Finding a "cure " in the public school House

Finding a “cure” in the public school House!

I am a big fan of the recently-ended TV series House. With a masterful touch, actor Hugh Laurie played the brilliant, irascible, arrogant, prank-playing doctor who is known for sweeping in at the last minute with his diagnostic team to save a dying patient with a miracle cure to a complex condition. There is one thing for certain though ― the last thing you wanted to be on that show was the patient.

Why? Because it usually meant that at some point during your 60-minute hospital stay you had to convincingly and realistically pass prodigious quantities of blood through various orifices of your body. Hundreds of emerging young actors can now proudly add to their professional resumes “expert at hemorrhagic vomiting.”

The mystery ailment often was so arcane, elusive, or disguised that they had to treat symptoms without directly attacking the cause. Patients went through every type of test or procedure imaginable; sometimes with life threatening consequences. More than once ― after infusing an exotic pharmaceutical cocktail, conducting intricate open heart/brain surgery, or inducing a claustrophobic incident in the CT scanner ― the medical team found they had misdiagnosed the problem and had to bring out the paddles to revive the patient. Treating a moving target of symptoms had led them down a series of recurring blind alleys. It was a guessing game and the clock was ticking as the patient’s life hung in the balance. They threw solutions at problems hoping one would stick and voila a patient would be cured for another week.

The scripts from House transport readily to the modern era of school reform in the Public School House. Our patient (the public schools) shows dramatic and alarming signs of illness. Our financial temperature has dropped sharply, we’re amputating appendages to save essential core services, and using a plethora of triage techniques to keep public education from flat lining. The prognosis is dire and the condition is deteriorating rapidly. Is there a doctor in the house?

The harsh critics in our House say it’s too late; we’re riding a dead horse on life support. Privateers, born-again educationists, voucheristas, home schoolers, charter advocates, and politicians have started making our funeral arrangements while educational theorists, academics, think tanks, sage retired superintendents, private industry turn-around specialists, and canned reform-in-a-box software/ hardware/ human-ware marketers have gone Code Red in treating our symptoms.

These Public School EMTs (education management theorists) use tell-tale signs like dropout rates, Achievement Gaps, multilingualism, no common core, not enough electives, outdated teaching styles, lack of parental engagement in the learning process, too much or not enough technology, and a litany of other problems to pitch their solution for creating and maintaining a 21^st Century learning environment for a demanding and complex student population. They diagnose a symptom with an absolute conviction that by treating it we can create overall health in the patient.

These reforms may work for a while. Personally, I think we can’t really produce a healthy, life sustaining public education system unless we cure the real cause for our malaise . . . Malnutrition. Each year Americans seem more willing to spend money on Starbuck’s than schoolhouses. The percent of personal income devoted to education has steadily decreased each year over the past few decades. As a society we’re starving our students to death. In some societies that would be considered child abuse. On a national scale it’s educational genocide.

In California, we have been systematically de-funding public education by billions of dollars. I’m all for ending obesity and maintaining a reasonably healthy diet, but in this case we’re forcing our schools into anorexia. California is trying to run 2013 schools with 2000 income levels. If the lifespan of a PreK-12 student is only 14 years, in effect, we have abandoned an entire generation on operating table. Schools can now only offer life support and keep the little patients as comfortable as possible.

Watch any TV ad for new miracle drugs designed to cure a host of Baby Boomer maladies and they all end the same way: a thirty second speed-talked disclaimer that warns if you take this drug it might cure the one symptom you have, but could cause dangerous side-effects (anything from fainting, convulsions and dry mouth to four-hour erections, heart attacks and strokes). Maybe we need to mandate that we cannot impose an educational reform or funding bill on our public schools without a similar disclaimer about their unintended consequences, dangers from overdose, and adverse side effects. On the label of the regulatory prescription bottle we should also caution that resisting tax increases for education can become an addiction that is hard shake.

As communicators we need to be truth tellers. Today, the Health of Public Education sucks. We need people to see that there will be deep and fatal consequences if we keep treating symptoms instead of getting to the root cause that will cure this patient. We have to stop expecting miracle cures and start investing our resources in systemic educational wellness. It will take a long-term commitment and a lot of patience if our patient is going to pull through. But time is of the essence or the patient may die. We need a Dr. House and his team in the Public School House STAT to accurately diagnose our condition and prescribed a cure that doesn’t kill us!

© Copyright 2012 by Thomas K. DeLapp, Communication Resources for Schools

Seeking Sanctuary in Public Schools

Through the ages, during times of trouble and anguish people under stress seek sanctuary. For America’s children today, that place is their public school. Yet headlines in the media once again remind us that this sanctuary is threatened. In the daily ritual of dropping kids off at school, families are laying at the altar of public education their most precious resource, their children; and along with that they invest their highest ideals, values, and hopes for a better future. They expect the great American public school system to serve as a sanctuary where the young are nourished, protected, and revered. They also expect their public schools to offer children sanctuary from an overwhelming and scary world.

What does “sanctuary” mean?  Sanc-tu-a-ry (noun)
A safe haven
. . . for people who are in trouble or being persecuted to find shelter and support
A protective refuge
. . . where an endangered species can be protected from predators or from being destroyed or abused
A “holy” place
. . . of reverence where our core beliefs, legacies, and values are preserved and where we lift ourselves up

The American public school must be adequately supported to fulfill its mandate under all three definitions.

In recent months, I’ve been working with school clients who are grappling with incidents of bullying, child abuse, teen suicide, campus violence, weapons on campus, sexual predators, homelessness, racism, family neglect borne from economic recession, and devastating cuts to vital services like counseling and interventions for troubled youth. All of these colliding at the same time made me appreciate even more that the public school really has become the last best hope for an entire generation of children.  The school is both their sanctuary in troubled times and their cathedral in which we empower them to reach their potential.

This raises two crucial public policy questions around which school communicators can play a vital role in building community dialogue and action:

§ Are we doing everything we can as a society and as educational leaders to empower our public schools to be the sacred refuge that shelters children from the perils and pressures of a complex and threatening world?

§ Since school is the last line of defense for so many at-risk kids why don’t people respect and treat our schools with the degree of reverence they deserve?

