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There鈥檚 nothing wrong with boxes of sprinkle doughnuts and one-off stress management workshops. 

But they can give school leaders the illusion that they鈥檙e doing enough to improve teachers鈥� working conditions, offering 鈥減erfect self-care moments鈥� to fuel teachers up before they return to the classroom focused and refreshed. 

As the demands of the job and the school year accumulate, crowded classrooms, heavy workloads, and the ongoing emotional and physical needs of students can lead to among educators. Brief moments of self-care cannot alleviate these burdens, says Chase Mielke, a teacher and speaker focused on . As a teacher, 鈥淚鈥檓 not going to breathe my way out of this one鈥擨 can鈥檛,鈥� Mielke says. 鈥淭he massage is great during my planning time, but that鈥檚 still not going to change my perception of how the school鈥檚 culture treats me, how parents are treating me right now, how students are functioning and behaving.鈥�

Meanwhile, principals around the country are exploring solutions that go beyond 鈥�,鈥� taking the responsibility of workplace well-being off teachers鈥� shoulders in favor of larger system changes within the school building. Among the leaders we interviewed, they too seemed tired of superficial gestures鈥攁nd the term 鈥渟elf-care鈥� now pushes everyone鈥檚 buttons: 鈥淭o be just brutally honest, I'm tired of hearing about it,鈥� says principal Mathew Portell. 

Genuinely supporting educator well-being is 鈥渓ess about initiatives and more about setting a tone that we approach everything collaboratively,鈥� says Karen Bacigalupo, an executive principal at Fall-Hamilton Elementary in Tennessee. A healthy school culture signals to adults at all levels that they 鈥渉ave ownership, have decision-making power, and a voice in what the school community looks like,鈥� says Jill Bohnenkamp, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Maryland鈥檚 School of Medicine and faculty at the National Center for School Mental Health. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got great evidence that that shared approach really helps to foster a work environment that people want to be a part of.鈥�

We interviewed leaders from California to Maryland about how they鈥檙e working to transform school culture so it鈥檚 collaborative, supportive, and, most important, sustainable.

Start With Teachers 

Effective teachers survey their students and assess their progress regularly. The same is true, Mielke says, of good school leaders: 鈥淚f I鈥檓 not assessing the state of my culture, the state of how teachers are feeling, and I鈥檓 not responding to that, then I can鈥檛 expect growth and change to happen.鈥� 

Multichannel feedback: Regularly assessing teacher well-being through one-on-one meetings or anonymous surveys is a good place to start, says Michele Lew, a California-based high school principal. The practice allows her to 鈥渟ee the themes and trends when it comes to what would be most supportive,鈥� and respond accordingly. Former principal Adam Drummond suggests asking each teacher the same set of questions鈥攊ncluding 鈥淲hat is the most frustrating aspect of being a staff member in this school?鈥濃�攚hich helps identify overlap in responses and tease out priorities to act on first. 

In addition to keeping an open-door policy, Ryan Daniel, principal of Fort Foote Elementary School in Maryland, does daily morning walks around the building. It鈥檚 an opportunity to forge and strengthen relationships while also allowing her to provide impromptu support. 鈥淚 not only want to see how everyone is doing and feeling,鈥� she says, 鈥渂ut if something happened the previous day, I鈥檓 following up and checking in on that.鈥� 

Basic needs first: Maslow before Bloom doesn鈥檛 just apply to students, it鈥檚 relevant for teachers too. 鈥淲e know you can鈥檛 help others until you help yourself,鈥� says Natalie Vadas, a special education teacher at Fall-Hamilton Elementary. 鈥淪ometimes you just need a minute.鈥�

When Mathew Portell was principal at Fall-Hamilton, he implemented a 鈥�tap-in/tap-out鈥� system: Teachers submit a request via text message鈥攏o explanation needed鈥攁nd within minutes two adults arrive; one adult takes over the class while the other checks in with the teacher. It鈥檚 been so successful that he鈥檚 brought it over to his new school, Goodlettsville Elementary, and the practice remains in place today at Fall-Hamilton. 鈥淲e utilize it for basic needs, but also when teachers need time and space to regulate themselves,鈥� says Karen Bacigalupo, Fall-Hamilton鈥檚 executive principal. 

Likewise, the essentials鈥攍ike having time to use the bathroom and eat lunch鈥�, a former educator and now director of research for the nonprofit organization Challenge Success, are nonnegotiable, and leaders should prioritize scheduling time for teachers to meet basic human needs. This communicates that leadership prioritizes 鈥渟topping to fuel your body鈥� and encourages staff to 鈥渢ake a break, slow down, see friends, and break bread together,鈥� Miles says.

Found time: For teachers, it can feel as if the task conveyor belt never stops, Mielke says. Occasionally, leaders should allow the schedule to flex by identifying little windows of free time for staff to catch up on workloads. On days allotted to professional development, for example, Mielke says, some leaders allow half the day to remain unscheduled so that staff can use the time as needed. 鈥淭hat was in response to when leaders would ask staff, 鈥榃hat do you need?鈥欌�� he says. 鈥淎 lot of them said, 鈥業 am having a hard time keeping up.鈥欌��

Meanwhile, spending hours creating substitute coverage plans is often enough to convince teachers to just work the day鈥攅ven when they鈥檙e in desperate need of a sick or personal day. One of Alex Shevrin Venet鈥檚 former school administrators carved out time for teachers to create emergency sub plans: 鈥淪he gave us a folder, a format, and then set aside time during professional development in-service so that we could put everything together.鈥� It wasn鈥檛 a perfect system, Venet acknowledges, because 鈥渢he sub plans you make during in-service aren鈥檛 always going to be relevant,鈥� but 鈥渋t was really nice to just have the problem acknowledged.鈥�

A parent sounding board: Communicating with families can be challenging for teachers and, especially for new educators, sometimes goes off the rails. Daniel encourages staff to seek her assistance as needed, whether it鈥檚 reviewing and editing a response to a parent or, occasionally, she鈥檒l even craft a message on the teacher鈥檚 behalf. Staff also know they can BCC her on emails so that she鈥檚 in the loop and CC her when they need her more directly involved. 

