How Understanding
Small School Districts Can Help the Larger Ones
[CLICK HERE for the Complete Blog
Message]
Introduction
Like many of my
colleagues in education, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced me to think, act, and
react in very different personal, professional, and contextual ways.
From a personal
perspective, I have tried to be more patient with others... embracing Stephen
Covey’s 5th Habit:
“Seek first to
understand, then to be understood.”
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From a professional
perspective—and as a consultant to school districts across the country—I have (re-)learned
that:
“Surviving a crisis first requires assessing the situation and the availability of resources, then making decisions based on the principles of prioritization, triage, and the probabilities of success...While recognizing throughout that “success” looks different during a crisis—that our “definitions of or criteria for success” must be adjusted to the conditions at-hand.”
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Finally, from a contextual perspective, our personal,
professional, political, and ecological connection to “the world”—now, literally—has
been devastatingly reinforced. It is amazing how something so small (i.e., a
molecular virus) can affect so many lives (physically, emotionally, socially, educationally,
economically) in so short a time.
[And for those who have lost loved ones, I truly am sorry
for your loss.]
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The Anatomy of a Small School District
When I was a “little
school psychologist,” my first job—in Western Massachusetts—was as the only
psychologist for a district of 1,000 students with four elementary schools and
a junior-senior high school.
Professionally, as
a consultant, I still work with innumerable small school districts. Some of them,
in fact, enroll far fewer than 1,000 students, and some of them are housed in a
single kindergarten to Grade 12 school—with only one teacher per grade level.
Critically, these
are not all rural districts. Some of them are “suburban”—in states where your “small
town is your small school district.” And some, indeed, are urban—in cities that
carve up their districts like pieces in a dysfunctional puzzle.
And, during this
pandemic, the plight of the small school district has weighed on my mind. This
is because these districts need to address the same crisis-driven needs as the
larger districts, but they are doing it with fewer staff, fewer school and
community resources, and less (per pupil expenditure) money and degrees of (statutory
and state procedural) freedom.
And so. . . crisis
response and survival takes on a different form, function, and meaning here.
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Helping Small Districts Plan for the Post-Pandemic Re-Opening
of School
As a Blogger
myself, I am also a “student of blogging.”
That is, I receive
about ten to twelve e-mails per day that alert me to many others’ work
in education, business and management, strategic planning and organizational
development, and political commentary and personal growth.
And during this
pandemic, it has been particularly interesting to read others’ work on how to
apply leadership principles to crisis management.
And while these
principles are usually generic enough that any reader can apply them to their
situation and context (kind of like a Rorschach test), I believe that—if they
can be successful with our small school districts, then they can be universally
used with all school districts.
Indeed, while there
are approximately 13,000 school districts currently in this country, nearly
half of them serve fewer than 1,000 students.
To this end, the
remainder of this Blog article summarizes a number of recent articles that
provide roadmaps and resources for districts as they prepare to re-open their
schools in a still-pandemic world.
The Blog finishes by
describing a strategy, the Pandemic Power of Three, that can help small
school districts organize their time and impact their readiness across a number
of identified areas.
[CLICK HERE for the Complete Blog
Message]
Briefly, the Blog reviews the following things:
- “9 Actionable Ways to Lead with Transparency in Uncertain Times.”
- A Roadmap (with resources) for Education Leaders to Keep Teachers, Students, and Families Safe from the COVID-19 Virus
- A Roadmap (with resources and seven organizational areas) for Education Leaders to Help Plan the Re-Opening of their Schools
- How to Use the Pandemic Power of Three to Make Demonstrable Progress relative to Current, Short-Term, and Long-Term Pandemic and School Re-Opening Goals
My friends, understand one reality of crisis resolution:
If all you do in a crisis is respond to the effects of the crisis, you will never solve the crisis. Planned time must be devoted to actually solving the crisis. . . even if it means some casualties still occur.
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_ _ _
Summary
Recently,
Jean Sharp discussed the “4 Lessons About Supporting Students in Need” [CLICK
HERE for this article]. I would like to adapt her four lessons—applying them
to superintendent-staff interactions, especially now during the pandemic.
The
four lessons are:
- Relationships Matter
- Meet Staff Where They Are
- Go Slow to Go Fast
- Give Them Hope, and a Future
In the full Blog message, I discuss the challenges facing the small district superintendent, suggesting that organizational and management strategies that work for them—in addressing and preparing for the “next phase” of the pandemic. . . the re-opening of school—should work similarly for superintendents in larger school districts.
In the end, crisis management and survival
is not satisfactory for our students, staff, and schools. We must take
this unprecedented situation and thrive—eventually succeeding well past
where we were when school was disrupted six or more weeks ago.
This can be done. . . regardless of
the size of our districts.
But for the smaller districts, you will
succeed. . . but that success will be grounded by the decisions and actions
that you take now.
[CLICK HERE for the Complete Blog
Message]
_ _ _ _ _
I appreciate, as
always, the time that you invest in reading these Blogs, and your dedication to
your students, your colleagues, and the educational process—especially in the
face of the challenges we all have recently experienced.
Please feel free to
send me your thoughts and questions.
And please know
that—even during this time when most schools are closed for the rest of the
year—I continue to be available to you through Zoom calls. . . if and when you
need me. Contact me at any time.
Best,
Howie
