Her Story
About Constantina
I have been in educational leadership for about 15 years, working as a principal and consultant. My main areas of expertise are curriculum development, school organizational leadership, and school operating procedures. As a principal, I joke that my title should be 'chaos coordinator' because every day is different and unpredictable. I check on the school leadership team and teacher team, ensure the school is running correctly, and work through any day-to-day issues that arise. In private schools, you end up wearing all the hats and doing everything. Beyond my principal duties, I also do consultations and meet with people who want to open their own schools or develop curriculum for their schools. I act as a consultant for school operational matters, curriculum and instruction, and staff professional development. One of my proudest achievements was helping establish a virtual school during COVID. We thought we were just establishing a school, but six years later, we not only educate children but have become a resource for other schools in areas of professional development, infrastructural design, and curriculum and instruction. It has been amazing being able to work with other school leaders or other people who want to do the same thing we did.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Constantina
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would say my trust in God, honestly. Some days, you don't know if you're heading in the right direction, but if you're heading in the right direction on a higher level path, then you hope you're going the right way. We plan, God plans, and God's the best of planners.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received was from my mother. She told me to do something that I love, because when you work every day for the rest of your life, you want it to feel fun and inspirational and motivational, and less like work.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
From a teacher perspective that circles into school leadership, I would say post-COVID classrooms are the most difficult to manage because we've seen a lot of change in student behavior, and technology also changed a lot at the same time. Right now, we're in a big learning curve, and I think it's helping a lot of teacher burnout. Teachers are trying to manage so many different things, and there's just not that same level of support. Things have changed so rapidly that we're just trying to figure it out. What really bothers me is that the National Education Board decided not to require kids to go to class and didn't require attendance because there's not equitable access to learning. I felt we should have had standards, so if students don't have access, we can excuse them, but we still should have standards. I was very fortunate because I worked for a hybrid school that was already online two days a week, so we had a very easy shift to completely online learning since our students already had those expectations of being present in class, coming to every class, and doing work outside of class. I didn't have as tough of a time as my colleagues.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Honesty, trust, and good character are most important to me. I think good character kind of covers honesty and trust, but somebody's personal character is so important.
Keep Exploring
More Influential Women · Illinois
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.