When staff make a mistake while communicating with parents and caretakers, Daniel uses the opportunity to address issues collaboratively rather than punitively. 鈥淲hen teachers are wrong, I let them know, but we handle it together,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e apologize for the behavior and we learn from the experience. I never leave them hanging out to dry.鈥� 

Adopt a subtraction mindset: When considering ways to improve a system, that people often default to identifying what they can add rather than what might be beneficial to remove. Gather the team together and discuss 鈥渨hat you can get rid of,鈥� suggests educational consultant Michelle Blanchet. 鈥淧rovide a space for teachers to talk about what matters to them鈥攁nd what doesn鈥檛鈥攕o that you can figure out how to spend time accordingly.鈥�

For example, Daniel, the Fort Foote Elementary principal, has no qualms about nixing a meeting from the schedule if it鈥檚 not needed. She asks herself what is important at that moment and if staff 鈥渘eed a thought partner to unpack it.鈥� If it鈥檚 information they can parse on their own, it becomes an email or is disseminated through her weekly staff newsletter. And when meetings drag on, she鈥檒l often cut them short so that staff can make better use of their time: 鈥淵ou have to be able to read the room and know when their tank is full.鈥� 

Treat Teachers Like Professionals

鈥淎 good principal never forgets what it鈥檚 like to be in the classroom,鈥� says Carise Echols, principal at Theodore Jones Elementary School in Arkansas. Likewise, a principal never forgets that educators inside the school building are skilled practitioners, writes instructional technology specialist Mary Beth Hertz. 鈥淭he best way to appreciate a teacher is to appreciate the hard work that they do and their high level of expertise.鈥�

Rethink dress codes: Alexis Neumann, the superintendent of Rapoport Academy Public Schools, doesn鈥檛 have a problem with staff wearing jeans to work. On many days, she joins them. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not worried about what you wear,鈥� Neumann says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e really only worried about the learning that鈥檚 happening in the classroom. We treat our staff as professionals, and they respond as such.鈥�

Erika Niles, principal of Green Trails Elementary School in Missouri, believes that teachers should have the freedom to dress according to their daily needs and preferences, and she addresses any issues that arise privately on a case-by-case basis. 鈥淭he pushback I鈥檝e heard is, 鈥榃ell, what if they wear a Speedo?鈥� Quite frankly, I trust my teachers to make those professional decisions,鈥� Niles says. 鈥淭eachers are professionals. They should be given autonomy and trust unless they prove otherwise. And then, it鈥檚 a conversation and not a reprimand. We are in this together.鈥�

Include flexibility in PD: A lack of buy-in on professional development doesn鈥檛 just hurt teachers; the impacts trickle down to students, writes educator Sarah Elia: 鈥淪tudent achievement has been found to increase by up to 21 percent as a result of teacher participation in well-designed professional development.鈥� As with any compulsory task, attaching a degree of independence helps, says middle school teacher and curriculum coordinator Heather Wolpert-Gawron, especially concerning 鈥渃hoice in what teachers can learn about and choice in how to learn it.鈥� 

As an instructional coach, Mielke worked with school leaders to make professional learning opportunities more customizable. Teachers could opt in to create a portion of their own professional development hours; those who didn鈥檛 want to do that could follow a predetermined path set by the school leader. 鈥淲e allowed a little bit of choice and set staff up; 鈥楬ere鈥檚 how you can spend those 15 hours pursuing something that鈥檚 really relevant to you or that you鈥檙e passionate about,鈥欌�� he says. 

The impact can be substantial: Before shifting to a more flexible, choice-based PD model, less than 30 percent of staff reported that professional learning 鈥渕et their needs and supported them as educators,鈥� writes Tracy Dabbs, a district coordinator of technology and innovation in Washington. Now that teachers have more say, that percentage consistently sits at 95 percent.

Protect planning time: When planning periods get consumed by meetings or administrative tasks, there鈥檚 a higher chance of teachers bringing work home, Mielke says, eroding the boundaries of work-life balance. There are ways to prevent this. After extensive preplanning with the master scheduling team, specialist teams including physical education teachers and library staff at Fort Foote Elementary coordinated a plan to move students between rooms while classroom teachers attended a 90-minute weekly collaborative planning block each Wednesday. 鈥淪econd graders may have media for the first 45 minutes, and then they have P.E. for the next 45 minutes,鈥� Principal Ryan Daniel says.

Fort Foote Elementary teachers know that if they have a problem on Monday or Tuesday, they have Wednesday to sit with their colleagues and troubleshoot. 鈥淚f I鈥檓 a second-grade teacher, I have a third-grade teacher in the room, a first-grade teacher in there,鈥� she says. 鈥淚鈥檓 able to bounce ideas off of everyone.鈥