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

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:

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...

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 of the same coin

- The question that changes how you...

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 anchors create st...

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 ready to stop being the centralized shock absorber in their school.

In this episode:

- Why your school ru...

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 field-tested, ready-to-use training assets available to only 100 schools before it's permanently retired.

In this episode:

- Th...

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 — https://schoolsofexcellence.com/vault

Mentioned in th...

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.

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 conversation is for you.

This...

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 shifted from overfunctioning school owner to visionary CEO, and what...

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 on the podcast.

Learn...

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 operations. Includes a cost calculator, training, and an installable standard to reduce call-outs and stab...

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:

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: https://discovered.thrivecart.com/the-enrollment-engine-curriculum-only/

Every year, school owners sit down with their accountants and ask the same dangerous question. In this episode, Chanie explains why "what should I cut?" is a shrinking strategy, and walks you through where your school is actually leaking profit right now.

Resources + Links Mentioned:

Reclaim $2,000+/month by fixing the money leaks without adding enrollment in the Increase Your Profit Workshop: https://discovered.thrivecart.com/financial-gear-workshop

Mentioned in this episode:

Chapter One of This Can't Be Normal

Download Chapter One of This Can't Be Normal for free here: https...

Consistency sounds so simple. Show up. Do the thing. Repeat.

So why does it feel like standing at the edge of a cliff?

Consistency isn't boring. It's vulnerable. In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski explores why high-achieving school leaders resist steady rhythms, how perfectionism masquerades as inconsistency, and why return, not perfection, is what sustainable leadership is built on. If you've been doing the work and wondering why nothing seems to change yet, this one is for you.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

What if the warmth you've been leading with is quietly stalling your school's growth? In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski challenges the belief that empathy alone creates change — and unpacks why consequence, not punishment, is actually the key to predictable safety, reduced burnout, and a team that rises on its own. A must-listen for school leaders who are exhausted from holding everyone else.

Resources Mentioned:

Mentioned in this episode:

Chapter One of This Can't Be Normal

D...

Every September feels like a fresh start. By March, it feels like everything is falling apart. If that cycle sounds familiar, this episode is going to reframe everything for you.

Chanie Wilschanski breaks down the real reason school leaders burn out every spring: heroics masquerading as infrastructure. She unpacks what real systems look like under pressure, introduces the five elements of infrastructure that every school leader needs, and gives you two practical moves to make right now — before summer — to stop the cycle.

In this episode, you'll learn:

March is the mid-year mirror for school leaders, and it's showing you exactly what needs to change before May amplifies everything. In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski breaks down the difference between circumstantial challenges and infrastructure problems, shares a three-question framework to identify your patterns, and walks you through exactly how to install the standards and ownership your school needs to finish the year strong.

Resources Mentioned:

Mentioned in this episode:<...

You finally exhaled. Things at school are good. The team is doing well. No fires. No panicked texts. No impossible parent meetings. And somehow, instead of leaning in, you quietly stepped back — because isn't that the goal?

This episode is rooted in the same rhythm-based leadership philosophy at the heart of my book, This Can't Be Normal: What to Do When Success Starts to Feel Like Survival, and it's one of the conversations I wish every school leader could hear before they disappear into a calm season without studying it first.

What You'll Learn in Th...

Early childhood education promotes leaders faster than almost any other industry — and school leaders are paying the price.

In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski names a quiet but growing leadership crisis inside schools: teachers are promoted into leadership roles based on warmth, availability, and emotional labor — not relational stamina, discernment, or leadership infrastructure.

You’ll hear why early childhood lacks true leadership pipelines, how urgency and exhaustion drive premature promotions, and why titles alone don’t build capacity. Chanie breaks down what other industries do differently — and what school leaders must begin building now if they want leade...

Hiring can feel like a test you’re supposed to pass.

You check references.

You trust your gut.

You believe in someone.

And then something happens — they struggle, disappoint you, drift, or leave suddenly.

And the messaging comes fast:

In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski names the toxic hiring myth school leaders are swimming in: the belief that if you hire the “right person,” the problems stop — and you can finally rest.<...

Many school leaders reach a stage where things are “running.”

