Leadership Development Through Collaboration

As superintendents of two neighboring rural districts in upstate New York, we know the challenges of leading schools with limited resources and ever-growing expectations. What we’ve learned, though, is that leadership becomes stronger when we work together.

Collaboration between school districts doesn’t just expand opportunities for students. It also creates fertile ground for leadership development. When we share programs, staff, and ideas, we grow as leaders who learn to innovate, problem-solve, and build trust across communities.

Helen Keller said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” That truth rings especially clear in school leadership, where collaboration builds both opportunity and strength.

Why Collaboration Builds Leadership

Leadership development is often framed around professional workshops or graduate courses, but in reality, some of the most valuable growth happens in the day-to-day work of solving problems together. When districts collaborate, leaders must navigate competing priorities, align systems, and balance different perspectives. This requires adaptability, courage, and clear communication—the very skills at the heart of effective leadership.

For emerging leaders, collaboration offers something equally valuable: the chance to step into new roles. A teacher coordinating a cross-district program, a principal aligning schedules, or a board member engaging with another community all gain hands-on leadership experience. These opportunities are not as easily created within a single district.

Our Example: Margaretville and Roxbury

Our two districts have built a partnership rooted in student needs. Last year, a Margaretville student was at risk of losing a scholarship opportunity because we could not offer a physics course. Rather than accept that limitation, we worked together to transport students between our schools. Today, Margaretville students travel to Roxbury for Physics and Architecture and Construction, while Roxbury students come to Margaretville for Chemistry.

Making these exchanges work required more than buses and schedules. It required trust between superintendents, collaboration between boards of education, and creativity from faculty and staff. Along the way, we strengthened our leadership capacity. We learned to communicate across systems, to design flexible solutions, and to keep student opportunity as the central focus.

Lessons for Other Districts

Collaboration does not have to begin with large, complex partnerships. It can start small—one shared class, one joint extracurricular activity, one professional development opportunity. The key is to approach collaboration not only as a way to share resources but also as a way to grow leaders.

Here are a few lessons we’ve taken from our work together:

• Build trust first. Open communication and a shared commitment to students lay the foundation.
  

• Start with student need. When the focus is clearly on expanding opportunities for students, leaders can align more easily around solutions.
  

• See collaboration as leadership practice. Every step—whether negotiating transportation schedules or aligning curriculum—develops skills that make leaders stronger.

• Identify the relationships that need to grow beyond district leadership. As district leaders, we clearly understood the desired outcome, but who else did we need to connect? Our school counselors, transportation, and IT departments all play an important role. We brought these individuals to the table early to ensure we had everything in place. And, what might they learn from each other in the process?

Be honest with your colleague, check in often, and shine a light on those that are willing to participate in this new partnership with you.

Partnership as a Pathway

Leadership development doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens in the spaces where people are willing to reach across boundaries, listen deeply, and solve problems together. Our work between Margaretville and Roxbury has shown us that collaboration creates not only more opportunities for students but also stronger, more resilient leaders.

We encourage our colleagues to see partnership as a pathway—not just to efficiency, but to growth, courage, and authentic leadership. When districts come together, everyone benefits: students, communities, and the leaders who guide them.