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PODCAST

Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School Leadership Podcast

Chanie Wilschanski

If you are an Early Childhood director or childcare owner, prepare to transform your school and life with the Schools of Excellence podcast. Tune in each week to learn from Chanie Wilschanski, the founder and host of the Schools of Excellence Podcast and a mom of 4 kids. Each episode will be packed with tools and strategies - equipping school leaders to improve staff retention, increase teacher motivation, grow parent partnerships, create a collaborative culture, and enjoy a beautiful quality of

education management

All Episodes

38:21

300. The Delegation Dip Nobody Warns You About

Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School... ·

2026/07/14

You've probably been told you can't delegate because you're a control freak or a perfectionist. This episode kicks off a new series called the Delegation Dip, and Chanie makes the case that sometimes holding onto a task is wisdom, not fear.- Why delegating a task and delegating an outcome goal are different skills- The difference between a taskmaster and a profit warrior on your team- What the delegation dip is and why efficiency drops after you hand something off- The real, fear based root of

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30:30

299. Feed Forward: The Culture Tool You're Missing

Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School... ·

2026/07/09

Ever given a teacher feedback and watched her shut down right in front of you? This week, Chanie breaks down the real difference between feedback and feed forward, and why one keeps your team stuck while the other actually helps them grow.- Why feedback can trigger fight, flight, or freeze in your team- A real coaching story about a curriculum specialist who was hypercritical with one age group- The exact questions that help a teacher see her own blind spots- How often you should be running formal

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12:50

298. You Built the System. Then You Broke It.

Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School... ·

2026/07/07

Why do your school's systems keep breaking, even after you've built the SOPs and invested in outside help? Chanie explains the real pattern behind it, and it isn't a discipline problem.In this episode:- Why even a $2.1 million consulting investment couldn't fix one leader's system- The real reason caretakers break their own rules under pressure- The four-part framework every system needs to actually hold: standard, ownership, rhythm, response- How to start noticing the invisible ways you rescue your

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22:24

297. The Two Drama Symptoms That Kill School Success

Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School... ·

2026/07/02

Two of the trickiest drama symptoms to spot -- and the eight traits of leadership that replace them.In this episode, Chanie finishes the drama symptoms series with a look at manipulation and inconsistent actions and behaviors. Key topics include:The cost framework for deciding when it is time to let a toxic employee goWhy grief is a natural and valid part of removing drama from your cultureHow inconsistency creates hypervigilance on your teamThe difference between inconsistency and intentional

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39:16

296. From Survival Mode to Sustainable Excellence: A...

Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School... ·

2026/06/30

Sharon Jayakumar owns a Reggio-inspired school of nearly 200 children in Philadelphia and a few years ago, she almost walked away from all of it. Not because her school was failing. Because growing without infrastructure was taking everything she had.In this episode, Sharon and Chanie talk about what changed when she stopped going it alone. Key topics include:Building infrastructure that holds as your school growsWhat standards actually are -- and how to return to them after driftHow one month of

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26:26

295. Is Drama Destroying Your School Culture? Here...

Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School... ·

2026/06/25

Is drama quietly draining your school culture? In Part 2 of the Decoding Your Culture series, Chanie breaks down three signs that drama has taken root in your center, using real stories from real school leaders.In this episode:What drama actually looks like in a childcare center (it's rarely the big blowups)Why criticizing and complaining spreads from one person to an entire teamHow one director transformed her culture by addressing gossip in her own life firstWhat victim mentality looks like in

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12:47

294. You Hired a Team. Why Are You Still Carrying...

Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School... ·

2026/06/23

You hired a team so you wouldn't have to carry it all — so why does it feel like you're carrying more than ever?In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski breaks down the ownership gap that keeps school leaders stuck and alone, no matter how big their team gets. You'll learn:Why delegation and ownership produce completely different outcomesThe four-part infrastructure — Standard, Ownership, Rhythm, Response — that creates real shared leadershipWhy there will always be a reason the standard doesn't get met,

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25:44

293. The Hidden Forces Shaping Your School's Culture

Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School... ·

2026/06/18

Your school has a culture right now. The question is whether you actually know what it's saying.In Part 1 of the Culture Decoder series, Chanie Wilschanski breaks down what company culture actually is, what it isn't, and how to start reading the emotional data already showing up in your building. You'll learn:- Why perks and team events are not culture (and what actually is)- How to identify your school's core cultural tension- Why negative emotions are your most valuable data- The first step of the

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11:45

292. Why Your Team Can't Take Accountability (And...

Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School... ·

2026/06/16

Accountability conversations going sideways in your school? The problem might not be your staff — it might be where you're starting the conversation.In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski breaks down why most accountability problems are actually identity problems — and why gratitude is the missing foundation. You'll learn:- Why feedback feels like a personal attack (even when it isn't)- How identity and worth impact your team's ability to hear hard truths- Why gratitude and accountability are two sides

