Leadership in Elected Positions - In Response
In response to Clark McAskile...
Clark,
I appreciate the time you spent addressing my comments in response to ‘teacher retention’ however I shudder to think that your comments are a true reflection of the office you hold or others you work closely with. Elected officials hold a position of leadership first and foremost. Leaders need to foster growth and capitalize on strengths; they need to manage processes and not people. What leaders shouldn’t do is accept the status quo and settle into a perpetual routine of mediocrity.
My arguments in favor of training new staff and enticing them to stay for longer durations of time will undoubtedly lead to better academics in the schools as well as happier more productive teaching staffs division wide. I agree when you make reference to employee agreements with unions and directing the allocation of public funds (these are tough situations to deal with) – what I don’t agree with is accepting that leadership shouldn’t be a model to demonstrate the pursuance and recognition of excellence and work together with students, teachers, the public and administrators to find more innovative or alternative solution to the problems. Management, direction and guidance have to come from the top that is exactly leadership’s role.
If the Fort Vermilion School Division is to be successful with any initiative it deems worthy of, then we need the staff in place with the best attitudes to make certain we are successful in bringing education to the students.
I am certainly not naive, quite the opposite.
Again, I appreciate the comments.
Regards,
Aaron
~~~~~
Clark writes:
"It appears that brad_8888 should do some homework prior to posting. However, that is the benefit, and the downside, of this technology - One can post whatever one wishes using 'anonymous' or a pseudonym and avoid taking responsibility for the uneducated and unresearched comments one makes.
I am not the Fort Vermilion School Division's biggest fan - Far from it. This school division has numerous flaws and shortcomings, and should be required to answer for, and correct them. However, this is not necessarily an issue they should be 'trashed' over.
Other than the obviously contradictory comments of Brad_8888, he is wrong on several points.
Although I cannot comment on the gender division amongst the teachers, 90% of the administrative positions are NOT filled by males. This can easily be verified by visiting the Fort Vermilion School Division website and hitting the link "Schools". Several principalships and vice-principalships are filled by females. In fact several female principals severed in numerous schools and went on to key roles in central division office. One school of note - Spirit of the North Community School - has both the role of principal and vice-principal filled by females. This is quite personal knowledge, as my wife serves as vice-principal.
I have a long record of association with the FVSD and it is my experience that very few of the administrative positions were filled by those holding post-graduate degrees. As a matter of fact the school division may encourage the furthering of ones formal professional education, but does not require it.
In addition, neither my wife, nor her female principal, were required to have 50 years experience nor did they have to suffer 3 or more unsuccessful attempts to achieve their current positions. In addition both are long serving, and (in my biased opinion) meritorious, members of the FVSD staff.
The decision of some of these women to delay their advancement to the ranks of administration would involve a detailed sociological and physchological discussion that Brad_8888 has shown he does not have the time, nor inclination, to undertake. Suffice it to say, my wife had her reasons and it had little to do with a generalized, fictional, chauvinistic mind-set on the part of the school division.
Aaron shows some perception in his comments that monetary compensation have little to do with employee satisfaction. However, he is naive if he believes he, or any elected official, has a great deal of flexibility when it comes to the allocation of resources purchased by public funds, or with employee agreements negotiated by unions. Yet I see little correlation between the satisfaction of employees and the gender of those involved in the system, as implied by Bard_8888."
posted by Aaron Lambie at 1:43 PM
3 Comments:
Aaron,
My apologies for the slow response, but September and October are very busy months of the year and I have only recently had the time to review the posts on your blog.
When I suggested you are naïve I meant it in the sense of inexperienced or uniformed. Both of experience and information come with time and both continuously. As other posters have noted turnover in staff at our schools occurs for numerous reasons, many of them unrelated to compensation or incentive. There are a large number of teachers who have been with the FVSD for a long time, who have continued in their positions through some very turbulent times. If teacher retention is going to be a major part of your platform you may look for answers there first.
It is my belief is, and anyone is welcome to disagree with me (as you blog site has shown there are several who will), that our long serving teachers tend to be settled in the community, involved in community organizations and feel a strong sense of community commitment. They also have a strong belief in the work they do, their commitment to the student and ultimately to society. They believe they shape young minds; touch young lives, and create better people. And they receive validation of these beliefs on a daily basis. To your long serving teachers teaching is more than a career it is a way of life and they put in very long hours to achieve the goals they set for themselves.
