The Partners Blog
The Partners Blog is written primarily by Partners’ executive director Richard Lemons. Through these letters, Richard shares resources, tools, and research relevant to leading organizations, prompting large-scale instructional improvement, and disrupting inequity.
In Memory of Jerry Belair: A Legacy of Humanity, Courage and Connection
On April 12, 2026, educator, family member, colleague, mentor, and friend, Jerome “Jerry” Belair passed peacefully among family. Over twenty years ago, when I began my relationship with Connecticut education, I was invited by CAPSS to facilitate a statewide assistant superintendents' retreat. It was there that I first met Jerry. I
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The Micro-Practice That Could Change the Temperature in the Room
Yesterday, a room full of superintendents did something that looks small on paper and feels deceptively simple in real time: we practiced taking another person's perspective. Not as a feel-good exercise. Not as a political tactic. As a leadership discipline. We began, as we often do, by making space to arrive.
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A Conversation About Imperfect Leadership (and Why It Matters)
Several weeks ago, I had the privilege of joining Dr. Peter Stiepleman on The Imperfect Leader Podcast—and I had a lovely time. The conversation moved in the way the best conversations do: curious, honest, and grounded in the real work of leading human systems. We covered a lot of terrain—mental models
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Leading for the Long Now: Superintendents in a Time of Upheaval
by Richard Lemons, Jennifer Perry Cheatham, and Rydell Harrison At our recent meeting of the Connecticut Superintendents’ Network, we found ourselves gathered around a familiar scene: a set of charts and graphs thrown up on the screen, lines bending and breaking, bars climbing and collapsing. Enrollment trends. Workforce data. Student
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Sketching the Future of Learning
Markers squeaked against poster paper as thirty superintendents stood around the room, sketching visions of the future of learning. The question before them was simple and immense: What should learning look like in the future? Members of the CT Superintendents' Network were invited to think aspirationally—to imagine schools unbound by the
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The Power of Board Governance in Mission-Driven Work
"Trusteeship requires the ability to see the organization whole, to understand its relationship to its environment, and to act on behalf of the institution's long-term best interests." — Richard P. Chait, William P. Ryan, and Barbara E. Taylor Strong governance is the quiet backbone of every mission-driven organization. Research reminds us
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