School Board Elections

When I was the principal at Elverado High School, I had a parent come see me asking about school boards.  In short, she was asking how one gets on the school board.  I very much respected this family.  Both parents worked hard and contributed around the school.  Their kids were great students and participated in school activities.  I respected this mom so much that I may have talked her out of picking up a petition.  That was certainly not my intention but when I asked her if she had ever been to a board meeting, she said she had not.  I encouraged her to attend several board meetings, possibly up to a year's worth.  I told her this because I don't think most people know how complicated it actually is to serve on a school board.

School Board elections are approaching and the yard signs and ads are going up.  But what can you look for in a prospective board member for a position that most people do not understand?  I have watched my boards closely and I can say that I have been lucky to work with boards that have treated me well.  I have noticed personal qualities of members that make them more and less effective when big decisions are made.  I would like to offer some things to look for in your candidates this season that will help you make a casting your ballot a little easier.

• Good board members are listeners and learners - They do not have to know everything.
• Good board members are successful in their chosen profession.
• Good board members do not need to be boastful of what they want to accomplish.
• Good board members know that they are making decisions for our kids and families, and not just for their kids and families.

If this is too much to for you to take on, simply check their personal social media pages.  Or even better, look at this code of conduct for board members from the Illinois Association of School Boards.  Can the candidate honor this?

The point of this post is that even though these campaigns are not high dollar ones, they have a huge impact on you locally.  I was once told that school boards spend four minutes on a $4 million budget but four hours on a $4,000 coach.  In my experience this is very true.  You should also be aware of the many different votes that board members take.  Sure they hire and fire people but they also enter into contractual agreements, raise and lower taxes, set school building policy and may have to expel a student here and there.  When you step into the booth on April 4th, be sure you vote for those who represent the values of the the community you live in.  Hopefully, those values will enter the board room and we are represented as we should be.  Happy voting!

Building Trust with Parents

I commented to a colleague this weekend that I could write a best seller based on Friday's events  alone.  It was surely one of those days.  Every situation was an indication of everything that's is wrong with schools and society.  It took quite a while to digest and reflect upon how the wheels fall off and why can't these bad days being prevented.  The truth is it's like being a fireman.  Sometimes there are boring days and sometimes you work 14 hours without taking your gear off.  I try not to complain and keep on moving.  I once heard someone say that we shouldn't pray for a smaller load, we should pray for a stronger back.  This is definitely true in education.

The theme for that Friday seemed to be the parents I was working with.  I feel I have great parents and families in my school but sometimes there will be conflict and disagreement.  In my post 5 Simple Truths, I tried to give parents a tool kit to help deal with school issues and help them understand what educators are going through when it comes to spending the day with our kids.  The first of the five truths was trust.  I asked parents to trust us knowing full well that there are external factors that influence trust of schools and their principals.

Their experiences in school might be a good start.  If our parents had adverse relationships with school when they were students then we might have some troubles.  I have a lot of parents and families that come from poverty and still struggle after generations of being poor.  For these parents I tell them up front that I am a product of generational poverty.  This eases a lot of tension especially if I tell them a story they can relate to.  Poverty stricken families see education as abstract and not a reality.  This can damage the establishing of a trust relationship with them if they do not see education as a way to mobilize out of poverty.  Sure, I have a handful of parents in poverty that do see schooling as a way out but the general rule is that most do not.

What if the parents you are dealing with dropped out of school and took an alternative route to become job ready?  Their failure can often times be unknowingly transmitted to their children.  Not always by what they say but usually how they interact with school personnel.  They are the ones that often feel anxiety towards participating in school conferences or the PTO.  They have a fear that those previous failures will rear their ugly heads and they may be an embarrassment to their children.

High achieving or high expectation parents can also be maladjusted in the trust department.  And you thought this was only about the "bad" parents.  In my experience these are the parents that push too hard and have the most unrealistic expectations.  Typically these are my parents that feel that the other kids are out to get their kid.  They most frequently misuse the term "bully" and be the first to tell you that a teacher just isn't teaching their kid.  Your rules are stupid to them and its an embarrassment if they suffer a consequence like everyone else.  These people are not bad people, but they desperately protect an imagined status level to the point of pointless arguments.

