn't gonna let my school down or my teachers down. So I worked really hard to learn and educate myself through that process. And I felt like I've done that through my career, right? There's always something new to learn, but I never wanted to be that guy to table that wasn't well versed in those things, and I was gonna do everything in my power to do that. So I think that's one of the main things I learned that I I don't have to have a content-specific area to be successful. I feel like I can work through some of those things and uh I can just continue to grow as a professional.

Principal JL: 12:12

Yeah, I know one thing for me, like my story is I I have never been an assistant principal. I went straight from teacher to building principal, but I went to a small school out in the middle of a cornfield in Nebraska. So I wasn't, you know, it was one of those things, it was just one of those things that just happened. I wasn't planning on it that way. So I've always been at the building level, but as a small rural, I had a lot of assistant principal type duties on top of building principal type duties on top of like cabinet level position duties. Now I'm at the high school I'm at. Now I have a team of people, which is so much better than it was when I was at my my rural school as a principal. Go ahead.

Tony Cattani: 12:52

I'll tell you this though. Here's something else I learned I should really lead with was I was approved uh to be the assistant principal Shawnee on June 30th, 2004, at 7:30 at night, right? Late, late decision 2000. So June 30th, 2004, at 7:30 at night, I was assistant principal at 7:42 that same night. I became a father for the first time, right? Oh wow. So I was becoming an assistant principal in administration and becoming a father 12 minutes later, right? And so trying to balance and work through that process was insane to be to be very honest with you. So I learned a lot about myself, my wife, my wonderful wife, Kate, and then growing my family in the administration. They don't know me as anything else other than you know, dad, the administrator, right? The assistant principal to principal. So it was a whirlwind of learning uh those first couple of years as a father, as an administrator, as a school leader, curricular person, but I wanted to be seen as a instructional leader. That was one of my main things. I knew I could do the spirit stuff and I could, I was organized and I was going to outwork a lot of people, but I wanted to be seen as an instructional leader, and that part of my life really prepared me for what I'm doing now.

Principal JL: 14:04

Awesome. Yeah, I was I had the luxury to teach my oldest daughter algebra one.

Tony Cattani: 14:10

Okay.

Principal JL: 14:11

My second daughter, she got to see me. I never taught her, but I had her, she was I was a principal when I became a principal, she was a junior in high school, and then now I've an 11-year-old. That's all good. She's gonna know me as is a principal. So uh so it's kind of a unique, you know, things where if you've never taught your kid, that's a whole nother experience on its own. So I really appreciate you sharing that story because that really, you know, when you were raising kids and you're having a balanced family and doing this work, it's not easy, and it's something that could take a toll on you. So yeah, I mean, I'm pretty sure there's other people out there that are you know doing those same things, and how do we do this? And that's kind of why this podcast exists, right? We learn from each other and how to help each other learn and grow. So you went from assistant principal to the principal at Lenape High. How did that happen? What was the story behind it? What got you to Lenape?

Tony Cattani: 15:07

Oh man, what got me to Lenape? So I'll tell you this leaving Cherokee, I never wanted to leave Cherokee. I I did my student teaching there, then I became a print a teacher there, and I loved it. Loved I moved my I moved into the town, my wife and I got married to be part of the community. Then I get sipped to Shawnee, which I didn't want to go to originally. I told the my HR person, I'm not, I didn't want to go. But then I moved to Medford. I moved my wife to Medford, and then she has a baby on the first day, right? The first day I'm administrator, and we lived in Medford. I wanted to be part of the community. And then I was pulled in by my superintendent three years later and said, You're gonna be the principal of Lenape High School. I said, I don't want to be the principal of Lenape High School. I'm just learning the gig as a system principal. Like I'm the water is starting to drop a little bit, and I can do some really creative things and make it feel like I'm making a really good impact at Shawnee. She's like, it's time for you to become a principal. We need you at Lenape. And there and behold, I was I was moved to Lenape back in 2007, and I was given a task of you know trying to enhance that building and do the things I could do that they saw that I could do. And I was walking to a referendum of about for the district, $170 million, I think it was at the time, maybe $150 million. The entire building was being renovated, new cafeterias, new classrooms, uh, new auditorium, tennis courts, parking lots. I mean, you name it, hallways. I mean, the building was the first day I arrived on the scene, July 1, 2007, they were just tractors everywhere. They were starting to rip down the building at the first day that I walked on. They were also, we were big turnover and staff at that time. And I remember the BA asking me, like, why would you want this job with this construction and a big staff turnover? And I said, if I'm gonna do this, this is the right when I want to do it because I want to learn all about the building. I want to have some say about the design of the building. And two, I want to hire my own staff. So I'm gonna endure this for the next two or three years, but after that, we're gonna grow and be great, right? So let me pick my staff, let me have some say in some of the design, and then we'll go from there. And it's worked out beautifully. I've been able to, you know, help build and guide a culture at Lenape that is one of caring and trying every day. It's one where our staff are just fantastic for you know, for all the things they do. And I always tell people I have one of my major jobs, right? From the Todd Whitaker, one of the brightest men I've ever come across, leadership men I've ever come across, is one of my main jobs is to hire great teachers and make our good teachers great. And our teachers have bought in, and we have a lot of success with our students and our community and our culture. And yeah, man, like it it was it was fast. I wasn't, I didn't think I was ready. I wasn't ready for it when I first started, but I'm ready now.

