Linking Leaders PodCASt
Linking Leaders PodCASt features candid conversations with top educational leaders who come together to share experiences and explore pathways to success. In each episode, we engage with dynamic leaders to uncover real-life stories, practical strategies and bold insights on timely and relevant topics. Listen up to link up and let us help you expand your network of innovation and support!
Linking Leaders PodCASt
Jarrid Clifton Discusses the Power of Relationship-Driven Leadership
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Ever wondered what it takes to be a school leader who truly connects with students and staff? Join us as we chat with Jarrid Clifton, the newly crowned 2024 CAS Middle Level Assistant Principal of the Year. Jarrid, the associate principal of Timothy Edwards Middle School in South Windsor, shares his distinct approach to leadership—one that centers around listening, valuing feedback, and building strong relationships. You'll hear how his commitment to being visible and accessible has earned him the endearing title of a "chill dude with a heart of gold" from his students. His stories highlight the value of being relatable and approachable in the ever-evolving landscape of education.
Hi and welcome to the Linking Leaders Podcast. Linking Leaders Podcast features candid conversations with top educational leaders who come together to share experiences and explore pathways to success. In each episode, we engage with dynamic leaders to uncover real-life stories, practical strategies and bold insights on timely and relevant topics. Listen up to Link Up and let us help you expand your network of innovation and support.
Speaker 2Hello and welcome to the Linking Leaders podcast. I am your host, dr Alicia Bowman, and today I'll be chatting with Jared Clifton, who was recently named the 2024 Connecticut Association of Schools Middle Level Assistant Principal of the Year. Jared is the Associate Principal of Timothy Edwards Middle School in South Windsor, connecticut. Timothy Edwards is a grade 6-8 school with nearly 1,100 students and more than 100 faculty and staff. The school prides itself as a place where children are inspired to grow and learn in a caring atmosphere of respect, exploration and discovery. School staff recognize and appreciate the special needs and uniqueness of adolescents and are committed to their academic and personal growth. Jared, it's my pleasure to welcome you to the Linking Leaders podcast. Awesome, hey, thank you. My pleasure to welcome you to the.
Speaker 3Linking Leaders podcast Awesome, hey, thank you so much. I really appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 2Happy to have you here today. So to get us started, I'd like to read a quote about you from the press release upon the announcement of your award, and the quote read Jared strives to get better every day and to lead others along with him. So tell us, what actions do you take to get better every day and how do you bring others along with you?
Speaker 3Wow. I think that everybody in the educational field is constantly striving to get better, while you're either refining your craft as a teacher or you're looking to improve your skills as an administrator. I think that every day is an opportunity. One thing that I really appreciate is being accepting of feedback, whether positive or negative. I want to sort of determine feedback as a gift, and we need to kind of treat it that way and be able to listen when people have something to say. So I think the one thing that I try to do every day is I try to be a good listener, be a leader, and you have to be a good listener. You got to listen to what people are saying. So I think one of the things that I try to do I try to be available, try to be visible, try to listen to what people have to say, and I take one thing away that you can learn, and then that bit of learning is how you become better every day.
Speaker 2I love that. Be a listener, be a good leader. I'm actually currently in the middle of reading a book about the connection between highly effective leaders and the ability to ask questions and just listen. So that's awesome. So if you had to name just a few qualities or habitudes that have led you to a successful career as a school leader, what would they be?
Speaker 3Yeah, going back to listening is a huge one because they say that you're given two ears and one mouth for a reason, and I guess the habits of practice is to be out and be available and be visible. I'm in my office for what I need, to be in the office for meetings or for these virtual meetings, all that good stuff but outside of that I try to do everything I can to be in the hallways, in the cafeteria, out for arrival and dismissal, just so everybody sees me, knows who I am, they know that I'm there to help. Kids would stop me in the hallway with an issue, whether big or small, that kind of thing. Teachers know that I'll pull up into their classroom just to catch up on emails, just to be out there and be with the kids, especially if they have said like hey, can you pop? In my period five class I got a little student issue. I want your opinion on listener, to hear tidbits that you can check in with somebody on.
