small town Archives - Laurel McHargue - Author/Podcaster/Public Speaker

“Making friends and influencing people…”

This third of four essays has a “relationship” focus. I enjoyed writing it.

LCSD Superintendent Essay C: What actions would you take to form effective relationships with staff, community and other governmental agencies to provide for clear communications, build trust and create a unity of vision?

For years I have taught my students how to employ figurative language elements as a way to ensure that readers get a clear “picture” of what they are trying to express. After all, unclear communication is like an outdated road map; it can leave you lost and confused. The ability to communicate effectively is critical for building effective relationships, and effective relationships inherently require trust between parties. As an English teacher at Lake County High School and as an active member of the Leadville community, I have had amazing opportunities to form relationships with people in many circles. Those who have come to know me also know that I am forward, direct, and honest when I speak, that I welcome intelligent debate, and that I understand and believe in the concept of transparency. These skills have already provided me opportunities to collaborate with members of LCSD staff, community, and several other governmental agencies.

In August of 2007 I participated in my first “Welcome back to a new school year!” meeting of district staff and faculty. I was “the new girl,” and was immediately encouraged to lead a group activity. That was the start of my involvement with the school and district instructional leadership teams; for two and a half years I collaborated with my peers and those above me on topics ranging from curriculum design to school spirit. In an effort to ensure that information gleaned from those meeting received the widest distribution, I would send weekly emails to all staff members with topic recaps, suggestions, and reminders. My peers knew that they could share concerns and questions with me, and that I would represent them as best as I could. In order to be truly effective as a leader, those you lead must believe that you value them as individuals. As a district leader, I would schedule routine opportunities to listen actively to suggestions and concerns from my staff and faculty, I would arrange to have meetings with groups of students from all schools to ensure that I stay connected to the needs and concerns of those for whom I work, I would ensure that no significant decisions would be made before soliciting input from those my decisions would impact, I would be available to spend time beyond work hours with individuals or groups with concerns, and I would frequently attend—and help to promote—our after school events. My goal would be to ensure that all those I serve feel empowered to help realize a vision for the greater good of the organization.

Shortly after that first “Welcome back” meeting, I realized that although I already knew many members of the community from almost four years of “living” at the Leadville Hostel during escapes from Colorado Springs and supporting/participating in local racing events, I was not necessarily connected to the families of those I would be teaching. In October of 2007 a peer suggested that I would be a great mentor for Full Circle, so without further prompting, I completed the requirements for mentorship and welcomed a young brother and sister into our family. My relationship with these children and their family grew over four years, during which time I got to know other members of the Full Circle community. Although this family has recently moved, I am able to stay “connected” to them with the help of modern technology. As a district leader, I would highly encourage those who are able to participate in this and other community outreach programs. Leadville hosts many organizations which support the mission to improve opportunities and conditions in our district. In a school district with limited funds, school leaders must be creative in finding ways to expose our students to opportunities for contact with the world outside their classrooms. Local businesses such as the Tabor Opera House, the Gallery Leonardo, Fire on the Mountain, the Book Mine, Alpine Ski and Sport, and Cookies with Altitude have opened their doors to my students for field trips and writing opportunities, and the Herald Democrat has welcomed articles and pictures of these experiences. As a member of the Leadville Lions Club, I have participated in Speech Contests for our students, Safeway card sales over the holidays (which contribute to student scholarships), Boom Days parades and beer tent sales (during which I have met countless members of our community and from visiting communities) and other local functions. These events have enriched my students’ and my own relationship with members of our larger community. Leaders must be available to serve and support others in their community in order to build trust and unity of vision. Our community members need to get to know our students if we hope to have them share our vision of success, and I would work to ensure that opportunities for visits, internships, and community service are plentiful.

It goes without saying that as a school district leader, I must have open and effective channels of communication with many governmental agencies. Being married to the Lake County Emergency Manager has provided me with many opportunities to meet members of our police, sheriff, and fire departments, and to speak with our Mayor, County Commissioners, and City Council members. As a mother of two sons who graduated from LCHS with credits from Colorado Mountain College, I have developed a rapport with leaders of that organization, and understand the value of all they have to offer our students and community. Although there are clearly many leaders in the service of private, county, state, federal, and faith based organizations I have not yet met, I would make every effort to attend meetings and events—and to host events—to ensure that members of those communities, many with children attending our school district, would get to know me, and would know that their input would be valued as a significant contribution to helping our school district, and all its members, succeed.

I was raised with the lesson that “honesty is the best policy,” and my years of service at the military academy and in the army instilled in me an “honor code” that has served me well my entire life. As the leader of Lake County School District, I would take the relationships I have already developed to the next level in an effort to realize a shared vision of growth and success for all members of our district, and I would make it an ongoing effort to reach out to those individuals and agencies with whom I have not yet established a relationship. By creating avenues through which members of all organizations can be involved with our schools, our entire community will be following the same 21^st Century road map into a more successful future. [end]

Fix our school district with nothing, please!

Here’s the second of four essays submitted for the superintendent application. You might want to use it as a sleeping aide?!

LCSD Superintendent Essay B: In a district with growing diversity and students of special needs, how do you allocate limited resources to provide a wide variety of curricular choices, fund extracurricular activities, maintain good but aging facilities, fund competitive salaries, and keep current with technology?

