For anyone in school leadership-or anyone who hopes to be-this book is a must read. Seasoned educator Laurel Schmidt tells it like it is about a principal's daily life. From the nitty gritty of hiring, evaluating, and firing staff, to navigating the intricacies of school politics, and managing crises in the glare of the media, she provides a long overdue tool to take control of your life as a school administrator. Schmidt combines insight and humor with use-this-now practicality as she details creative strategies for surviving the daily grind, while honing your vision of a school that works. Follow her lead and learn how to: plant the seeds for your vision and maintain your courseweed out the worst, hire the bestnurture productive relationships with parents, board members, and staffcultivate effective strategies for improving instructionroot out efforts to undermine your leadershipstamp out stress with simple techniques that work at workmaster the communication glut-email, voicemail, and the in-box.Gardening in the Minefield offers a refreshingly candid map through the landscape of leadership. As Schmidt confirms, it is a garden out there-if you know where to step.