Why would a Head of School publish board reports, blog weekly, and invite the world into classrooms online? Why make every family survey public? Why post meeting agendas and reflections before anyone asks? Why, in short, would you willingly lead in full view?
For me, the answer has always been the same: because we asked our teachers to.
Going all the way back to my time in Jacksonville as the head of MJGDS, we launched classroom blogs and student blogfolios to help parents see into the learning process. Teachers were expected to open their practice, and I knew I couldn’t ask something of my team that I wasn’t doing myself. So I started blogging. And I never stopped.
What began as modeling evolved into a methodology. Here, at OJCS, transparency became a leadership strategy, a pedagogical philosophy, a brand identity — and most importantly, a cultural norm.
Looking Backwards: Why We Went Transparent
When I arrived at OJCS in 2017, I inherited a school that needed rebuilding — not just in curriculum or enrollment, but in trust. And for me, rebuilding trust meant radical transparency.
Inspired by what I would later codify in a presentation called “Radical Transparency: Finding Wellness Through Brazen Vulnerability”, I made a conscious choice to lead in public. That meant:
- Publishing weekly blog posts that shared both vision and vulnerability.
- Posting faculty slide decks and board updates for anyone to see.
- Making annual parent survey results public and addressing them point-by-point.
- Writing blog posts titled things like “Why Do We Give Homework?” and “Let’s Talk About the ‘J’ in OJCS” before parents even asked.
I called this ongoing series “The Transparency Files”, and it was never just PR. It was pedagogy. As I once wrote, “transparency is not an initiative — it is a disposition.” It’s a way of being in relationship with your community.
Blogfolios, Blogfolios Everywhere
One of our biggest culture shifts came from embedding that same philosophy of transparency into teaching and learning.
At OJCS, we developed a school-wide blogfolio platform where every student maintains a digital portfolio of learning. But these aren’t just showcases of final work. They’re public learning journals — spaces for reflection, process, revision, and voice.
I’ve written about this shift many times, including this (First) Trip Around the OJCS Student Blogfolio-Sphere, and even shared moments where my own children were the test cases for what authentic documentation of learning can look like.
The result? A culture where students take ownership of their learning, teachers reflect on their practice publicly, and parents gain real-time insight into school life. Transparency became not just what we said, but what we all did — together.
Transparency as Pedagogy, Not PR
As I’ve written in “Transparency as Pedagogy”, the point of all this wasn’t optics. It was ethics. Educational ethics.
We want students to own their work — so we model that by owning ours.
We want teachers to iterate and reflect — so we give them space to blog honestly.
We want families to trust us — so we show them how we think.
And as I later reflected in “Transparency as Good Business”, transparency is a trust-builder. And trust is the only sustainable growth strategy for a Jewish day school.
Looking Forward: From Transparency to Culture
What started as a leadership strategy has since become a cultural norm. Teachers, students, and families now expect communication to be open, frequent, and reflective. It’s not radical anymore — it’s routine.
This culture of transparency paved the way for us to clarify and align around our North Stars (post pending!). It made it possible to co-create mission, strategy, and school identity in public. And it gave every stakeholder — from students to trustees — a reason to believe we meant what we said.
Because they could see it.
Final Reflection
Transparency isn’t about oversharing. It’s about earning trust through clarity, vulnerability, and consistency. It’s about documenting the journey, not just the destination.
And maybe more than anything else, it’s about this: If you can see it, you can believe in it. And if you believe in it… you just might want to be part of it.