Originall published in Carroll Capital, the print publication of the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. .听
Melissa Melendez was born and raised in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and got pregnant as a teen. 鈥淢y school counselor told me I would never amount to anything,鈥� Melendez says, shaking her head.听
Determined to prove that prediction dead wrong, she became a school counselor herself鈥攃onnecting with and helping teenagers in her underserved community for 20 years before being promoted to ninth-grade principal at Lawrence High School in 2021.听
Overnight, she became responsible for leading more than 100 educators and 700 students. Because she lacked formal experience as a classroom teacher, Melendez doubted her ability to guide and inspire them effectively. Her own limiting beliefs became her biggest roadblock to success. But everything changed after she leaned into the Lynch Leadership Academy (LLA) at Boston College for support.
Melissa Melendez and LLA Leadership Coach Cristin Berry Pizzimenti meet monthly at Lawrence High School.
Since its founding 15 years ago, LLA has helped more than 1,500 principals from Massachusetts-based public, Catholic, and charter schools unlock their management abilities, strengthen their school communities, implement successful systems, and anchor their work in educational equity for all students. They鈥檙e piloting a program in Ohio as well.
Melendez received an LLA Fellowship in 2021 and joined a select cohort of around 30 school leaders for a 14-month intensive program. The training involves 150 hours of professional development on campus at Boston College, combined with four hours per month of one-on-one leadership coaching on-site at their respective schools. The coaching continues for those, like Melendez, whose schools sponsor the additional cost of time.
鈥淎 principal鈥檚 biggest challenge is that students need them to be good at their jobs from day one, and they make major decisions every day. We are helping them to learn the skills needed to move a community through ongoing change with great care and thought,鈥� says LLA Executive Director Jenne Colasacco.
LLA was established with funding from philanthropists Peter Lynch 鈥�65, H 鈥�95, P 鈥�01, and his late wife, Carolyn Lynch, H 鈥�09, P 鈥�01. For Carolyn, the program was personal. Her father worked as a school principal, and Colasacco says, 鈥淪he often spoke about how much respect she had for his work but also how lonely it could be. To her, it felt听incredibly important to create a support network.鈥� So far, LLA has impacted more than 250,000 students鈥� lives, partnering with school leaders in 70 communities.
The Carroll School of Management sponsors the academy in keeping with its broad conception of management education, which John and Linda Powers Family Dean Andy Boynton distinguishes from a narrow 鈥渂usiness鈥� focus. 鈥淲e want to help people to become great leaders and managers wherever they are, not just in business but also in education, healthcare, nonprofits, and other sectors,鈥� he explains.听
Leadership skills鈥攁nd spirit鈥攁re what Eileen McLaughlin, LSEHD 鈥�98, felt she needed most when she became a fellow. 鈥淟LA taught me that leadership is not a burden鈥攊t鈥檚 a joy,鈥� says McLaughlin, who began the program as a Catholic school principal, then became an LLA coach, and is now the Archdiocese of Boston鈥檚 superintendent of schools. 鈥淪chool success is really about leadership success. I learned how to strengthen my teachers and administrators and position them as leaders, too.鈥�
For her part, Melendez says that by stepping outside her day-to-day life, she was able to thoughtfully read texts, learn new theories, and lean on her cohort. And she was matched with Cristin Berry Pizzimenti, an LLA alum, former charter school principal, and full-time LLA Leadership听Coach to around 80 educators annually. Berry Pizzimenti coaches her and other principals at Lawrence High (the school is so large, with 3,500 students, that it has multiple academies with a principal for each one). She and Melendez have met monthly at Lawrence High for three years now.
On a winter afternoon, the two are huddled over a laptop in a conference room. Even with the door closed, it鈥檚 easy to hear kids鈥� voices and rushed footsteps during class transitions. At the top of a whiteboard behind Melendez are these words she鈥檚 written out, reflecting her vision: 鈥淓ach member of our school community is an intellectual achiever. Instruction is engaging, rigorous, collaborative, learner-centered, socially aware, and joyful.鈥�
“Equity is a through line that connects everything we do at LLA. ”
Ninth grade is uniquely challenging because students are pivoting from middle school to a new environment with more rigorous academic and behavioral expectations. In business terms, Melendez is basically trying to pull off a merger every school year, folding hundreds of new kids into the existing student population.听
Melendez and her coach bend over an Excel spreadsheet to digest last semester鈥檚 results. Fifty-two students are in danger of failing. Melendez鈥檚 goal for their two-hour session is to strategize how to improve the passing rate, in part by offering students a path to making up missed or unsatisfactory classwork. By the end of the session, the principal has crafted a solid implementation plan.
Before closing, they discuss the challenge of selecting students for a limited number of honors and AP slots and what a fair system might look like. 鈥淓quity is a through line that connects everything we do at LLA,鈥� Berry Pizzimenti says. They brainstorm how to make an excellent education available to every student regardless of background.
Berry Pizzimenti has seen Melendez go from 0 to 100 in confidence. As the coach walks out of the conference room, everyone from students to staff waves at her. She disappears down a long, crowded hallway, rushing off to her next session at Lawrence High.