Speaker 3If you're a visible one out there, you're having casual conversations, those conferences on one leg as you're walking through the hallway with somebody, something along those lines, but then following up with a person to show that you genuinely did listen and you have something to connect with them, goes a long way with building relationships. So, adding all those together, everybody knows that education really built on establishing relationships with kids, with staff, that kind of thing. And, like you said, 1,100 kids in our school we're right now pushing 1,200 now with the fast-growing district in Connecticut. So with that our certified staff is about 120, and our adults in the building is pushing 200. So it's a lot.
Speaker 2Our adults in the building is pushing 200. So it's a lot. So, speaking of a lot, students describe you as a chill dude with a heart of gold, so managing all of those people. What's your reaction to that description and how do you stay regulated as a calm and loving leader?
Speaker 3I can get a picture of the kid that said it and she's awesome. But just being out there with the kids, like if the kids know that I'm going to be accessible and they know that I'll be just somebody to sit and hear what they got to say and give them one little thing, if they can take that one little thing away and improve their day, you know that's got to be great. And then you know same thing with kids. You do with adults, you follow up, you check in with them. And then you know same thing with kids. You do with adults. You follow up, you check in with them.
Speaker 3Like I had a kid that was really struggling in a class last week and she had her head down and said she's hungry. I said, okay, what can I do to help? She said let's go, let's take a walk to the cafeteria, I'll get you something to eat. She said, no, I can't because I got to wait for Saturday. Okay, and they're like oh, you're a wrestler. So I connected with that little thing. And then I connected with her on Monday morning. I ran over to her and said, oh my gosh, how'd you do it? She won. It was such a cool connection to it.
Speaker 2But that little follow-up piece is, I'm hoping, what the kid meant when they said like heart of gold, awesome fortunate enough to be in the presence of Dr Adolph Brown III as the keynote speaker at the CAST Annual Leadership Conference. And Adolph Brown, he encouraged leaders to practice self-care. He said prioritize self-care and make time for activities that nourish your mind, body and soul. So what do you do to practice self-care as a leader? So what?
Speaker 3do you do to practice self-care as a leader? Oh, that's a hard question. Sounds so simple, but it is. Just listening to Doc Brown speak of the passion that he had about everything and putting yourself first when you need to, I love what he talked about. Make that mental list of the things you love. If you don't put yourself first, that's a problem, and you really need to be able to do that Every once in a while. You do need to put yourself first. That's a problem, and you really need to be able to do that Every once in a while. You do need to put yourself first.
Speaker 3I get yelled at all the time. I come home with the same lunch that I brought in the morning and my wife is yelling at me. You didn't eat again and my assistant now asks me every day have you eaten? I get something so simple, but that kind of thing helps me with that. But something so simple as just taking a minute to take care of yourself, but finding a second during the day to breathe or to connect with a teacher that you consider a friend, about a game that happened last night or your picks for the NCAA tournament. It's okay to be selfish a little bit. Have a little me time and to be able to shut your door when you need to Make those phone calls for setting up your kid's next hitting lesson or something like that. So it's a balance of figuring out what the school needs, but, like Doc Brown said, like you commented, putting yourself first when you really need to, because if you don't you're going to get burnt out real quick.
Speaker 2That's right. So when I was reading about you and speaking to colleagues about having this opportunity to chat with you and your leadership, equity and inclusion were two threads that weaved throughout both the narrative and the conversations that I had when they spoke about Jared Clifton's leadership. Can you share a specific example of something you have led at Timothy Edwards with the values of equity and leadership at the forefront?
Speaker 3Awesome. Yes, definitely something I'm extremely passionate about. Especially in middle school when kids struggle to find their people and their place, you've got to be able to create enough people and places for them to connect with. The research shows that if you can have one kid, have one adult that they can connect with in the building, they're so much less likely to have issues, suicidal ideations, those kinds of things. To have issues, suicidal ideations, those kinds of things.
Speaker 3Starting off early on. I pushed really hard to get a soccer group started for students with sexuality and gender questioning issues, those kinds of things. Some initial pushback from the year one but in year two, building on some relationships, kind of said like look, here's some examples of the reason why we need it. And in year two and year three, working with district leadership and working with building leadership, put it together. And then year three, year four, growing it and adding in our youth and family services from town to get involved to help lead things and then finding the right staff member to be able to connect with kids and then stepping away and letting it run. That was something kind of early on Recently just working with, again, district leadership to put together the equity council in town that we work on to find stakeholders from all over the place to get involved and talk about different celebrations, different holidays and different things like that and ways in which the district can value them and make sure we're connecting with as many families as we can.
