What the Last 60 Days of School Reveal About Your Culture

The end of the year doesn't create problems. It exposes them.

There's a particular kind of tired that settles into schools around this time of year. You can feel it in the hallways. In the staff lounge. In the meetings that run long, the staff doesn't remember what was discussed.

Most leaders chalk it up to the calendar. "It's spring. Everyone's burned out. We just have to get through it."

But here's what I've learned after 34 years in education — what we call "end-of-year exhaustion" is rarely about the season. It's a signal. And the schools that learn to read it are the ones that grow stronger every year, rather than just surviving until June.

The last 60 days of school don't create your culture problems. They reveal them.

What to look for right now

When I work with principals in the spring, I ask them to notice a few specific things — not as problems to fix immediately, but as information to carry into next year's planning:

• Staff who have stopped bringing concerns to leadership — because nothing seems to change

• Relationships between teachers and administrators that feel transactional rather than trusting

• Increased conflict between students that mirrors the stress in the adult culture

• A calendar packed with compliance but empty of connection

• Leaders running on adrenaline, with no system underneath them

None of these is a failure. They are data. And data, gathered honestly, is how real change begins.

A different kind of spring question

Instead of asking "how do we get through the end of the year," what if we asked: "What is this season trying to tell us?"

That shift — from endurance to inquiry — is where transformation lives.

Pause & Reflect: What are the last 60 days of this school year revealing about your culture — and what do you want to do differently in September?

If this question lands, I'd love to hear what comes up for you. Drop a comment below, or bring it into the Steady Schools Community — it's exactly the kind of reflection we hold space for there.

Because when the adults are steady, the school is steady. And it starts with being honest about what we see.

— Dr. Kimberly Honnick | Founder, Bo Knowz Learning