Thank You Teachers!

Its that time of year again to say thanks to our teachers.  I personally want to thank any teacher I have worked with in the last 12 years.  Making the decision to teach was the second best thing to happen to me in my life.  With all that the profession has put up with recently I have often asked what would influence a person's decision to choose teaching as a career?

I can't answer that for every person I can only answer that for myself and hope others feel the same way.  I began working with kids when I had just graduated high school and began working at Emery Brother's Skating Rink.  I learned quickly how to get kids to follow rules and how to get them to follow me.  I really enjoyed it but not because I loved to skate, but because the kids made it fun.  When I took my Job at Mt. Vernon Township High School I was in pure Heaven.  I was teaching my favorite thing to think about and I was given the opportunity to grow individuals.  I remember getting my first paycheck.  I looked at it and remembered that I would actually be getting paid to do this.  I completely forgot that I was going to get paid.  Don't tell anyone but I would do it for free.  It is that rewarding.

I'm often asked what the most difficult part of being a principal is.  I have my standard, politically correct answer but I actually have a real answer.  My real answer is customer service.  Schools are expected to keep their customers happy.  There has been a shift in the last 15 years or so that when someone is angry, we should appease them or we are running a bad school and cheating their kids.  My friends, I can tell you that schools are the last place to satisfy customers.  I'm not saying that I am rude to people or anything like that.  I'm saying that the institution of school is in part there to help grow our communities that reflect our values.  In doing this we have to hold a group to a standard that is fair and benefits all.  Too often we are asked to take care of individuals and the rights of the many should be overlooked.  This is what is hard about being a principal, the dying value of community.

Community is not just a good television show.  It is and should be a way of life.  I catch a lot of criticism for expecting my students to act as a unit.  It is imperative that we do.  They will grow up and contribute to our society and we need this "old fashioned" value to be taught.  Why is it wrong to expect people to help each other, and not just when someone has suffered a tragedy but just because it is the right thing to do?  We should be celebrating this idea in our schools but for some it is a slight on people's children.  Why do I stay in education?  Because we need people to stand up for the right values.  Because I am needed by my kids I will take the slams, the criticism, and abuse because if I cave who will do what we have been doing?

Teachers, you are in the right place and doing the right thing.  Who could do it better than those who believe in real values and passing them on to our students?  Keep your head up and press on.  Fight the good fight. 

I Did Learn Something at SIUC

As I mentioned in an earlier post I check my news feeds daily. I will admit that some days I am busy enough to do a headline scan and on other days I actually get a chance to read. Never the less, I am noticing a trend in the news that I actually learned about in college. I took a really interesting class at Southern called Politics of Journalism. It could have been a great class but the instructor was not very engaging but I did pick up a few things. One of those things: thematic vs. episodic news coverage.

Episodic coverage is the covering of news events that seem to be unrelated and provide little back story and rarely get followed up. Thematic coverage is a little different. Thematic news coverage tends to follow similar events like it is part of a tv show. Ultimately, these events prompt policy makers to act based on public perception of what ever problem is being thematically coved.

The thematic coverage of the past few months have obviously been guns and kids since the Sandy Hook tragedy. Any story that can be ran is either about guns, kids, or both at the same time. I see tons of mainstream news coverage of kids behaving violently. I have posted some of these articles on my Facebook wall because it has really struck me. Any story about juvenile crime is fair game these days. I get a little frustrated because I am in the kid business and I hate to see them portrayed in a negative light. We school types are doing the best we can.

Can this be helpful or hurtful? I am going to be non-committal and say both. Continued coverage of teen troubles will make the conservative types frightened and wonder, "What is wrong with kids these days?" and ask "Where are these kids parents?" The more liberal types will begin to question the system and devise ways to change institutions to create the desired outcome. The fact is both of these things need to happen. We too often are asked to pick side rather than bring what we have to the table. There is simply too much at stake to play politics or point fingers. Thanks to the news coverage, new conversations are happening. They may be uncomfortable but they need to be held.

I have often said if we want to fix our societal ills we must fix our families. Don't let the news discourage you, let it inspire you. In my post, Lead With the Positive I dreamed about a day that I would look at the news and see positive stories to start my day. Now my new dream, to see positive thematic coverage.

The Good Old Boy System is Alive and Well

I have to operate in a profession that in some places is very much subject to the good old boy system. You know what I'm talking about. The system in which a few can get together, make a few phone calls, and make a desired outcome happen for the benefit of those few. That manifests in different forms such as hiring practices, facilities decisions, who plays or not and so on. Now you would like to think that this shouldn't happen schools systems because we should be working for the kids and not for ourselves but to the contrary, it is alive and well in schools. This seems to be the easiest route of influence for those who seek personal gains for their families.