All surveys show that the public basically wants three simple things from their public schools: (a) Make them safe and secure learning environments for children, (b) demonstrate continuous improvement in academic achievement for all students, and (c) be cost-effective and efficient in the way we do that. In other words, “Keep kids safe, give them a good education, and spend my tax money wisely.”

Clearly, maintaining safe schools is the highest priority for parents and the public. It trumps academic performance and economic efficiency every time. But when it comes to policy makers and budget setters they have become fixated on increasing test scores, closing achievement gaps, and balancing budgets on dwindling resources.

We are working hard to maintain drug-free and gang-free schools. But in doing so, educators often get sidetracked from confronting the more subtle oppressors . . . a campus culture and climate that can be fraught with tribes, intolerance, indifference, isolation, racism, sexism, harassment, and bullying (by adults, coaches, and students). If school is to be a true sanctuary it must offer protection from all of these and not turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to the signs that something is wrong in the life of a child.

But it costs money, talent, and time to build that type of protective bastion and nourishing culture. It also takes the moral and political will from everyone in the community (parents, students, staff, voters, and community) to make eradicating these subtle oppressors a priority in both word and deed.

The heartfelt thoughts of my good friend and colleague Rick Kaufman always resonate with me as I confront the issue of campus safety. I served on Rick’s communication response team during the tragedy at Columbine High School over a decade ago.  In the wake of the shooting on February 26, 2012 at Chardon High School in Ohio, Rick’s words serve as a poignant and eloquent reminder of how we must stay vigilant to the mental and emotional health of all students:

“We must once again resurrect lost hope, and tend to the emotional and physical scars left in the wake of another school shooting. We will hear the pundits blame the bullies, the parents, the schools (it's always the school's fault), the loss of religion and faith, and the state of the world. Should it not be enough that we find a way to transform violence? I'm afraid the painful images of another ‘Columbine’ will visit us again all too soon.”

Bullying is the cause célèbre these days as we search for answers and struggle to build a supportive school environment. Whether it’s a suicide or a school shooting, people should resist applying sound bite solutions to complex situations. Bullying shouldn’t be used as a knee-jerk explanation or catch-all motive for the sadness and isolation that many children feel.  Adults need to learn to listen to the voices of children. They need to pick up the unspoken cues.

More importantly, adults need to model the behaviors they want children to emulate. When political discourse has descended into school yard name-calling is it any wonder that bullying and name-calling happen in our schoolyards? Have we sunk so far that it is impossible to disagree without being disagreeable?

For example, when a self-absorbed close-minded shock jock like Rush Limbaugh can get away with calling a college student a “slut” and “prostitute” for speaking her mind before a Congressional committee simply because he disagrees with her views, what message does that send to children? When someone in a position of power (in this case multi-megawatts in 250+ media markets) uses that position to ridicule and intimidate someone who is different he is demonstrating the crassest form of bullying.

There is no room for bullying in our sanctuary called school. Likewise, there should be no place in a civilized society for the kind of bombast, bias, and bullying displayed by Limbaugh. Bullying behavior by adults in any forum should not be glorified, discounted or accepted.

A quality education for every child is an article of faith and a core belief in our country that deserves to be practiced with reverence and respect in the “sanctuary” called the public school. To that end, public education can become a “Bully Pulpit” to stand up for civility, tolerance, integrity, and open communication about the needs and problems facing our children and our society.

That’s where school communicators can do their best work: courageously convening the conversation about how we should treat each other. Maybe if we can create an environment of tolerance and respect in schools, adults can start learning from children how to play well with others.

Can I get an “Amen” to that!

© Copyright 2012 by Thomas K. DeLapp

Stop Giving Public Education the “Business”

Should we run our schools like a business? Many business leaders and free market privateers are “all up in our business” asking schools to be more business-like to achieve results. But I wonder if a company CEO actually could lead the average public school district any better? I doubt it. There are some powerful differences that might make the average titan of industry fail as an educational CEO. Here are twenty ways that running a school district is a lot harder than running a business:

1.     No Investment Capital

Capitalism depends on capital. Return on Investment (ROI) means you spend enough money first and then see if it pays off. Investment yields return. In education, our incentive programs are the complete opposite ― Investment on Return. We mandate that schools achieve certain rates of improvement and then we promise to give them more money. As a superintendent, the corporate CEO would have to use promised incentives instead of concrete investments to get results. But chronic underfunding of education (NCLB for example) has shifted ROI to IOR which actually means IOU to an educator. “Show me the money!” isn’t the quid pro quo in public education that it is in the private sector. In fact, our only incentive is to avoid the sanctions. Corporate leaders throw money at their problems. Educators don’t have that option and, in fact, society has been systematically de-investing in its public schools as a percent of personal income or GDP.

2.     Educators Can’t Niche Market

Businesses succeed when they find their market niche and focus all of their energies on perfecting their products or services in that market. The education marketplace is demanding, comprehensive, and diverse. The push-me-pull-you between state and federal standard-setters, parental demand, and what districts can actually provide as a well-rounded education causes tremendous tension. Science, the Arts, Social Studies, History, PE, Health Education, and Career Tech take a back seat as we are judged primarily on English and Math proficiency. Yet the consumer base still demands services in all subjects. Taco Bell doesn’t serve pizza, and Pizza Hut doesn’t serve filet mignon. However, our menu needs to be all encompassing or our customers get upset. They want mass personalized public education ― a private tutorial on a public school dollar.

3.     The Customer Isn’t Always Right

There’s a false axiom in business that “the customer is always right.” That simply isn’t true. Sure a business wants customer satisfaction, but if a business can’t satisfy the customer or its customer is too obnoxious or demanding the business cuts them loose. They give them a refund check and show them the door. Companies can pick and choose their customers and abandon the difficult “unprofitable” ones. Public education has to serve everyone. We don’t have a refund check to give them and if we tell them to leave they come back with a lawyer. Business leaders can be a little disingenuous when they advocate that parental choice is the answer to education’s ills. For a corporate CEO, that model would only work if they could also choose their parents and students. Educators can’t and won’t do that. We take them all whether they are tough to serve or not.

