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IASA members step up big time
in aftermath of devastating tornadoes
School superintendents are
part of a special fraternity, and
that was never more evident
than in the aftermath of the
devastating tornadoes that cut a
deadly and damaging swath
through
several
Illinois
communities on November 17.
The tornadoes destroyed hundreds of homes,
including the homes of three school superintendents.
As the news of the disaster spread, we received
several calls from superintendents asking how they
could help. We decided to send out a statewide email
giving our member superintendents the opportunity to
contribute to a disaster relief fund for those
superintendents that lost their homes and all of their
belongings. We set a very ambitious goal of raising
$12,000.
Your response was overwhelming. Within three
days, the goal had been exceeded, and as of
December 2, the amount donated was $14,300. All of
the money over the original $12,000 goal will be
distributed to superintendents in the affected areas to
assist students who lost school supplies in the
tornadoes. Illinois superintendents always have
helped each other out on a variety of issues and
situations, but this disaster really illustrated how deep
and caring those professional and personal
relationships go among our members.
While that response was pouring in, another
equally impressive response was happening: The
three superintendents who lost their homes and
possessions – Dr. Chad Allaman and Dr. John
Tignor, both from Washington, and Bill Mulvaney,
superintendent of the Armstrong Township School
District and the Armstrong Elementary School District
-- quickly and selflessly focused on their communities
and went about the business of getting school
restarted and kids back in their classrooms.
It’s one thing to talk about dedication and
commitment to our duty of providing the best possible
educational opportunities possible, but it is really
inspirational when you see people like Chad, John
and Bill rise to the occasion in the midst of their own
personal crises.
School administrator rated third most
stressful occupation
Speaking of performing under stress,
I recently
read a very interesting study on that topic in
Business
Insider
magazine. The magazine asked career
information expert Dr. Laurence Shatkin to study the
747 occupations identified by the U.S. Department of
Labor to find out which jobs were the most stressful.
That study found that the job of education
administrator was the third most stressful occupation,
behind only first-line supervisors of police and
detectives and mental health counselors, and ahead
of air traffic controllers, pilots, surgeons, a sampling
of other occupations that made the top 10 list.
The study took three main factors into account: 1)
the stress tolerance for each job, which measured
how often employees face high-stress situations; 2)
the consequences of employee errors, which
measured how serious it would be if mistakes were
made; and 3) the job's time pressure, which
measured the strictness of deadlines. All factors were
based on a scale from zero to 100 for prevalence in
each job, where a higher rating signaled high stress
levels. The results for education administrator were:
stress tolerance 94.2, consequence of error 54, and
time pressure: 53.8.
I realize that superintendents probably don’t need
a study to understand how stressful the job is, but
this study confirms for everyone else what we already
know.
One thing that helps cope with those pressures is
the fact that we all became educators because we
wanted to do something to help provide great
educational opportunities for children. That’s what
IASA is about, and I’ve never been prouder of our
members. Best wishes for a wonderful holiday
season!
Message from the
Executive Director
Dr. Brent Clark
MATT DAYHOFF/PEORIA JOURNAL STAR A tornado
struck and destroyed much of the Devonshire
subdivision Sunday in Washington. The town's water
tower still stands.
