| Lee Dixon's profileFlorida School BossBlogLists |  Tools  Help |
|
Florida School BossHelp for Weary Florida School Bosses December 07 Sigh-An-Are-YaThis is the last post for FloridaSchoolBoss.
My 15 months of blogging has been a great experience, and I highly recommend it for retired school bosses as a way to unwind (is "de-stress" a word?) and share some tips with those who carry on.
Creating a blog is incredibly easy. Having something to say, as in all forms of writing, is the hard part. That, and not having Johnnie Ruth around to proofread what you write! A blog does provide a good tool for reflection for active school bosses, although you don't want to open it to others as the blog would become a public record. A few active school bosses have tried blogging (sometimes in lieu of a newsletter), but I don't recommend it. It's a little like talking to a TV camera everyday.... something will slip eventually that you didn't mean to say in public.
I'm proud of the work done at FloridaSchoolBoss and... should someone stumble onto the site... the posts are grouped by category and will provide useful tips for new and aspiring school bosses for a few years. I tried to give the kind of advice in the postings that I gave to new and aspiring administrators when I worked to support them on a daily basis. The job of a school boss isn't easy, and there are lots of highs and lows. Everybody needs someone to help them through the lows and avoid pitfalls when possible.
I will also supply free advice on any and all topics for the cost of an email. Just contact me at gleedixon@gmail.com. If the topic is sensitive, contact me and I'll provide a phone number. The advice is guaranteed to be worth the cost.
To stay up with current events in Florida Education, just check The Gradebook, Jeff Solochek's blog. He summarizes articles from the Florida papers and provides links on a daily basis. He also does a good interview with an education newsmaker each Sunday.
To sample education blogs, check in with The Education Wonks to view The Carnival of Education. A different education blogger takes on the challenge each week to review submissions from other bloggers and provide links to the best of what's out there. The EWonks coordinate the process, but each weeks Carnival leads you to the blog site for the next week's issue.
I'm on to other things. I'm still not sure what, but it's fun taking my time figuring it out.
I may blog again, but probably in a more general format and with a more general theme. After all, what will I do with those movie pics? And after a six month hiatus from Netflix, and with local movie ticket prices of $9, or roughly the cost of a ticket and popcorn and a soda at the Brahman Theatre, I may re-up with Netflix. That will lead to even more movie recommendations to share, including music DVD's.
Maybe sort of a good books, jazz, grandbabies, scuba diving, South Carolina kind of blog?
Thanks for reading!
November 14 By the NumbersJust for fun!
Others have too much time on their hands.
Florida School Bosses need to capitalize on their efforts.
It's called 100 Movies, 100 Quotes, 100 Numbers.
And it's on YouTube, so you might have to watch it at home.
November 12 Evolution Is Just A TheoryBut it's the central unifying theory underlying our knowledge of the living world.
Not all Florida School Bosses are former biology teachers. But all Florida School Bosses, especially middle and high school bosses, need to back up science teachers who are doing their job when teaching biology.
Florida's new standards... so far... remove any doubt about the role of evolutionary theory in the biological sciences. But as this article points out, there are still folks out there wanting to confuse science with religion.
I was struck this week by an illustration of the fact that evolution is not a debatable topic among scientists. The CDC Director was testifying before a congressional committee about MRSA and schools. In her responses to questions, she used a few scientific terms and phrases... and of course, she assumed the congressmen and other educated American citizens knew something about... evolution.
Some examples:
"... because they've had all of this evolutionary pressure..."
"... perhaps they're a little bit fitter..." (referring to community MRSA bugs)
"... it's a process of survival of the fittest..."
"... so those bacteria don't have to go through the process of evolution..."
"... because it gives them a selection advantage..."
Audiovisual learners, and those with a need for a clear summary of the state of all things MRSA, should watch her testimony. There was another hearing panel, which included a school superintendent, but it was not as informative (especially after the first couple of presenters). This c-span link to the hearing may not work for long. If the linked page doesn't show the hearing, look farther back among the page views to Nov. 7 and the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Governmental Reform, and MRSA panel number one.
