Northampton principal’s reflections on education are vital reading

Review: Gwen Agna, “Community-Centered School Leadership: Lessons in Sustaining A Just And Equitable School,” Teachers College Press, Columbia University, New York and London, 2025.

Mandatory reading, as soon as you get past the somewhat vague title. Gwen Agna reflects, in plain English, on her more than 45 years as an educator, which culminated in 24 years as a highly respected elementary school principal in Northampton, followed by two terms as vice chair of the city’s school committee.

She was born to American medical missionary parents in Rangoon (now known as Yangon), the largest city in Burma (now Myanmar). She earned her bachelor’s degree in the U.K., her master’s in New England. When she retired, Smith College conferred an honorary doctorate on her.

So much for her credentials, and she discusses how her background helped shape her views. The book can easily be read by people contemplating a career in education, by experienced educators, and by the many people in Northampton and beyond who have grown to admire the author.

For sure, she understands how schools work and how to earn the trust of children and carers (the latest term for parents and guardians), enlivening the text with fascinating tales ... without violating anyone’s privacy.

The national average tenure of principals in a given school is four years; significant change, according to Agna, takes between five and seven years. And Ms. Agna, as the community knew her, worked for no fewer than nine superintendents.

Bottom line: I wish my children and grandchildren had attended the school where Gwen Agna was principal. The whole family would have learned lifelong values and skills, which are discussed in her book. Value No. 1: “Kindness is the only strength there is.” Of course, academic skills matter, but love, respect, collaboration and curiosity all come before knowledge. Agna explains how she was able to guide her school and its community by leading from both the head and the heart. “The way to the hearts and minds of families is through their children”: a revolutionary concept, perhaps, but doable.

Agna recommends that both children and her colleagues reflect often on their earlier years; the child can be the adult’s partner. She recognizes that there is trauma in some children and their environments, and the reader learns what can be done about it. She offers suggestions on how to relate to members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and there’s a delightful piece about Jackson, the labradoodle therapy dog, who still lives with Agna and her husband and visits the school regularly.

Read the tale about the student who sat under the table in the principal’s office, so Ms. Agna sat on the floor with her. Something must have gone seriously right: In Agna’s first year as a principal, there were 360 referrals to her office; in her second, there were 35.

She writes about how you build trust and handle criticism, how you “avoid hierarchical decisions when possible.” This is an unusually honest book. (But she doesn’t mention that she owns 127 teapots.)

“The power of modeling cannot be overestimated ... Relationships are the foundation of the important work we do.” Agna’s school had a principal who was not afraid to place herself in unfamiliar settings, and those settings can be across the street; they don’t require a flight to Europe. She urges everyone, young and not-so-young, to learn their community. As I write, she is finishing her second two-year term on the school committee, and I cannot wait for a book on her post-retirement experiences, which include mentoring principals. I hope she’s mentoring secondary school principals and college presidents; for sure, I’d enroll if a local college or university named her a professor and she offered a course. (But not too early in the morning, please.)

Clearly, I find Gwen Agna’s book one of the most significant books I have come across in over 50 years as an educator, with experience on three continents. She discusses hiring and letting staff go and how to handle criticism: “Listen, listen, listen,” and cultivate a sense of self-doubt. She talks about her work with unions: at one point, she finds them “very helpful” but, unusually, she uses terms that may be unfamiliar to the lay person, e.g. “contractual obligations,” “nonnegotiables,” and “nontenured.”

I urge potential readers not to be put off by the book’s price. Yes, the volume is slim, but that’s because the author has a remarkable ability to avoid jargon and to be brief. We should be proud that someone who has spent most of her professional life in Northampton has written a book of such quality, a book that anyone contemplating a career in education would enjoy. Besides, a single year’s tuition at Smith College would buy approximately 1,500 copies of Gwen Agna’s book.

Jonathan Daube has lived in Florence for about 10 years. He has been a superintendent for five years and a community college president for 30 years.