Sharpening the Saw

Education of the conscious is vital to be a proactive and highly effective leader. This requires regular feasting on powerful literature and inspirational speakers, staying current on executive leadership practices and embracing critical friends as thought partners. This past week I had the opportunity to do just that at two events held in Denver, Colorado.

The first event was in response to an invitation from the U.S. Department of Education to participate in a labor-management conference with our Springfield Education Association (SEA) president, Tim Collins and vice-chair of the School Committee, Denise Hurst. There were 150 district teams in attendance represented by superintendents, union presidents and school board members. The focus of the convening was Advancing Student Achievement through Labor-Management Collaboration. We had the opportunity to learn more about promising practices from high performing districts across the country on the “what and the how” of governance in working together to improve teaching and learning for all of our students.

Secondly, I attended the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) National Conference on Education with an opportunity to strengthen my resolve from the likes of Michael Fullan (an international leader on educational change), Doug Reeves (founder of The Leadership and Learning Center), and Diane Ravitch (research professor and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute). I also interacted with and heard from three of my mentors: Dr. Arlene Ackerman (Superintendent of Philadelphia Public Schools), Dr. Jerry Weast (outgoing Superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools) and Dr. Lillian Lowery (Delaware’s Secretary of Education).

Finally, I had the chance to co-present at the AASA Conference with Dr. Marvin Fairman, another friend and mentor as we shared information on Organizational Health in our presentation for Using Data to Transform the Culture of Schools and Central Office Units.

Investing in time for renewal keeps us fresh and serves to help increase our capacity to perform at a high level.

Snow Days

As Mother Nature deals us what has been described as the snowiest winter New England has seen in more than 40 years, school districts throughout the region are left to figure out ways for students to make up the days missed because of snow. In Springfield, we build 5 snow days into our school calendar and as of today, we are two days beyond that safety net. In the past, we have simply tacked on the extra days to be made up at the end of the school year. This year, school districts – including ours – are looking at other alternatives, including using school vacation time or Saturdays to make up the days. As we consider all of our options, our top priority is coming up with a plan that allows students and teachers more time in the classroom for overall instruction as well as MCAS preparation. Speaking of MCAS, we have already asked state education officials to consider pushing back the MCAS dates this year so that our students can recoup classroom time lost by snow days in advance of the state test. So, as you see, Mother Nature has given us much to consider. We will keep students, parents and staff posted as soon as our course of action is determined.