Principal JL: 17:43

Awesome. Yeah, I mean, that's really great, you know, kind of like the story behind it, how you got there. I could not imagine walking into that situation. We did a geothermal renovation just you know, not this last year, but the year before, and that was a pain in my butt to begin with, because you know, they never get things done on time. And so I'm sitting in there like freaking out the night before. We're trying to bring staff our students back in the building. My building wasn't ready. Yes, and so we were trying to get everybody on it, trying to get the building clean, trying to like that was like a pain in the rear. Having I could not imagine a whole building and doing all the different things you had to do. And man, that's that you know, I appreciate you sharing that story because I know just a little bit of where we did some construction work on a building that I'm currently at. It is not always a fun time to go through.

Tony Cattani: 18:39

Yeah, no, I I've been through two referendums. I think a total of maybe for the district, maybe 200 and some million dollars, you know, major, major projects in within my building over 19 years. But the big piece of this is that, you know, the superintendent time, Mrs. Emily Capella, saw something in me that I didn't see in myself. And I didn't have the confidence to take over the building at the time. And how I started my leadership journey as a principal at Lenape was not how I would do it now. And I I started trying to be somebody that I wasn't, to be honest with you, Jeff. And I, you know, I didn't know how to be that leader at the time at 31 years old. And I had teachers that were teaching there for 40 years, and they're looking at me as this young buck that was a health and physette teacher for a couple years with a three-year student at Shawnee. Now I'm going to lead this building. That was the original building in our district of 7,000 kids with 1900 students, 2,000 students at the time. And then all of a sudden I was supposed to take over and I was supposed to change the culture, make it better, all these things. And some of the people didn't want me to change anything about that building, but I was giving some directives. But somebody saw something in me before that more than I saw something in myself. And that happened as me as a teacher, then it happened to me as assistant principal to become a principal. And now, with some of the recognition lately, people see some things in me that sometimes I don't see in myself, to be truthful with you. So it's um it's been a journey.

Principal JL: 19:54

Yeah, no, that's really great because I think that happens to a lot of us in education, is where somebody sees something and says, Hey, I think you're meant for this type of position or this type of job, and you're like going, yeah, okay, whatever, right? And then you start getting into it like, well, maybe this is something that I should do or get into as well. So kind of talk about your early years in Linnep, because you did kind of allude to it. You weren't the leader you are today. What was that progression like? What are the lessons you learned that evolved your leadership throughout the last 19 years that really is a common, you know, really brought you into where you're at today, being the national principal of the year?

Tony Cattani: 20:35

Yeah, Jeff, good question. Because I don't think I understood the magnitude of my role or how I conducted myself in formal and informal situations. Just walking down the hallway, I had a tough time enjoying the moments. Uh my mind was always on something. And, you know, I think San Filippo's Joe San Filippo, a fantastic school leader, talks about you're always so busy defending the things you do, you can't enjoy the things you do. And I don't think I really enjoyed a lot of the moments. I think I put the good face on an actor for the first, I would say maybe 10 years, to be truth with you, that I wasn't the guy that I wanted to be, being a leader in the building. And I learned a lot through my time. But there was a moment in my career in about 2015 through 17 where I was quitting. I quit, I was ready to quit. I went to my superintendent, said, you know, I want to resign, put me back in the classroom. I don't want to be the principal anymore. I'm not enjoying my job, you know, and people didn't know it. I went to my wife first. I went to my, again, my superintendent, but not many people knew about it. And they kind of just said, like, you need to delegate more because I was so micromanaging through so many different things. I felt like I could do some things better than some of my staff could and my administrative team could. And I wanted to be everything to everybody. I wanted to have like this this uh superhero complex or God complex. I wanted to solve every problem for everybody on the spot. And I would think about it all night and then try to do something, and I wasn't solving those problems. I was really frustrated with myself, and that was really hard for me. And then I learned just to be one, to invest myself in my leadership skills, and I knew that was going to bring me through. And I started to become a student of leadership, and I started listening to the Todd Whitakers and Jimmy Casas's and Joe San Filippo's and podcasts and reading books and talking with people and surrounding myself with fantastic people like yourself, right? And just engaging people in conversations about leadership in schools and learning from them. And it's hard not to match the energy in the room when you're when you're meeting with people like that. And it's you start to adapt to those norms. And it it became transformational for me, and where I started looking at things a lot differently than I did before. And it just helped me grow. And then I became more vulnerable and confident at the same time. It was I allowed some people into my my world a little bit where I was so isolated for so long that I was I was drowning in my my own my own misery at times. And uh I found my way out by just surrounding myself with good people, and it was really, really powerful for me. But allowing people to see me for for me, my strengths, my weaknesses, and telling them that here, here's a really good thing and here's something I'm struggling with was was a was a was a moment for me that really developed my leadership. But it was around 2015 to 17. I was ready to split, Jeff. Like I was done. I was cooked. And for everything to turn around in seven or eight years, it's a long time. But it was it's been a fantastic journey for me as a as a as an adult, as a father, as a son, as a principal, as an educator, you name it, but I went through a lot of it.

Principal JL: 23:42

Appreciate you being really vulnerable there, Tony. I mean, that's not something that you know maybe not a lot of people know about you, but we all have those struggles. We all have those moments. I'll be honest, I've had moments where I thought about, is this really for me? But like you just said, if you surround your people with the with the type of people that can help you in your leadership and networking and getting to learn that, hey, you're not in this by yourself, you're not in this alone. You have other people that have gone through these hard things, and if you can learn from their lessons, that will help save you some heartache down the road as well. And so I really appreciate you really being vulnerable and telling us that story. Now, with Lenape, you know, like you said, the last probably seven, eight years is really kind of your leadership has changed, it's evolved. You know, you started something and trying to tell me what sparked the idea of peer observation for your school, because that's one of the things that you guys have. You have, you know, the other things as well, the collegiality cafes, the popcorn lesson invitations and things like that. So, what got that going? What was the vision? What sparked that for you?