Note: She could have been a lot stronger in her advice about schools and MRSA... she said it wasn't necessary in her opinion to close schools for disinfecting when a student came down with a MRSA infection... but she wouldn't go ahead and say that schools should not be closed. November 10 School Bosses in Planning Time CrossfireBrevard School Bosses are experiencing crossfire in a way most Florida School Bosses have experienced recently, or soon will.
The teachers have contracts guaranteeing a planning period during the school day, and other demands are infringing upon this contractual guarantee. Unions, instead of filing grievances (after all, contracts are clearly being violated), are whining about it at bargaining time.
Of course, the union position, usually ( and unfortunately) conceded to by school board negotiators and board members, is that school bosses are the culprits.
School bosses, and honest teachers, know better.
Planning periods have been taken for years for IEP meetings or preliminary sessions known by other acronyms (SST's in my old district). Sometimes parent conferences, especially in middle schools, are arranged during team planning times. There are a variety of other reasons that meetings are scheduled during planning periods. These are not usually at the discretion of school bosses.
The number of these meetings... that are necessary or at least required by policies set by someone other than the school boss... has steadily increased over the last generation. All of these meetings can't be held in the other two available windows... before and after school... if people other than teachers need to attend. A guidance counselor or admininstrator can only attend one meeting at a time. Even the teacher(s) can only attend one meeting at a time.
Sometimes teachers prefer to have team parent conferences during their planning time when the alternative is an after-school meeting. These meetings are still counted in the data when unions claim that more than half of a typical teachers' planning periods are taken from them. Technically correct, but misleading.
But without counting these "teacher scheduled" meetings, nobody can deny that a contractual right has been eroded.
The problem, other than the fact that sometimes school bosses are treated like whipping boys, is that there isn't a viable alternative. In other words, what is the union's solution or end game?
Fulfilling the contractual commitment to teachers regarding planning time just isn't possible, if the mission of the school is to be accomplished.
This is a perfect example of a contractual concession (in this case conceded many years ago) that has come back to haunt us. There was a time when it was possible to set aside a teacher's planning time, with only a few interrruptions, like meetings with the principal for evaluation feedback or an occasional meeting between a teacher and counselor to discuss a strategy for kids. Now, the contract provision is out of sink with the real world of IDEA and a team approach to serving kids.
The real solution, of course, is to eliminate the contractual provision. Ha! The gutting of planning time clauses would be considered a major kick in the gut by teachers. Not just union lovers either! But, of course, they aren't getting their planning time now. What can we do... pay them more money in order to give up their planning time? In other words, pay them to plan some other time?
And if we had money to do that, we could just increase salaries and leave the planning time nightmare alone.
Which is what we already do.
And school bosses will be blamed... ad nauseum... for "taking away" planning periods by our (implied) incompetent scheduling abilities.
I'd love to see board members and superintendents... and chief negotiators... just tell it like it is. But it won't happen.
But that's why we get the big bucks. So I'll quit whining.
And Brevard contract talks about this issue and a bunch of other non-monetary items? Settled the next day. A study committee approach will be applied to most of the issues. November 09 Pepper Foam?A couple of folks are trying to make an issue of the fact that over 40 high school students in Pinellas County were affected by pepper foam... foam, not spray... when officers tried to break up a girl fight involving 4 girls.
They had to spray from a distance because interested spectators blocked the officers from getting to the fight.
But the kids involved, and one wise school board member with teaching experience, know what it's like when a fight breaks out in a school cafeteria.
It ain't pretty.
I could move middle students from a fight ring when I was younger, but I'm not sure about today's high school students. I used to explain to students and to parents that I would do whatever it took to get to the fight as quickly as possible... even some in the ring ended up with scrapes or bruises from my attempts to break the ring. The same with the bozos involved in the fight itself. Prevention of more serious injuries to combatants is the only duty. Surreptitious Video: Not in a Pro-Union DistrictWith attitudes like this, who needs enemies?
Pasco County has always been heavily influenced by unions. Just how greatly has recently become apparent. (One theory is that union influence is greatest in districts where the superintendent is elected, because a strong union can control the voter turnout in those elections.)