The reality is that the parents we work with are as different as the students we teach.  I feel that I enjoy a decent level of satisfaction from my parents.  That's not to say that I haven't been put on blast or faced some strong challenges, but I keep things as simple as I can.

Here are my simple rules that help build not only trust but predictable exchanges with families.

• The growth of our student is the absolute highest priority for both of us.
• Work to the best of your ability to find all the facts about a situation.
• Do what you say you are going to do.
• Give parents input/ownership in school decision making.
• Smile (and mean it)

Just like 5 Simple Truths, this is my professional experience though I'm sure there is research on these suggestions.  I enjoy meeting and talking with parents.  That might come from years of experience in waiting tables and customer service jobs.  I know that I want to reach a kid, I must also reach their parents.  They might not be on your team yet but they can be if you take the time to include them.

If it makes money, it must be okay.

Despite my opposition to Donald Trump being elected to the Presidency, I remained open minded and decided to give him a chance.  After all, the Washington leadership will not let him go too crazy right?  They will keep him in check and make sure that political convention would take over during his honeymoon.  I think we all assumed we would have to swallow some jagged little pills to get started, but hey it won't be a big deal.  I'm a reasonable, educated adult and I know it will be okay, right?

As usual I am off the mark.  To say that I'm disappointed is an understatement.  I am not proud of us right now.  Yes, our leadership is failing us but we are also not behaving as a people either.  I've struggled with how to approach our new lows and why I think we are headed down a horrible path but I think I have narrowed it down.  I have complained out a Trump Presidency before but I think a conversation I had with my daughter might sum it up.

One morning during election season, she asked my why I vote the way I do.  I will tell you up front that I will never influence my kids political affiliation.  They need to find their way just like I did.  I told her that because I grew up poor, I will never vote for someone that I thought would help keep poor people poor.  I feel that I have honored that over my voting career especially with the Presidency.  I am seeing ever so clearly why I could not vote for George W. Bush and now Donald Trump.  The theme for both Presidencies seems to be simple, if it makes money then it can't be wrong.

I think by now it is well documented that Halliburton profited greatly from a war in Iraq during the Bush Presidency.  This company was well connected with members of the administration and made them quite a bit wealthier.  The public complained about no-bid contracts and the legitimacy of the stated purpose for being there.  Regardless, we continued on and many died while some made millions.  Our leadership told us we had an enemy to defeat.  Looking back with the 9/11 Report in mind, we now know that Saudi Arabia had more to do with that tragic day than Iraq did.

Fast forward to the events of the past week.  Trump implements a 90 day ban on immigration from seven countries that are majority Muslim countries.  As the story unfolds and protests mount, the graphic below surfaces.  It was posted by the Christian Left so I waited to find it in another source and it came up in a news broadcast last night.  It's a telling graphic that illustrates my point.  If the people from these countries are such a threat to the American people, why are they not all banned?  Because the bottom four have business interests with President Trump.  Notice that Saudi Arabia is still getting a pass.

The hypocrisy that we support for financial gain has plagued our great nation for a very long time.  It is not a new concept and definitely didn't start with Bush or Trump.  I think we have seen this enough to know when we are being taken for a ride.  We allow this and are too ashamed to admit we elected another fraud.  So many of my Trump supporting friends are defending this executive order and it saddens me to know that they are simply supporting the notion that if it makes money, it must be okay.  The immigration ban does not support the American values that we were founded upon but that is not important when money is involved.  President Trump is making it all too clear that he is taking this to a very high level and will not polish it up for political purposes.  So buckle up America.  We have four years of this to endure or the possibility of impeachment, which ever comes first.  I do not have any ill will towards the office of the President, but we have not got off to a good start with the nations of the world taking note.

The First Amendment in 2017

I found myself cleaning out my friends list and un-following some people on Facebook this week after the inauguration and subsequent protests.  This is a selfish act I know but it will prevent me from engaging in fruitless arguments and I prefer to keep myself happy as opposed to frustrated with people I actually like but differ on the issues with.