Tony Cattani: 24:54

Jeff, I know this show is maybe four hours long because I can get into it for four more hours. Now, I could talk about pure observations all day, but I'll I'll try to give you a small synopsis of this. Was that you know, it kind of relates to kind of what I just told you about the level of isolation and what I spoke about before. The the basis of it was this was when I got done teaching and started doing observations and as an assistant principal, I realized that I could have been a much better teacher if I would have seen other teachers teach, right? And I started I because I thought I was good until I saw somebody else teach over and over again. And then I saw some people that I thought like, ah, I'm I'm pretty good compared to them. But I wanted, I didn't want to be average, I wanted to be better, I wanted to be the best. And I saw that and it started to resonate with me as a as a principal as well, but also I needed my teachers to be better. So when I would do observation formal observations of them, I would say, you know, had you know, I would tell them like strategies, and I realized that it wasn't working. I would try to explain what you did in your classroom. Like, hey, I saw this earlier. I wasn't giving Jeff credit, right? I would tell them, but it didn't resonate with them until I realized that the best teachers, you know, it's a vivid explanatory device that they want to see, right? To help the kids connect connect the dots. So I started saying, you should go see Jeff teach. Right. This is what he does as a routine for classroom management in the very beginning of the class that could help you. Hey, you should go see Christina Calangelo teach. This is how she checks for understanding, formative assessment throughout the entire class. She's always checking at checkpoints for her math course, be something that could you could really apply. And then I started seeing teachers thinking about that and going into the classrooms, and I knew I could I was making good teachers better and more like our best, right? When I was sending them into our best teachers, and it just started to click on me like we need to develop a system where this is a systematic approach where other teachers can see other teachers teach at their superpower strength. So I wanted to get better and I felt like I could have been better, and I didn't want to re regret, I didn't want any teacher regretting once they saw another teacher teach. If I only would have known that earlier, I would have been a better teacher. So we provided those opportunities for our teachers and we had teachers identify their greatest instructional strength, and they were out of four areas. It was about do they promote growth mindset, do they check for understanding, do they design dynamic lesson designs, or are they fantastic classroom managers? Right. And I let them pick and they self-reflected on it. And then if you picked classroom management or you picked dynamic lesson design, that means you didn't pick the other three. So you identified your strength and you also let me know you're not as confident in those other three areas. So we said, okay, you're the expert in that in dynamic lesson design, but you you don't feel that you're the expert in these three. So let's let people learn from you about dynamic lesson design, and then you go learn about classroom management, perhaps growth mindset, and checking for understanding from other people. And we instantly had an inventory of all the strengths and weaknesses of our teachers in our building. It guided professional development, it guided peer observations. Now, if I wanted to get better at classroom management, I had a list of 25 teachers they could all go to. All right, if they wanted to get better at checking for understanding and assessment, they had a list of 35 teachers they could go to. They wanted to get better at how they promote growth mindset, they had a list of 50 teachers they could go to. Whatever that was, it was it was within our building under our roof, personalizing their professional development. They identified their strength. I had nothing to do with it. And if you look at it with 180 teachers teaching four or five lessons, there's over 750 opportunities a day to go see a vivid explanatory model of what something you want to get better at. And it just opened our doors. And it's been hugely impactful on our buildings collegiality, to teachers wanting to get better, be more like our best. I don't need to say, like, you hey, you know what? Jeff did this one time. Now I'm celebrating you, I'm extending your greatness to other people. People feel like a professional, they feel seen, they feel special. And they they, if they've owned it, they say, I'm really good at classroom management. Now they better be good at classroom management, right? And they're doing that every day and thinking about ways they can enhance it because just in case another teacher comes in and they're not evaluating them, they're learning from them. So it's been really, really big. And that's where it transformed to me. I had to when I when I shared it with them after we did a pilot program and did a presentation to them, I did a presentation to them, I had to show them that I was willing to do the same thing. So I had principals visiting me, observing me in faculty meetings, observing me in team meetings. I went and observed them because I told my teachers if this is good for you, it's good for me. So that's kind of where that started. And I started surrounding myself with better people and being more intentional of getting better as a principal. And my teacher started getting better intentionally as being a teacher.

Principal JL: 30:40

Yeah, that's awesome. I mean, I really love the fact that you modeled as well, and I think that's really important that they see, like, you know, like you said, you're not going to ask them to do anything you're not willing to do or you haven't done yourself already. And so I really that's kind of the way I lead as well, is like, hey, anything that I ask you to do, I'm not willing to do it. And I'll be honest with you, right now, we're rolling out this reading literacy training, and it's kind of one of those we got this grant, and this is like a push to get things done, and it's all like we got to get it going. And my staff is being asked to do it. So I told my staff, you know, hey, there's gonna be things for me to learn from it. So I'm actually doing the reading training, even though I'm not teaching, but I know down the road I'll be able to inform instruction because I've had that reading training just like the staff has, and it doesn't help to get a stipend, so there you go. I'm that end. So, but at the same time, you know, I think leading modeling your leadership as well. Did you have some pushback when it started? Like, was it slow to build? Like, well, how did that all roll out for you? So because I know changes can do you know, that can be kind of one of those things teachers don't like change sometimes.

