April 22: Reflections on the management role of the Board of Education.
The best bosses I ever had were those who were exacting and demanding. They were supportive, but never let me do less than my best work. It was always a stretch, but also always an inspiration to work with them. They required me to figure it out for myself, and offered guidance when asked. I respected them and they respected me. I became a better employee and eventually a better employer because of their example.
It's like sending my kids to bed. I tell them to go to bed and without any supervision I'll find them, 20 minutes later, naked on the floor reading a comic book, with a damp toothbrush in their hand. My 10 year old is more self-reliant than my 7 year old. It's a hard discipline to set milestones and stay on top of them, but without rigorous oversight, who can be held accountable for results produced? I may want to trust my children to get things done on their own, but I can only maintain that level of faith by monitoring them, and by providing the necessary guidance and support when they need it. The job of the Board of Education is much the same.
Professionalism:
- thorough research
- complete planning
- follow up evaluation
- effective communication
This is the hallmark of a professional in any area of work, including education.
April 28: The Vision Thing
I’ve heard a discouraging comment: we can’t have a vision, we can’t afford it.
I say we can’t hope to finance a school district that has no vision to carry it forward.
May 1: Mileposts and Landmarks
In recent years, a dangerous and disheartening trend has developed in Port. The School Board has increasingly adopted a practice of backwards budgeting: starting with a target increase percentage and developing an education plan from there. This makes it incredibly difficult for the Administration to provide a cohesive educational spending plan.
Guided by a community vision for education, it is the Board and Administration’s responsibility to lay out a roadmap, a plan for how our facilities must conform to that plan, how our curriculum must support that plan, and how our staffing will deliver that plan. This then can guide the community to understand what they are being asked to fund with their budget vote, how the money will be spent, and what value our students can expect from the community’s investment.
Roadmaps need to have mileposts and landmarks by which to measure whether we’re making sufficient progress, or whether we’ve lost our way. Without a roadmap we have no way to know where we are. Are the measures by which we rate our success reflective of our vision for our children? Do all our children thrive, or only handfuls here and there? How do we know?
• With a set of plans, our priorities become clear.
• With a set of plans, our budgeting decisions are clear and easy to understand.
• A clear and understandable budget becomes easy to support.
• With benchmarks and review, we know whether our money and resources are making a difference.
May 2: Credibility makes a difference.
Relationship building and communication--open, clear, honest, and two-way communication, between people who are committed more to listening than to talking--is where credibility starts.
But it takes a great deal of work to maintain credibility. Attention to detail. Keeping the big vision in mind. Checking against benchmarks. Reporting when things get off track. Taking responsibility for failures and mistakes. Correcting with grace. Not resisting criticism, but listening to it, responding to it, and using it to improve.
Here's what destroys credibility: Being disingenuous. Being too defensive. A lack of generosity. Incivility. Not being forthright and truthful. Hiding. Smokescreens.
I've just been looking back at the papers for election reporting and this question of credibility goes back for years. I'm thinking a lot about what isn't working and how a good team can put things right. It ain't easy. No one ever claimed it would be. The hard work, confronting the really sticky problems and being really tenacious about solving them, that restores credibility.
Credibility is lacking in places other than in the School District, too, let's remember that one, too.