What Halloween, middle school behavior, and school turnaround have in common.

There is a part of the conversation about student engagement that we don't talk about nearly enough. What happens when the adult who built the connection isn't there anymore? Not because the relationship wasn't important. Not because the teacher didn't care. Sometimes the teacher simply disappears.

Why, when confronted with pictures of my hometown devastated by a tornado, did I instinctively search for my schools? Connection? Safety? Belonging? Positive memories? Maybe all of them. And because I am an educator, eventually the personal reflection became a professional one.

There is something special about the first few days back on campus. Before students fill the hallways and the bells begin to dictate our days, there is an energy that is hard to describe. Classrooms are being organized, bulletin boards are coming to life, lesson plans are taking shape, and conversations echo through the halls. It feels like possibility. This year, though, that energy feels different. It isn't just the excitement that comes with a new school year. It's the con

There is a moment every spring when the building feels different. You can hear it in the quieter laughter, see it in the way teachers hold eye contact just a second longer, feel it in the unspoken question sitting in every room. State testing is coming, and in a turnaround school, that does not feel like a date on a calendar. It feels like a verdict.