Publication
08.04.2010
DesignShare Interview with former Crow Island Principal Beth Hebert
Beth Hebert, a life-long educator and experienced principal, spent 27 years leading Crow Island Elementary School, Perkins+Will's first education project in 1940. In this 2006 article, she reflects on the importance of the school design in her leading and learning.
An excerpt:
"Looking back on those early formative years as a first-time principal, I now realize how much my school leadership experience was profoundly affected by the design of Crow Island...
I experienced the design of Crow Island in a way that not only supported, but even prompted certain leadership dispositions. Being in such a well-designed space day after day, year after year, actually enhanced my leadership. Not only was the space not fighting me, it facilitated what I knew how to do and inspired what I had not yet imagined how to do as a school leader. Let me give a few examples: A wide open entryway invited my principal's welcoming ritual of standing at the front door each morning; the scaled size served as a constant reminder of my leadership purpose - the children; the walls of windows invited the outdoors and the community; a metaphor depicting the need for transparent leadership thinking."
