Hello TEPSANs and Happy Holidays,
As we step into the year’s final weeks and approach winter break, I offer a simple word of encouragement. Legacy lives in relationships—how a child is greeted by name, how a teacher feels supported, and how families are welcomed with dignity. Kids feel it. Adults echo it. Communities remember it.
As the first half of the year closes, take a quiet moment to reflect: What legacy have you begun to build since August? What is the one thing teachers, students, and community members will connect to your leadership this year?
This fall, I leaned into coaching principals on purposeful walkthroughs and effective feedback. Our conversations have been honest and growth-minded, and the change is visible—clearer look-fors, tighter supports, and more confident instructional leadership. Seeing that transformation in just a few months is a legacy I’m grateful to witness; it reminds me that sustained coaching shifts practice and, ultimately, changes student lives. Consider writing a three-sentence legacy statement and sharing it with your team so everyone knows what you are intentionally building together.
This season is about finding the gifts in all of us and naming them out loud. Before the break, affirm your faculty’s greatest gift—be specific about how it shapes learning and culture, and connect it to your campus vision. Encourage your faculty to do the same for students and families. A short note, a quick call, a sincere hallway word can carry someone until the first semester break. Extend this spirit to community partners who show up for your kids—let them know their support matters.
Above all, TEPSAN leaders, truly rest. Set the autoresponder. Close the laptop. Take a walk. Read for joy. Sleep without an alarm. Protect one fully offline day. Disconnect so you can return reconnected to your purpose. Rest isn’t the enemy of excellence; it’s the engine. Healthy leaders build healthy schools.
When we return, we’ll sharpen the work: belonging first, foundations steady, routines reset, feedback tight, hope high. Your legacy is not perfection—it’s faithfulness and courage—choosing people over performance urgency and leaving every space a little more loving and a little more excellent.
With gratitude and purpose,
Dana
Dana Harley Boyd is an Elementary Executive Principal in El Paso ISD.