Tony Cattani: 31:55

Yeah, so we've been doing it about seven years. Including, you know, the pandemic as well. So that slowed us down a bit, but it actually helped us because teachers started going into other teachers' Google classrooms and meets and watching them and doing what they were doing, learning from them because the door is already open. We've done four thousand over 4,000 peer observations in the past seven, seven and a half years. We so we started with a small pilot of about 30 people, but I think the people that we identified to do it were really influential and they were diverse over ages and content areas. And we I'll be straight with you, people ask me this all the time. Like, I bet you were like dragging people to do peer observations. We really haven't. And I'm not going to tell you we have 100% of our people doing it, but I bet we have 85% doing them every year. It it was an easier transition than I ever thought, and probably one of the easier ones to implement. Um, as long as you're consistent and intentional and you're purposeful and you're bought in as the principal of the building, my staff. I mean, we when we hire someone, Jeff, we ask them, we put we give them the four strengths in advance. They have to identify. So when they come in for their interview, they have to identify one, when I ask them, would you do peer observations if if and when you get hired? Of course they're gonna say yes. Two, what's your instructional strength of the four? They tell me they're one. I say why. And then I say, tell me why you didn't choose one of these, right? And I ask like classroom management or whatever it is, and they have to tell me that. So they know walking in that that's an expectation for me. And then two, we ask about would you lead a collegiate cafe, which is just a session of teacher leading other teachers through a dynamic design of instruction that they're they're really proud of that they do with their class that they have a lot of success with. And they know that from the first year for the past seven years, this is the expectation. But my staff really bought into it early on and they fed off one another and wanting to be better, and they were supporting each other. And I'll tell you this, Jeff. I again, I could talk about this all night because it's a big project. Was you know, you you know your coaches, right? Your basketball coaches, your football coaches, whatever. When they sit around, they talk about coaching, X's and O's, Johnny's and Joes, when they're sitting at lab duty, when they're sitting, you know, after hours, what they're sitting in the classroom. You don't get that a lot of teachers sharing collegial instructional stuff on their downtime. We started getting that. People started sharing in their downtime what they were doing in classes because they wanted more visitors in their classroom, I think. And they wanted to share, like, I'm working really hard. I would love for somebody to come see me. We started learning before that, we started learning from happenstance. Like if you had lab duty outside the teacher's classroom, that they always leave their door open and they're really loud, right? Or that a kid told you a story, like, oh, I was in uh Mr. Katani's class, he did this really cool lesson. That's the only way you heard of it. But now, if you heard of it that way, you may say, Hey, Tone, can I come see your class? I heard you did this really cool activity that I could probably implement in my algebra class, even though you did it in history. But also created an environment where I had teachers from history meeting teachers from science that became close friends, right? And it shrunk my building down because we have such a big staff. It shrunk it down so they were socially interacting a little bit more versus just in their departments, especially coming out of the pandemic. That was critical for me that those doors were open and people were interacting. So it it I didn't have a lot of pushback. I really didn't. I had union members involved, I had veteran teachers involved in my pilot, union members, I had first year teachers, influential people. I I'll be straight with you, it was better than I thought. Now it can't be implemented at every school. My schedule is very conducive to it. But if anything, principals are listening to, if they do anything, is to do the inventory check, and then you have an understanding of where your staff is by department, by content area, and then you can guide your PD towards that. So if you have no one saying they're really good at checking for understanding, light bulb, maybe you should be providing more PD on checking for understanding. And then you can elevate and celebrate the five or six that do say that they do, and say, hey, can you turnkey something for us? Maybe could you two get together and talk about how you do this type of assessment, how you check for understanding every day or the beginning of class, middle of class, whatever that might be, right? Or classroom management. I might have rock stars there that I have 50 of them. Well, maybe I get a couple of them and they lead a couple sessions. If anything, other than peer observations, do that. Just get an inventory of where your teachers think they are.

Principal JL: 36:33

Awesome. Hey, I love that because what you're also doing is you're building your future leaders while they're doing this because they're getting the opportunities to present in front of people, share their knowledge, and they're probably learning from other people, kind of like what we're doing here today, is learning from each other. And so I really love what you've done there with the peer observation and the collegiality cafes and all those popcorn lessons and things like that. Now, with all that, you know, happening, what did that do for your culture in the school?

Tony Cattani: 37:06

Everything it made our teachers better, like I said, more like our best. It made, I always give the uh buffalo chicken dip analogy. I mean if I told you that.

Principal JL: 37:17

No, but I heard about it on Darren Pepper's podcast.

Tony Cattani: 37:20

There you go. So it's just it's just if I told everybody I was really good at something, like making buffalo chicken dip, right? Then I better be really good when they ask me to, hey, we're having a party, bring your buffalo chicken dip, right? It's just the analogy because my wife makes really good buffalo chicken dip. And it just made sense to me. It made sense because when my teachers say they're really good at classroom management, they do everything to make it sure it's going to be great in case someone comes in. And we just started sharing more. We started talking more about instruction. Our teachers got better because they learned from our best resources. I have a real tough time bringing professional development into my building, and I've seen them maybe once before or zero times before, and then I never see them again. And the best professional development is professional development that is supported and followed up on. And when I have these one and done's, my staff knows like this is just a flash in the pan. But with what we're doing with peer observations, it's so different. They're seeing these people every day and they have opportunities to personalize and professional development. But people have said they feel seen. They feel like I work really hard at this craft. And now other people are recognizing some of my greatness, and I work really hard for that. You know, if you really look at it, you know, teachers teach in my building about 39,000 minutes a year, right? If they're there every day, which not many are, but 39,000 minutes a year, and we do two observations, which is about just roughly 120 minutes. The other 38,880 minutes, no one is seeing them other than those kids that are fantastic, but no adult is giving them feedback or positive influence unless you're doing walkthroughs, which we do a ton of walkthroughs too, right? But if not, they're doing all that work and no one really knows it. And some people are really good at doing it for the right reasons, but some people also need to be seen and heard and felt. And I think that's created some a point of emphasis for our staff, too, that you know they're treated as professionals and we're celebrating their best instructional repertoire with everybody and we're extending it, and we do it in a variety of ways. And if you want me to share how we extend it even more, I can do that for you too, Jeff.

