Supporting our COVID-19 Troops

I will admit that when the COVID-19 pandemic was starting, I was a skeptic.  Yes, I was one of those that said things like "It's only the flu" and "people only care because rich folks are getting it."  That was back in January though.  A lot has changed since then and my thinking has changed also.  Sure, my family is undergoing changes and sacrifices like everyone else.  Sure, I am frustrated that the school year is over for my children and my students.  The whole thing is very sad, but we stand determined.

I finally broke down and began watching the images from the news.  I was struck by two contrasting themes currently taking place in our country.  First, I watched a great piece on Nightline about the front lines of the crisis in the hospitals of New York City.  As I watched the struggle of the medical professionals being profiled and the conditions in which they were working in, it reminded me of seeing footage of war.  In my lifetime, war has never been fought in our country.  We have to watch the conflict play out on the news from countries that most people cannot locate on a map.  My heart was tugged on when I realized that these people are fighting this fight here.  These are our people trying to save our people.  Not a war that many don't understand in a far away place.

The other side of the narrative is the protesting going on in various parts of the country to re-open their states amid this pandemic.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I understand the hurt that people would like to end.  My wife and her sister own a small business and they are seeing the burdens of the shutdown firsthand.  We have a legitimate concern to keep our economy running and I will not try to dispute that.  I see this as just another way we have become polarized as a country.  We are once again forced to take one side or the other.  You are either for re-opening the country or for saving as many lives as possible.



What an unfair position the American people find themselves in.  If we use my clumsy comparison of this pandemic being a war fought on our soil, sacrifices have to be made.  During World War II, the U.S. government began to ration food through a system of ration books.  This was a radical move, but necessary for the war effort.  At no time have we ever questioned the idea of supporting our troops during conflict or war.  But, war has not affected us this way in my lifetime because war has never been this close to home.

If, for the sake of this comparison, our medical professionals and scientists are the troops in the trenches of this war then we have to sacrifice a little longer for them.  They are fighting to save lives and to find a vaccine.  They fight today to protect us from this virus in the future.  I know it's hard make the best out of this difficult situation and even those war ration books were not perfect for the situation.  We have to give them a fighting chance.  Even the president considers us at war with an "invisible enemy" so maybe we need to support our troops a little bit longer.  We will get through this, but we can't do that without a united front to make the needed sacrifices.

Maslow before Bloom’s

The first time I heard this term was on Scott England’s podcast. I was so struck by the concept that I added some slides to my Poverty Practitioner workshop presentation. What a powerful way to think.  We need to meet their greatest personal needs before we meet their educational needs. This is definitely a useful mindset for those hoping to make an impact on their low-income students.

This concept became our reality when the COVID-19 shutdown took place and we found ourselves without our students. It is a proud moment when I see news stories and posts about the work of school staff providing the basics like food and social service support. Sometimes the best way to adopt a new mindset is to be pushed into it by things out of your control. The education community and risen to the occasion and brought life to the concept and in many places has been taken to a new level.  This proves we have always been “essential” employees because we serve our state’s most essential resource.

This also applies to us. We feel the void emotionally when our most vulnerable students’ progress and  health is no longer in our hands.  I have said before that heartbreak is a trait of a great teacher. This has certainly been tested with recent events. It is hard to hear one of your teachers express their worry and concern for kids they know need them. It’s hard for me to get emails from kids asking when we get to come back and if I can help them get medication if they run out. If you are feeling stressed out, you are not alone. This is not time to sit out. Our kids need you to be just as dependable as you have before.

The challenge now is can we continue the idea of Maslow before Bloom’s after this crisis is over?  Have we experienced enough to make this a permanent mindset?  I say don’t stop what we have started. Don’t stop feeding them physically and emotionally. Don’t stop making them feel wanted and included.  These thangs carry far more value than any learning packet. We also know that the brain will respond better when their emotional needs are met and those learning packets won’t be so bad. But hey, look who I’m preaching to. The best people on Earth.

Lastly, I need to give a special thanks to the Illinois PTA. They recently named me the Administrator of the Year and I am very appreciative and humbled by the honor.  Since my very first year as a building principal, I have understood the partnership between myself and the families that I serve. I take that connection very seriously and I have been blessed with great parent group members. A couple years ago we affiliated with the PTA and that relationship has proven to be a huge benefit to our parents and families. On behalf of Central Junior High School, I would like to thank the Illinois PTA for what they do for our schools and families.