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12:33

291. Why School Leaders Still Feel Burned Out After...

Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School... ·

2026/06/09

You survived the school year. So why doesn't summer feel like relief? In this episode, Chanie pulls from her book This Can't Be Normal to talk about why rest alone can't fix exhaustion — and what school leaders really need to recalibrate.- Why your nervous system is still bracing after the school year ends- The difference between achievement and integration- What it means to mortgage your identity to your school- The question that shifts everything about how you experience summer- How rhythms and

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15:30

290. You Survived the Year - At What Cost?

Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School... ·

2026/06/02

Summer hits every school. The leaders who make it through without spiraling are the ones who built something before the season arrived.In this episode, Chanie breaks down why summer disruption is completely predictable — and why most school leaders keep getting blindsided anyway. She walks through the real financial cost of enrollment dips and staffing misalignment, explains why better systems and checklists won't solve the core problem, and introduces the Standards Installation Toolkit for leaders

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29:08

289. The Missing Layer in Your School's Culture: Why...

Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School... ·

2026/05/26

If you've ever rebuilt the same staff training from scratch, paid for a speaker who inspired everyone for two weeks and then disappeared, or stayed up late wondering what to train on next — this episode is for you.Chanie breaks down the four training patterns that keep school leaders stuck in activity instead of infrastructure, explains why most staff culture problems are predictable skill gaps (not personality issues), and introduces the Staff Culture Infrastructure Vault — a decade of

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18:01

288. The 5 Fears That Keep Leaders From Investing In...

Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School... ·

2026/05/21

If you've ever hesitated to invest in your team, this episode is for you.It's not that you don't believe in professional development. It's that you've invested before, hoped before, and been disappointed before.In this bonus episode I walk through the five specific fears that keep directors and owners from investing in their teams, and why every single one of them makes complete sense.Because until you name what you're actually afraid of, you can't move past it.Staff Culture Infrastructure Vault —

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35:03

287. I've Told Them This So Many Times

Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School... ·

2026/05/19

You've told them so many times. And nothing has changed. So what's actually going wrong?In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski digs into the part of leadership that most school directors skip entirely: the messy middle between hiring and firing. She introduces the concept of drift, why it's inevitable in every team, and the four-step rhythm that brings everyone back to the standard.Why hiring and firing is often relief disguised as strategyThe phrases leaders use that sound like leadership but are

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20:26

286. What to Do When School Leadership Feels Like...

Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School... ·

2026/05/12

What happens when the success you worked so hard to build starts to feel like survival? In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski joins radio host Nachum Segal on JM in the AM to talk about her new book, This Can't Be Normal. They cover the invisible weight of school leadership, why burnout is a rhythm problem not a workload problem, and what it actually looks like to lead a school sustainably, without running yourself into the ground. If you've ever wondered why leading well still feels so hard, this

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52:47

285. She Tripled Her Income Without Burning Out —...

Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School... ·

2026/05/05

What does it actually look like to triple your income, have your most profitable year ever, and still be home for dinner?In this member spotlight, Chanie sits down with Aliyah Johnson Roberts — owner of two early childhood education centers in Philadelphia — to talk about the real story behind her growth. A few years ago, Aliyah was sitting in her office until six o'clock every evening, not because anyone needed her there, but because she had convinced herself she had to be.Aliyah shares how she

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21:32

284. School Leaders: Pressure Test Your Call Out System

Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School... ·

2026/05/04

If a teacher called out tomorrow, do you know what it's actually costing your school? Not just money, your time, too.In this bonus episode, Chanie breaks down why most call out policies collapse the moment pressure walks in the door, what it means to pressure test your school's infrastructure, and how to build a call out standard that holds even when you're short-staffed, short on sleep, and short on patience.This one started as a Facebook Live, and the response was loud enough that it needed to be

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18:05

283. Why Your School Is Leaving $100K on the Table...

Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School... ·

2026/04/27

Your school isn't losing money because of bad teachers or wrong pricing. It's losing it in the patterns you've started to normalize.Chanie Wilschanski breaks down four profit blind spots that quietly drain revenue from childcare centers and early childhood education schools — from the false comfort of high occupancy rates to the $100,000 follow-up mistake one school owner didn't see coming. Get The Call Out Solution — A focused system to expose and fix one of the most common money leaks in childcare

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23:36

282. From Crisis to Rhythm: One School Leader's...

Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School... ·

2026/04/20

School owner Charlie Marcotty spent nearly 29 years building something remarkable and then watched it fracture under the weight of rapid growth. Eight allegations, four directors in three months, 50% staff turnover. In this episode, Chanie breaks down exactly how Charlie came back from the edge using rhythm-based leadership and what that means for every school leader who feels like they're barely holding it all together.If Charlie's story resonated, we'd love for you to:Apply for Leadership HQ →

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12:04

281. Summer Enrollment System for Schools: Why Effort...

Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School... ·

2026/04/13

Summer enrollment feeling unpredictable? It's not about effort, it's about infrastructure. In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski breaks down why school leaders keep losing leads they already have, why families are waiting longer to commit, and what it actually looks like to build an enrollment system that converts delayed decisions and compounds over time. If enrollment feels reactive, this episode is for you.Resources Mentioned:Enrollment Engine:

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