Principal JL: 39:32

All right. So, how have you extended it a little bit more? All right, so yeah, yeah.

Tony Cattani: 39:38

So we created a website. So if you if you're interested in doing a pre-observation at Lenin B High School, our teachers log into our protected website and they can see on a Google Sheet every teacher that is identified as classroom management as a different tab for checking for understanding and so on and so forth. So you see all the laundry lists of everybody they have identified, and then it has their the classes that they teach. And you go through and say, Oh, and their content area. Oh, well, I'm available class four. When they and they find the person they want to go observe and they go, they contact them and say, Can I come? And we only tell them go for 25 minutes of the 57-minute period. Just get a snippet, but only get the best snippet that you want, beginning, middle, or end. And that teacher will tell you, like, come at this time because this is going to be the that exemplar moment that you're looking for so you can learn from this. But after they're all done doing that and they talk with the teacher, they then write in a in our on our website, they click on a Google form and provide a feedback. Hey, Jeff, it was great. It was great seeing you in class. I loved how you engage the students in a really applicable task and how you had them apply it beyond the classroom setting. Amazing lesson. That that snippet gets emailed directly to that teacher. So they get feedback from that teacher, right? What we've added to is the supervisor also gets that snippet, right? So now when I see Jeff walking down the hallway, I'm like, hey, Jeff, I heard Tony was in your class and you did an amazing part. I would love to see that tomorrow or next week or whenever you can. Can you tell me a little bit more about it? You feel seen, heard, and now it's been extended from that teacher to your supervisor. We take it another step further, is we then I have a things to know every Thursday. And then my Thursday, I always, my number two thing is always peer observations. I give the link of the peer observation website, how many we've done, and then I give about five shout-outs of those exact snippets. Jeff, and I list and I just copy and print from the Google Sheet into my things to know. So now the entire building hears that Jeff was celebrated and acknowledged for this great skill set and this great lesson that this other teacher saw. I never mentioned the other teacher's name, right? I just put the part of the teacher that was observed in there. And people talk about it. We recognize people at our faculty meetings, right, for the number of peer observations they do, right? And it's like a $10 gift card and they go nuts, right, if they do a decent amount of peer observations. We get professional development hours, you know, for their year-end evaluation if they do peer observations. We didn't do that for the first two or three years, and we still had 700 done in a year. But we are always talking about getting better, being more like our best through our personalized PD and peer observations in collegiatic cafes. And our staff is they're living and breathing it. And it's a large, large portion of them that do it. So we're oh and we're always sharing at our administrative meetings to our coordinators' meetings and sharing out some of the great things we've seen through walkthroughs or through peer observations.

Principal JL: 43:29

Awesome. That's awesome. I really appreciate you sharing that. I think you kind of take that to a whole new level when you have it kind of like automated that way and systematically put together because that makes it easy on the teachers to do it because you're making it, you know, not much more than you know, not making it hard, you're making it easy to where, hey, this is something I want you to do, and this is how I'm going to support you. And so I really appreciate you sharing that with us today, Tony.

Tony Cattani: 43:56

One last thing, Jeff. Like when I do a formal observation, I always write in the last column that we have is I I encourage you to continue to conduct peer observations to expand your instructional repertoire. I encourage you to feature to you know focus on classroom management and such and such. We can talk to her in our post-observation about specific teachers. And then I give recommendations to go see teachers. And then they go and they say, Hey, Tony told me I should come see you. Tony said I should come right and now those teachers feel great about themselves that the principal or their assistant principal are recognizing them, their greatness. And I try to diversify it as much as I possibly can to build some other people up, but also let them learn from one another. And I so before we we rolled it out this year, we're filming this in October. I didn't really roll it out till the first week of October. And by the time we got there at October, we already had like 65 done. Like I didn't even roll it out yet, but they were already doing them and recording them. So now within the first like we start after Labor Day here. So you know, we've been in school, I don't know, 35 days, 40 days, I don't even know, 40 days, and we already have 138 done. Like they just do them with minimal direction from us, so it's great.

Principal JL: 45:07

Awesome. So it's just a part of your culture, it's just this is what we do, and you know, that's kind of awesome. It does take time to build those things, you know. Being a principal, I understand that because I'm trying to build some here at Hastings High, and I'm in my fourth year, I'm a long ways away from getting where we want to be, but we're making some good strides on that. Appreciate the work you're doing, Tony. You know, this past summer you're out in Seattle, that's where I really got to connect with you for the first time. But you were honored to be the 2025 National Principal of the Year by the NASSP. What does this recognition mean for you professionally and personally? And maybe what opportunities have opened up since you've been named the National Principal of the Year?

