Why I'm Choosing to Retire

On Monday night, November 11, 2013, I submitted by letter of resignation in order to retire from education. I know these boyish good looks makes one wonder why I would be retiring at such a young age (insert sarcastic comment here). Actually, this past September I turned 60 years of age and while that’s certainly not a magic number, it did make me realize that I’m getting older.

I believe the major turning point in my decision-making process was over my birthday in September. I took a week’s vacation to accompany my wife on our first church Mission Trip to Gallup, New Mexico, to work with the Navajo Indians and the Rehoboth Christian School. Here’s what I learned.

I learned that after 39 years in education, I have had tunnel vision concerning education, education reform, educational technology and basically, all things education. I learned that there is a whole new world out there that I know nothing about. I’ve always tried to be up to date on things that are happening; and while I think I understand our country, it’s the small things that I know nothing about. I want to explore and go on adventures with my bride of almost 40 years. I want to have a hobby that I can spend time on, I enjoy playing golf, but I’ve only played a handful of times over the past three years. I want to read books that are not educational books or leadership books that my kids use to make fun of while I was reading.

I want to care for my wife, like she has cared for me over the past 40 years. She has taken such good care of me and our kids, nursed me back to health after a major health scare in 2004, taken care of our kids while I was teaching and coaching, attending a school event, and working on advanced degrees. In 2001, she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. There is no known cure for Parkinson’s. I want to help with the Iowa Parkinson’s Disease Association to help find a cure.

I am so blessed to have been involved in education for 39 years and I have plenty of great friends and even greater stories about my life in education. I have put my faith and trust in the Lord and I’m sure He has a plan for the rest of my life. Now, I have to find out what it is and move on from there. Remember when I said I wanted to go on an adventure? Starting July 1, 2014, the adventure begins.

Onward.

Something new: J Term

Pleasantville Community Schools are trying something new this school year. We have implemented a “J Term” for the first seven days after we return from Winter Break (remember when it used to be called Christmas Break?) The actual length of time will be from January 2 through January 10. This was a result in building the school calendar for this school year and having a need to balance the two semesters while not starting school until the Iowa State Fair was completed on August 18^th.

            This will be for all students in grades 6 through 12 and the students will have choices as to what classes they will attend. We hope that the students will find something that they are passionate about and willing to spend some time in learning. The concept is that students will take one or two classes during these seven days that will have connections to the Iowa Core and teacher and student passions.

            Kudos to Gary Friday and the secondary staff here at Pleasantville in taking this step and trusting that it will work. There are always risks and fears when trying something new. We have modeled this after Spirit Lake’s model and hope that it will be as successful as theirs.

            What’s the biggest risk from my standpoint? I have volunteered to help teach a class. Granted, I haven’t been a lead teacher for a few years but I will have help. Angie Graham from our tech staff will be working with me. Personally, I just hope some kids sign up for our class. We are going to be developing some sort of video that can be used by the school or the city and/or a type of music video starring teachers and students to promote a specific activity. To be honest, I’m more than a little nervous about this whole ordeal. Why am I so nervous? Because I’m counting on the students to teach me how to use iMovie and the editing materials that come with it. I’ve never edited a video before.

            We hope to have the videos posted on our website and other places once we are finished and proud of our product. Our goal is to be able to have our work on You Tube and be seen by thousands. We’ll see and we’ll keep you posted on our progress.

Leadership Secrets from a Resort

I have got to be the luckiest guy in the world. I know that other people have jobs similar to mine, getting to serve students as a superintendent of schools. One of the great things about having a 260-day contract is that you get vacation days anytime you want throughout the school year.

I was on the flight home from Mexico, where I spent five days with my wife and another school administrator and his wife who we travel with, when these thoughts crossed my mind. It was a glorious time. We went zip lining, whale watching, on a glass-bottomed boat and enjoyed the entertainment at the resort. All of our food was included in the price of the stay, which for me was a real plus!

As I returned home to school the next morning, my mind kept going back to the resort and how they treated everyone. All the workers, from the front desk people, to the waiters and waitresses, to the activity people, just everyone, were the nicest people to deal with. I thought about the leadership this resort utilizes and how we could translate that into schools.

I am convinced that education is a service industry. Schools provide a service of educating our young people. While I have never bought into the idea that the students are our customers, as some people have, I do believe that we, as educators, perform a service to the greater community, state and nation.

I would like our staff to treat the students as if they are vacationers at a resort, with a smile, with a dogged determination to make the student’s stay as enjoyable as it can be, while still getting the information into their heads. I learned a lot from our stay at this resort, whether it was a brush up on my Spanish or how to zip line, and it will stay with me for a long time, We need to present the materials to the kids so that it stays with them for along time – longer than just until the test is over. That might mean changing some of our teaching strategies and habits.

Education is a tricky business and in some remote situations, it seems like some teachers are the ones at the resort and the expectation is that the kids serve them. While I hope that isn’t the case in Pleasantville, I need to make sure that doesn’t happen. The leadership secrets of the resort need to take hold here. We serve the public and it is our job to serve the students by making it the best situation they can possibly have. We owe it to the students, their parents and the public in general. Adios mi amigos!