Not that Pasco is a totally dysfunctional place... it has also been known as a "leading-edge" district when it comes to instructional and instructional support programs.
Still, I can't believe what I read recently in the St. Pete Times. First the headline:
Spying on worker a no-no
Then there was this amazing quote:
"Food service may have gotten ahead of law enforcement," said employee relations supervisor Kevin Shibley, calling the decision an inappropriate aberration. "It's the general practice of the district that we don't instigate surveillance on our own."
And this incredible quote:
"While the district has a responsibility to respond to any reports or information which indicates possible unlawful activity in the workplace by an employees, the district agrees that the use of covert videotaping in the workplace as an investigatory tool ... will only occur under the direction and control of the appropriate law enforcement agency to ensure the appropriate laws and privacy considerations are adhered to," employee relations director Terry Rhum wrote in an Oct. 9 letter to the union's business representative.
Here's a link to the article.
Don't get me wrong. A school boss should not covertly videotape his or her employees... without the agreement and support of district administrators. It's a tricky business, and has to be carefully considered. And just as you don't search students in cases of petty theft, you don't use covert videotaping for minor employment rules violation or thefts. In this case, thousands of dollars went missing, and apparently law enforcement dropped the ball in regards to videotaping when an officer was transferred in the middle of the investigation.
But it is perfectly legal to videotape employees in the workplace... covertly... and it is necessary in some circumstances. Employees have a right to privacy in restrooms and changing areas. We hate the idea of working in front of a camera, and it isn't wise or cost effective to put cameras the public spaces where most of us work. But there is no law or rule that prohibits videotaping in a public workspace. Unless, of course, you agree to such an idiotic rule in a union contract. Since a grievance was mentioned here, but no violation of a specific clause, I'm guessing there really isn't a grievable offense here.
No company in America would make statements agreeing to forbid the use of covert videotaping in the workplace. No honest employee has anything to fear from being videotaped in their workspace.
School districts have to use that tool to catch work comp fraud, thieves, and sexual harassers. Secret videotaping is often the only way to catch employees who leave the premises during work hours without permission and therefore claim pay for time not worked. Local law enforcement would consider getting involved in only one of these types of offenses... and only then if the amount stolen was substantial.
It's embarrassing when covert videotaping is discovered by the suspected employee. It is unthinkable that the district would publicly commit to forego covert videotaping in the absence of law enforcement.
P.S.: In regards to union dominance in Pasco, a recent article explained that the board was considering imposing a contract clause that would insitute "reasonable-suspicion" based drug testing of employees.... something done almost every district in the country and a requirement of an institution wanting to qualify as a Drug-Free Workplace. Seems the district had a group of employees come to school under the influence and, knowing their contractual rights, refused to submit to drug and alcohol testing. Amazing. November 06 MRSA a Crisis?Despite several warnings from this blog, and statewide coverage in the mainstream media, some superintendents just can't help themselves when it comes to those newfangled autodialers.
Does this relate to the fact that we're spending a lot of money on these things? Or just that we have to prove that we have the latest and best stuff?
And what about MRSA is so time critical that it justifies autodialing the parents instead of a letter?
Only bad things could happen:)
"The phone rings just after 4:30 in the morning. It's Palm Beach County School Superintendent Art Johnson talking about a public health concern." Internal AccountabilityWhen it comes to internal accounts, you can screw up some of the time... but you might eventually get caught.
And the superintendent will take a beating.
And that's not good news for Pasco school bosses who can't follow simple rules for managing internal accounts.
Meet Jeff Solochek, a blogger... and a staff reporter for the St. Pete Times. His blog is called The Gradebook. His beat is education. He's a pro. Oh crap!
Internal account week started with this, then followed with this, and then this... and then it spilled over into another district, and a retired school boss nearby is living with a much deserved nightmare... she may have actually stolen money. Maybe. The bookkeeper quote is a keeper.
All in the papers, and also in the blog... so folks around the state and nation can keep up with their achievements.
Learn the easy way or learn the hard way. Attention LegislatorsThis article has nothing to do with schools:
Parents back coaches with criminal records
Except that it clearly shows how out of step legislators are in trying to gain political points by mandating background checks for everyone who comes in contact with kids.