Tony Cattani: 45:53

Well, opportunities to start with. I'm I'm here on your podcast right now, right? I've never been on a podcast, and now I'm on your podcast, right? Sharing some good stuff and talking with people like you. Being recognized as the NASSP secondary school principal of the year has has been overwhelming to say the least. It was like I said, it was never part of the plan, but something I feel like I'm ready for, to be truthful with you. And when I was recognized for it, I thought it was in over my head as when I was named the state principal of the year, and then I was named the finalist, and I was like, this is crazy. Like, no way could this ever happen. And when it all came to fruition, I was taken back emotionally. It took me back to a variety of different parts of my life where I never saw this path come in here, man. And I've always worked really hard for my kids and my community, for my family to be proud. And we we live by something called Lenape Pride. And we I want kids to be proud of being a Lenape student. And I want our staff and our community to be proud. They worked at Lenape with all of us and for their parents to send them there. That's all I ever worked hard to be. Uh, never for a title. I mean, the funny part about this is I've never been employee of the month at my building, right? I've never been employee of the month, and now I'm state principal of the year and national principal of the year. My assistant principals are busting my chops the other day. Like, yeah, I mean you got an employee of the month, and all of a sudden you're national principal of the year. It it means the world to me that I can celebrate all the great things that are happening at Lenape. And also that I can share some of my leadership skills with some other people that might need it and share my story, like I told you a little bit earlier, just a snippet of it of man, I was ready to quit this profession and be done with it. And I stuck it through because I I found my I found my people that helped me get better. And I want to be that person for other people. You know, the Todd Whitaker, Jimmy Cossas, Joe San Filip is of the world, people like that that inspired me when I heard them talk for the first time. I want to hopefully do that for one person and let them know that this is a network of people and you don't have to be isolated. And this job is super isolating. Being a teacher can be isolating, and that's why the peer observation model is so big. And so can the administrative field can be super isolating. You feel like you need to be, like I said earlier, that that God mentality, solve everybody's problem, all the weight of the world's on your shoulders, and you can see how different people do it. And when when you do it, it can be really beautiful if you surround yourself with the right people. And I have made some good decisions in my life. I surround myself with good people, but this recognition has been the world to me. It was, it's it's been one of the best moments of my life was that moment when they read my name on there, and I was completely taken aback when it was said. They give you no heads up that you are the person before they say your name, but it's meant a lot to me and my family, my community. I I could never describe it to be to be blunt with you. It's been overwhelming.

Principal JL: 48:44

Yeah, I really appreciate you sharing your thoughts on that because hey, you do deserve it. Congratulations. I couldn't think of a better person to get that award uh for this past year for sure. So, Tony, you're not, you know, you're not just a principal, you know, you're also the national principal of the year, but you have this little thing called the Proud Principles Podcast. And it's a podcast I've listened to. I've actually learned about it when you're doing the episode with Dr. Darren Peppard on the leaning into leadership. And so that's what got me going, listening more of what you're doing. So, what really inspired you to start the Proud Principle Podcast?

Tony Cattani: 49:25

Yeah, I think it was all the previous things I said, right? The isolation of this profession, learning from some of our best and sharing best practices to be more like our best. I mean, the whole philosophy of the peer observation model has really fallen into my lap of being of doing the podcast. It's really the mentality that I have that we can we can get better by utilizing our best resources, each other. And you know, some of these things can be free and we can learn from one another from people all across the country that have different experiences. And that that was one of the big pieces. When I started the peer observation, I started, like I told you, I started visiting other schools. And, you know, people were like, What are you gonna do with this information? Because I was taking notes and writing things down. And they were like, I said, I would tell them, like, share me your share with me your proudest effort. And they would tell me, Oh, you got to come see my my Unity program. You have to uh you have to come see this program, you have to come see how I handle this situation, right? And I started writing notes, and people were like, You're gonna write a book. I'm like, no, I don't, I don't really write that well, so I'm not gonna write a book. And then my wife said, Well, you start a podcast, you know, everybody else has one. And uh, so I created a podcast and I said, Maybe I'll try it. And I went to the NSSP conference, and not this past year, the year before, and I started asking people, what are your proud, what's your proudest effort? Like weird questions, walking up to people with a microphone, like, what's your proudest principal effort? And people felt really good about sharing it, and it made it changed the their mindset of thinking about all the things they defend and they're worried about and the negative things to start thinking about the positive things they do and the impact they make. And I could see like this their face brighten up when they talked about it, right? This woman, Kim Hefner from outside of Chicago and Illinois, talking about her program of her school newspaper. And she was like, No one's ever asked me this question. And she was sweet, she was one of my first people. And then the next person I asked, right, she gims fantastic. Then I asked Andy Farley. I had no idea who Andy Farley was at the time. That's the first national principal of the year I ever met. I found out he was national principal of the year like 12 hours later when I went to his session. He never told me. But I just started talking to him at a table and asked him his proudest moment. I said, if you were to present here, what would you present on? He said, I'm actually presenting tomorrow. And then it just started, I started asking more and more people. And then I started the podcasts that I could share all these great things that I was getting from the Kim Hefners and Andy Farleys and Matt Campbell's of the world from the Lenape District and from Branton County, you know, Ryan Gorman from Cinemans, and all these people. And I just started expanding it. And then when I was named the state principal of the year and I was going to go out to Seattle, I made a purpose that I was my goal was to interview every state principal of the year. So I tracked them all down and I sent them an email. And by the time I got to Seattle, I had completed, I had set up maybe like 25 of them already, but I had completed maybe 10 to 15 of them. So when I walked in there, I knew 25 principals from across the country. And I felt super comfortable with them, and they felt super comfortable with me. And it was my ability to network and connect people there, like Dr. Matt Epps from Alabama, man, like Adam Lanco and you know, and Lindsay Allen and Laura Tobias. I knew all these people walking in the door, and I was able to, you know, help them connect with me, but also guide them, like, oh, you Ryan Cordia from Nevada, you would love what Dr. Matt Epps is doing. You guys are really similar in your CTE programs, right? And but Lindsey Allen, you should talk to Laura Tobias about your mentoring program or whatever, right? Like I knew those things about those people, and it changed the dynamics of that setting in Seattle for them and for me. And uh, I feel like I'm a connector and I and I and I put them first on my show. It is all about them, it is all about them sharing their best practice. I barely want to speak. I want them to be proud of what they do because we don't, we're not proud enough. And we we think about the tough the tough spots, and we I want I want to celebrate you just like I do my teachers. I want to celebrate their greatest strength, their greatest accomplishments with other people. I want to do the same thing with school leaders.

