The elementary school of The American Community School in Beirut, Lebanon. Our classroom was on the other side of the building. We were on the top floor with wall to wall windows that looked out at the beautiful Mediterranean Sea.
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There are three essentials to leadership: humility, clarity and courage.  ~ Chan Master Fuchan Yuan

Fitz (Mr. Fitzgerald) was the principal of the elementary school during my years of teaching at ACS. He was continuing his life-long adventure after retiring as principal of a school on Long Island. In other words, he was old in my eyes. I don’t remember ever having a personal conversation with him. We never met outside of school, I never met his wife, and so on. Nonetheless, he was one of the best, most supportive leaders I’ve ever known. Incredibly ‘emotionally intelligent’ years before that term became part of our leadership lexicon.

He came into our classroom one day. Everyone was sitting on the floor working in small groups. I was sitting with one of the groups. He couldn’t find me. So he asked the class, “Do you know where Ms. Shipka is?”

“I’m right here,” I said. He looked surprised. I got up and we stepped outside of the classroom to address his reason for the visit. After that, he said, “I couldn’t tell you from the students! And, by the way, your room is really a mess. It looks like chaos! How can anyone find anything?”

It was true. There were unfinished chess games, projects in process, opinion polls hanging from the blackboard, and so on. My response? “For us, it’s fine. We know exactly where everything is. Who else needs to know? We’ll straighten it up before parent conferences.”

He shook his head and said, “You know, I wouldn’t trade one creative teacher like you for ten more standard, by the book, teachers.” When I look back, my sense is that he saw me as a mustang. His job was to keep me in the corral but not break me. And he had to back me up big-time a couple of times that I remember.

In the class where 1/3 of the students entered the year as non-English speakers and with no language in common, there was one kid who was both physically big and a bully. Probably because he felt left out, not being able to communicate in English yet. I tried to help him modify his bullying behavior but it continued and continued and continued. 

One day, I just “lost it.” He had just socked one of the little girls again! I turned around and socked him in the stomach. Not hard, but still…. “Are you kidding me?” I thought. “I just socked a kid. Oh man, I’m in big trouble now!” Hyperventilating, I bounded four floors down the stairs two at a time to get to Fitz’s office. I had to tell him what I had done.

He wasn’t happy about it, of course, but he knew the kid from his frequent visits to Fitz’s office. He responded very calmly, “Thanks for letting me know. That way, if there are any issues with the parents, I can be there for you. And,” he continued, “Maybe this will help this kid understand that there’s always somebody around who is bigger than he is.” I don’t think anyone told their parents, not even the kid I socked.

And then there was the time I ‘forgot’ to teach Science for a whole quarter. Today it would be different, but at the time I didn’t like teaching Science. When it came time to do report cards, I had to ‘fess up. Again, Fitz backed me. He asked, “What did you do instead? Ah, lots of Social Studies and English. Be sure to include that on the report cards. And also mention that the class will be doing double science next quarter, right?”

What a guy! Given his decades of experience, I imagine he’d seen it all before. The qualities I most remember are wisdom, kindness, patience, and support. I am ever so grateful to have worked with him. While we didn’t have a personal relationship, we had a high regard for each other.

Photo by Barbara
Beirut, Lebanon