What a Friday Before Fall Break Reminded Me About School Culture

Fall Break is almost here. If you work in a school, you know what that means. The ACT is around the corner, the first long stretch of the year is catching up with everyone, and by Friday most of us are running on coffee and willpower.

So I wasn't sure what to expect when I walked into Houston High School last Friday.

I was there at the invitation of teacher Joe Murray and Principal Halle Ross to spend time with Joe and his students. What I noticed first, before I ever reached his room, was the smiles.

Students were engaged. Teachers were talking with students and with each other.

Administrators and staff were out in the building, present and connected. Nobody looked like they were just trying to make it to the break. The whole place had energy.

On a Friday. The week before Fall Break.

It was a powerful reminder of something I've believed through 30 years in education: you can feel a school's culture the moment you walk in.

It starts at the front door, wherever that door is
Before you see a lesson or a curriculum map, you experience how a place treats people. Are students known? Are teachers respected? Does everyone feel like they belong? That shows up in how students are greeted in the morning, how a parent is received in the front office, and how adults talk to one another. Culture is built in thousands of small moments like those.

I spent five years as the founding principal of a district-run virtual school, and I learned that none of this changes online. The setting and the tools are different, but the fundamentals are not.

Students still need to feel known and supported. Teachers still need to feel appreciated and connected. Families still need to feel welcomed and informed.

We don't have hallways, but we still build an environment through every interaction. A thoughtful email shows care. A timely response shows respect. A well-designed course shows purpose. And a teacher who shows up consistently tells a student: You matter. We see you. We believe you can do this.

Whether a student walks through a front door or logs in from home, the human side of education is what makes learning possible.

Culture is a choice you keep making
Good school culture doesn't happen by accident. It takes leaders who are intentional about it and educators who understand that every interaction counts.

It also takes persistence, and this time of year is when that gets tested. October is long. People are tired. Priorities compete. These are exactly the weeks when culture either holds or slips, and it holds because people keep choosing care, respect, and high expectations even when it would be easier not to.

That's what I saw at Houston High School. Not a building coasting toward a break, but a community still fully engaged in the work of learning. A culture like that doesn't live on a poster or in a mission statement. It lives in how people show up on an ordinary Friday when a break is just days away.

Thank you to Principal Halle Ross, Joe Murray, and his students for letting me spend part of my morning with you. And to every educator heading into Fall Break: you've earned it. The culture you've built this fall will be right there waiting when you get back.