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“Miss, why do you keep calling this a school? This is not a school!” That’s the question a student called out from the back of the auditorium, interrupting Linda Cliatt-Wayman’s first speech as principal. Although the outburst was unwelcome, Cliatt-Wayman knew that it was true.

In her emotional TED talk, Cliatt-Wayman describes her fierce struggles to transform a persistently dangerous high school into a place where students felt safe, loved, and challenged. Viewers are sure to gain inspiration from a principal who closes each morning’s school-wide announcements by saying, “If nobody told you they love you today, remember I do, and I always will.”