{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Little Wins","title":"From Isolation to Creating a “Crew Culture”: Eric Filardi on Trust, Visibility & Belonging","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3056,"description":"In this episode, host Karen Borchert sits down with Eric Filardi, principal at Mendenhall River Community School in Juneau, Alaska, a uniquely remote elementary school in the shadow of the Mendenhall Glacier reachable only by boat or plane.\nWith 19 years of experience across New York, Abu Dhabi, and now Alaska, Eric shares how life-and-death logistics, extreme weather, and geographic isolation shape a school where crew culture, emotional safety, and deep community connection aren’t optional—they’re survival.\nFrom inheriting a struggling school with flat funding, high special education needs, and eight principals in ten years to building a “crew” that trusts each other, gives honest feedback, and shows up for kids, Eric walks through how vulnerability, visibility, and real-time listening have transformed his school’s culture.\n💡 Little Wins in This Episode:\n\nLiving next to the glacier, teaching at the edge of the map\nWhat it means to lead a school within eyeline of the Mendenhall Glacier, in a capital city only accessible by boat or plane and why “thinking several steps ahead” is part of everyday school leadership.\nFrom Long Island to Abu Dhabi to Alaska\nHow diverse teaching experiences from rural New York to Queens to the United Arab Emirates shaped Eric’s belief in community integration and professional intimacy with families.\nWhen survival and schooling intersect\nStories of polar-bear lockdowns, moose at the door, minus-40 school days, and car heaters and how shared risk and dependence on one another builds a unique kind of community.\n“Crew culture,” not isolation\nWhy Eric calls his staff a “crew,” how job-alike isolation in small schools leads to loneliness, and what it takes to create emotional safety and shared purpose across just ten unique classrooms.\nTurning around an unhealthy culture\nStepping into a school with unstable leadership, funding crises, dissolved special education supports, and scared staff and how transparency, vulnerability, and showing your...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/3MAppP9ieU1pRh-q8xrCvhiFtlkYsqh64Ioo6m8axZY/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9hOWFl/NDIzZDQ4NDc0M2Uy/ZDRhNzBlYzcyOGY1/ZGNjMi5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}