4.     Simultaneous Over-Regulation and De-Regulation

Many business leaders complain they are forced to move out of state or off shore to survive because of government over regulation. At least they have the option to leave. Public schools labor under a comprehensive, contradictory and complex set of regulations. The California Education Code contains over 20 million words. For example, myriad regulations and exacting standards mean the only facilities more difficult to build than schools are hospitals or power plants.  Of course, you’re a lot safer in a public school classroom during an earthquake than you are under a freeway overpass, in a corporate office building, or in a Wal-Mart. Some construction firms won’t work on schools because of all the delays and hoops they have to jump through.

The Chamber of Commerce annually issues a list of “job killer” bills pending before the Legislature. Maybe educators should do the same.  The Ed Code and the state budget come to mind since they certainly have been a “job killer” for educational personnel. Business CEOs aren’t used to having government regulators second-guess their business decisions; school superintendents are.

At the same time, quick-fix politicians and born-again educationists think if we infuse competition into the public schools it will force improvements. Over-regulating and under-funding the public schools as you force them to compete with charters, private schools, vouchers, parental choice, and online classrooms is a formula for failure and creates the unlevel playing field that private sector CEOs abhor. Corporations complain loudly to Congress when we don’t subsidize American companies and farmers struggling to fend off foreign competition. How is education any different?

5.     Revolving Door Leadership

One of the biggest differences between private and public sector leadership is that, in business, management stays the same while the workforce is constantly rotating out. In public schools our workforce stays entrenched (tenure and ineffective evaluation systems) while our management structure is constantly churning. The average shelf-life of a California school superintendent is less than three years. Many don’t even finish the term of their first contract or strategic plan. Transitory leadership can kill a business because it lacks consistency, confidence, and coordination. Apple Computer had revolving door leadership that almost drove it under until they re-hired Steve Jobs and regained stability. The same holds true for public education. We need leadership stability and continuity for a change. At this writing, nearly two-thirds of the students in California are being educated in systems led by superintendents who have been on that job less than three years. Now, this is a lot better than the private sector where 90% of the businesses that incorporate go bankrupt within the first two years. Private sector CEOs can walk away from failure; educators cannot not ― the state won’t let them.

6.     Lack of Control over the Bottom Line

The bottom line is crucial for a business CEO as they balance income and expenses to yield a profit. To do that the corporate leader must be able to control costs and prices. By contrast, the education leader only controls half the equation. In California, school districts receive most of their funding from the state so superintendents have very little influence on the revenue side of the ledger. They spend their time poring over expenses to glean every ounce of productivity so they can stay in balance. And, state law requires them to demonstrate solvency for at least three years even when their funding level is highly unpredictable. We are balancing 2012 budgets on 2000 levels of income. Ninety percent of our budget is spent on people so we have very little wiggle room to avoid layoffs and service reductions to stay in balance. For the past five years we have been doing Donner Party Budgeting in California as we cannibalize our workforce to stay afloat. Imposing a price hike to maintain quality services, staffing and “products” is not an option for a superintendent, but it is for a corporate CEO.

7.     Support for Employee Training and Renewal

In its prime, one-third of the IBM workforce was in some form of management, sales, or technical training. And it was done on the company’s dime. Contrast that approach to public schools where we are lucky to have one day at the start of school to get classrooms and work areas ready for the next term.  Professional development is a dying commitment in most school districts because of budget cuts. If our employees are to remain current in their fields, we ask them to pay for it themselves on their own time after the school year is done. Great businesses invest in their own employees, public schools can’t afford to any more.

8.     Marketing, Communications and PR on the Cheap

Most businesses spend a lot of money on Marketing, Communications, and Corporate Relations. Not including the cost of sales, it can range up to 30% of a firm’s operating expenses, with an average of about 7-10%.  In public education we grudgingly spend about 1% of district resources on school communication, community outreach, civic engagement, and public/media relations. Getting your message out to consumers is stock and trade for a corporate CEO. It’s a luxury for a school superintendent. Yet the number one reason a superintendent is hired, fired or gets a better job is their ability to communicate with consumers, school boards, employees, and stakeholders. Corporate CEOs, like educational leaders, would find it hard to survive with the paltry amount we spend to get our message out.

9.     Our Customers are Co-Producers

In business, the customer is the recipient of a product or service. In education, our customers (students and parents) are actually co-producers of our product called “learning.” Imagine if Ford Motor Company’s success depended on a car buyer helping on the assembly line and then on how well they drove and maintained their car over time? Each driver would define Ford’s product based on their own interaction with it. In public education, our Product is Learning and our Profit is Performance. Our customer’s involvement in making our product is integral to our profit margin in a way that would confound most corporate CEOs.

10.  Everyone’s an Expert on What We Do

Most people think they know how schools should operate because they went to one. In most industries the consumer accepts a company’s perceived expertise. We don’t tell our dentist how to fill a cavity, the CPA how to prepare our taxes, or the surgeon how to remove the tumor. If we are unhappy with the quality or value of that transaction we vote with our feet and choose someone else. In education, our customers feel entitled and knowledgeable enough to tell us how to run our business. Just because you were a student doesn’t mean you can be a teacher or administrator.

11.  Schools are Change Resistant

Businesses can change and transform themselves at will. “My way or the highway” is the ultimate hammer CEOs can use to impose change and compel adherence to new directions. Because of tenure and civil service, superintendents need to “sell” their staff into accepting change as a good thing. In a corporate environment, you will never hear, “That won’t work; I’m not going to change.” An ingrained workforce would drive the private sector CEO nuts! They would have to be much more adept at building coalitions, alliances and teams because they could not compel allegiance. It’s pretty easy to be a company team builder when you have the power to trade players at will.

12.  Unions Hold a Trump Card

Only about 10% of the American workforce is unionized anymore. Most unions are in the public sector; primarily education. Companies bargain with unions over pay and benefits and the occasional agreement around hours of employment and vacation/leave policies. Their working conditions are just that, working conditions. They don’t negotiate over what their product or service should be. In public education our working conditions are actually our teaching and learning conditions and over time union contracts have begun to define our educational product. Contracts constrain management rights to call meetings, enforce collaboration among teachers, curriculum and textbook adoption processes, school governance and advisory systems, hiring processes, etc. Learning is a process and when the union contract limits the engagement of adults in that process it has a huge impact on our product.