Principal JL: 53:15

Wow. I mean, that's really awesome. I love the fact the story behind the Proud Principal podcast, and I kind of like had the same type of thing when I started this podcast as I'm not a good writer, but I can talk. And so being able to bring people on like you, and you know, when I was out in Seattle, I actually got to connect with a lot of people that have been on my show, and so that was really neat. So I kind of understand what that's like to just finally meet the people that you were, you know, doing a Zoom call or doing a you know online interview with, and then finally to get to meet them in person is even even better because you already have that that instant connection. But I really loved how you're talking about how you connect people, yeah. And I think that's a very great skill to have because you're seeing things in a big picture mode and be like, hey, I think this person and this person can get together and they'll be good for each other. And I think that's a gift. I mean, I don't think everybody's got that, and I really appreciate the gift that you have and that you're sharing that with people. So keep up that awesome work, man. That's great. So, you know, in the news, sometimes we hear all these negative things about education. So, is there anything positive that you think you know of when you think about the future of education? Is there anything that's gets you excited, like gives you hope? Because I do hear the national narratives, like you know, they're down on it, but I want to bring up some positivity. What's something excites you about doing the work that you're doing and the future of education?

Tony Cattani: 54:44

So one of the things that really excites me just about being a principal and a school leader in my building is that I get to try care and try and do different things every day with my students and staff, almost like a laboratory, right? And to see well how how far we can push people's skill set and really make them expand their minds. And I love it. Whether right now we're really dialing in on some AI integration with our staff. I'm also I created a student Lenape Leadership Academy where we're cultivating school leaders in our building. And I created a curriculum and I teach the class myself, you know, every other week. And I'm meeting with kids and putting them in spots that for them to be successful, presenting in front of people, making decisions in our building. But I'm doing the same thing with some aspiring administrators in my building, like a leadership academy for for adults, but also creating leaders in my building of staff. And I think the the piece of it is that there's a lot of untapped resources in our buildings right now, and that you know, talking with the school leaders from across the country with the podcast and through the NASSP, it's just really heartwarming that there are so many great leaders and teachers across the country that are doing amazing things that don't get enough credit for it, unfortunately. And we just don't talk about those stories. We don't share them enough, right? Because what gets on the news a lot of times is the negative stuff, then the positive stuff's at the very end of the show when everybody tunes out. But I think we need to continue to control that narrative and share the positive things that are happening. I'm excited about what the direction of Lenape High School is going in right now and all the great things that our students and staff are doing. I'm also excited, I'm looking a lot at right now of like some career pathways. And some people, you know, that really got me onto that was some people I mentioned, like the Lindsay Allen, Ryan and Andy Farley about providing some career pathways for kids that are looking at the health services. And I'm interested in looking at that. We just started a metal fabrication program and welding program in our building, you know, with a program, some dynamic teachers that we have there, right? And like the the Todd Whitaker, right? It's it's people not programs, putting the right people in the spots. Not just the facility and the equipment you provide them, but it's the people doing it. And uh my buddy Lindsay has a the saying, right? When the kids come into the building, he tells the parents and the kids, we want, you know, we want like three E's, and we just added a fourth at Lenape was, you know, we want you to consider like what pathway are you on? Enrolled, the E of enrolled, enrolled in a two or four-year college when you leave here. Are you enlisted in one of the military branches? Are you or you are you employed, right? That's the three E's. So we got to figure out what pathway. And then we added the fourth being an entrepreneur, right? So are you or one of those four? What are those four E's do you want to do? And the other, the fifth E really is you're gonna explore those opportunities to determine which one you want. But hopefully, by like around your sophomore, you're just starting to make some things, some inroads into that and figure that out. So I want to better prepare our students for whatever path they want to take by providing opportunities. And I'm learning from people all over the country of how they're doing that. And I'm looking to duplicate that and make it better at Lenni B High School for our kids and providing our kids at Mount Laurel those opportunities. So that's what excites me. But everyday leadership stuff excites me every day, trying to think of different ways to engage kids and engage staff to be their very best, to provide an environment where they can be the best versions of themselves.

Principal JL: 57:57

Awesome. I really appreciate that, Tony, because you know you're right. I mean, you gotta keep learning and growing yourself. How do you help other people learn and grow uh throughout that process? And I really appreciate you sharing that with us. So you talked about working with aspiring leaders, you know, and that's something I keep thinking about is like, how can I help develop my staff, the leadership skills they have within my building? So when it's time for them and they want to get into the administration side, they're ready for it. So, what advice would you give aspiring educators that want to get into educational leadership?