Let me give you an example:  I was reading some comments when I stumbled upon a single man with no children calling out women that supported the women's march.  This is frustrating and I will only speak for myself.  I am aware of women's issues in the country but I am not woman.  I don't feel that I get to speak for them and neither should he.  I will someday have to explain to my daughter that this country elected a misogynistic president and the result was a large, peaceful protest that shows what this country is really about.  You have the right to gather and protest to be heard, even if it makes someone else crazy.  Just like my Facebook cleansing, people that do not agree do not have to listen.

Have you ever looked at the First Amendment and paid attention to how we treat it today?  We are a far cry from what the founders intended and we really should be ashamed of ourselves.  Here is my take on our current treatment of each of the elements of the First Amendment:

Freedom of Religion	You have freedom of religion only if you are a Christian.  All other religious followers are suspicious or a punchline.
Freedom of Speech	If your position is on the winning side, you can speak all you want regardless of how correct the information is.  If you are on the losing side of the issue, you are automatically wrong.
Freedom of Press	You are so free in your publishing that you can create entire websites of fake news that influence opinions and behavior.
Freedom of Assembly	If you assemble, you are up to no good.  Marches and protests belong in the 60’s.
Freedom of Petition	No one petitions the government anymore.  Thanks to Citizens United, you can simply use corporate fat cat money as your free speech.  Buy a couple of legislators and you will not need to have your grievances heard.

I realize that these are completely unscientific findings but hey, if you follow social media this is completely accurate.  Most people that interact with social media as the foundation for their beliefs in current events.  Now I will be the first to tell you that I am a fan of social media, but just like everything else it only takes a few to mess it up for everyone.  I think people fail to realize that being an American citizen is hard work that requires tolerance of others and if you can't be tolerant just un-follow them.  Thomas Jefferson once said, "I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend."  He didn't have to live in a world of social media but we don't live in a  world where we are building a nation and the values that come with it.  We forget what the Bill of Rights actually means for the sake of being right.  As we move into this new presidency, lets at minimum listen and disagree as informed, responsible citizens.

The Officials Shortage

This is my 15th year in education and often after a game the complaint is not about the why the wining team was better.  It is usually first the poor officiating, the poor coaching performance and yes, if your kid was playing I'm sure we would have won.  Lets be honest and say that we are not good to our officials and yes this includes me.  I will never poke at anyone without including myself.  I have found myself in each status that I occupy criticizing an official.  I've been a coach, an athletic director, an administrator and yes a parent when I've been critical of an official.  I'm not proud of it but I am always right.  Right?

Before we get to the heart of the matter let me make this request.  All that I ask of officials in any sport are these two things, you have to operate with player safety in mind and realize that you are a part of the coaching process.  I have minimized all of my concerns into those two things and think that is fair.  We do not want kids hurt and we want them to learn their game.  Yes officials, when you don't make a call or try to keep things "even" you are not helping kids learn.  Let's move on.

We have teacher and administrator shortage going on also.  It seems to be caused by factors outside of education that have nothing to do with how awesome it is to be an educator.  Officials are seeing the same thing.  Most officials I speak to and know like to officiate because it is a way to stay close to the sports they love and to serve their community.  A recent survey done by NASO found that 76% of the high school sports governing bodies say that poor sportsmanship by parents is the single biggest reason officials quit.  68% said that poor sportsmanship by coaches and players was a factor for officials quitting.  One of my favorite movies is "Clerks" and a great line from that film was "This job would be great if it wasn't for the F-ing customers."  Randal might have been on to something.

The New York Times published a good article on the situation and told of two officials dying after being punched by players.  We have all seen the internet videos.  Take a look at this one where a pitcher, catcher and likely the coach are unhappy with the umpire's strike zone and they conspire to intentionally hit him with a pitch.  This is the tip of the iceberg.  I dare you to search for videos like this.  Watch the conduct and listen to he fans shout.  You could easily make a day of it.  It is quite embarrassing for us people who claim to love our sports.  We can't seem to show an ounce of respect for the few people left that put up with our crap for just a few bucks.