Background checks for school employees makes sense.
Checks for the plumbers that fix the toilets... don't.
And parents in some communities don't care if their youth league coaches have records... even for drug offenses... recent drug offenses.
But what about middle class neighborhoods where a criminal record means more to parents?
Well. most middle class parents don't drop off their kid and leave the child under the sole supervision of the coach... unless of course, the coach is a trusted friend... or another parent who is a trusted friend stays to watch practice. That's a long way of saying that youth league coaches... unless they are very well known and respected by parents, aren't left alone with kids.
Suspension Until ConferenceSome Hillsborough County School Bosses have been suspending students without suspending them.
Huh?
It's called "suspension until conference", meaning an open-ended suspension, and in this case, it's off the books.... meaning there is no record made of the suspension.
The district is defending the practice and has no plans to stop it... unless of course, the board attorney does his job and convinces the board to end the practice. Board members express ignorance of the phenomenon, which isn't believable.
This isn't a new idea. I have advised school bosses in my old district that it just isn't worth the risk. And not just because it's illegal. Very illegal.
I can hear the trial lawyers revving their engines on this one already. This fits nicely into a discrimination suit, since minority students are always suspended more than other students (a fact; not usually due to discrimination).
Suspending a student without contacting parents... is dangerous. Kids who are in trouble in school are at an increased risk of all kinds of dangerous behavior... from suicide to drug dealing. Suspending students without notifying their parents... relying on the kids to notify their parents... can also put the district in extreme jeopardy should something happen to the child while they should have been at school. (Can you see and hear the crying momma on the TV in your mind already?... she's standing right next to her new lawyer.)
The fact that it works most of the time isn't a good argument for doing it. And it does work.
In most cases, students in these situations should be suspended... and it's perfectly legal to suspend them if done in the traditional manner. I recommended to principals who wanted to suspend pending conference to just use a longer suspension... and notify the child that the suspension might be lifted if a prompt parent conference can be held. The key is that the child still has motivation to produce the hard to reach parent... but a suspension letter is mailed and normal attempts to contact the parent by phone are made.
Actually, what's driving these Hillsborough school bosses to suspend off the record is fear that overly high suspension rates will attract notice from the advocacy community... everything from the NAACP to the ESE lobby. I even recall an article earlier this year pointing out the discrepancy in suspension rates for boys and minority kids. Lewis Brinson, the Assistant Superintendent in Hillsborough assigned to discipline... the first time I've heard of such a position in any district... is having a bad year.
Suspensions can be revoked... and the record eliminated from the database... to reduce, but not eliminate, this threat.
Of course, I worked in a rural district where the board supported discipline in the schools. Advocacy Group Needs a Time-OutKudos to the school bosses and board members in Leon County who are fighting an advocacy group over the use of time-out rooms.
Those who say they aren't needed obviously haven't been there.
I can enumerate several personal injuries and near misses resulting from the lack of a time-out room when I supervised a Severe Behavior Disability classroom. And to think that I volunteered for this add-on assignment!
Even if some inexperienced folks overuse a time-out room, you have to consider that the untrained staff who often have to teach these classes (because nobody else wants the job) need relief. And the other students sometimes need a break from the hostility once in awhile. Lessons from Foreign TeachersFirst, the money quote:
"It's a lot more bureaucratic here, and there's a lot more work to prepare, and every morning when I go to my box, I say, 'Oh, my God.'" Rocafull, who taught elementary school in Spain, is also adjusting to American adolescents. For some foreign teachers, the students they taught rarely questioned authority, and parent involvement was high. But in an American middle school, students are bound to get out of line, and parents are not always around to step in. The gist of the Palm Beach Post article is that South Florida schools are backing off of hiring quite so many foreign teachers. The paperwork was a hassle, the background checks are iffy (my opinion), and the main factor... the enrollment bubble burst. In other words, we don't need them. It may or may not have been good for the kids, but the reactions of experienced teachers to teaching American kids, under American rules, is informative. Maybe we could send some US parents overseas to take a look at how schools operate in the rest of the world. It might be worth the cost. Pass the Trash LawNormally, wise Florida School Bosses are opposed to federal education legislation. All federal education legislation.