Speaker 3I recently put together a student equity board that we're working on that. Our equity team of teachers are connecting with kids through recommendations to get them involved in how we can have different things like assemblies or just student meetings, focus groups, those kinds of things to get more kids involved, feel like they're connected with school and then to be building leadership in kids. We have the opportunity to put together two student leadership groups. Last year got them off the ground, went to the cast middle level leadership Conference and that was great. Kendrick spoke this year at the opening keynote and he's actually coming to school on Thursday next week to do kind of like a spirit. We've got around our ROAR values in school, so building those opportunities for kids are huge for me.
Speaker 2And you're right. We have this moment in middle school where kids are so precious and they are trying to find themselves and they are trying to find a way to belong and so continuing to create those avenues and those pathways, it's some of the best work really to find that a kid makes a connection, and just listening to the voices of kids. So those are great examples. Thank you so much for sharing them. So are you ready for the Ignite round or we're going to go out rapid speed now to the voices of kids. So those are great examples. Thank you so much for sharing them. No worries, thanks. So are you ready for the Ignite round or we're going to go out rapid speed now?
Speaker 3All right, hit me.
Speaker 2All right, here we go. Do you have a hidden talent that aids you in your role?
Speaker 3Hidden talent. God, I wish I could say I could juggle or something like that. Hidden talent. I was a coach for years, so I would say reading the room and figuring out where you want to go to next and having a couple of good questions in your back pocket.
Speaker 2That's a good one and, let's be honest, you're pretty tall, so that probably helps with the scouting right.
Speaker 3The size of the intimidation tends to work, but I do so much to take that out of the equation. It's so hard. I'm down on a knee talking to a kid or I'm always sitting down or trying to get, I guess, more good. Get outside of your desk, don't be sitting behind your desk when you're talking with kids. Be right with them. I get so much good stuff out of it.
Speaker 2I would agree Side by side. You've got it.
Speaker 3What would you say is the best leadership moment you've had since becoming an educational leader? Oh man, so many good ones. One that meant a lot to me I mean there's been so much to me was we're just coming out of the pandemic and we're looking at ways in which we get to assess kids and be empathetic towards our needs and things like that. And we were having a discussion around assessing effort and I was really opposed to quantifying effort because of different conditions, different experiences of kids, families and all that kind of stuff. And I spoke out over and over and over again and, to the credit of our district leadership team, our director of curriculum and instruction was leading this and I the credit of our district leadership team our director of curriculum and instruction was leading this and I tried to, as respectfully as I could, push back and gave a ton of reasons, research and that kind of stuff and in the end I accepted my role. I sat back and we did what we needed to do at the time.
Speaker 3The thing that meant the most to me in a leadership moment was that when following everything came back, she came in the middle of the meeting and said you know what? Jared was right, and she recognized the fact that I was fighting hard for this reason and it came back and it was what it was and that meant so much to me. So I guess not so much like me. I guess part of me as a leader for advocating for what I really believed in but at the same time being part of a strong leadership team with the ability to value what somebody's feedback was, even if it was like a year later. I guess me as a leader is trying to learn from other leaders and that meant so much to me.
Inspiration and Leadership in Education
Speaker 2And you're right. That was not what I was expecting you to say, but I think it speaks so much to the culture of the leadership team and the trust that's been created and that you hope to then create with the next level of leadership within your organization and all the way down to the students. So it does mean a lot. And then, like you said before, to be able to accept feedback and say, hey, I made a mistake, I thought about that and you were right. And then going back to leading with your core values, like being able to push back or question when something doesn't align with who you are at your core. That's a great example, thanks. So who inspires you or who are you following lately?