There are lots of ways to combat this problem.  Yes, we have to be better.  I attended a game recently that the wining team's fans rode the officials the entire game.  Every time I see this team in a gym they act like this.  All the officials everywhere they go cannot be that incompetent.  Fans must do a better job of letting the player's level of play determine whether they are happy or not.  All we are really doing is allowing our kids to shift the blame for poor play to someone else.  They are kids, let them mess up and learn.  Besides that, I can't tell you how off-putting it is to walk into a gym excited to see a game and the first thing you hear upon entering is some idiot yelling "WALK!"

Let me share a story.  My daughter is a 7th grade basketball player fortunate enough to get to play on the 8th grade team for a couple quarters a game.  One night we had a fast break and she trailed our eventual layup shooter.  A defender raced down the floor and couldn't catch up with the shooter so she shoved my daughter in the back, snapping her head back and sending her to the floor.  I was livid and stood to my feet shouting as loud as I could.  Yes, I was emotionally connected to the incident and was concerned for my daughter but the event did not surprise me.  An official was only eight feet or so away form the situation and did not blow the whistle.  My shouting continued until my wife pulled me down into my seat.  This particular official, in my opinion, should not be working ball games.  He has proven to be ineffective and had very public personal problems take place over the past couple of years.  Athletic directors need to hire the best they can for our kids.  We can't encourage others pick up the whistle if we put bad ones on the floor.  That's not a fraternity that anyone wants to belong to.

That's the trick isn't it?  Nobody good will step up so we cant get rid of the bad ones (much like politics). This is a recipe for continued and worsening shortage of officials.  Like other things that drive us crazy, this problem is layered and requires everyone to do their part.  The bottom line is that if we can do a better job then pick up some gear and go to the IHSA officials page and get started.  If we only find a singular reason why things are bad we will only continue to create shortages in the most important aspects of our lives.  That statement goes far beyond officials.  Teachers, police officers and other public sector professions are seeing too few people step up.  That's because we play the blame game too much instead of doing our part.

I would like to personally apologize to any official that I have been abrasive to over the years (and there have been quite a few). As a coach I am only trying to keep my kids in a winning situation, as a administrator I worry about the safety of my teams, and as a parent I want my child to be safe and learn the game.  I will do a better job of being a coach, administrator and fan.

Propaganda in Disguise

There are some things that I figured I would see in my lifetime.  Technology is moving fast so any advancements that may come about are not out out of the scope of my imagination.  Socially, however, there is one thing that I never thought I would see.  The idea of "fake news" baffles me.  I grew up watching Ted Copple tell us the news from the day and we hung on every word.  You had a weird relationship with your news anchors that they didn't know about but they knew they had an impact on how people viewed the world and their country.  Giving the news to people was an art form and all those artists would be rolling over in their graves today at the idea of fake news.

Fake news is exactly what it sounds like but it has proven to be quite dangerous.  Yes you simply post a suggestive picture or a headline to fit your motive and off you go.  The truth level is negligible if it helps get your point across.  You can spot fake news if you are interested.  The link is useful but it is a rehash of all the things your old English teacher taught you about gathering sources for a research paper.  So how can this be dangerous you ask?  What if a fake news story almost prompted a nuclear war in the Middle East?  Sounds crazy but that is a real news story.  And of course, all that nuclear war talk was settled by government officials on Twitter.  Go figure.

I was a social studies teacher and if you remember back to your history classes you were taught about propaganda.  You probably have the Nazi posters burned into your brain as an example of government supported misinformation.  It was a tactic to convince the public to buy in to the goals of that government or an idea that would support their mission.  Often, propaganda was fought with truth.  This was how you combat misinformation.  After all, the truth shall set you free (and all those other cliche sayings about truth).

Today, fake news has taken propaganda to a new level and with new upgrades.  Fake news is generated by people with agendas.  Propaganda was always generated by official bodies of government.  People have social media now.  They don't have to dump their flyers out of planes to spread ideas anymore.  The political landscape and campaign tactics have also lent a hand in making fake news into today's propaganda.

Lets take some examples and yes, we have to pick on the Trump campaign to do it.  Eric Tucker Tweeted a picture of buses at an Austin, Texas.  You can read the Tweet below.  The post was retweeted 16,000 times and shared over 350,000 times on Facebook.  Within a day, it had been picked up by several conservative news sites and even Donald Trump himself Tweeted in support of the notion that the media had been incited professional protesters.  Everything about the post was proven to be untrue yet it took shape and became a story in a presidential campaign.  Not bad for a guy that had just 40 Twitter followers when this all started.

