Avoid the noise

As admins and teachers we deal with a lot of noise.  Noise is distracting.  Very often it keeps us from being who we are and from what we are doing.  Noise can be defined for us as all the usual suspects.  What do you hear us complain about?  Parents never understand.  Snapchat is the worst thing ever.  The state doesn't have a clue what they are doing.  Sound familiar?  All these things take us away from the mission.  We lose time away form the mission of kids when we are hyper focused on noise.

I had a recent observation about noise.  A school recently discovered a student with bedbugs.  In this area that has gotten a lot of attention and even television news coverage in neighboring towns.  This  district did their duty of informing the community via social media of the discovery, their next steps and to not be alarmed.  That post got 106 shares and over 8,500 people reached on Facebook in just two short days.  I would love to get that kind of engagement on my school social media pages, but I'm sure our videos are not funny enough.  The general public runs with these happenings and uses them to complain (causing noise) while us folks that work in public schools understand that having a few bedbugs is not a huge setback to the instructional process.  It may be costly to treat, but that treatment happens quickly and professionally to ensure the health and safety of our students.  So we can, you know, teach.

So the next time you are flagging questions about your noise, stay on mission.  You might have to confirm some unflattering information, but be sure to drown it out with all the great things we get to see everyday.  Our mission is teaching kids and that should be weaved into every narrative.  Social media is a great tool to control your narrative.  We are reminded of this over and over and my personal experience is that it is great for promoting the great works of your students and staff.

The best way to avoid all that noise is to use social media for the celebrating and separate communication channels for the informing.  My goal is to create an online culture that fosters praise and celebration.  I would say 85% of my Facebook posts are of a celebrating nature. It’s hard to be critical in the comments when you are showing love to your school family. That’s not to say those haters won’t take to their own page to complain, but you are still in control of your narrative in your space. You are not creating the noise. They have to make the conscious decision to be negative and noisy in your positive social media environment.  Avoid the noise by surrounding your school’s social media presence with all the things that are special about your school. Visit our Facebook page and see what we do. I’m not saying we are perfect, but I am happy with the result.

Vote Like Hell

A Trump acquittal means democracy is finally dead.  It has been heading that way for a very long time and the President's acquittal is the culmination of that journey. We have complained about politicians for decades, but fail to use the single power that we have to keep them honest.  Voting is our single biggest weapon against the erosion of what the founding fathers built.  Lets break this down.

Politicians from the last impeachment should not still be in office. Yes, I support term limits.  Their flip on witnesses from the Clinton impeachment should tell the voting public what they are truly interested in. The 51-49 vote does not match the public’s opinion. Who do they represent? The better question is what do they represent. Even a Fox News poll showed Trump should be removed.  In a representative democracy, their vote should have mirrored the people's voice.  I realize these and other polls show a slim majority leaning toward conviction, but it is obvious that the acquittal was voted on along party lines.  Voting will keep them loyal to voters and not the party issues they convince us are important.

This story does show a failure of the American presidency, but the bigger story is the failure of checks and balances.  Each branch does not work for each other.  The idea was for each branch not to have too much power and keep the others responsible.  This impeachment will for sure go down in history as the official end to another key desire of the founding fathers.  I used to joke in my classroom about how people will be written into the textbooks when my kids are in school.  Now, I'm not so sure how this fits in a history book.  Maybe it is the turning point for a political revolution in our country or maybe the beginning of a dark time in our history.

This shameful display will empower trump to behave worse and he will.  The lawyers argument that serving his interests is the same as serving the people's interests is dangerous.  If the people have elected Trump, then he is acting on behalf of the people to get re-elected.  This doesn't sound like an exercise in checks and balances, but rather an OJ style acquittal of a criminal.   Using this logic sends us a step closer to a dictatorship.  Yep, I said it.  What does it tell us that he is now firing those who testified and complied with subpoenas?  He thinks he is above the law and the Senate just gave him license to do that.

The only way to right this wrong is to vote like hell.  We have to communicate to candidates that we want public servants, not politicians.  Mitt Romney emerged as a hero in this regard, much like John McCain often did.  He's a Republican that voted the values of his constituency and himself (because he embodies the people he represents).  These are the people we should vote for.  Those who will publicly rise for what is best for the people he represents.  We have to demand more from both sides of the isle.  If we do, there might be no more isle and a different non-compliant Whitehouse official would be moving his stuff out this week.

I am happy to be a Democrat, but we have to recognize that this impeachment trial was a turning point for our country.  Vote like hell at every level.  Demand public service from our representatives.  Right now they are concerned about winning.  In the meantime, the people are losing.