I realize that this is largely based on perception. If you are ending up on the short end of the stick all the time it is easy to chalk one up to the good old boy system. I made my own way. I put myself through school, earned my first position in education through merit and the rest is history for me. I am always complaining about the good old boy system because I have never been a part of it. In fact I have days where I feel that I have helped the helpless beat this system and some days I feel that I was a part of it. It is frustrating for guys like me. I have struggled over the past six years with preserving my core values and not "playing the game."

Time has granted me a small bit of wisdom however and I have made peace with this maddening phenomenon. I just need to break even. Sometimes I win and sometimes I loose but the good old boy system can work for you. I don't mean join in, I mean play the game to break even. As long as I win a few and loose a few. I complained to a friend no too long ago about how one organization I have to work with has been overrun by the system and my hope for it was lost. At one time he was a candidate for the director of this organization and I told him that I sure wish would have gotten it so he could make the right impact for the group. He then said that would have put me in the good old boy system. He is right. Wanting my buddies in the right places is exactly what I am complaining about. Idon't want to be a part of the system but I do want what's best for kids. This comes through careful compromise with the system which in turn requires a great amount of patience. If the system wins too many battles, then kids are losing. If I win too many battles, I am part of the system and the kids are losing. The most impact full change for kids seems to be breaking even with the system. Honest compromise helps me be true to my values and helps me advocate for my students.

Man Up!

You may have seen this news story and picture in the Southern Illinoisan.  I found myself very tickled by it for two reasons.  First I'm not sure I would have reported this to the police.  To be honest I have had many threats made against me by angry parents and I have never once felt that anything would come to fruition.  My initial reaction was confusion as to why the administrator felt threatened.  The article states, Brown threatened to “kick her (the administrator's) teeth down her throat and make her suffocate on them,” when the administrator is “old and no longer a principal,” according to the information.  There is no immediate danger to this person and I'm sure she didn't feel the urge to schedule an ass whoopin in her calendar for a post retirement date.  But hey, to each is own and I can't say how one should feel.  I was told once in a voice mail that I was going to get my throat slit.  It became a great joke around the office when that person apologized the next day.

Here may be the reason that it was reported since no immediate threat existed.  Simply put, payback.  I have parents do this very thing all the time.  They get mad at the school for something that may or may not have happened so instead making a simple phone call, they take to the airwaves thinking that it is private and hoping to gain support from their peers.  This is the most frustrating thing that can happen to a school administrator.  We come to work representing all of our students, teachers and families and we do it with pride.  When we get bashed, it does sting a little.  The fact that a parent will go on Facebook, discuss facts that have not been substantiated and place blame, is tremendously disrespectful to the school as a whole.  Man up!  If you have a concern, call.  I love all my students but they are going to cover their butts when they can so you likely do not have the whole story.  Be fair.  I spend more time with some of my kids than their parents do.  I'm not complaining but I may be in a good position to tell you how they behave.  By the way, is she laughing or crying?

http://thesouthern.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/prosecutor-woman-used-facebook-to-threaten-school-principal/article_8ba292f6-ab86-11e2-bc21-0019bb2963f4.html

Leading With The Positive

Each day I wake upland do the same thing, I check the news.  I check my CNN and AP apps and I check my ESPN app as well as watch the airing of Sports Center that's on when I get up.  I have come to the conclusion that the news coverage I get exposed to follows the following pattern:

• There will always be war and violence in the Middle East and Asia. 
• Individuals that are white and pretty usually get all the kidnapping coverage. (Many people get abducted but these are the ones we get to hear about.)
• Lower level idiots in most types of institutions always bring down higher level idiots. 
• Football at all levels gets coverage in their off seasons
• And yes, Republicans will never like any president unless that president is a republican. 

I was able to start my morning today with a break from the norm.  Sports Center led their broadcast this morning with a great story about a seven year old cancer patient that was allowed to play in a Nebraska spring football game. Not only did he play, they set up a 69 yard touchdown run for him.  I'm not going to lie, this is a get choked up moment. I then thought back to the effort that ESPN made to announce that they would skip NCAA basketball highlights to show this story first.  Wow, how refreshing is this?  What if the news started each broadcast with something positive.  I went through my day feeling motivated and morally centered. 