13.  Shared Decision-Making Isn’t Just Lip Service

Most good businesses encourage employee involvement in setting policies and practices that will improve company profitability and performance. It didn’t always operate that way, and in many cases is still doesn't. In business, shared decision making was, “I make the decisions and share them with you.” By contrast, public education has a rich tradition of collaboration and collegiality. We have scores of advisory mechanisms for people to provide input, criticism, and feedback to leaders. Some of those are mandated and some are voluntary. In one communication audit for a moderate sized school district I discovered that the superintendent had 17 advisory bodies reporting to her. Even she didn’t realize that. Processing decisions is anathema to most private sector leaders who want the flexibility to take advantage of targets of opportunity, changing market conditions, and innovations. Shared decision making in public education almost assures that we will not be nimble enough for most corporate CEOs.

14.  Schools are Under-Led

Public schools keep getting accused of having a “Bureaucratic Blob.” Myths, stereotypes and lies about how much money is “wasted” on overhead and administration abound, usually spread by private sector leaders. Yet if you examine the facts, public education has a leaner management structure than almost any other business.  I’ve reviewed Bureau of Labor Statistics figures comparing the number of managers/supervisors to rank and file employees by industry and the data are conclusive. Business has almost twice as much overhead management as public schools. We average about one administrator (including principals) for every 30 employees. Other industries like communications, retailing, media, manufacturing, transportation, construction, etc. have ratios of 1:12 or less. I would suggest that we need more, not less administrators and specialists to lead us forward as an industry. The corporate CEO is used to delegating to a multi-tiered staff structure. The superintendent doesn’t have that support system.

15.  Public Schools Must Be Transparent

We must do the public’s business in public and offer accessibility and transparency in the process. Each financial transaction, agenda item, policy change, and email is potentially subject to a Public Records Act request. This alone would cause most corporate CEOs to cringe. Imagine if stockholders, competitors, and customers could access every email, document and record kept by your company? The cloak of corporate secrecy just doesn’t wear well in the public schools.

16.  Society Drops It’s Problems on Our Doorstep Every Day

I can’t think of any other industry that has to contend with so many challenges from its customers. Kids come to school hungry; we feed them breakfast and lunch. Kids can’t get to our place of business; we give them a bus ride. Kids are abused, neglected, and homeless; we take them in and nurture them. We inoculate them from disease, and provide health care when they’re sick and hurt. In a society filled with incivility, double-standards, and double-talk, we have to teach them tolerance, manners, work ethics, and countless other basic life skills. If they are obese we make them exercise. If they have learning disabilities, psychological problems, or substance abusing parents we have to provide them a haven and hope.  Could the CEO of a retail department store chain even comprehend addressing the magnitude to those challenges for every customer who came in just to buy a pair of jeans?

17.  Our Product is on the Production Line for 13 years

The quarterly balance sheet is the yardstick for a business leader. For an educator, our success is measured in decades. Our first goal is to get all students to graduate and our ultimate end product is a well-educated young adult with the skills and temperament to succeed in college, a career, and citizenship. Educational leaders need to be patient while maintaining a healthy impatience with status quo performance. As we invest so much time in each child’s future, it might be hard for a private sector CEO to stay the course for over a decade when they have come from a “fiscal year” frame of mind.

18.  Education is Dominated by Isolated Generalists

Businesses tend to run on specialists working in their own silos ― production lines, departments, product teams, etc. Schools have a lot of generalists, but they also work in silos. We still operate in a “sage on the stage” environment where the teacher’s classroom is his or her domain. Collaboration is not a condition of their work product or craft; it is something we have to induce them to participate in. Sadly, we also expect a teacher to come into the profession with all of the classroom management, content expertise, interpersonal techniques, and workplace savvy to handle any classroom situation or subject. That’s just unrealistic and unfair. Schools can’t afford meaningful in-depth orientation, induction, and mentoring programs to bring these generalists up to speed quickly. We push them into the pool and make them learn to swim in their own lane while the crowd at the swim meet is yelling for them to go faster.

19.  Pay for Performance vs. Pay for Presence

Two frustrating concepts for business leaders is that in public education we can’t pay good teachers more money than bad teachers and that we have such trouble identifying and removing poorly performing teachers once they reach tenure. Private sector CEOs achieve results by offering incentives when a person’s performance contributes more to the bottom line. It’s a form of profit sharing, and it works. In a variety of forms, reformers have been trying to ingrain the concept of pay for performance into public education. Good concept, but difficult to realize since the devil is in the details. Do we pay more for test scores, subjective evaluations, graduation rates, etc?  Most corporate CEOs would find our ambiguity about what makes for exceptional performance difficult to administer. Superintendents certainly do.

20.  Schools Are An Old-Fashion Institution

Public schools are a tremendous societal tradition that has endured over the ages. We drive by the old school with fond memories. Our grandchildren are taught in the same classroom we were in as a kid. And that is the problem. Sadly, unlike most businesses we’re still working in the same facilities as we did 50 years ago. We have patched them up and tried to renovate their infrastructure, but our education facilities are definitely old school. Corporations pride themselves on state-of-the-art technology and modern manufacturing plants. Trying to deliver a world class education in a second rate learning environment would certainly pose a huge impediment to a corporate innovator who wanted to change the public schools.

Some final thoughts . . .

Public schools can certainly be more business-like, but to say that a business model is the solution doesn’t wash. I say we ask businesses to run like schools for a year and see how they like it!

The security of our nation depends heavily on developing a highly-educated population that is smart enough to see past prejudice and complacency to create a better future. Public education is still the cornerstone of our democracy, our national security, and our economic future. In 2009, we were all scared into supporting a massive government bailout of the insurance, investment banking and home mortgage industries. They were too big to fail we were told; the negative consequences would be too devastating and immediate.

