Brookside co-principal completes school leadership program

December 4, 2024  |  By Waterbury Roundabout

Brookside Primary School Co-Principal Sarah Schoolcraft (second from left) with the Snelling Center's Vermont School Leadership Project co-directors (left to right) Val Gardner, Jeff Evans and Meagan Roy. Photo by Johannes Otter

The Snelling Center for Government announced that Brookside Primary School Co-Principal Sarah Schoolcraft of Duxbury has graduated from its Vermont School Leadership Project.

The program’s 2024 class held a graduation luncheon in November at the Lake Morey Resort in Fairlee. 

As part of the leadership program, Schoolcraft joined 15 other school leaders from around the state for a series of seven unique overnight sessions designed to foster meaningful relationships and encourage self-reflection. Session topics included complex systems thinking, understanding of self, values, personal leadership assessments, skills for listening, collective inquiry, and development of a personal practice plan. Through these exercises, the program challenges and supports participants to develop self-awareness and acquire knowledge and skills for strong leadership and thoughtful action. 

At the program’s graduation ceremony, the keynote address was delivered by Elaine Pinckney, former superintendent of the Champlain Valley School District and a 2001 graduate of the same Snelling Center program. 

Pinckney read selected poems and shared stories from her time in the program. Her message to the graduates was to stay connected with one another, and to nurture the community that they formed over their several months together.

As the 16th cohort of the Vermont School Leadership Project, the Class of 2024 joins a professional network of more than 1,100 Vermont Leadership Network alumni, including more than 325 student leadership project graduates who are leading their schools and districts with a collaborative, ethical, effective approach.

Find more information about the Snelling Center and its professional development programs online at snellingcenter.org or call 802-859-3090. 

The Snelling Center for Government is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization that fosters responsible and ethical civic leadership, public service and promotes informed citizen participation in shaping public policy in Vermont.