That's the title of a column appearing in Sunday's Courier Times sports section, and the author borrows quite liberally from our superintendent's struggles with the school board as the inspiration for this article.
Click here to read the article.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Nothing is wrong with a good Mr. Fix It so let's finally fix it! Instead of trying to get people to resign or questioning morals and/or intentions let's try the following:
1. Challange your board members to be partners with the community that work toward a common goal.
2. Challange the board to work with the administration, not against them, to deliver a sound budget that is good for the kids and the community as a whole.
3. Find ways to unite not divide. This entire situation is creating many divisions in the community. Remember, although most that view this site disagree with many board members there are probably just as man out there that agree with their actions. Also remember about 70% of households have no children in the system.
4. Concentrate on issues not people. If we deal with the issues the people part of things will have to fall into place and the proper relationships will be developed.
5. Challenge the administration that despite the boards actions to continue to work on the tough issues in the best interest of the children and the community.
6. Ask the board what they really want. I would guess they really dont know what they want otherwise they would be giving the administration some sort of direction. Right now the admin seems to be getting none.
7. Challenge the board the put the petty bullcrap aside and work together instead of trying to one-up each other week after week. The board as a whole has recently forgotten why they are there and it isn't to continuously argue.
I'm sure board members read the comments on this site. Im also sure that the negative comments dont make them want to change their actions but make the situation worse.
Don't threaten them, challenge them! I'll bet you'll see more results.
I read the article and there are some good analogies. Some teams have great coaches with very little talent and somehow the coach finds a way to make them compete. Great teams that win championships have great coaches and great players. That's a nice combination to have. We have that same combination here at Neshaminy. A great coach (Kadri) and great players (the teachers), but we have a losing team. Mr. O'Connor, we have hired you to help us fix that. It is your job to let superintentent coach and let the teachers teach. We have the right combination.
Dear Anonymous: Your ideas sound good but there's one problem. The board can only work together if all the members see themselves as being on a level playing field. It appears we have one or two board members who see themselves as being more powerful than the others, and there are two or three others who do nothing at all. If these people aren't team players now, they never will be. They'll yes us to death in the public meetings, then they'll go back to their personal agendas when the meetings are over.
Your ideas are admirable but hopelessly doomed to failure here in Neshaminy.
What personal agendas do you believe exist?
What this has become is one side waiting for the other to throw a bomb and then the other side throws one back. The problem is that the district is stuck in the middle.
I agree fully with challenging the board not fighting them otherwise we will be stuck where we are. Ask the tough quetions about the tough issues. Ask how the budget is progressing and who is developing it. It should be a joint venture between the entire admin and the board. If everyone has input than they really can't be critical about it.
Stop throwing your hands up in the air. None of these board members are going to step down. If we talk about the kids and the community who can disagree. Nobody can.
Also, if you want to be critical of a Levittown board member it has to come from Levittown residents. It sounds as if the Heckman, Maple Point and Lowersouth groups are the ones who dont like the Levittown board members. Let's hear from a group of Levittown people (not one or two) at the next meeting about how they feel they are being represented. Then you might get a few board members to listen.
To Anonymous.."let's finally fix it"
I for one don't plan on "slamming the board" but I know I am tired of trying to just go with the flow and ask the board to work toward a common goal ect ect...
don't you get it?! That time has long passed. Some on the board aren't interested in that for whatever reason.
I'm glad the rest of the Neshaminy community is finally waking up to the fact and are aware our school district is being hurt.
Sorry..but we are past that IMHO
To "Time to get a bit more aggressive "
Yes I get it 100% and I agree with who you have identified as the problems here. What you dont get is that what you are about to do is to create bigger problems amongst the board. They have to serve together for almost 4 years. If you try to build the bridges between them instead of blowing them up, WE as a community have a much better shot at getting things moving in a direction we would like to see for our kids.
It's a good thing my kids are a bit too young to understand what is going on because this situation would be teaching them a horrible lesson in building relationships and dealing with people.
Has anyone seen any episodes of that "Kid Nation" show? Maybe we should force the board to sit down and watch the series in its entirity. A bunch on 6-12 year olds had much better results than our board.
Sorry anonymous but I agree with more aggressive. Everything you say is true and ideal, but I don't think this board can work together unless there is a shake up. It didn't get this way overnight and I'm sure this has been building for many, many months, maybe even years. Without drastic action, you cannot undo in a few weeks what has taken months/years to create.
As others have said, the problem seems to be the inactive ones on the board. Even though they may not agree on issues, there are 4 of them that seem to do all the work and talking. The others seem to just sit there and politely throw in a comment here and there just to let you know they're still breathing. Unless all 9 of them are willing to get in the game, I think this board is doomed.
to SK
I know many of these board members pretty well. I can guarantee you that you are completely wrong and the aftermath tomorrow brings will put a complete hault to any progress this district is to make in the forseeable future.
Good...if you call "progress" what certain members of the board credit themselves with....I'll be glad to see it come to a halt and have them start letting Kadri do the job he was hired to do!
Post a Comment