I suggest that our public school system is hovering at the same precipice and we are also too big to let fail. Instead of condemning public education, corporate leaders should become true partners to help restore the education industry to its former place of world prominence. Instead of mindlessly signing an anti-tax pledge, they should be signing on to help public schools with a massive investment of badly needed venture capital. The American auto industry is surging back because we had the public and corporate will to make it so. We put our money where our mouth was as a nation. Will we be able to say the same for public schools so that an education “Made in America” is once again the standard for the world?

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"In fact, to every young person listening tonight who's contemplating their career choice: If you want to make a difference in the life of our nation; if you want to make a difference in the life of a child - become a teacher. Your country needs you." ― From President Obama’s State of the Union Speech

© Copyright 2012 by Thomas K. DeLapp, President, Communication Resources for Schools

 

Seeing the Brilliance in Children

I have come to realize that school administrators and teachers are actually diamond cutters. Recently, in an academy workshop for aspiring superintendents, I posed my usual question as we explored marketing, branding, and communication concepts: “Why should I enroll my child in your schools?” One answer I got back was unexpected, and absolutely brilliant.

Most administrators usually give me standard statements about safety, rigor, test scores, accountability, and quality teaching. However, one very dedicated and creative principal from San Francisco USD simply said, “We believe all of our students are brilliant!”

As I mulled this over you could almost see a cartoon light bulb go off over my head. He was creating a culture in his school focused on the amazing concept that his students shine with inner star-like qualities while at the same time being capable of achieving to high levels. He explained that his job as a leader was to bring out both facets of brilliance in every child. I clearly saw that he was an educational diamond cutter. What a terrific brand for his school. Absolutely brilliant!

The word “diamond” comes from the Ancient Greek word for “unbreakable.” They say diamonds are forever; they last because they are forged from carbon placed under tremendous pressure deep in the Earth. From the most extraordinary conditions and circumstances one of the strongest elements on the planet is produced.

There is no doubt that our children are growing up in perilous times in a world filled with pressure, uncertainty, and a host of daunting problems. Since we can now simulate the diamond-making process in the laboratory, shouldn’t we be able to do the same in America’s classrooms?  Each day, our “little lumps of coal” and the educators that serve them are put to the test under tremendous pressure. If we can transform students into diamonds then their skills will last a lifetime. We will make them “unbreakable” so they can pass on their brilliance to make a better society for generations to come.

We judge the quality of a diamond by its four C’s. While high grades of color, clarity, and carat weight contribute to a diamond's appeal, it's the cut that determines the symmetry of the stone's facets, its overall proportions, and its ability to reflect light. An expertly cut diamond will achieve high levels of brilliance, sparkle, and durability. Even if a diamond is graded well in other areas, a poor cut can result in a dull, muted effect. The “cut” is what adds value to an otherwise lifeless piece of crystal. Our “cut” in public education is quality teaching and quality leading.

Do the educators and leaders in your schools practice and perfect their craft to make sure that each facet of a student’s education is flawless? As they create the many faces of a child’s education are they bringing out the inner fire and innate brilliance that every child brings to school each day?

We know that one slip by the cutter can ruin a diamond. It takes skill, patience, and experience to unlock the inner brilliance in a gemstone so it reflects, refracts and disperses illuminating light with a dazzling sparkle. Teaching, like diamond cutting, is a work of art. When done well, it creates timeless beauty. As communicators our privilege is to shine the light so the diamonds (even in the rough sometimes) can show their brilliance for everyone to see, admire and value.

Plan in Professional Pit Stops

Call me dense, but I could never quite understand the allure of NASCAR. To me it seemed a lot like driving down Interstate 5 from Sacramento to Los Angeles: simply put your foot to the floor and get there as fast as you can. Sure, just like Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart you sometimes need mad driving skills to weave in and out of traffic on I-5 to avoid those “pack drivers” huddled together bumper to bumper at 80 mph or to sidestep a car crash in the making. But other than that, to me stock car racing always seemed more about the noise, speed, a blatant display of machismo, and beer. I thought the NASCAR formula for victory was pretty simple: fast car + great driver = winning.

Then I came across an article describing something I hadn’t realized: pit stop strategy.

That recalibrated my thinking. As a kid, my carefully crafted definition of a pit stop came from long road trips in the family station wagon. It was synonymous with taking a pee. It was a sprint race to the bathroom by five squirrely brothers. The toilet seat was our winners circle and the mad dash as we bolted from the car had all the simplicity and noise of drag racing. It was all or nothing. Flat out - get to the restroom first (or maybe second) or end up doing that wiggly little kid dance holding your private parts in line desperately waiting for the flushing sound as you moved up in the queue. There was no strategy involved. Put the pedal to the metal or you’ll wet your pants!

On the race track, however, strategy may be everything. Often the difference between the checkered flag and eating someone’s exhaust is how efficiently and strategically you execute a pit strategy.

Wikipedia provided more insight in the value of pit stops:

“By making pit stops cars can carry less fuel, and therefore be lighter and faster, and use softer tires that wear faster but provide more grip. Teams usually plan for each of their cars to pit following a planned schedule, the number of stops determined by the fuel capacity of the car, tire lifespan, and tradeoff of time lost in the pits versus how much time may be gained on the race track through the benefits of pit stops. Choosing the optimum pit strategy of how many stops to make and when to make them is crucial in having a successful race. It is also important for teams to take competitors' strategies into account when planning pit stops, to avoid being "held up" behind other cars. An unscheduled or extended stop, such as for a repair, can be very costly for a driver's chance of success, because while the car is stopped for service, cars remaining on the track can rapidly gain distance on the stopped car.”

Then I went to NASCAR.com and read some comments from driver Carl Edwards in an online article on by Mark Aumann. What's happened, according to Edwards, is that pit strategy can negate any advantage a faster car may have on the track. "You will not win these races repeatedly if you don't have the right calls on the pit box," Edwards said. Aumann concluded: “Winning the championship requires a certain level of consistency. . . and the key, in his (Edwards) opinion, is walking that delicate balance of knowing when to be aggressive and when to be cautious.”

