Leadership Matters - January 2013

Message from IASA President Dr. Robbins

Happy New Year! If you are reading this edition of the newly revamped IASA newsletter Leadership Matters, it means that the Mayan calendar doomsday prediction of the world ending on December 21, 2012 was wrong. Phew! The good news is we all woke up on December 22. The bad news is that we didn’t escape whatever problems and worries we faced on December 21. They are all still with us as we begin 2013.

When we come to work each morning, those worries involve education reform, pension reform, evaluation systems, achievement gaps, labor disputes, school board elections, budget woes, students’ home lives, and so on. When we get home each night, those problems might include health issues, marital discord, aging parents, rebellious children, financial struggles . . . the list is endless, and it could all easily become overwhelming. So how do we get up every day to do our jobs, tend to our students, our staff members, our Board members, our colleagues, our friends, and our families, with no guarantee that 2013 will be any easier than 2012? Where do we find the resolve to keep fighting the good fight? More importantly, how do we as leaders model traits we want our employees and students to have, like resilience, a positive spirit, strength and courage in the face of adversity, grace under pressure? Quite simply, I think it’s a choice we make every day. We all know that life doesn’t magically get better if today’s problems are solved; new challenges will inevitably replace the old ones. The key to coping with it all is choosing how we react. Bottom line, it’s our choice the extent to which we allow our current set of problems to define our level of happiness and satisfaction. We control our choice. And the act of choosing is empowering. So as 2013 begins, I choose to make the same New Year’s resolutions I make every year: • to provide the best possible educational opportunities for my students, • to provide the best possible working environment for my staff members, • to model positive traits and strength of character for my students and staff, • and, most importantly, to choose happiness and gratitude in my professional and personal life. Dr. Kathryn Robbins

Whatever your own resolutions may be for 2013, I wish you a Happy New Year!

Voltz Column ———————–—————————————————————————

I will be a regular contributor to this new monthly newsletter, but I also write a weekly “New Superintendents’ Update” that has gotten positive

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various student growth models including advantages and disadvantages of each. The second part of this training will be a two-day workshop designed for a team of educators from your school district to develop a plan to bring back to your district for implementation of student growth for principal and teacher evaluation. Despite the difficult challenges facing public education, you as the educational leaders in your district and your community still have the ability to chart the best possible course for your students. Professional development can be a major asset in developing and implementing a plan, and IASA is committed to serving you in that way.

feedback from veteran superintendents. If you would like to receive them on a regular basis, you can click here to sign up. You can also view my Educational Leadership Thoughts on my blog at http://richvoltz.edublogs.org Best wishes for a successful 2013!

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