“What’s the Point of a Vision If You Can’t See the Kids?”

The Ruckus Maker Flywheel Chapter 3

Jun 21, 2025

👋 Welcome to a 🔓 free edition 🔓 of Ruckus Makers — the newsletter for bold school leaders who Do School Different. Each week we drop fresh content across our signature styles:

The Reframe → Mindset shifts in 90-seconds.
Dot AI → Supercharged leadership prompts and custom gpts
MEH → The Onion meets Education. What could go wrong?
First in Line → Exclusive access to bold new content before the bookshelf

You can learn more about this premium newsletter here.

Readers can save 3 months on an annual subscription before June 30th.

Sometimes the email that breaks you isn’t cruel.

It’s polite.

Professional.

Punctuated with bullet points and buzzwords.

But when you’re still reeling from a student who vanished without a sound…

An annotated reminder to “clarify your use of belonging” can feel like a slap.

This week, Jordan confronts the gap between what her school says it values—and what actually matters.

📖 Never miss a chapter of Jordan’s story. You can read each chapter in the First in Line section of Ruckus Makers.

The Email

Jordan shut the door to her office and stood still for a moment.

Just stood there.

Hand still on the knob.

She wasn’t sure if she wanted to scream or cry or just walk out and keep walking.

Instead, she sat down.

Clicked her laptop open.

Tried to remember what had felt important an hour ago.

Her inbox had grown.

Forty-nine unread.

Two calendar invites.

One email labeled “URGENT” in all caps — from someone she had never met, with a title longer than their message.

At the top of the stack was the one that landed like a punch:

Subject: Vision Statement Revisions — Feedback Attached
Hi Jordan,
Thanks for your submission of the revised campus vision statement.
Please review the attached annotated version and address the comments before re-submitting by 12 PM next Wednesday.
For district alignment, be sure to:
Clarify your use of the word “belonging” with measurable outcomes
Replace anecdotal language with strategic commitments
Ensure language reflects our innovation protocol themes from Q3
Let us know if you have any questions.
– Teaching & Learning Strategy Office

She stared at it.

Friendly reminder.

Alignment.

Deliverables.

Innovation protocol series.

She read it twice.

Then again.

The words were English.

But they didn’t mean anything.

Not compared to the empty desk in Mr. Lu’s classroom.

Not compared to Maria’s silence.

She opened the file she’d submitted last week.

Her “campus vision.”

It started with a quote she didn’t pick.

Had a sentence about “developing global citizens through academic rigor and 21st-century skill mastery.”

She remembered tweaking verbs to sound stronger.

Swapping “support” for “empower.”

Adding a phrase about culturally responsive practices because someone had told her it was expected.

She hadn’t written it.

She’d constructed it.

Like a grant proposal.

Or a cover letter.

And looking at it now, she couldn’t remember a single kid that sentence would help.

Jordan minimized the window.

Closed the laptop.

She leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling.

Her brain started running through all the things she still had to do that day — teacher observations, a parent meeting, a walkthrough form she hadn’t finished.

But none of it felt real.

None of it felt like it would stop another Maria from slipping away.

She picked up the district binder off her desk, held it for a second, then let it drop back down with a thud.

“What’s the point of having a vision,” she said, “if it doesn’t help you see the kids who are fading?”