Representative Adam Putnam has proposed a law that might do some good. It won't nearly help as much folks think, but it could help those of us having to recruit out of state candidates.
Unfortunately, those long distance calls to references don't always turn up the whole story.
Here's a quick summary of the bill from the Congressional Research Service.
And here's an interview of Mr. Putnam by Jeff Solochek at The Gradebook.
I suppose this could be done by agreement between the states. But sometimes a law is easier to accomplish. Let's hope it's a clean bill, and not another Jennifer type snafu. November 05 Another Merit Pay GlitchYet another reason that poorly designed merit pay schemes will continue to fail:
"Of about 400 Martin County teachers and administrators awarded bonuses recently, one name was conspicuously absent: Carol Matthews O'Connor, the district's teacher of the year.
Fewer than half of the teachers of the year at the district's 22 schools earned a bonus under STAR (Special Teachers Are Rewarded), a controversial merit pay plan that was approved reluctantly last school year by the school board and teachers union." Here's the entire Palm Beach Post story. I've written previously about the necessary components of a successful merit pay scheme. One is that a supermajority of teachers must qualify in order to maintain political support. It also would help to make sure that most Teachers of the Year qualify. Not all Teachers of the Year are excellent teachers, but they almost always are pretty good teachers. And if a less than excellent teacher qualifies for merit pay one time because his or her peers chooses him to represent them as Teacher of the Year... well, what's the problem?
Poor, Poor SouthFlorida School Bosses face a big challenge... just like school bosses in most other southern states.
Not only does the south include most of the states with a "majority-poor" student population, but the percentages have gotten worse in recent years.
And expectations are on the increase.
Go figure.
On the bright side, newly retired Florida School Bosses will have plently of opportunities to consult, what with our experience in teaching poor kids, as the other states move toward "majority-poor" status.
At first I hoped that this report was something The Onion dreamed up. October 28 Why Aren't the Kids Better Prepared?Darren, at Right on the Left Coast, is one of my favorite bloggers. I read about a dozen edubloggers on a daily basis, and sample about 30 others much less frequently.
Darren, as the blog title suggests, is a conservative in the great, liberal wilderness called California. (Ever been there? It's truly amazing to move from a core conservative culture... rural Florida... to a liberal bastion... the entire state of CA!).
I don't always agree with Darren, except on most union issues. He's a little more conservative than me most most of the time.
I still can't believe that Darren drank the kool-aid on GSA clubs, thinking they just want to promote understanding and reduce harassment of gay students.
In this post, he asks a question most high school teachers I've known have asked over the years. Well, actually, Darren is much more open-minded by the fact that he's actually asking the question, rather than rushing to a conclusion that middle school teachers aren't pulling their weight and/or have no academic standards.
Here's his post.
Note that Darren has to remind the bloggers (some of them pretty good ones) that his question starts with the observation that these freshman enter high school with a record of documented achievement, according to their test scores. The commenters just want to blame social promotion. Not many high test scorers need social promotion.
And the answer to Darren's question?
It's the change in expectations regarding individual responsibility... from too much hand-holding to too little... that causes the phenomenon that Darren, and all those other high school teachers bemoan.
I'm also reminded of Einstein... something about the speed of the train being dependent upon the position of the observer. Maybe some of the Einsteins teaching in high school could learn from a year or so teaching middle schoolers.
Guess where I taught? :) A View From OutsideThe Hechinger Institute's mission is to prepare professional journalists to specialize in the coverage of education.
Here's an interesting collection of essays, written by experienced education-beat writers, on the topic of how one can tell that a school or classroom teacher is successful.
Don't just read the intros... read a couple of the actual essays. Advice For Prospective School BossesThis LeaderTalk posting supplies some straightforward advice for those wanting to pursue a school boss career. I was just talking with a friend, and former school boss, who agreed that the biggest problem lately was getting those prospective school bosses... folks who actually want to apply for positions... to act on the advice.
So my first addition would be: Find a mentor and do most of what the school boss recommends.