If some is good for the campaign, more can better right?  Donald Trump has even used his Twitter account for misinformation.  He used speaking engagements to inflame his supporters. He may have some context for the remarks but those do not make the headlines.  Remember the time he said that Barack Obama founded ISIS and Hillary Clinton was the co-founder?  He could have been trying to assert that Obama's foreign policy helped create the conditions that allowed ISIS to form, but he in no way attempted to paint the situation that way.  Instead, he recklessly made inflammatory statements that made the headlines. Those statements don't have to be true, they just have to plant a seed.  Sounds like propaganda to me.

I find it funny that Trump on one hand blasts the "mainstream media" for not giving him a chance and on the other hand he participates in the same troublesome behavior of ignoring truth and facts.  He can do this because it works.  The American public has gone soft to the notion of truth.  Social media has allowed us to see a headline, fake or not, decide that it supports out personal beliefs, and then share it and annoy people with it.  Soon, guys like Erik Tucker are "journalists" and that is not good.  Why hasn't Trump come out in support of the truth and condemned fake news?  Because it is free and effective propaganda is disguise.

There are some reasonable people are fed up with fake news and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook is taking up the issue. In the meantime we are just gonna have to learn how to sort the real from the fake news and hope nations do not begin a nuclear war over it.  I leave with you with this clip from Samantha Bee.  Yes, she is crazy liberal but this piece accurately sums up how I feel about this.  If you can handle a little mild adult language, I think you will like it too.

Chase Her Example

It seemed like only yesterday I wrote about Morgan Griffith when she was in junior high.  It seemed like only yesterday when the discussion started about her breaking the career scoring record at Frankfort Community High School.  It seemed like only yesterday I was visiting the hospital with the rest of the family to meet her when she was born.  Morgan is my niece and I have been lucky enough to have a front row seat to her basketball career.  Time sure does fly by and what a ride it has been for her.

This week, Morgan hit a free throw to put her atop the career scoring list in West Frankfort.  I remember at the end of her junior year the speculation of when she would break the record was running wild.  The confidence in her to accomplish this feat was not surprising.  She is a well rounded, talented and a consistently healthy player.  The crowd was great that night, the fans were loud and the showing of love and respect for her when that free throw went in was heartwarming and filled us with pride.  Everyone loves a record breaker and a winner and Morgan is definitely that.

We are drawn to these types of people.  Its fun to watch a player get closer and closer to a milestone and we cheer them on.  Lets make sure we know what we are cheering for.  If you really knew her, you would know that she has career goals that reach far beyond basketball.  If you really knew her, you would know that she is on track to have her Associates Degree from John A. Logan College when she graduates high school.  The basketball scholarship she will playing under from Missouri S & T will get her into graduate school.  She is tremendous young lady that understands where she is going and how to get there.

I found this quote from Mia Hamm and I thought of kids like Morgan.  Her assault on the record books didn't start with actually breaking a record or when she was a starter her freshman year.  It started the day she decided to pick up a basketball.  We often see the end of career accomplishments and think that kid was a tremendous player.  But what many miss is the journey it takes for someone to get here.  The work, the pressure, the politics and targets on your back would make most buckle.  She has endured and now not only receives the accolades but it has been a vehicle to get her to where she is going.

If I have a message for Morgan and any other kid that takes this journey is to never stop being that little girl that first picked up a basketball.  Morgan refuses to stop learning, is always curious about the game and her craft just like the wonderment you see in a child.  It has made her a great basketball player and a great person.  She is ambitious and is blind to limitations and I'm not talking about on the basketball floor.  Always be true to that little girl that first picked up a basketball.

I want to thank Morgan for being a great example for little girls that choose to pick up a basketball.  I hope hundred of girls chase her record and her example.  It will only serve our community well and give us the right narrative to tell to our student athletes.  All too often we have to endure stories of great players that have bad approaches to the game of life.  They become headlines for the wrong reasons but today she makes headlines for the right reasons and is a shining example for aspiring Lady Redbirds.  With any luck, my daughter will join the chase.