Keeping Up With Kevin

On Monday morning I was told that Kevin Conaughty had passed away.  Kevin was our maintenance director for Frankfort #168.  If I had a project, he worked with me to get it done.  If something broke down, he made sure it was repaired.  If I had questions about food service, he knew the answer.  He was excellent at his job.  That description does not tell his story.  Anyone that knew him or had the privilege to work with him knew he was more than a Mr. Fix-it.  If you knew him, you could only hope to keep up with him.

If you wanted to know what Kevin was actually up to, you could attend any school board meeting and listen to his report.  He had a long list of things that were fixed, a long list of things that were broke and a long list of plans to take care of all of it.  We would often smile the longer he went on.  We always knew he was the hardest working man in the district because his report was usually longer than any one else's.

"Good morning Charles.  How's you day going?"  He said this to me with a smile everyday he saw me as he was leaving the kitchen in my building.  Sometimes he called me "Sir Charles" and I kinda liked it.  I always gave him a generic answer like, "It's still early Kevin" or "Not too shabby" even if my day was already going to the dogs.  He was such a soldier for his work and the district that I never wanted him to really know that I was having a bad day or early struggles.  I knew what his work load was and he never showed me anything other than optimism so that is what I gave back to him.

Kevin was not all business all the time.  There was always moments to share stories and tell jokes to share a laugh.  What separates Kevin from many is that the laughs were had after the work was done.  He was never one to be off task or be unproductive with goofing off and silliness.  It's easy for me to do that sometimes and he was always a shining example of getting a job done.  We can have fun later.

He may be gone, but I will not stop trying to keep up with him.  Kevin was in constant pursuit of doing the job right for the kids and staff of our district.  He is a prime example of how there is no finish line when it comes to the special work of schools.  He was truly one of the best of us and the best we can do for him is to follow his example and chase what is best for kids.  I may never catch him, but I will try to keep up.

Rest in peace my friend.

You are What You Celebrate - Second Edition

If you are an educator of any kind, you have to be very proud of the effort you have made for your kids in recent weeks.  A while back I wrote about our BETA Club and how proud we were of them.  I celebrated the way we were celebrating the right things together.  I wrote, "You are what you celebrate. If you celebrate mediocrity, that's what you will get.  If you celebrate reaching a low level goal repeatedly, there will be no motivation to go further."  My basic message was that if we celebrate the great things we have in our buildings, we will always seek out greatness.

There has been no shortage of this during the COVID-19 shutdown.  All across our state, teachers and admins are stepping up to show how special their students are to them.  I was slow to this work mostly because like many, I was paralyzed by the situation and spent to much time over analyzing how to help.  Here is what I think I have and all of us have come to understand. Schools are like good churches. A good church is not confined to its own walls. The church is everywhere it needs to be.  Schools are no different. When school buildings have no students in them, the school goes to them and they serve them in any way they know how.

Need to see this in action?  Search #ilschoolsstepup on Twitter.  You will see countless tales of how school families are always in tact even if the school is empty.  Watch a student get a happy birthday celebration at his house by his classmates.  How about a kindergartner doing a science experiment from her kitchen table.  What about donating PPE items to local health professionals?  I think we are all finding creative ways to deliver meals to students and those meals mean more than just a full belly.  Just ask the kitchen staff in my district when they got thank you notes from students returned to them.

In short, teachers miss their students.  Sharing this activity is not showing off.  It is an act of perpetuating excellence. These stories must be told to remind us of how special our work is.  We are what we celebrate. Don't stop showing people how much we care, how much we do for them and how ready we are for them to come back.  These are the bricks that build a great school climate and school family. Keep celebrating through these tough and uncertain times and tell your stories of excellence. They will not be forgotten.

Our staff made a quick video for our parents and kids with more on the way.

  

Us Crazy Softball Parents

If you were recently scrolling through Facebook around our parts, you probably saw a softball picture challenge floating around.  With the closure of schools and the suspension of the current baseball/softball season, players and parents are longing for a season to start or praying that we will have some kind of season to play.  The picture challenge is a place to share some softball memories as we mourn for our sport.

I have a daughter that plays high school softball and before you start to call us crazy softball parents, this is why we miss softball so much right now.

A softball team was very likely our daughter's first team of any kind.  That's a big deal.  My kid was just four when she started playing and it was the first exposure she had to being part of a team.  Team sports teaches critical social skills.  They learn very quickly what it is like to play together and win together by doing your job and encouraging others.  The earlier the better I say and she is still a good teammate to this day.