Advice like this got me into a nice career pretty quickly. New Search ToolsA LeaderTalk school boss blogger mentions a new search tool... and the first few commenters mention about 10 alternatives in the same category.
Isn't the web grand?
I tried searchmash, described as a google experiment by the last commenter... and it produced very quick and useful results. Key in "Lake Okeechobee", without the quote marks, into searchmash.
October 25 Do You Renew?Forget the lawsuits. Just assume those are some enterprising families wanting to cash in on a bad school board situation.
Forget about the recent complaints about sexual harassment of students. Consider them he said-she said.
Forget the death from cocaine overdose. Assume, perhaps rightly, that we can't always detect when a co-worker that we see every day is doing coke.
Read the history of this teacher's first 3 years on the job in Hillsborough.
Why did they renew his annual contract 3 times.... or 4? There's no mention of a fourth year annual, but why would they even offer that?
Had he not passed, do ya suppose that he might have filed for work comp to cover for the fact that he was physically unable to work due to addiction?
Let them go when you're in doubt. Even hiring the next loser means it's somebody you can get rid of without the union protecting them or having to build a case to end a Professional Services contract. Why Are Teachers Leaving?Scott McLeod shares information from a recent commission study. A couple of the graphs are telling.
Why are so many teachers leaving?
Is it just the baby boomers starting to retire?
No.
Those with an interest in education need to watch for one thing when choosing who to vote for in upcoming elections.
Does the candidate talk about schools and teachers in a way that would encourage our best and brightest to enter... and stay... in teaching careers? Or do they drink... or even sell... the "failing schools" kool-aid?
Nobody will come... and nobody will stay... except those with no other choices... when they no they will be branded as the cause of failure.
As a school boss, you have to lead by consistently sharing this information with everyone you come into contact with... your staff (so they can tell others), parents, community leaders.
Things will only get worse if these trends don't change soon. Dealing With Repeat Bomb ThreatsFlorida School Bosses long for the good ol' days.
Back when police chiefs and sheriffs only had to worry about doing the right thing, rather than the politically correct thing.
Assistant Superintendent Tom McIntyre in Brevard County is a brave school boss. He and others in the school and district administration decided... wisely... not to do a multihour bomb sniffing dog search of one of their middle schools after the 6th bomb threat in the past few days. The link above is just the latest in a string of articles on the bomb threats and the decision process. Here's a relevent article just prior to the one above. There was TV coverage also, of course.
The police chief needed to "man up" and work with the district. But no. Instead, he worries about his political career and pulls his SRO's out of the school and pays a very public visit to a school board meeting. He will lose on two counts. First, it's a political miscalculation. Secondly, the state attorney responded by confirming that school officials, not the police chief, make the final call on whether to evacuate and search.
Despite the bad press, many parents are supportive of the judgment call made by the school bosses.
Am I serious about not taking all bomb threats that seriously?
Absolutely.
Of course, you don't do it without the backing of a veteran supervisor like McIntyre, who is willing and able to take whatever heat comes with the deal. He also will do some things you will never know about to prepare the way.
It's a shame that the police chief doesn't see that the endless press coverage, and multiple mass evacuations for bomb sniffing dog searches are contributing to the problem.
I first was learned about the concept of using some judgment when talking with the local sheriff in my home district in the 80's. It was the second or third bomb threat we had received that week. He asked me when I called to report it whether I thought it was wise to react to these threats when there was evidence that they were just that... threats. Yep, he was telling me to relax and use my head. And, of course, I knew he would back me up. And the newspaper never knew (about the specific threat). And the parents never knew (about the particulars). And the staff, outside of the secretary who took the call and the AP's, never knew.
And the bomb threats, and the endless disruption, stopped.
Note: This is not something you do with the first threat. It's only after a long series of threats establish a pattern. And I repeat... you don't make this call on your own as a school level administrator.
It is very important to know that there was evidence that the threats we received then, like the ones made in Brevard recently, were being made by kids. With phoned in threats, a caller's voice was a factor in whether we evacuated and did a search. Note that there were no bomb sniffing dogs in the county at the time... a search meant opening a closing all of the lockers and looking in all enclosed spaces.
