Reflections on Change and Leadership

Last night, we had one of the best grad school classes of the semester. Two extremely intelligent individuals came to speak to us: One was a man named Eric Welch. He is a local educator engaged in the uphill task of starting a charter school in the surprisingly resistant state of Virginia. The other was a woman named Jeanne Allen. She is a conservative policymaker who supports the expansion of school choice and charters across the country. The two spoke passionately and at length about their experience in the trenches of public school reform, and Mr. Welch outlined four truths he has found in his experience to be illustrative of the current state of Public Schools:

1. Schools are 100% political.

2. Schools have an HR issue - recruiting and maintaining good people at all levels.

3. Schools - and the school system- should not be monopolized.

4. An "Emperor's New Clothes" syndrome dominates public schools- everyone knows the truth, but no one has the courage to say the obvious.

Mr. Welch also posed two essential questions to the group:

1. Why do you teach?

2. What is the purpose of school?

The fact of the matter is, the day to day operations of public schools and the bureaucracy that dominates them has taken us away from the answers that we have to these questions in our hearts.

I sat through a meeting today that made my skin crawl. I listened to colleagues shoot down reform, naysay innovation, and declare defeat before any idea was given a chance to breathe. The themes of last night's class were ringing in my brain as I drowned in the negativity of the table. It was a profound "Teach For America" moment for me- and a microcosmical reminder why it's so hard to push reform and promote the truth.

I am learning a lot, daily. The amount I still have to learn about adult interaction is sobering. I remind myself of Dr. Charles' great quote: " 'No' is almost always a lack of ingenuity." And taking a deep breath, I go in for another day!

Peace and Love,

Tori