Launched in 2005, WellesleyWeston Magazine is a quarterly publication tailored to Wellesley and Weston residents and edited to enrich the experience of living in two of Massachusetts' most desirable communities.
Issue link: https://wellesleywestonmagazine.epubxp.com/i/210435
an interview with dr. david lussier get back in the trenches. "You are at 5,000 feet, and the air is thin. You miss the tangible rewards of seeing the impact of what you do; you feel David Lussier's office is filled with photos, including ones of himself with Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. like a man without a country," he says. "I desperately wanted to get back into a school district to be engaged in a single place and have serve a residency as special assistant to the school superintendent in more ownership." Austin, Texas. "He allowed me to see his practice in all its aspects," says You can get a sense of Lussier's life and values by looking at the Lussier, whose six-month residency turned into a six-year stint when he walls of his office. While he has photos of himself with Clinton and was hired as a senior administrator. The Harvard program required Bush, what stands out is a poster-size portrait of Abraham Lincoln. him to file periodic memos second-guessing his mentor's decisions. "This has been with me since I was in the classroom," he says. He Today, Lussier regularly gets such memos from the vigilant residents of admires Lincoln for his ability to make tough choices without burning Wellesley. He calls them "my critical friends" – a phrase that might have bridges with those on the other side of the controversy. applied to Lincoln's second guessers. Throughout Lussier's office are photos of children. "I love to have schoolchildren. It's called Head, Heart and Hands of Leadership, a pictures of kids around me as it reminds me of what we do," he says. phrase he used in the introduction of his draft strategic plan for Among them are pictures of his three children, all of whom attend Wellesley schools. "Too often we only think about the cognitive Wellesley schools: two at the middle school and the youngest in aspects, the head, which is important, but we can't lose sight of thinkWe l l e s l e y We s t o n M a g a z i n e | w i n t e r 2 0 1 3 / 2 0 1 4 On the wall opposite Lincoln is a print of a painting by Boston kindergarten. To avoid potentially awkward situations, his wife, ing about the heart," he says. "We want kids to be moved by a beautiful Colleen, takes the lead role with the children's teachers. piece of music or art or be outraged at injustice. And the hands are about…having an impetus to act." g Building a Leadership Bench The original painting hangs at the Harvard School of Education, where Lussier earned a doctorate through the Urban Superintendents large number of principal and other administrative positions. Everyone Program. As part of the program, Lussier was sent to Austin in 2006 to 54 At the outset of his tenure, Lussier was faced with filling an unusually he hired was from outside Wellesley. Now, he is building a leadership