Schedules hold. Classrooms open. Systems work.

And yet — they’re still looped into decisions they thought were delegated.

In this episode of the Schools of Excellence Podcast, Chanie Wilschanski names the critical difference between a school that can run without its leader and a school that can think without its leader — and why most leadership burnout lives in that gap.

You’ll learn why delegation alone doesn’t create freedom, how discernment stays trapped inside the owner’s body, and what it actually take...

Leadership doesn’t unravel because you did something wrong.

It unravels because disruption is inevitable — and most school leaders were never taught what to return to when it arrives.

In this episode of the Schools of Excellence Podcast, This Can’t Be Normal author Chanie Wilschanski names the hidden forces that quietly destabilize even the strongest schools — after the systems are built, the team is capable, and the fires are mostly quiet.

Many school leaders reach a stage where things look good on paper… yet still feel fragile underneath. This episode explains why that tensi...

Many school leaders ask for consistency.

What they’re really asking is:

What holds when I’m tired?

In this episode of the Schools of Excellence podcast, Chanie explores why leadership often breaks down on ordinary days — not in moments of crisis — and why motivation, systems, and training alone can’t carry culture, standards, or accountability.

This conversation introduces one of the most important leadership distinctions:

Systems create structure.

Standards create clarity.

Only rhythms create safety.

You’ll hear:

School leaders are often told that clarity creates relief.

That once the systems are documented…

once the SOPs are written…

once the team is trained one more time…

then the weight will finally lift.

In this episode, Chanie Wilschanski names the quiet truth many school leaders are living inside of: training transfers knowledge—but it does not transfer ownership.

You haven’t failed leadership.

You didn’t miss a step.

You believed a promise that confused training with behavior change.

This conversation...

There is a role many school leaders step into long before they ever receive a title.

It’s the role of the strong one.

The steady one.

The one who handles it.

In this episode, Chanie explores the hidden cost of being the strong leader—the invisible emotional weight carried by school owners and leaders who learned early that being useful meant being safe, valued, and connected.

This conversation isn’t about burnout or failure. It’s about survival adaptations that once protected you, but may now be quietly costing...

There’s a moment in school leadership that rarely gets named.

It’s not burnout.

It’s not failure.

It’s not collapse.

It’s the quiet moment when everything looks “successful” on the outside — but something inside you feels tight, constricted, or unsustainable.

In this episode of the Schools of Excellence Podcast, Chanie opens a new conversation inspired by her upcoming book, This Can’t Be Normal. She invites school leaders to slow down and listen — not to fix, optimize, or pivot — but to notice what the signal is trying to say.

As 2025 comes to a close, many school leaders find themselves pausing and asking a quiet but important question:

How did we end up here?

In this episode of the Schools of Excellence Podcast, Chanie Wilschanski unpacks one of the most overlooked leadership challenges in schools, drift. Not burnout. Not laziness. But the subtle loss of alignment that happens when leaders lose connection to the rhythms and anchors that once kept them steady.

This conversation is especially for school owners, directors, and leadership teams who are preparing to step into 2026 and want to do...

As the world slows down in the quiet space between years, Chanie invites school leaders into a powerful reflection:

What did this year build in you?

Not what you accomplished…

Not what you finished…

Not what you checked off the list…

But what was formed within you as a leader navigating exhaustion, momentum, setbacks, breakthroughs, culture challenges, enrollment pressures, financial strain, team transition, and the very real humanity of leadership.

In this deeply personal episode, Chanie shares her own journey through 2025 — a year that stretched her capacity, reshaped...

Most school owners aren’t losing money because of one major expense.

They're losing money in the quiet places—the small operational habits, the unspoken “just this once” purchases, and the daily micro-decisions no one sees.

These are money leaks—and they drain profit, capacity, and emotional bandwidth far more than leaders realize.

In this episode, Chanie shares a short but powerful clip from HQ member Nikki, who took the Money Leaks Diagnostic and used one simple rhythm—not an overhaul—to cut her supply costs by 50% in 90 days.

But the deeper transfo...

Every school leader drifts, even the strongest ones.