October 24 Upcoming DocumentaryMantra... anecdotal evidence is worthless... anecdotal evidence is worthless... anec....
Yet, we are addicted to anecdotal information comparing our public education system to systems in Asia.
A new documentary will feature two American high school kids and two Asian kids... all considered high achievers... talking about their high school experiences.
And the focus is on expectations and workload.
It's called Two Million Minutes, after the amount of time kids spend in high school. And there is no surprise to the conclusion that the American system of education is broken. Yawn.
The American kids go to Carmel High School in Carmel, Indiana. One of my two best friends lives there today. Carmel is well known to real officianados of the Bob and Tom show. Carmel is roughly the wealthiest, most suburban, area in metro Indianapolis and all of Indiana. The kind of place like the suburb in Chicago that spawned John Hughes and his great movies like Ferris B. and The Breakfast Club. Some of Bob and Toms best work, which was years before syndication of their radio show, was based on Carmel bashing. And no town in Indiana deserved it better than Carmel. Folks in Carmel could look down on anybody.
The Asian kids are actually from Bangalore in India.
At least it'll make for some good discussion. And it appears to be something that could be shown to high school kids.
School bosses will be interested in their reaction.
I'll update you as soon as I get to see the film here in Gainesville. Just one of the nice things about life here is the opportunity to see documentaries and foreign films when they are first released to theatres. Staph Infection HysteriaThey're saying this will be worse than AIDS.
Nah.
I dealt with HIV hysteria as a school district boss. Our town was 60 miles from Arcadia, Florida, where the Ray boys were dying. AIDS, at the time, was a death sentence. This is no AIDS.
Yes, with some people with compromised immune systems, this might be a killer. But most people don't have compromised immune systems.
Over time, two decisions will keep this from killing lots of students. One is that kids who are vulnerable.... have compromised immune systems... may be held out of school, at least temporarily.
If the problem gets worse... meaning that numbers of students across the country die... the health officials will reconsider whether kids should be sent to school with bandages covering infected areas.
In the meantime, we'll get to deal with the hysteria. A Dade County elementary seems to have experienced the worst case of hysteria to date.
Public Health officials should take the lead in educating parents on this one. It will help to have you, as the school boss, stand with them as they explain the facts to groups of parents. The parents will trust you. You should trust the health officials... and you should also keep informed on the disease. The CDC is the ultimate source on this problem.
It spreads by direct contact. Good basic hygiene is important. It's not a school problem.... most cases track to hospitals, but it can spread wherever direct contact with an infected wound occurs.
It's really not an issue of school sanitation, except for PE and athletic equipment, like wrestling mats and football gear.
Despite the hysteria in Miami, this is not a disease that is likely... at all likely... to be transmitted from employees to students. (We're hoping there isn't that much skin to skin contact going on with employees and students!)
Over time, this will cease to be a school issue and will become a society issue. More quickly than HIV did, in part, because we already went through the initial HIV crisis.
By the way, this problem is not new. These MRSA infections have been around for several years.
Last time, Dr. Koop came to the rescue. Anyone heard from the current Surgeon General on this one?
A Wise School BoardIt's official. The Manatee County School Board wins the "School Board of the Year" prize for this year!
It's what they didn't do that made the difference in winning this year's award.
You may recall that a couple of smart and creative co-eds at one of their high schools figured out a great way to get some attention. They donned bikini tops and painted their torsos with school colors to be just like the boys who have been doing that at high school and college games recently. (By the way... probably not at the high school in my old district... just a guess!)
High school bosses love this stuff. They really get a hoot and secretly admire students who find interesting loopholes... or think they do.... and try to jump through.
The school board, at a very hyped meeting.... decided not to decide. I love this quote in particular:
"The principal does have certain incumbent powers given to him or her," said board chairman Harry Kinnan.
The school boss in this case will decide in time whether to stop the boys... and will make sure that the girls suffer no permanent harm for testing the waters. For example, they will still will be eligible for school controlled or influenced scholarship awards they would otherwise have qualified to receive.
Here's the article in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
|
||||
|
|
