Name: Emile Ferlisi

Title: Principal, South River Public School (currently on leave)

Organisation: Near North District School Board

Emile has been an educator for the past 20 years. He began his career in the Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board where he held roles including Junior Division teacher, Special Education Resource Teacher, Academic Consultant, Elementary Guidance and Experiential Learning Teacher, Vice Principal and Principal. Emile moved to the Near North District School board to become Principal at South River Public School in August of 2023. He is currently on leave after the passing of his son, Jean-Paul. As he works through his grief, he is looking to return to activities that he once enjoyed outside of his vocation including playing hockey, writing, and clumsily strumming his guitar and singing along. He lives in North Bay, Ontario, Canada with his wife Cara and remaining children Emilie and William.

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Educational Leadership!

I hope Emile's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. What have you found most challenging as an Educational Leader?

I have found that the largest challenge to being an educational leader is the workload involved if you are committed to doing a great job in the role. In most roles you are able to prioritize your individual workload; as an educational leader (ie: Principal, Vice Principal) your job it to make everyone else's job easier! My job is to make sure that the staff and students are able to thrive in our school community and whatever tasks that I have to complete have to be secondary to taking care of the students and staff. The most challenging thing is being an authentic servant leader, but it's also the only way to fill the role well, in my opinion.

2. How did you become an Educational Leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?

I was provided with the opportunity to be an educational leader about four years into my career when I was asked to become a special education resource teacher. My new role allowed me to take a broader view of the school I worked in and the family of schools I was working in. I went from supporting students to supporting students and colleagues, and this was the 'game changer' in my leadership journey. After a few years in the role, I began applying to central positions that would allow me to work with staff throughout the board and support their professional growth, as well as my own of course. It took me many, many attempts (I believe 11) to land a position, but I eventually did. I thoroughly enjoyed the dual role of supporting students and staff and took that as a sign that my colleagues and friends were correct in suggesting that I might be a good fit as a Vice Principal.

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

On a typical work day, I wake up at about 6:00 am and check the absence system for my school to make sure the building is staffed. If it isn't, I already know what my first task will be when I arrive. If there are staffing shortages upon my arrival, I make plans to cover these shortages and then make sure the duty schedule is covered to ensure student safety. Once I know we have covered the day, I make sure to walk to each classroom, prior to the start of the day, to say good morning to all staff. Because I work in an elementary school, the rest of the day almost "comes to me" in that there is always something that will require my attention. I should add that I am also on the duty/supervision schedule so I have to be mindful of this. By lunch I have visited most, if not all classes, and am responding to whatever concerns I might have to prioritize. I check in with our resource team at least once each day, but often it's more than that, and I have individual students who may require some of my time or a visit to check in and see how the day has gone, or to reset after a challenging time. I intermittently check my email to ensure that I'm keeping up, anything that takes less than a minute to respond to is done, if there are tasks that take longer than a minute, I may have to defer to the end of the day, depending on how the day is going. When the school day ends, I often walk around the building saying good-bye to students and chatting, very briefly, with families to encourage comfort and build relationships. From about 3:30 to perhaps 5 or so, I am working on the tasks and communication that has been deferred throughout the school day. I attempt to leave for home by 5:30 or so. If there are still tasks to be handled, I can take care of them after dinner; on a typical night I will be on my laptop after dinner for a couple of hours before unwinding and heading to sleep.

4. What's a recent lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of as an Educational Leader?

I think the lesson that will always be most important as an educational leader is that it's "people before paperwork" - and, to be fair, I have borrowed that from people online. No matter how important the task at hand might be, the people in front of us are always the priority. I don't have the luxury of closing my door and focusing on something that will allow me to complete "my job", because the truth is, taking care of all the people in my building IS my job, it's my number one job.

5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your journey as an Educational Leader so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted you?

Several books have impacted my journey so far, perhaps more than I can concisely list, but they include: The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint Exupery), Man's Search for Meaning (Viktor Frankl), On Becoming a Person (Carl Rogers), To Know as we are Known (Parker Palmer). These books, and many others, validated my belief that education is rooted in human connection and further validates and proves the idea that we are always teaching people and not just teaching subjects. What these books have in common is that they deepen the reader's understanding of the human condition and how to connect with others. They all focus on connection and purpose - they all focus on living a life of connection and purpose. These texts have allowed me to embrace the idea that service to others as an educational leader can be the way in which fulfill a meaningful purpose and help to improve the lives of others.

6. If you could only give one piece of advice to a young educator who aspires to be an Educational Leader, what would you say to them?

If I was limited to one piece of advice it would be that you have to genuinely and authentically care. You have to be willing to put the needs of others in front of your own, without question. You have to aspire to servant leadership - if that doesn't sound like you, that is more than okay because there are several, several roles in education and one of them will be a fit for you.

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as an Educational Leader, so far?

There are so many stories that are meaningful to me, I will choose one that is fairly recent. There was a student who had multiple challenges at a school where I was the Principal. This student had behavioral concerns and was often out of the classroom or required to be removed from the classroom. In many ways I ended up being this child's Educational assistant because the classroom EA couldn't simply chase them around the school. I worked with the resource team to support the student and I communicated with the family often - very often in fact. There were many days when the student had to leave the school early, and they were suspended on multiple occasions. Unfortunately, the child eventually had a violent incident which forced me to go the route of exclusion (meaning the student wouldn't attend the school any longer). These kinds of things happen all the time, but what made this story different was the fact that the family thanked me for my support and completely worked with me every step. The student even told people that they didn't even want to return to school until I was back. This story is one that shows me that building relationships with students and their families can help you to overcome the most challenging and difficult situations. In most cases where a child is facing severe discipline, the school and the family are 'at odds', in this case, the time and energy and care that had gone into this student was appreciated and understood and served everyone well. Stories like this prove that the care we give our students can lead to improved relationships with families that, eventually, can lead to improved outcomes for the student and school community. This was a remarkable "win" situation where usually it would be a tumultuous one instead.