Tony Cattani: 58:37

Yeah, I think there's two things. So if we're talking about aspiring leaders, I think it's you got to get involved and get experiences in a variety of different levels. It's not just people want to go right to, oh, well, I've never done conduct. Conduct is a small piece of being a school administrator. I want to see people be an instructional leader. I want to see people being involved in organizing, coordinating our prom or a senior trip. I want to see people how they interact with students on a daily basis and you know, balance expectations with kindness. I I want to see provide staff to be in those roles in a variety of roles, whether a class advisor, a coach, that in-school suspension director, whatever that might be, but diverse opportunities to interact with kids that you don't hold a grade over, right? That those kids are acting in a certain way because you have you can give them a 79 or an 80, goes from a C to a B, and that's how that that relationship is being manipulated. When there's no level of power, I want to see how you interact with those with those individuals. But the biggest things I could tell any administrator is that I think to be intentional, intentional with the things that you that you want to do. And I and I've learned that over the the several past couple of years, I should say a couple years, is being a little bit more intentional with my thoughts, my planning, my schedule, of you know, whether scheduling walkthroughs, scheduling mentorships for students, for staff, you know, scheduling time in my day that I can try to work on some technology, whether it's uh Canva or some AI, or it's being intentional of celebrating greatness in our building, students and staff. Super intentional with those things. And I'm getting my staff to be, my administrative team to be more intentional with their time too. So I'm working that through some of our inspiring leaders and really thinking about the characteristics of what make a great school leader. And that can be really defined in so many different ways, but having them look at the some of the characteristics that maybe they define or people around them define, and then putting them with people that are great leaders as well. So I think there's the intentionality of being a school leader is purposeful. Being a student of leadership, what podcasts, what books, you know, who are you interacting with? Who are you, who who's your circle, who is that energy you're trying to match is intentional. The things that you're doing on a daily basis to make yourself better is intentional. Sometimes it just happens, but that's not good enough. So I think those are major components of successful school leaders, whether aspiring or ones that are currently sitting in the seat.

Principal JL: 1:01:00

Hey, that's great advice, Tony. I really appreciate you, you know, sharing that out. And really, this podcast episode has really kind of flown by. I've had a lot of fun, I've learned a lot from you. I think we've I've even learned more just by having you come on the show. I know I've listened to your podcast, but I really get to learn more about you and your leadership and kind of all the great things that you guys are doing over there at Lenape High School. Now, Tony, there's going to be people that are going to be listening to this show and they might want to connect with you. So if people wanted to connect with you, how could they do that?

Tony Cattani: 1:01:38

Yeah, I think one of the easiest ways is right through Instagram, to be honest with you, at Tony underscore Katani underscore Proud Principal. Um I had to change it recently because I had Proud Principal's podcast and people were saying they didn't know how to find Tony Katani. So I changed it just recently on Instagram. So you can find me there on Instagram. You know, hit me up, DM me, come visit Lennyby High School anytime you want. Jeff, your open invitation anytime you're coming to New Jersey, come see what we're doing. You can we can talk about you know peer observations to our sobbing circles where we changed our faculty meetings to collegiate cafes to all these crazy things we do with our staff of coffee and soda days and carts being pushed up and down the school. It's whatever, right? Pictures all over every hallway of all the kids, our Pride Day, anything you want to come. My door's open. It's an open laboratory for us to kind of experiment and do great things. But probably Instagram would be the best. Lenape High School in Medford, New Jersey. You can hit me up on my email as well. You can find me on the website at Lenape High School of the Lenape Regional High School District in Medford, New Jersey. Hit me up on an email. You can also find me on Twitter at Katoni, uh at Katani Tony is my Twitter account. So yeah, pretty easy to find, I think. But listen to the podcast, and uh you can hit me up on any. Those areas. I'd be love to talk to you. A lot of people have been reaching out lately and have tons of visitors coming to Lendope. So anytime.

Principal JL: 1:02:51

Yeah, you agree. I wish I would have known you about a year ago when Nebraska was playing the pinstripe bowl because I was in New Jersey. I was up in Fort Street, New Jersey, and went over and watched the Pinstripe Bowl where the Huskers took on the Boston College Eagles and they got the win. So I was happy about that. Yep. On that end. So, Tony, you know, that's great information. I will actually list that information in our show notes so it makes it real easy for people to connect with you when they listen to the show as well. And so, Tony, I really appreciate you being on the show today. Is there anything you'd like to leave our audience with before we go?

Tony Cattani: 1:03:28

Yeah, so I'm I'm really passionate about sharing some of these leadership skills and the peer observation models and some of the things we're doing at Lenape. So if anybody else, again, wants to talk about these things, I'm open to talk. You know, I've been provided some opportunities as now the NSSP National Principle Year to come out to different states across the country. I want to celebrate you and also share some things we're doing and maybe we can learn from one another. So contact me if you're if you're interested in talking about these things further, whether me coming to you or you coming to me, I'm open for those things. But just continue to lead with pride because that's what I'm I'm proud of what I do.

Principal JL: 1:04:01

Awesome. Tony, it was great having you on the show. I'll let you go for the day. Talk to you later. Thank you. Wow, what a conversation with Tony Cattani. His leadership story reminds us that leadership is tough. But if we surround ourselves with successful, like-minded people, we too can find success. If this episode resonates with you, please share it with someone who needs to hear it. And don't forget to subscribe and share the podcast with like-minded people like you. And let's build this community of growth minded educators. Thank you for tuning in and remember to always be curious and 1% better.