That first team experience led to other teams and experiences.  Our kids were willing to take on other challenges because of their commitment to some softball team early in their lives.  My daughter has become a multi-sport athlete since that first softball team.  She even spent a year in competitive cheer.  There are plenty of benefits of being a multi-sport athlete. Without softball, who knows if she would have seen these benefits.

The parents benefit too by having a growing network of like minded parents. You never loose track of  the people you meet, play with or against.  You see them again every year whether it is in school ball or travel ball.  I was lucky enough to coach for a minute.  My network grew tremendously and I met some of the best people I know in softball.

I know us softball parents get a bad rap.  We are too competitive and we must have money to burn.  But when you share so much of your kid's life with them for so long, you have trouble pulling away.  We know that so many opportunities for our daughters sprang from a dirt field.  Every game we attend is happening in that moment, but we are very aware of what building blocks were laid each year that put them into that game.  When we long for games to start, we know that building of our daughters will continue.  Stay strong players and parents, we will play again.

The Stories My Daughter Needs to Hear

I was drawn to a story recently about Yankees hitting coach, Rachel Balkovec.  If you didn't catch it on ESPN, she is another coach breaking the gender barrier in men's professional sports.  The New York Times did a piece on her that not only shows that she is dedicated to her work, but resilient enough to beat the system to get a job in the big leagues.  An example would be changing the name on her resume to Rae instead of Rachel.  Pre name change, no phone calls .  Post name change, calls came rolling in.  This kind of ambition is what we should be teaching kids to have.  It would be great to meet Rachel's parents so I could tell them how lucky they are.

With the emergence of the term "Girl Dad" after the tragic death of Kobe Bryant, I hope people really understand the gravity of being a Girl Dad.  Gender barriers and stereotyping is frustrating when you are raising a young woman.  I hope this is not out of line to say, but I feel as a man I am thinking about how the world will view my daughter more than I think about how it will view my son.  I feel like man lessons for my son will come easy for me, but teaching her how to excel in a man's world is worrisome.

Yep, I just said that.  It is a man's world and we are still a ways away from gender equality.  Why is there still a wage gap if we have gender equality?  If we have gender equality, why is the US National Women's Soccer team having to defend their ability and skill set against that of the men's team?  This narrative plays out over and over again.  I would be concerned if we didn't have those moments where the narrative is broken.  Like when we elected a record number of women to Congress.  It is reassuring to know that we have the stories to tell our girls to encourage them to be ambitious women.  If we want to see gender equality in our lifetimes, it starts at home.

It is obvious that Rachel Balkovec is following her dream.  It is obvious that she is good at what she does.  I'm sure the attention she gets for being a female hitting coach in the big leagues can be a little much.  More than anything, I'm sure she would like to be known as a hitting coach that happens to be female.  In her own words, she says she wants run a world class organization based on multiple measures of success.  Nowhere in that response did she say that she wants to be the first woman to do that or to do that in spite of how women are treated.  She wants to make an impact and perfect her craft.  Not for the sake of being famous, but to be the best.  These are the stories my daughter needs to hear.

Assorted Lightbulbs

I was sitting in Quatro's Pizza recently with my family and experienced a small inspiration.  We were waiting patiently for our food and I began to scan the room.  I have eaten there a million times and seen everything on the walls.  We were sat near the doorway to the server's station and as I looked up I saw a shelf with items stored for the restaurant.  I saw an old box labeled "Assorted Lightbulbs" and my mind began to wander.  Think of all the different needs a restaurant has for light bulbs.  I would say they vary quite a bit, but all are useful in some specific way or another.

It dawned on me that the term is fitting of my blog content.  "You ever notice all the prices end in nine?" comes from a line in one of my favorite movies.  The idea was always that there are topics and trains of thought that don't feel like they make sense, but to someone who is trained there is a totally reasonable explanation.  The average consumer doesn't know why the prices end in nine, but an expert in retail does.  If you actually need answer to the question, here it is.

I have decided to change the name to my blog to Assorted Lightbulbs.  My posts are probably only useful in certain situations at certain times.  When they are not, they just sit in a metaphorical box on Blogger waiting to be needed.  Some of my posts never take off and that's okay.  Some take time to take off and become some of my most viewed.  Either way, the box is visited when needed.  Thank you for reading over the years.