My Goal for 2019: Be Present

Kairos as defined by Merriam-Webster is “a time when conditions are right for the accomplishment of crucial action; the opportune and decisive moment.” I first ran across this word this past summer while reading Essentialism by Greg McKeown, a book I recommend to everyone who is interested in productivity, time, efficiency, and what matters most.

Recently, inspired by “Kairos,” I engaged in a different type of personal and professional reflection process. First, every 90 days I meet with two different board members to discuss progress and obstacles in relationship to my individual goals, job description, and our district improvement/strategic plan. Following these meetings those board members and I provided a summary update to the entire board. This process has been incredibly useful in terms of the board and superintendent lines of communication while working toward common goals.

For the past year plus I have kept a daily journal where the essential questions I answer are, “What is the most important thing for me to be doing right now,” and “How did I connect with staff and students today?” At the end of the week I review and reflect on what I have accomplished…or not. This has helped keep me be accountable to myself and serves as a good guide as to where and how I spend my time.

The most recent and what I believe to be the most critical action step in my personal and professional development was soliciting feedback from all faculty and staff through a short 360 feedback survey. Through the use of a mentor/coach to help me process the information received and turn the feedback into a plan for action I plan to communicate what I learned and what I plan to do about it during our opening institute for the second semester. I plan to write more about this in another post but I can tell you that thus far this has been a little scary, has forced me to deeply reflect, and has been incredibly valuable for my personal and professional development.

With the new year upon us I plan to not dwell on past successes or failures but instead use them as learning experiences in my own leadership journey. I will continue to lead with vision as it is critical to do so for any leader and organization, but not at the expense where the anticipation of good or challenging things ahead become crippling to what is most important at the present time.

My goal for the new year is to “be present” for those around me, for what is most important, and for what I’m doing so that I take the most critical actions at the most opportune times. Kairos!

One Idea Makes a Significant Difference

Want to change the world for the better? It starts with one idea. The Staunton Dairy Queen did just that this evening with their idea of how to help families and a community in grief. This one idea and small act of kindness turned into something very special this evening.

The idea was to hold a “Blizzard Benefit” where 100% of Blizzard sales were donated to the Bertels and Carrol families. There was something very special and heartwarming about tonight. Pulling up in a line ofcars out to the highway. People taking pictures and posting inspirational messages. Seeing staff from Edwardsville join the Staunton staff to help with the high demand (the staff was awesome BTW). Learning of a couple who drove several hours just to do their small part. The hashtags #smalltownstrong filling social media feeds. Seeing the community rally together was very heartwarming.

Thank you Staunton DQ for being the difference with this one simple but powerful idea. #BeTheDifference

Fixed the Formula!

This past week was a historic week in education throughout Illinois with the signing of Senate Bill 1_947 into law! This legislation finally addresses what has been the most inequitable education funding system in the nation. We now can now begin to close the investment gaps that have existed for far too long between wealthy and poor, and between urban, suburban and rural schools. We finally have a school funding formula that is equitable and includes a roadmap to adequacy!

While there are non-Senate Bill 1 pieces in this compromise that are difficult for us, this is a major victory for our schools. Is this perfect policy? Of course not, but it is very good policy and the core pieces of SB1 remain intact. This legislation serves as a major victory for our students, schools, and community!

What’s next? The real work to achieving adequacy begins. We will begin to stabilize our schools from the years of proration that have done great harm to our students. Moving forward, we will have opportunities to make decisions on how to invest our dollars so that the greatest impact can be made for our students.

We still have a great deal of important work ahead of us but I can confidently say our schools and students are better off today than they were yesterday!

We can finally say “WE FIXED THE FORMULA!”

 

 

 

The Clock is Ticking: Set Politics Aside and Fix Illinois’ Broken Education Funding Formula

As educators we chose our profession to make a significant positive difference in the lives of our children. But because of Illinois’ broken school funding system, instead of making choices in the best interests of children, my colleagues and I are continually faced with distinguishing between which choices are the least harmful to our students. 
Now we are fighting for the bare minimum, fair funding for all of our students throughout Illinois, rather than discussing raising the bar and investing in excellence in education. Now with schools starting throughout the state, we are once again faced with decisions of which programs and services we will be forced to dismantle next.

Years of underfunding by the state combined with a formula that punishes low-income districts have left Illinois schools on life support. In May, the passage of Senate Bill 1, which would fix Illinois’ broken funding system, provided a glimmer of hope. The bill was the culmination of years of research, advocacy and debate and drives state dollars to the neediest districts in Illinois while closing funding gaps between low-income and wealthier districts over time. It does that without taking dollars from any district, while relying on the evidence of what works in the classroom. However, Governor Rauner issued an amendatory veto of the bill on Aug. 1, and that leaves school funding for this year in question.    

Even as his veto impacts districts across the state, Governor Rauner has described the formula in Senate Bill 1 as a “Chicago bailout.” However, SB1 does not favor any district, it simply drives dollars to the districts that need the most support. And Chicago, with 20% of the state’s students and with a low-income rate of 85%, is funded proportional to its needs. Further, I say we should not be pitting children and communities within our state against each other. We need to put an end to the “zip code politics” surrounding education funding. We value children and students and care about educational outcomes everywhere.   

It’s time to end the years of uncertainty and instability for schools in Illinois. The General Assembly can now take historic action by overriding the Governor’s veto and ensuring a better future for all children. Let’s set politics aside to focus on what matters most: investing in student excellence.