Merle Horowitz Reminds Us to Empathize, Sympathize, and Energize

An Imperfect Leader

In this week’s An Imperfect Leader: The Superintendents and Leadership Podcast, we dive into another authentic story of someone navigating the complexities of leadership. I'm your host, Peter Stiepleman, and today, we have the honor of welcoming a remarkable leader, Merle Horowitz.

Today, we’ll explore Merle's journey through a lens of empathy, resilience, and the pursuit of progress - or in her wise words: we’re going to empathize, sympathize, and energize. With a focus on the profound impact of mentors and the challenges of cyberbullying in education, Merle shares her insights drawn from years of experience. From her groundbreaking research on the legal implications of digital communication to her tenure as a superintendent, Merle's journey is a testament to the transformative power of leadership in education. In Part 2, Merle walks us through her experience of leading a major facility change where academic learning spaces would get the same attention as football fields.

It's a great episode. Thanks for tuning in!

BIO: Dr. Merle Horowitz has been a teacher and a district leader, retiring as Superintendent in Marple Newtown, Pennsylvania after serving four decades.

As superintendent, she led district-wide renovation projects to bring the district’s schools up-to-date with security and technology improvements, all of which served as a catalyst to the transformation of the district’s academic environment and staff and student morale. In fact, this led to schools in her district being awarded the Governor’s Award for Excellence in recognition of student achievement.

Recognized as an administrator for demonstrating a commitment to school administration as a profession, to public education, and to one’s colleagues – for that Merle was named the recipient of the 2014 PASA Award for Leadership in Public Education. In 2014, she co-published an article on cyberbullying, which turned into a book: Cyberbullying in Social Media within Educational Institutions.

Other Resource Recommendations from Merle:

• EdLeadership February 2024 Issue
• "You’re Not Alone”: A Conversation with U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy
• What I Heard from Students About Mental Health—and What Helps

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Music for An Imperfect Leader was written and arranged by Ian Varley.

Sam Falbo created our artwork, a wood-print inspired daruma doll butterfly.

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My book, An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is available at Amazon.com or peterstiepleman.com.