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Zac Bauermaster currently serves as principal at Kissel Hill Elementary School, located in the Warwick School District in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Zac has the tremendous opportunity to lead teachers, support staff, families, and most importantly, the next generation daily. His greatest joy in education is seeing adults leverage their God-given talents and abilities through inspiring kids to find and use their gifts.
Before becoming a principal, Zac served public education in various K-12 roles such as assistant principal, administrator of online learning, teacher, and coach. Zac received his undergraduate degree from Millersville University in secondary education and completed his Master’s Degree in Educational Technology from Pennsylvania State University. Zac returned to Penn State, where he earned his Principal Certification. Most recently, Zac earned his Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Superintendent Letter of Eligibility from Drexel University. He is a lifelong learner, always looking to learn and grow. His family jokes that he went to school in Kindergarten and hasn’t ever stopped.
Zac continues to grow his leadership influence and share encouragement and positivity through various social media platforms, magazine publications, and speaking events. Most importantly, Zac is a husband to his wife Carly, and father to three young kids, Olivia, Eliot, and Isaac. Zac is a firm believer in leading his family first. The family resides in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
He is the author of the new book, Leading with a Humble Heart: A 40-Day Devotional for Leaders.
- Zac explains how scripture has been a foundation for his leadership and the lessons it provides for in service to others.
- He calls the book ‘Leading with Humble Heart’, and explains how the message of humble leadership different from the ways leaders are often perceived or expected to behave in positions of influence.
- He explains how the life of Jesus is one of humble confidence. He has some advice for education leaders who receive harsh, sometimes threatening behavior from community members who claim their criticism is based on biblical principles.
- The format of the book is designed for daily meditation and reflection. Zac illustrates how this helped him manage his own anxiety and depression with a favorite example from the book of what readers may expect.
- He explores how leaders must navigate the important role of serving others with authenticity without crossing legal and social boundaries that exist when serving communities of diverse backgrounds, including religious and non-religous beliefs.
- Finally, Zac shares encouragement he would you offer educators beginning another school year knowing they will be facing ongoing opportunities and challenges serving their communities. Zac talks about the difference between confirmation bias and impressive empathy as well as the wisdom of knowing when to just listen.
We also discussed a new survey from NASSP.
August 2022, NASSP shared a new survey of 1,000 principals who reported the following:
- Three-quarters of school leaders (73%) and students (74%) report they needed help with their mental or emotional health last year.
- The majority of school leaders (70%) and students (51%) report they have personally been threatened or attacked, physically or verbally during the past year.
- One out of two school leaders claim their stress level is so high they are considering a career change or retirement.
Check out his new book!
Below is an overview of Leading with a Humble Heart: A 40-Day Devotional for Leaders
“Leading with a Humble Heart is driven by scripture and authentic leadership stories and experiences from the author, with practical points of reflection and application. The devotional book includes various leadership topics from a Biblical lens centered around humility and confidence. Each day consists of a title, scripture verse, additional reading, a personal leadership story, and a biblical leadership example. This devotional book is for leaders from any walk of life looking to learn, grow, and improve themselves and those they lead. Whether you are a business owner, pastor, teacher, mother, father, coach, male or female, this devotional book is for you.”
Connect with Zac:
Twitter – @ZBauermaster
Instagram – @ZBauermaster
