My Out Post
The Board meets October 1 (tonight) to name an interim superintendent
and I check out once he is named. This
is my last day. You know me. I could not leave without one more post.
What a wonderful 14+ years I have had in Edna. Friends made here will last a lifetime and I
do not worry about losing you though our roles and the basis of our
relationship may change. I have always
said I am a guy named Bob with a job to do.
I did my job. I remain Bob.
I have learned much about our community since my arrival
here. We are not perfect. I have learned that for many it is safer to
avoid conflict and communicate sideways.
I prefer face-to-face to Facebook, and yet I have learned of issues and
feelings and concerns from Facebook.
Sometimes I have never learned, never heard, and never understood the
issues. In those cases no one came to
sit with me and openly share what they were thinking and feeling, preferring to
play “I’ve got a secret”. I will assure
you of this: In 14 years no one,
absolutely no one has ever gotten in trouble with me, lost their job, etc., for
stepping forward and speaking the truth.
There has been no retaliation from my office; there has been only fear
of retaliation. It is only fear that
keeps us from sharing. Be bold. Be a professional. Leaders lead best when they know how folks
are thinking and feeling. If you have a
problem with a person, tell that person.
Posting it elsewhere, sharing in HEB or never saying a word will not
resolve the problem. It will make things
worse.
I have learned we need to teach driving lessons to many of
our parents. If you park on the side of
FM 1822 and walk across the road and jump the ditch to pick up your child
rather than simply waiting in the parent line you are not only spending more
time than need be, you are placing yourself and your child at great risk. If you stop to double park in front of the
junior high gym when dropping off your child you are clogging a major
thoroughfare and forcing everyone to wait.
Be reasonable. Be sensitive. Be safe.
Be patient. (OK, end of pet peeves.)
But mostly I have learned what a wonderful community this
is. I have never seen folks rally to
help their fellows in time of need, whether it is from disease or fire or
whatever, folks in Edna respond. We chip
in. We help out. I have never lived in a community so full of
good Samaritans. I have never lived in a
community that is so open. Everyone
waives. We do not judge folks by the
pigment or ink in their skin. I love
that about living here. I will leave
here having friends across the racial, ethnic, income, religious and gender
lines and I am proud of it. We are all
precious and flawed. We are all human
beings and merit each other’s support and openness.
Our school system and our staff are absolutely top
notch. It is so hard to explain to
non-educators that we are in the future business and what we do today is
mindful of 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 years from now, because that is when we will
really learn if kids have learned. Staff
who are most unpopular for a behavior today may in fact be better preparing
kids for an uncertain future than others.
We educators are by nature collaborators. We know that if we find something that helps
kids and we do not share what we have found we are harming all the other kids.
So we share, we plan, we collaborate. We
do not want to compete because that hurts kids.
I would swap staff with any so-called “Exemplary” school system and I
know our staff would yield even higher outcomes in the Exemplary district while
the imported teachers teaching our kids will lower our outcomes
tremendously. We teach. We teach everyone. We teach anyone. Of that I am very proud.
Yes, I am proud of our facilities and am proud of our
financial stability and status, and I have been proud of the leadership stability and
improvement. Our mission is to
ensure a quality education for all and I believe every day we are all working
hard to achieve that mission. I
encourage you to keep doing so.
We are professional educators in a very unique time frame in
our nation. We are asked to address
every issue in our society from childhood obesity, to dental exams, to physical
fitness, to providing after school activities and Friday night
entertainment. And teach to standards
set outside the realm of public education.
We are asked to do so with more and more technology but with no
additional money. (I always thought it funny that when schools add technology we do not reduce the number of employees, we increase it.) We are asked to do so
needing more and more staff but with no additional money. We are to be all things to all people, solve
all the problems and be content with the funding we have. That is ludicrous, but that is where we are.
We also function in a time when elected officials perceive
that they know more about educating kids than we do. They know more about curriculum, standards,
accountability, testing, instructional programs, and professional evaluation
than we do. They do not; they just
perceive that they do. I believe we have
been handed such officials by voters who do not understand the issues. We must be professional. We must teach our parents, our voters, our board
members our legislators what professional education is and is not, what works
and what does not. And in my book that
means be aware of our professional practice beyond the walls of our classrooms,
buildings, and school districts. If not,
we will be subject to more and more ridiculous and private sector-based
mandates that hurt teachers and kids and do not promote our primary
mission. Worse, we are asked to do so by
billionaires who want to experiment in our schools, and they want us to
experiment while they take away or divert more money to new experiments. Public schools must survive. The next generation depends on us. The answers lie with us, not around a board
table, or in Austin or in Washington. We
must be aware and vigilant. We must be
professional.
I will step down from my soap box. I will take one more sentimental journey up
and down all our new halls on my last afternoon. I will stop, catch your eye and say goodbye. You will have a new leader soon. I wish him or her and you the very best. Kids in Edna deserve that.
I deeply thank the 27,000+ souls who have read this
blog. I will continue to write and post
on one-eyedbob.blogspot.com and invite you to join me there. But this is my last post on this blog. This is and has been my out post.
Goodbye and God Bless
Bob
No comments:
Post a Comment