Nevada Association of School Boards

		NASB Headquarters 549 Court Street Post Office Box 14855 Reno, NV 895074855 Telephone (775) 657-8411 or (775) 443-5988 Fax (775) 453-1017 or (775) 324-5579

President's Message-January, 2012

carolyn_edwards

In my first President’s Message to you last month, I mentioned the five steps that Jamie Vollmer advocated during his keynote address on November 18 during the 2011 NASB Conference. With Mr. Vollmer’s permission, I want to continue that thinking about why these steps are so important to all board members in Nevada, especially now.

First, though, let me remind you of the steps that he recommends:

Step One: SHIFT your attention to the positive.
Mr. Vollmer bases this guidance on the fundamental realization that what we focus our attention on grows stronger in our lives.

Step Two: STOP bad-mouthing one another in public.
This is not something we have to do, but instead something that we have to stop doing. Teachers, paraprofessionals, support staff, administrators, and board members, legislators, and community leaders—everyone—must stop bad-mouthing one another and their schools in public. It undermines the reputation of the speaker while simultaneously grinding down public opinion of local schools and public education as a whole.

Step Three: SHARE something positive within your ego networks.
Everyone has an ego network. It’s a personal social network comprised of family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers. In a world drowning in hype, we look to people in our networks for honest information to help us discern the truth and make sense of the world. With just a little effort, we can harness this spirit of trust to expedite the movement of our message across our networks. Even a casual reference to something positive—an allusion to some small breakthrough, the recounting of a hopeful moment with a student—added to our routine is enough to make an impression.

Step Four: SUSTAIN the effort and monitor your progress.
Five minutes a week for reflection. That’s all that is required to complete this step. “How many times this week did I share something positive about my job, my class, my school, or my district?” Precision is not required. What is important is taking a personal inventory then increasing the number from one week to the next.

Step Five: START now.
Mr. Vollmer comments that to get the schools we need, educators and their allies must initiate and maintain a positive conversation with the communities they serve. That means that it is incumbent upon each of us to develop this conversation along two separate lines simultaneously to ensure maximum participation and maximum progress.

Let’s face it. This is not rocket science. It is not sophisticated and full of ambiguity. The best approach is the one advocated by Mr. Vollmer: a low-tech, high-touch proposal that costs nothing. At a time when we as board members are continually concerned about cost-effectiveness, to follow a five step plan that costs nothing and that can have high-yields for all districts is nothing less than a simply amazing approach.

I agree with Mr. Vollmer that the benefits can begin to accrue as soon as Step One begins. “Each interaction raises the public’s awareness of the challenges facing our schools. Adults who have long since left the classroom begin to comprehend how much schools have changed. Community members begin to understand what they are asking when they proclaim, ‘teach all children to high levels.’ They begin to grasp the enormity of the task and what it’s going to take to accomplish this unprecedented goal.”

I challenge each of you to begin Step One on the first day of the New Year. Unfolding the full potential of each child is a shared responsibility. We have more than 437,000 children attending our public schools. We need to help more and more people see the big picture across Nevada, in each of our seventeen school districts, and in each of our State’s 626 public schools. This is the first step toward developing a shared vision and a community language. I know that this seems way too simple, but I encourage all of us to try this five-step plan because of the potential it presents for reducing adversarial relationships and developing greater trust—a possibility that we should not and cannot ignore.

Wishing each of you and your families a New Year filled with joy, hope, happiness, and growth…