So, to win the race you don’t just drive until you run out of gas, burn up your pistons, and blow out your tires? I guess not. As school communicators, I think we can learn a lot from race car drivers as we Race to the Top. Obviously, we need to build in a Professional Pit Stop Strategy into our careers so we don’t sputter along running on fumes or actually burn out.

Here are a few of my perceptions about effective Professional Pit Stop Strategies:

Be your own pace car
Schools have only been in session for a few weeks and if you’re already tired and your gas is running low you are in trouble. You won’t be able to finish the race to June. And, when it really counts in a crisis or high profile, intricate situation you may not have the fuel in your tank to stay on track. Maintain a consistent pace in your job that enables you to gain ground steadily.

Take a personal retreat so you can advance
We create communication plans and district plans, but we rarely have a personal professional plan to guide our work. Twice a year, take yourself on a one-day personal/professional retreat (maybe with your favorite beverage, a friend/mentor, and a notepad). Create a plan for you. Know where you want to go, why you want to get there, the road map for reaching the destination, how long it’s going to take, and how you’ll know when you’ve arrived. It isn’t about doing things right, if you’re not doing the right things!

Know when to say “enough”
Adding a lot of “other duties as assigned” like cord wood in the work pile on your desk doesn’t make you indispensable, it makes you overworked. Be thoughtful about fitting requests into your schedule. Are they true priorities that should trump what you already have to do? Watch for the “dump trucks” on your professional speedway that drop off their problems at your desk instead of solving them on their own. Making marginal progress across a broad front of tasks and assignments won’t be satisfying or memorable. Get things done, but remember you are never going to be caught up.

Top off your own gas tank periodically
It’s important to keep your professional tires balanced, front end aligned, and engine tuned up. Maintaining the right balance between a healthy lifestyle, family, spiritual needs, intellectual pursuits, and professional networking will keep you psychologically sane and physically sound. Find those turnoffs in the rat race that can be “filling stations” to keep you moving forward.

Look out the windshield, not the rear view mirror
Learn to put the past behind you. Learn from mistakes, but don’t dwell on them. Build a proven track record and a solid body of accomplishment, but don’t sit on your laurels. There will always be another race and people are counting on you to be up for it.

Assemble a good pit crew
At a NASCAR race, the average pit stop takes just 15 seconds to change four tires, fill the tank, and check the engine. In that time your competition can be a quarter mile down the road. If you’ve ever watched a pit crew in slow motion it’s like sophisticated choreography as a team of specialists works together in a synchronized dance. You cannot do your job without help, so surround yourself with a great pit crew of associates, advisors, resources and networks that enable you to be the best driver you can be. Teamwork is a winning combination.

In life, and in your career, more pit stops along the way can make the journey much more enjoyable. In hindsight, I often wish my Dad had executed a better pit strategy during those long road trips. We could have traveled with a lot less fuel in our tanks.

I’m still wondering why the NASCAR drivers don’t have to take a pit stop to pee during a 400-mile race? Maybe they just do the wiggly dance and ask their crew chief . . . Are we there yet?

Modern Day Vampires: Politicians & CEOs are Sucking the Life Out of America’s Children

Child Poverty in America
In 2011, you can’t scroll through the TV menu without seeing something to do with vampires or zombies. The living dead it seems are all the rage these days. True Blood, Twilight Saga, Vampire Diaries, Zombieland, The Walking Dead, and myriad other shows dominate both the small and silver screens. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good zombie movie as much as the next person, but lately I’m starting to see a disturbing pattern. It could be life imitating art, or maybe it’s the other way around. The image on the screen is an eerie reflection of what’s actually going on in our society. The clear message to young people since the millennium washed over them ten years ago is that there is a menacing presence out there ready to suck the living daylights out of you. My advice to kids: heed your basic instincts, the threat is real and they are going for your jugular!

I have always liked Jay Leno’s definition of “politics.” Just divide the word – “poli” meaning many and “tics” meaning blood suckers. Now you understand politics. The dual vampires of political gridlock and economic recession are sucking the life out of our children and our schools. During the first decade of the 21st century the children of America have been caught in the vice-like jaws of increasing poverty and decaying educational systems. Schools are being choked to death financially and child poverty is escalating to record levels not seen in over half a century.

I spent some time recently reflecting on how lives have changed for the so-called 9/11 Generation since that tragic day ten years ago when innocence was shattered and security threatened. A report released this week from the Census Bureau puts it into stark perspective. The 2010 economic numbers are in and the U. S. Census Bureau reports there are 46.2 million poor people in America – the largest number in the last 52 years. The data suggest that our children have been a primary casualty as our government waged war on terrorism and Wall Street waged war on the American middle class and poor families.

 Some startling statistics:

• One in three of America’s poor are children
• 22% of all children in the U.S. (over one in five) live in poverty (16.4 million children)
• That’s almost one million more children than last year (over 950,000 kids)
• 7.4 million children in America live in extreme poverty
• More than one in three Black children and one in three Hispanic children are poor
• Children under five years old are suffering the most: one-fourth (5.5 million) come from poverty households (defined as a family of four living on less than $22,000 per year)

It isn’t enough that these poor kids have to battle for their very survival each day, now the sanctuary they called “school” is no longer able to give them the shelter and hope they deserve. In California, we are desperately trying to maintain a 2011 program on a 2000 income level. The politicians and CEOs who pray at the anti-tax Prop. 13 shrine have been systematically draining the lifeblood from public education. The vampires have permanently recalibrated the economic and educational support system for an entire generation. The impact of inaction on behalf of children will resonate for decades to come. The 9/11 Generation has been hit by a pandemic of poverty. We are already seeing the casualties. They will not do as well in school, will have more health and social problems, and will be permanently under-employed.

One of my heroes is Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children’s Defense Fund. Her life’s work to “Leave No Child Behind” was a passionate call-to-arms long before No Child Left Behind was a glimmer in the government’s eye. In looking at the Census numbers she captures the sense of outrage we should all share. “Shamefully, children are the poorest age group in our country, are getting poorer, and have suffered more than any other age group during this recession and slow recovery. A country that does not stand for and protect its children—our seed corn for the future—does not stand for anything . . . This is a national disgrace.”