Drift is not burnout, not laziness, and not a leadership flaw. It is one of the quietest, most human forces in leadership. And it shows up long before leaders ever realize they’re off course.

In this powerful episode, Chanie unpacks the two forms of leadership drift, Calm Drift and Chaos Drift,  and reveals why both are inevitable, expected, and deeply human. More importantly, she explains the one skill every school leader needs:

The ability to return.

Because leadership strength isn’t measured by ho...

Leadership in early childhood has long been treated like an “extra,” a bonus you get after the fires are out and the classrooms are staffed.

But here’s the truth:

Leadership development isn’t a perk.

It’s the job.

Because calm doesn’t grow you, discomfort does.

In this episode, Chanie names a trap many school owners fall into: waiting for life to “settle down” before investing in their own growth. But settled never comes. Systems will always need refining, enrollment will always ebb and flow, team members will always cycl...

You can’t call in tired when you’re the leader.

Even on the days when your body aches, your brain is foggy, and every text feels like one more demand — leadership still needs you. Parents still email. Licensing still calls. Staff still need direction.

And in that fatigue, it’s easy to believe the lie: I just need a break. I just need a new system. I just need to get through this week.

But energy isn’t something you find. It’s something you create.

In this deeply personal episode, Cha...

If your brain feels like a filing cabinet that never closes, you’re not alone.

For many school leaders, memory becomes the hidden system — the thing holding birthdays, licensing dates, parent notes, staff needs, and the million invisible details that make your school run. But here’s the truth: your brain was never meant to be the system.

In this powerful, personal episode, Chanie shares how her once-reliable memory began to fail — and how that moment became the turning point for her leadership. Forgetting wasn’t a crisis; it was clarity. It revealed that her business h...

In early childhood education, it’s easy to feel like marketing changes faster than you can keep up. But the truth is, while tactics evolve, the fundamentals of trust, rhythm, and authenticity never go out of style.

In this episode, Chanie sits down with longtime friend and industry leader Nick Williams, CEO of Childcare Business Growth, to discuss the timeless marketing strategies that stand the test of time.

They explore how to create authentic content, follow up with confidence, and use AI and systems to reclaim your time — all while staying true to your school’s valu...

Leadership is heavy in ways no one talks about.

We expect long hours, enrollment pressure, staff turnover, and parent demands — but the invisible weight of leadership isn’t in the spreadsheets. It’s in the emotions, expectations, and energy you absorb every day.

In this powerful conversation, Chanie redefines burnout and exposes why the “fix-it-fast” advice doesn’t work. Because burnout doesn’t come from working too hard, it comes from becoming the system.

If you’ve been the leader who holds everyone else’s fear, absorbs everyone’s disappointment, and smiles while suffocating inside...

When Irene Gomez stepped into her role as director at the J Center for Early Learning in El Paso, Texas, she carried what so many new leaders do: hyper-responsibility, people-pleasing, and the pressure to be the “hero” in every situation.

In this episode, Irene shares her journey inside the Schools of Excellence coaching program and the transformation that followed—from chasing fires and working late nights, to leading with clarity, boundaries, and trust.

You’ll hear how a calendar became her leadership lifeline, how gratitude reshaped her staff culture, and how self-trust shifted her from over-fun...

If you’ve ever thought, “It’s just easier if I do it myself,” or found yourself ready to “burn it all down” after one too many hand-holding moments—this episode is for you.

In this solo episode, Chanie Wilschanski exposes the false binary so many school leaders get trapped in: over-functioning or giving up entirely. Through real client stories, she unpacks how these extremes are both driven by the same craving for instant relief—and how true leadership means learning to live in the messy middle.

You’ll hear how one owner, “Sarah,” learned to hold her team accou...

Scaling is glorified in our culture. In early childhood education, that often means opening more schools, adding more classrooms, and constantly chasing “what’s next.” But is that the only way to define success?

In this episode of the Schools of Excellence Podcast, Chanie Wilschanski sits down with Latrice Galloway, known as The Child Care Chick, to talk about the overlooked power of scaling with one location. Latrice shares how she built Kidsville Learning Academy into a multimillion-dollar school that has sustained for 18 years without expanding into multiple sites.

This conversation dives into the foundation of sus...