Speaker 3Oh, let's see who inspires me. I'm inspired by my kids. I have two very different little boys at home. That little one's under pressure now but there's just the simple joy that my younger one has in what he does and he could care less what people think about him. He likes to climb trees and jump off things and all that kind of stuff. My older guy is just navigating the trials and tribulations of high school and just in the conversation with them that brings me joy. People that I'm following my favorite is Principal Caffele. It destroyed me when he was at the Ignite conference last year and I couldn't get out so I missed him. But throughout the pandemic I was on his AP Leadership Academy virtually every single Saturday morning. He's all set up in his Negro Leagues jersey and just talking and just questions and just ways of encouraging you to think uniquely. He's so inspiring and he's somebody that an aspiring leader is not following. No doubt Adam right away.
Speaker 2That's awesome and I love your note about your two boys. I can connect with you on that one. I have two of my own and I feel the same way. I think it makes us better educators, and being educators hopefully also makes us better parents, so the two are so connected.
Speaker 3All right.
Speaker 2What's one thing you've learned from your Cougars or your teens and tweens at Timothy Edwards that has impacted your approach to leadership? There's probably a lot but one.
Speaker 3Oh man, yeah, a lot, don't take yourself too seriously. You know, when I started I was suit and tie every single day, shined up dress shoes. I got to step up. I got to be the guy that a parent comes in and expects me to, to be that person in that, in that suit, kind of thing. But talking with kids, you know, just realizing that it's easier to level with them If you take a little bit of that air of superiority out of it. You know, like last year a kid saw my, my shoes. Like you know, mr clifton, you gotta step up your sneaker game like I went out. Now I'm 6'5, 225 and I have size 15 feet, so it ain't easy for me to find uh sneakers that fit.
Speaker 3But thanks to nike, I found some jordans and uh I love it I wear jordans and suits now and I get like kids come up to me in the hallway like give me snaps on my shoes. I'm being like, oh yeah, look at them. Jordans, though, and it's simple Don't take yourself too seriously. Connect with the kids, be there, joke with them. All that stuff.
Speaker 2That's great. I love it. Another thing I connect with you on is the shoe. The shoe lineup is next level over here. Is there something about leadership or education that you've rethought recently?
Speaker 3the pandemic, your approaches, understanding, putting academics aside, maslow for Bloom's all those kinds of things. You've got to be adaptable, you've got to be able to flip your thinking. You've got to be able to. Education is the sector where you're constantly going to have change and if you're not ready for it, you're in the wrong business, because kids change, your expectations change the state requirements, change all those kinds of things. So this was an easy question. The answer is everything. Everything's changed, and if you want to be a real successful leader, staying true to who you are but at the same time, adapting and being able to be adaptive is absolutely essential. That's great.
Speaker 2Is there one thing I should have asked you, but I didn't?
Speaker 3No, I think this was great. I love this opportunity. I want to thank Cass for everything that they do with you, and Tiffany and Henry and Sharice and everybody that's so approachable and they're so dedicated to your own improvement. If anybody's listening to this, I'm sure we're going to reach dozens of people. If you are accessing the resources of CAS, reach out and get involved. They're committed to your success as a leader, so I want to thank you all for this opportunity. Thanks for getting me involved and make some decisions that are great for kids.
Speaker 2Thank you so much, Jared. Where can people go to find out more about you and your work?
Speaker 3Oh man. So I'm not like I'm not a huge social media guy, but you know, if you want to learn more or hear more about me, just call me. Call the school, get a hold of me. I'll happily give you my personal cell phone. We'll connect. I've been through a three-year process on middle school scheduling, so if you need help with schedules, call me. I got you. But yeah, if anybody's looking for somebody to work with or you want to just bounce some ideas off, I'm all for networking and getting involved with that kind of thing.
Speaker 2Thank you. It's really been a pleasure, jared. This is Jared Clifton, our Connecticut Association of Schools Middle Level Assistant Principal of the Year for 2024, associate Principal of Timothy Edwards Middle School in South Windsor, connecticut, and you left us with so many things to think about. Feedback is a gift. Be a good listener and a good leader, be visible and present and get some really good sneakers. Thank you, jared.
Speaker 3Hey, thank you, this was awesome. Really appreciate it.
Speaker 1Thanks so much for joining us for this episode of the Linking Leaders podcast. This episode is brought to you by the Connecticut Association of Schools, serving schools and their leaders since 1935.