Eugene Daniels leaves a legacy for Education

-

  A tribute to Eugene Daniels, Education District Director of Metro South


There I was, an apprehensive novice education district official being spoken to by the Education District Director of Metro South Education District, Western Cape, Eugene Daniels. Eugene had joined us during our induction and enquired in a calm, warm voice how I was adjusting.  He looked just like one of us, except he had copies of the book “Leading in a culture of change” by Michael Fullan nestling on his table. Needless to say, by the end of the session, I went home armed with my personal copy of that book. I devoured every page and pencilled in key bits of information like a new student.

Eugene at a Staff  forum held at Rondevlei Nature Reserve.


Over the next four years, I experienced this MBWA-styled leadership embraced by Eugene. He was, as far as possible, part of our professional spaces. He joined us when we held professional development workshops for our educators, becoming a participant like any other. When schools celebrated, Eugene was there. Educators loved this!


Eugene Daniels with the Prospective Matrics 2016, currently  in Grade 8.
When Lavender Hill, an impoverished, crime and gang-infested community on the Cape Flats was under siege by yet another  turf war amongst the gangs, Eugene Daniels was there. It is during such episodes of escalating crime and gang violence, that when Eugene showed up, our school communities found renewed resilience. They knew that they were standing on the shoulders of a giant.



Eugene with a few colleagues at the Principals' Conference 2011


Yes, there are many challenges and lessons to learn as we traverse the complexities of the educational landscape. You need a leader with vision, a leader with a tough, yet gentle approach to be there to steer the ship. It takes political, professional and personal will to stay focused on the real mission of education: to foster nation-building and active citizenship for all.  Eugene Daniels is such a leader. I have been blessed to be initiated into officialdom by this man.


We should have seen his resignation coming. We should have known that Eugene would be head-hunted to move to another space where we need courageous leaders.  The challenge now for us is to build on the transformational agenda of the education district left by his (her) predecessor. 








Snapshots of the Director at grassroots...
Eugene in conversation with principals about safety concerns at Levana Primary  School.

Eugene celebrating with Zerilda Park principal and GrowSmart Champion Teacher  in 2011.


Comments

  1. Anonymous17 June 2012 at 07:19

    What a wonderful tribute to Eugene

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

We say `'Well Done" to two teachers whose full-time teaching career has come full circle

-
Image
Maurien Jacobs, the principal of Blouvlei LSEN school and Doreen Parker, an educator at Levana Primary School, will be retiring at the end of this term. Between the two educators, they have served  the Steenberg-Lavender Hill community for a whopping 98 years! Maurien Jacobs taught at Blouvlei LSEN for 16 years. For the past seven years, Maurien was the school principal of the school. Over the sixteen years Maurien travelled every school day from Wellington, a Cape Winelands town situated 85 kilometers from her school. She covered roughly 544,000 km to and from school over the sixteen years. That is about twelve times around the world! This sounds crazy, but this is what Maurien did without batting an eyelid. She would report for duty every single day at 7:15 and frown upon those who came late to school. Maurien Jacobs  Maurien Jacobs, School Head of Blouvlei LSEN (right) and me  I asked Maurien what motivated her to travel her so far. "Many people have asked me t
Read more

Welcome to my new Youtube Channel, School Corridor

-
Image
I know, I know... this blog has been in hibernation for a loooong while. I finally found a new way of reaching out to you. The School Corridor Tatler is really a super communication channel, but I have upped my game. I have taken the plunge and now I am the proud creator of... Drum roll please... The School Corridor Youtube Channel! I hope you enjoy this very first video of the School Corridor Channel. I am super excited to have you there as well. Let's learn and have fun together! The School Corridor Channel is here to grow, inspire and empower you as leaders at schools or anywhere else. School Corridor Youtube Channel Focus The content will cover three streams: Talks and presentations on leadership research, qualities of great leadership and how you can help yourself grow to become a great leader. Personal well-being will also be a focus. The second stream will focus on Q&As, interviews and book reviews. The third stream will focus on instructional vi
Read more

The launch of Child Protection and Youth Month at Metro South EducationDistrict.

-
Image
  The Social Worker component at our education district launched our Child Protection and Youth Month campaign. The sad reality is that our children are extremely vulnerable and they are subjected to all forms of abuse, neglect and sexual abuse. We were reminded that our children are entrusted to us; that it is our legal and moral responsibility to protect our children against all forms of abuse. Glen van Harte delivering his keynote address. Our district director, Glen van Harte, said, "We need to recommit and reenergize ourselves to look after our children. We have to watch our language. Language has the ability to leave scars that are often far more damaging than physical scars. We have to mediate the language we use with one another and with children. We need to be mindful of the relationships we have with one another and with our teachers. It is also important to look after ourselves so that we can look after our children." Lucinda Pelston, our Sen
Read more