Julio Nuñez Leads with Heart

An Imperfect Leader

INTRO: About a year ago, at about the one-year anniversary of Justice Ginsburg’s death, I was asked by my family to be a part a school naming committee in Philadelphia. There was a school there considering her name for the new name, and I was to represent Justice Ginsburg.

In the end, the school community didn’t choose to name the school Ruth Bader Ginsburg Elementary School. Instead, they chose Gloria Casarez Elementary School. Gloria was an LGBTQ+ advocate who served Philadelphia’s City Hall as the director of LGBT Affairs from 2008 to 2014 and she was attended this school as child. This was the perfect way to honor a local hero who died too early.

The renaming process did something really rewarding for me. It gave me the opportunity to meet this week’s podcast guest, Julio Nuñez. In the first part of the conversation, Julio tells us about the process for changing the name of his elementary school in the Kensington Neighborhood of Philadelphia.

In the second part, Julio talks about his first principalship and the intensity of being a school/district leader, and the mental health toll it takes on a leader, especially leaders typically underrepresented in leadership roles.

Throughout our conversation, I kept thinking of a quote my aunt famously said:

"Fight for the things you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you."

Julio does just that. It’s a great episode.

BIO: Julio Nuñez is my guest. Julio serves the children, families, and staff as the principal of Roosevelt Campus of the Norristown Area High School, outside of Philadelphia.

His leadership journey, which spans a broad range of experiences, is firmly rooted in his desire for service and self-improvement. He values compassion, courage, citizenship, and resilience above all else.

Julio studied public policy at Georgetown University, graduated from Temple University with a degree in Journalism, Economics, and Political Science, and earned a master's degree in second language acquisition from Drexel University. Julio is pursuing his doctoral degree in Educational Leadership at Saint Joseph’s University, focused on immigrant and bilingual communities.

NOTE: In our conversation, Julio described a scenario in a piece he wrote in 2022 that speaks to the ripple effect – or unintended consequences – of a decision. In the scenario he described the process of “leveling” (now known as “enrollment-driven resource review”). We talk about the consequences of this practice, and how he draws a line from consolidating and eliminating a teacher to gun violence.

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Music for An Imperfect Leader was written and arranged by Ian Varley.

Sam Falbo created our artwork, a wood-print inspired daruma doll butterfly.

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My book, An Imperfect Leader: Leadership in (After) Action is available at Amazon.com or peterstiepleman.com.