What if, I mean sriously, what if the news led with a positive story.  This would without a doubt rock traditional wisdom when it comes to the broadcasting business. Lets skip the story about the murder that happened last night and focus on people that work hard to prevent bad things from happening. Lets skip the story about political gridlock and run a story about the coach that doesn't abuse their players but builds them into great people. Is this too much to ask?  Try it for a week and tell me that a  small revolution wouldn't occur that helped people feel positive and confident in their fellow man and community. Maybe it would be hard to sell advertising. Or maybe people would just might start believing in us as a nation that leads with the positive.

Watch the video

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jmisv1Spck

You Won't Find This on the State Tests

I wont lie to you, being a school principal is a difficult way to live. If you do everything right, their will still be people that hate your guts. Not to mention the long hours, ever-changing state requirements, school discipline really can ruin an entire day and you feel like you are constantly raising people’s kids. But when you put in the honest effort that it takes to do it right, there is a reward.

I have to say that I felt very rewarded lately. My student body has had the opportunity to learn outside of the textbook in a big way. I constantly try to teach these lessons but until they have an opportunity to carry them out, you really don’t know what their potential can be.

Lesson Learned #1 - You get out what you put in. Our girls basketball team just completed a season that they never expected to have. The formula for a 20 win season is generally different than what we used to get there. We had one player who has spent 80% of her life on basketball and 12 others who really had little playing experience. It goes without saying that your 80% girl would score 95% of your points but going from a 2-3 start to a 20-6 finish means that something else had to be happening. The other girls began to get better. They came in on weekends and worked extra. They began to improve their basketball IQ and when tournament time rolled in they began to shock some people. Now in one season they will not catch up to the time and effort Morgan Griffith (our 80% girl pictured above) has put in over her life but without it, they couldn't be successful as a team. Without it, our community would not have come to their feet as they did and show these kids tremendous support in their resulting 2^nd place finish at state. This brings me to the next lesson.

Lesson Learned #2 - When someone falls down, pick them up. The community has really stepped up in the time of someone’s need. One of the secretaries in the district lost her daughter to a car accident. Quickly we decided to change a school fundraiser to a benefit for her family. Now I can only tell the kids that this is what you do when there are people in need. When the community provides the lead and the kids get to see the lesson in real life, it is priceless. We have to be the reality that they see. Otherwise, less worthy individuals will do that for us. Two thumbs up to the West Frankfort community for supporting our kids.

There are many lessons to teach, but they aren't on the state tests. They don’t have x’s and y’s in them and they don’t have to be a certain amount of pages long. I’m committed to teaching them, are you?  Teachers are not the only teachers in their lives.

If the Founding Fathers Rose From Their Graves

Well I just couldn’t hold it in any longer. I will admit it, the Facebook posts got to me. Apparently because I am a Democrat, I hate guns and anybody who owns one. Obama wants to disarm America and make us all wear swastikas on our sleeves. Enough is enough folks. The truth is that democrats are not anti-gun, they are anti-murder. I personally have no problem with somebody owning a rifle to hunt with or owning a handgun to protect their home. I don’t think we should be able to own assault rifles because it’s cool and then use the second amendment as a shield to do so.

 

If the founding fathers rose from their graves, what would they see? I ask this question because that’s another shield that conservatives use when challenged on the gun control issue. I think overall they would be proud of the nation they had helped build but I think the lack of evolution in the Bill of Rights would leave them puzzled. With the exception of the third, all the items in the Bill of Rights has changed with the times compared to when the document was written. But has the second amendment really changed with the times?

If the founding fathers rose from their graves they would see a society that has changed when it comes to the way the freedoms they sought to protect have been carried out. The Supreme Court has helped guide us as we have changed, just as the framers has intended. The Bill of Rights seemed to be a top ten list of sorts for those days. The first protects religion and forms of speech and then the threat of safety to our nation at that time, i.e. British attack, native Americans, and slave uprisings. And so to that end they wrote:

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

You were allowed to have guns so you could fight against any of these threats if they arose in order to keep our new nation safe. How likely is it that we will have a slave uprising in the near future? The fact is we live in different times. If the founding fathers rose they would see a new time. One that glorifies gun violence in its culture and has been increasingly turning those guns on each other. I think they would prefer to remain dead and yes, roll over in their graves.

One last thought. As a school administrator I flag many questions about whether or not schools should have armed guards at the doors or should administrators carry guns. The truth is I think we are going at it the wrong way. I was told by a police detective that of the last 30 mass shootings in this country, only seven had been in schools. As he told me the circumstances of those individuals and why they committed these crimes on innocent people, I realized we have a people problem. Sure we need to have some type of gun control measures to reduce the opportunity of troubled people to do this, but if we don’t try to fix our people it will not matter.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/billofrights