This does not mean that those who have left did not share the same sense of community or purpose, but they may not have felt it here or with the FVSD, or they may have moved on for a multitude of other reasons.
While it is laudable to look for solutions that may decrease staff turnover; questioning employee recognition may be looking in the wrong direction. When employees are adequately compensated, as John points out, and truly love what they do; then recognition is a powerful tool. Most employees appreciate knowing their employer appreciates them. While you may find a northern lights picture insulting, it is a visible and constant reminder of that appreciation. Student accolades come naturally to good and dedicated teachers, as do kudos from colleagues. However a scripted, or forced, speech from a co-worker would be far hollower than you believe a gift to be.
While you may shudder at what you seem to believe is my becoming jaded, I can only express disappointment when someone makes assumptions from a lack of knowledge. I believe you could ask anyone, even those who do not agree with my positions or who may outright dislike me, and you would find that backing down or shying from an issue are not amongst my dominant character traits. My work, and the work of several others, on the 10005 House project alone would show you an example of continued dedication to the betterment of this community in spite of enormous obstacles.
This leads me to another disappointment. You claim you posted this blog for “a voice for all to be heard” and to “start some dialogue and conversation.” My disappointment arises from your personal decision to attack others based on my comments. I am not sure which of my colleagues you believe my comments reflect on; those who treat addictions and assist people with their personal problems, those who work to provide shelter and food to the poorest in our community, those who try to create new job opportunities and social opportunities in our community, or those who work endless hours in service to the people of this community. However, it is not relevant which of my colleagues you chose to malign, my disappointment is you could not confine to myself or to my comments.
That leads to my last disappointment. I will no longer be posting or reading this site. I have truly enjoyed this opportunity you have provided and I repeat you should be commended for the attempt to provide a forum for intelligent discussion and debate. I have even enjoyed the feedback of the posters. I believe that public feedback is important to anyone in an elected or appointed position, especially negative feedback. We have to be careful we do not become too complacent by listening only to our own propaganda, or that of our supporters. However, your decision to attack others based on my post has made me realize that my enjoyment has to be tempered by responsibility. While I am sure that some of your supporters will write this off as false nobility, it is only what it is … my final comment on this blog.
Aaron, Good Luck on the 4th and on the beginning of your public life.
Good bye and take care.
Clark
11:29 PM
Am I missing the point here? I feel like I am staring at a Barnett Newman painting. Clark says that Aaron is naive if he believes that elected officials have much say in directing public funds. Aaron responds saying that he shudders to think that Clark or any other elected officials believe that they have little authority over the allocation of public funds. (Who allocates public funds if not elected officials???)Then Clark gets all upset and accuses Aaron of maligning a list of his colleagues as long as his arm; even dragging the beleaguered 10005 House project into the picture. Clark portrays Aaron as disrespectful to those who treat addictions, provide shelter and food to the poor, work at job creation for the disadvantaged, and perform endless hours of community service. Clark says he never backs down from issues and then whips around and states he will no longer be posting on this blog and adds, as if in disgust, that he will not even read it again. What's with all the drama? Well, here's the big picture: Clark, who secretly wants the other candidate to win, comes to Aaron's blog and plants message after message after message about how Aaron is unsuitable, conflicted, and naive; a disrespectful, vicious attacker of charity workers, and, well basically, a wicked vermin that should be hauled out and shot in a public square. People read this and think, geez, this Aaron guy sounds like he must be some kinda jerk or something, I guess I'll have to vote for Mr. Clean instead. Mission accomplished! You see, Barnett Newmans do make sense if you look at them carefully enough.
Watch out everybody, media whores always come back for more crack.
1:56 AM
No more contradictory statements from Clarke? Oh well I guess he has many other areas to spread them around town. One minute he is telling a blogger that the medical fiasco in High level has nothing to do with Aaron's blog and the next he is patting himself on the back for 10005 House Project. And enough with the northern lights prints Clarke....it seems you have missed Aaron's point. Get over it.
It is highly speculated that you nominated Aaron's opponent. How predictable that you would try to paint Aaron with an unfavorable brush.
5:59 PM
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