277. Why Your School Feels Fine in September (And Falls Apart Every March)
From Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School Leadership Podcast by Chanie Wilschanski
March 16, 2026 · 23 min · Episode 277
About this episode
Chanie Wilschanski discusses the reasons behind school burnout in spring and offers practical solutions to improve infrastructure.
Every September feels like a fresh start. By March, it feels like everything is falling apart. If that cycle sounds familiar, this episode is going to reframe everything for you. Chanie Wilschanski breaks down the real reason school leaders burn out every spring: heroics masquerading as infrastructure. She unpacks what real systems look like under pressure, introduces the five elements of infrastructure that every school leader needs, and gives you two practical moves to make right now — before summer — to stop the cycle. In this episode, you'll learn: Why heroics work in September but collapse by March — and what that tells you about your current systems The five elements of real infrastructure: standards, ownership, rhythm, guardrails, and consequence Why the skills that made you successful at one level become a liability at the next The Gottman statistic that reframes how you think about school leadership problems Two specific actions you can take this week to start closing your infrastructure gap How to use your spring data to build a focused infrastructure plan this summer RESOURCES & LINKS: Register for the Delegation Workshop: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/workshop…
People in this episode
Host: Chanie Wilschanski
Topics covered
- school leadership
- infrastructure
- burnout
- heroics
- education systems
Keywords
- school leadership
- burnout
- infrastructure
- heroics
- education
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: This Can't Be Normal
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- 287. I've Told Them This So Many Times · May 19, 2026 · 33 min
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