Lake County School District serves students with diverse ethnic backgrounds, abilities, and interests, and it is this diversity which brings both richness and complexity to the school community. From the perspective of being able to provide differentiated instruction for our current generation, every child should be considered to have “special needs.” One of the greatest challenges for the leader of this school district is the allocation of increasingly limited resources in a way which best serves the needs of all of its learners, its teachers, its staff, and its facilities.

We must remember that the mission of a school district is to ensure that our students are both successful while in our care and prepared to realize success in schooling and employment beyond high school. This is particularly crucial in light of articles like the one shared on my Facebook page today (January 26, 2012): “Today, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, we’ve slipped to No. 21 in high school completion and No. 15 in college completion, as other countries surpassed us in the quality of their primary and secondary education. . . . Only 7 of 10 ninth graders today will get high school diplomas.” The article goes on to suggest innovative ways some districts are restructuring their pre-K through 12 classes. Our K-12 curriculum should not only satisfy state requirements, but should also provide elective options that will transfer into skills needed to be competitive in the future. Clearly we must prioritize the courses we will fund based on the availability of instructors and schedule hours, and must create a schedule which maximizes the ability of students to populate elective classes. Knowing what we know about the current economic environment, we must not allow our students to waste valuable hours by selecting to be a “student aide” rather than by earning legitimate course hours; this has been an issue in the recent past, and elective classes have gone significantly under-populated, wasting valuable resources. We must also accept that not every student will continue on in a degree program after high school, and embrace ways to prepare those students to secure jobs in other vocational areas. Once these students demonstrate mastery of the basic requirements at each level of their education—in courses that are at the top of the funding priority list—they should be provided with opportunities to intern with established local governmental and private agencies. The school superintendent should play a key role in establishing contacts to secure those potential job related programs.

When considering funding for extracurricular activities—as it is highly unlikely that funds will be available for many programs desired—we should consider instilling in our students the idea of a lifetime activity, and helping them to become more resourceful in their efforts to secure extracurricular options. A fabulous example of how this was accomplished recently is the high school’s new competitive mountain biking club. Because of the generous sponsorship of Pedal Power bike shop, and contributions of time and money from members of the faculty and community, our school’s team was able to compete in high visibility events across the state, and with no cost to the school district. We have people in our community who are passionate about many diverse activities and who would love the opportunity to coach/sponsor/mentor our students; we need to find those people and encourage them to help our students with enriching extracurricular events. With available funds, we should ensure that historically popular activities such as drama, skiing, track, cross country, soccer, basketball, and volleyball remain viable. We must also do whatever it takes to keep the 21^st Century grant program alive. Involvement in extracurricular activities will pay dividends far into the future for our students, and finding creative ways to support them should be a priority.

Our students and employees deserve to feel safe in our aging facilities. We must develop both a short and long term schedule for allocating available assets by prioritizing “Must do,” “Should do,” and “Would like to do” projects. Just as we will ask our students to be creative with finding ways to fund their activities, we need to employ innovative ways to match potential funds available through grants. How might we use in-kind matches for funding? Could we quantify efforts from our shop class? Could we rent out space for activities? Do we have professionals in the community who might provide services or property as a match for funds? We should apply for all available grants, and encourage our community to take part in ensuring that our students have better than adequate places in which to learn.

Our teachers and staff—sadly—are accustomed to earning less than competitive salaries these last few years. Lake County has lost more than 500 people between the 2000 and the 2010 census, and with a smaller population comes less funding from tax revenue. We need to scrutinize our budget and look at areas of possible reallocation. We need to evaluate the amount we have, and should keep, in reserve. We must find a way to unfreeze the salaries that have been locked for the past three years. We know that most people who work in public education do not do so because they think they’ll make big money, so as a minimum, we need to find other forms of compensation for our employees—time, rewards, special recognition—to let them know that their service is valued . . . and that they are valued as people.

Beyond ensuring that our 20^th century buildings are safe and—as a minimum—adequate, it is vital that we bring both students and staff into the 21^st century in the area of technology. Again we must be creative in finding ways to train our staff on “the latest” tools for integrating internet resources into the classroom curriculum. Undoubtedly we have students both in our own district and at CMC who could teach the staff a thing of two in exchange for community service hours. What a perfect opportunity it would be to have student interns in the district office to ensure the district web site—the first place most incoming families will go for information—is state of the art. Sites such as the Khan Academy and TED talks are free and would provide relevant data to supplement the school curriculum. Social science classes could conduct interschool dialogs around the world using Skype. All students could follow Twitter feeds on different topics and be expected to discuss the most interesting ones. Students and staff could use Google Documents to collaborate on projects. We should also ensure that the technology curriculum is relevant to what our students will be expected to use beyond high school. Let’s ensure that time is not wasted on what our tech-savvy students already know, but let’s challenge this new generation to employ the internet for intellectual advancement and preparation for a future in which computer technology is ubiquitous. While some may argue that communication skills are lacking in this generation, they are, in fact, changing, and we all need to keep up with these changes in order to remain culturally literate. Our staff should feel as confident as our student do with these essential 21^st century skills.

Yes, we have many tasks to accomplish with limited funding, but if we all pull out our MacGyver knives (with blades shorter than 3”, of course), there’s nothing we cannot fix! (I’d like to credit my husband for the MacGyver suggestion). [end]