People often say that children are our future. I disagree. We are their future by the actions we take and the decisions we make. Children don’t have a voice and they don’t have a vote. They rely on adults to do the right thing. As a society we must get past political gridlock for the sake of our kids. We owe it to the 9/11 Generation to fix our economy, fix our schools, and fix our politics. It’s about time we insisted that our business and political leaders start acting like the grown-ups in the room and learn to “play well with others.” Adults have mortgaged their future and children are paying the price. We need to stop sucking the lifeblood out of our kids.

 

The Power of Stories

“So this duck walks into a bar . . .”

When you hear a phrase like this, you know instinctively that a joke or story is heading your way. It could be a hysterical one that makes your drink come out of your nose from laughing so hard or it could rely on a corny pun that makes you groan and shake your head.

Why do so many stories or jokes begin with someone walking into a bar? It’s probably because the pub, saloon, or tavern in a community has always been a focal point for interpersonal communication. The bar was the original chat room where stories were the stock in trade and they were “shared” and “liked” before there was an Internet. Good story-telling doesn’t always fit into the cadence of 21st Century social media communication. Now, thin-sliced communication comes at you at the speed of light while a compelling story takes time to unravel, usually over a cold beer.

I have known some great story tellers in my life. Most came from a generation before there was Twitter or Facebook or YouTube. They came of age in a simpler time before we tried to convey our stories in 140 characters or less. These 20th Century raconteurs relied on the power of verbal stories, told and re-told to share their experiences and reflections on the ups and downs of life.

My family tree is rife with a long line of fascinating story tellers (BS artists if you will). Three come to mind immediately: my late father-in-law Donald Parker and my two uncles – Bill and Don. It may come as no surprise that they all were sailors who served on ships in wars dating back to WWII, Korea or Vietnam. As an impressionable young man, I can remember shooting the breeze with each of them for hours on end as they regaled me with stories that to this day still make me laugh. Their stories are a reflection of them, their times, and their lives.

We don’t remember facts and figures, but we do remember the stories that have touched our lives. We remember stories because they can be riveting, funny, poignant, and chock full of common sense and homespun wisdom. Information by itself is not compelling, but add to the facts the visual image of the case study or anecdote and data can come to life. A picture is definitely worth a thousand words, but a story is worth a 1,000 pictures because it embeds the message with mental images as we personally relate to the story and to the story teller.

As public relations professionals our job is to translate numbers into words. We decipher financial or assessment hieroglyphics into understandable and meaningful prose. But the story teller takes that to a higher level. He or she paints a vivid picture of what the prose means and how it makes us feel. They put us into the picture emotionally and intellectually.

My late friend Charlie Binderup was a masterful story teller. Charlie was superintendent in a very small school district in Northern California. He often joked with pride that the Tulelake Basin schools had the first wood burning fax machine. He also had the same delivery as the veterans mentioned above. He would reel you into the tale with an “aw shucks” style so you couldn’t be quite sure if he was telling the truth or making the whole thing up. But it didn’t matter because the story was so endearing or funny. Great story tellers also have a shared affinity for laughing along with their own jokes and reminiscences. They often crack themselves up as the words come out. I’m convinced that the best part of story-telling is when you get caught up in the telling and it reminds you all over again of how you felt the first time you heard it or experienced it.

[By the way; the punch line to the duck walking into the bar joke is: So the duck says, “I can’t take a job like that . . . I’m an engineer!”]

One of the best things about attending the annual seminar of the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) each summer is that I get to swap stories with some of the best BS artists in the country. Guys like Steve Knagg and Jim Cummings are keeping the fine art of story-telling alive and well.

Their tall tales use the same formula for success: their reflections are based in reality, the events are plausible but maybe not believable, just a hint of mischief is added like seasoning, and they linger with a slight pause before delivering the punch line with a wry smile and a laugh as they crack themselves up telling it. They enjoy the story as much as you do. Stories are infectious.

We have some very powerful stories in public education. Everyday miracles, snapshots of success, touching tributes to the human spirit, and the indisputable evidence that education is the cornerstone of our society and the rock upon which our freedom and democracy are built. Now, that is a story worth telling!

The public desperately wants to still believe in public education. So my advice is to be more than a public information officer; be a public story teller. Be the chronicler and conveyor of the story of your schools. Story telling is one of the oldest and most effective teaching tools. Use your arsenal of social media and digital tools to point people to the stories of success and triumph in your classrooms, playgrounds, and school buses. Make the complexity of teaching and learning come to life by adding a few choice stories to your communication repertoire. Great stories make for memorable messages.

“So this little boy walks into school one day . . .”

Got a bad soloist? Get a bigger choir!

This may surprise a few of you, but in my early years I actually was a choirboy. At the awkward age of 12 I was the sole member of the Baritone Section in the youth choir at Westchester Presbyterian Church. What can I say, my voice dropped early and kept going south all through my teens. I realized very quickly that if I was flat or sharp everyone in the congregation would know it. God, how I resented all those wimpy tenors who could mask their vocal miscues within a larger group! That lesson stuck with me like scripture: If you don’t want to hear a solo off-key voice you need to surround it with plenty of better singers.

The reverse is also true, if all you hear is the bad soloist, you begin to think the entire choir stinks! My problem is that sometimes our most important debates are shaped by only a few loud angry voices with their own insistent agendas. Being the loudest voice in the room — this seems to be the hallmark of societal discourse these days.

Whether it’s picketing teachers, angry parents resisting school closures, catcalls in Congress, venomous talk show terrorists, edgy newspaper reporters, or biased bloggers they all seem to believe that acrimonious volume will carry the day. They create a cacophony of negativity and a growing sense that to disagree in the 21st Century we have to be disagreeable. The louder, the better.

There has never been a time that I can recall when we had so many controversial, highly-charged emotional issues on our plate in the public schools. The state is systematically de-investing in public education. We are being asked to balance a 2010 budget on a 2005 income. That formula just doesn’t add up and relationships in the educational community are showing the stress and strain. Frustration, scapegoating, blame-shifting, and turf wars abound as we deal with fewer resources to handle mounting problems.

Remember this:

“When the pie gets smaller, the first things to go are the table manners! In this rollercoaster economy, people are wrestling over the table scraps in a public food fight.”

