PMP487: Leaning Into Student Leadership with Paul Branagan

A Quick Note to Listeners:

Before this week’s interview, Will Parker and Jen Schwanke take some time to answer a listener question. This week’s question is:

I’m struggling with how to best reach our teachers with clear communication. What systems help with clarity and consistency with staff, without depending on a single communication channel?

Listen in to hear their response!

Meet Paul Branagan:

Paul Branagan is the very proud principal of Middleborough High School in Middleborough, MA. Paul has served the students of Middleborough for the last 29 years. He has served in the role of History Teacher, Department Leader for History and Social Studies, Assistant Principal, and is in his 14th year as the Principal. The role of Principal has been his favorite position. Paul deeply believes that he never left the classroom…the classroom just got much bigger.

Additionally, Paul has served as the State Executive Director for the Massachusetts Association of Student Councils since 2010. In this role, Paul works with high schools throughout the Commonwealth, helping with their student councils and leadership programs. Paul has served as the Student Council Adviser at Middleborough High School since 1997, and finds the marriage of being the principal and the student council adviser a perfect blend of leadership and culture building, which are two essential components of being an educational leader.

Paul was named the 2011 National Student Council Adviser of the Year, and was honored with the 2022 Earl Reum Award, which is a national award celebrating excellence in the work of student activities.

Leaning Into Student Leadership:

In this episode of Principal Matters, Will Parker sits down with Paul Branagan, longtime principal of Middleborough High School in Massachusetts, to explore what it really looks like to build student agency, belonging, and a school culture that lasts.
Paul shares his unlikely journey—from a disengaged high school student to an award-winning principal and national leader in student council work—and reflects on how that experience shaped his leadership philosophy. Now in his 14th year as principal, Paul explains how Middleborough High School has become a place where students feel known, valued, and invested in their school.

A central theme of the conversation is student voice and ownership. Paul emphasizes that authentic engagement goes beyond symbolic gestures:
“When students really believe that their voice matters, it’s incredibly powerful. It stops being your school and starts becoming their school.”

With more than 250 students—over 30% of the school—actively involved in an open student council model, Middleborough High demonstrates how broad access to leadership builds connection and pride. Paul and Will unpack practical systems such as monthly student “temperature check” surveys, leadership roundtables, and feedback loops that turn student input into real action.

The conversation also explores belonging as a driver of engagement. Rather than reacting to perceived crises, Paul describes how listening closely to students helped the school recalibrate its culture and strengthen everyday experiences—from classrooms to cafeterias to fan sections.

As Paul puts it:
“Once students feel engaged and believe that school matters, school starts to make sense. And when it makes sense, they lean in even more.”

Throughout the episode, Paul reframes leadership as facilitation rather than control:
“My job as a principal isn’t to control the school—it’s to guide students in the direction they want their school to go.”

The episode closes with advice for both aspiring and veteran leaders. Paul encourages leaders to treat the work as a vocation, remain visible, and stay deeply connected to students as a way to sustain purpose over time:

“The more time I spend around students, the more grounded I am. That’s what reminds me why this work matters, even on the hardest days.”