Summer Leadership: Building with Intention, Leading with Responsibility

Summer Leadership: Building with Intention, Leading with Responsibility

RF
Rosalie FavuzzaPrincipal, NYC Public Schools
4 min read

While classrooms grow quiet and hallways sit still, the work of a school leader doesn’t stop when the final bell rings. In fact, summer is often when real leadership is tested—not in urgency, but in intentionality. The summer months are a crucible where the difference between reactionary leadership and visionary leadership becomes clear.

The Quiet Work of Transformation

Summer is not just downtime—it’s design time. A principal’s summer should be less about catching up on emails and more about stepping back to ask the big, strategic questions:

  • What kind of culture am I cultivating?

  • What systems need refining so teachers can thrive?

  • How will our school meet the challenges of the year ahead with clarity and confidence?

This is the season where leaders plant the seeds for sustainable change. It’s easy to get caught up in checking boxes and filling vacancies, but true leadership asks you to zoom out. Vision is a muscle. Summer is when we stretch it.

Summer Is Where the Magic Begins

For me, summer isn’t just my favorite season—it’s when I think most clearly. The school year is full of noise; summer is where I reconnect to the quiet fire behind the work. It’s where I listen to what the school needs next—and blueprint it into existence.

Two years ago, during one of those intentional summers, I redesigned our entire professional development plan into a four-step cycle. Instead of weekly sessions that felt disconnected, each week focused on one of the four core phases. The specific content evolved throughout the year, but the structure was set. That simple shift created consistency, increased accountability, and turned professional learning into a cohesive, year-long journey.

That’s the kind of work summer allows—visionary, structured, and deeply aligned to what matters most.

Own the Vision, Delegate the Logistics

Strong leaders don’t do it all—they empower others. While operations must continue—hiring, scheduling, compliance—a leader’s role is not to be in every detail, but to ensure the right people are. Use this time to invest in your team. Identify leadership potential among assistant principals and teacher leaders. Let them lead summer initiatives. Give them meaningful ownership.

You cannot build a sustainable vision if you’re micromanaging everything. Leadership is not martyrdom. It’s about knowing what only you can do—and what others can grow into doing.

Responsibility Without Burnout

Effective school leaders carry a deep sense of responsibility—but unchecked, that drive can become a burden. Summer is a perfect moment to examine where you may be holding too much. Are you over-functioning for others? Making decisions for the sake of control rather than growth?

Use this time to reflect:

  • Are you setting clear boundaries?

  • Are you giving yourself space to recover, think, and create?

  • Are you prioritizing your own growth the way you prioritize everyone else’s?

You cannot lead with clarity if you’re constantly in crisis mode. Use summer to reclaim your authority—not just over your calendar, but over your vision and energy.

Lead Like You Mean It

Summer is not about being “off”; it’s about being intentional. This is when the scaffolding of the next school year is built—not just through plans and budgets, but through conscious leadership decisions.

Your staff, your students, your families—they deserve a leader who is grounded, focused, and deeply aligned. That version of you is built in the summer.

So don’t just manage the school. Lead it. With intention. With courage. And with the clarity that comes from knowing: you are the architect of the vision you are here to bring to life.

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