I enjoy a robust public policy debate as much as the next guy, but geez, where has common decency, civility and reasoned debate gone? Out the window I’m afraid. In recent months, I’ve brushed up against some pretty dogmatic, unethical, self-righteous soap-boxers with this unflinching attitude -

“If the facts of a situation don’t fit my preconceptions, I’ll reject them out of hand and condemn the person who points them out to me!”

This same group of hostile aggressive types is willing to jump to conclusions based on only a shred of evidence, feel some perceived slight or hidden agenda at the drop of a hat, and amplify the noise to drown out those who disagree. Nobody wants to accept the reality check that we can no longer conduct business as usual. Nobody wants to give in. Nobody wants to play well with others.

To be fair, many entities of government (including public schools) have spawned and inflamed this attitude because we have not been transparent, responsive or engaging enough in the past. Is it any surprise when people don’t feel heard that they yell a little louder?

Here are some ways to “put a sock in it” with a bad soloist:

1. Make sure you’re singing on key yourself

When you say something publicly have your facts straight, give people straight talk, and deliver your message clearly and pervasively. Model the vocal chops you expect in others.

2. Sing in your own choir loft, not theirs

Never react in a war of words on a critical blog or in the letters-to-the-editor columns because all you do is drive attention to those forums. Never pick a fight with a man who buys his ink by the barrel or his Internet presence in gigabytes because they will always have the last word. Make them irrelevant by shifting the debate onto venues that you can control like your own web site, Op Ed pieces, or district publications.

3. Set the standard for what sounds right

Play to your home field advantage by framing the conversation about key issues. Define the themes, key messages, and factual foundation that everyone works from. Be seen as the definitive resource on the key issues that affect your organization. Don’t just react to what others say first; be the lead singer in the debate.

4. Create an ensemble of positive voices singing your praises

You’re known by the company you keep. Enlist community opinion leaders or people with unique and relevant views to promote a more balanced discussion. Give people talking points so they practice message discipline on your behalf. We should all be singing off the same song sheet. Think of yourself as the conductor or choir director orchestrating a community of voices on a topic.

5. Give them voice lessons, if they’ll listen

Sometimes bad singer just doesn’t have the right sheet music and that’s why they’re making it up as they go along. This could be a teachable moment to transform a critic into a supporter. Don’t presume they can’t change their tune because if you do they probably won’t.

We spend 90% of our time in school administration dealing with the 10% of our stakeholders who disagree with us or have problems with the way we do things. In these troubled times we need everyone to lend their voice to our cause. If they do, maybe we can drown out the negativists and naysayers that seem to relish the spotlight and attack the integrity of public education. Public education has a song worth singing.

All together now . . . Halleluiah!

You Crisis Communication Plan Might Need a Spring Cleaning

A sad fact of life for public school communicators is that March Madness isn’t just about basketball anymore. It seems that pent up frustrations accumulating over a school year force some troubled students, employees and parents to act in strange and bizarre ways as we move into Spring. If you track the rash of campus shootings that plagued public schools across the country over the last ten years they all fell within the four-month storm window of February to May. The question remains, is your crisis communications plan up-to-date? If you haven’t given it a thorough review since last year maybe it’s time for a Spring Cleaning.

Here are few suggestions on things to look for when reviewing your written emergency response plans:

Do you have a written Emergency Response Plan?
I can’t tell you the number of districts I work with that still don’t have a detailed written emergency response plan for the school district. Site usually have site emergency plans, but districts don't. Even if you’re a small district you still need one, especially in case your lead crisis manager or superintendent is out of the district or incapacitated. Plans should be what I like to call “self executing.” That means people automatically know what they are supposed to do during the first thirty minutes of a crisis without direction from the district office or being told in a meeting. The writing process helps clarifying responsibilities, reactions, and obstacles that you might need to overcome.

Are your communication tools current and up-to-date?
Technology changes frequently in school districts. Equipment is replaced or transferred. Phone systems and numbers are amended. Your database of contacts is out-of-date almost from the day you enter it. When was the last time you did an inventory of Emergency Kits, or checked the phone batteries and chargers for example? Don’t assume things are where you left them! Will your staff still have the ready access to phone numbers, pagers and radio links that worked during your crisis drill last year?

Have personnel changed and do they all know their responsibilities in the case of an emergency?
Sadly, with school district layoffs, reassignments and retirements occuring over the past few years, your crisis team's "bench strength" may have been greatly diminished. Is the old chain of command in a crisis still intact? Are all of the boxes on your table of organization still occupied and valid? Maybe it’s time to run another crisis communication/response workshop. Crisis manuals and binders have probably been misplaced or are missing some contents.

Is your network of community responders current?
If you haven’t had to use your crisis plan lately, then there may have been changes of personnel and key contacts in law enforcement, health care, community services, and local government agencies. The last thing you need in a crisis is to be fumbling through the phone book trying to identify the right person you need to solve a problem.

Is it time to freshen up your news media contact list?
Just to be safe, maybe you need to connect with assignment editors and reporters to let them know again about your protocols for handling public communication and access during a crisis.

Are you able to quickly use new media and technology to get your message out within the first thirty minutes after a crisis hits?
Many districts are integrating Twitter, Facebook, web sites, auto-dialing phone systems, blast emails, YouTube, webcasts and blogs as regular communication tools. Have you thought through how you can use these to the maximum effect during a crisis or emergency situation? For example, have your IT folks created an Emergency Response web page that is dark for the time being but can be activated with the flip of a switch when you need it? This web site can have templates, key contact links, and other resources already embedded so they can be quickly edited and adjusted for your specific emergency situation.

The school communications professional has become a key player in school crisis response. At a time when school districts are weighing the relative value of laying off teachers or PIOs, we need to make sure we can demonstrate our value. A crisis is your opportunity to fail or succeed in a highly visible venue. The students, parents, employees and community will be looking to you for answers and abilities to cope with a tragedy, disaster or critical situation. Are you prepared? Can you exceed their expectations? Doing a little Spring Cleaning now can give you the edge you may need when the unthinkable occurs.

For more information access www.tomdelapp.com