Leadership Matters November 2013

49th Annual IASA Conference through the camera lens

Top photo on Page 13: Former Illinois Superintendent of the Year and 2010 Van Miller Award winner and author Jim Burgett closed the 49 th Annual IASA Conference with passionate remarks about leadership in challenging times, and he offered attendees some basic tips developed from his 38 years as a teacher, principal and superintendent. Burgett listed six steps that school leaders need to take to effectively lead their districts through trying times. They included: 1. Transfer ownership of financial challenges to staff and to the community. Burgett said this can be done by explaining how the world’s economic crisis is the root cause of the financial distress that has hit school districts. He noted that the ripple effect has resulted in jobs being lost, salaries being decreased, the lowering of property values and, ultimately, the loss of some entitlements. By explaining the events, Burgett said superintendents can help create what he termed a “whineless connection” that teachers, faculty, staff and the community can understand is not the fault of the school district or the community. 2. Focus on your mission. He noted that if you cannot recite your district’s mission statement then you really don’t have one, the point being that if the mission statement doesn’t guide everyday decisions, then it isn’t being utilized properly. He used the mission statement of Galesburg District 205, created by a student, as an example of a great mission statement that is used in practice there. Galesburg’s mission is simply “Helping students achieve their dreams.” 3. Cultivate your Board of Education. Burgett listed a few ways to accomplish this, including coordinating the efforts of the board, teaching processes to the board, developing team spirit, building consensus, inspiring confidence, trust and understanding, and moving mountains when necessary. 4. Be visible in the community. He offered dozens of examples, but cited three of his favorites as sliding into school events and shaking the hands of at least 10 people, preferably people he didn’t already know, visiting each classroom the day before the holiday break, and presenting a superintendent’s Student of the Week Award. 5. Eliminate the weakest links. Burgett said education is a profession where we should not tolerate “C” teachers, faculty, staff and administrators, that we should have “A’s” and should be leading the “C’s” to become “B’s” on their way to “A’s.” If they refuse to meet those expectations, then they must be replaced, he said. 6. Lead with compassion. He said the key to leading with compassion was to try and understand what teachers, faculty and staff have to go through in trying to be successful in their jobs given all of today’s demands and pressures.

Bottom left photo on Page 13: IASA President Dr. Steve Webb presents the honorary IASA gavel to immediate Past President Dr. Kathryn J. Robbins. In his closing remarks, Webb told a story about his late father, Bob Webb who used to be a teacher, coach, athletic director and principal in Goreville for more than 31 years. “A former student was visiting with Dad one day and he said, Mr. Webb, do you remember back when I was in 5th grade and you got on to me for staring out the window? You said, ‘Ricky, you’ll never make a living looking out the window. Mr. Webb, do you know where I work? I work at the Marion Federal Prison as a guard. These last two months I’ve been stationed at one of the towers. Mr. Webb, I stare out those windows every day… and they pay me!’ “Dad died in 2006 but he got the opportunity for over a year to hear stories like that and many others of the lives he so passionately cared about for all of those years because that’s what we do as educators — we don’t just make a living, we make LIVES!”

Bottom right on Page 13:

Several of the IASA Past Presidents were in attendance at the 49 th Annual IASA Conference.

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