Congratulations, we are almost done with budget and probable org! Four more schools meet with their teams this week to finish up. 👏👏👏
We are at the mid-point of the school year, which makes it a good time to reflect upon your QSPs. You will receive more guidance soon on measuring progress towards your school goals.
Budget collabs and and probable org meetings = technical work that is necessary to set up adaptive work moving forward. When I get mired in a lot of technical work, I lose sight of the adaptive thinking that is needed for reflection and continuous improvement. It is so easy to stay on the dance floor and swirl in the technical work, stay frustrated about the time it has taken and the level of detail and complexity involved. I try, each day, to intentionally take a step back to get up on the balcony and breathe.
My brain has been trying to make sense of the projections/configuration maps, the impact of declining enrollment, the many overlapping spreadsheets and folders from each department, the compliance requirements from each department, the impact of very low projections in an SEI strand, the lack of discretionary funds for small schools, the new definition of sustainability, the additional investments in the schools in the first to tenth percentiles.
Rolled up in all of the above is Build BPS, expansion of sixth grade, the move towards K-6/7-12 configuration, the promise of $100M over the next three years and how the district needs to deliver on that investment, and how all of this is connected to the formulation of our five year strategic plan.
There's a lot of change, a lot of uncertainty, a lot of challenges - making it hard to stay focused.
Here's an excerpt of an old post from Harvard Business School Working Knowledge by Heifetz and Linsky "Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading"
In our teaching, training, and consulting, we often ask people to write or deliver orally a short version of a leadership challenge they are currently facing in their professional, personal, or civic lives. Over the years, we have read and heard literally thousands of such challenges. Most often in the first iteration of the story the author is nowhere to be found. The storyteller implicitly says, "I have no options. If only other people would shape up, I could make progress here."
When you are too quick to lay blame on others, whether inside or outside the community, you create risks for yourself. Obviously, you risk misdiagnosing the situation. But you also risk making yourself a target by denying that you are part of the problem and that you, too, need to change. After all, if you are pointing your finger at them, pushing them to do something they don't want to do, the easiest option for them is to get rid of you. The dynamic becomes you versus them. But if you are with them, facing the problem together and each accepting some share of responsibility for it, then you are not as vulnerable to attack.I've been reflecting upon times in my career when I've been part of the problem and times when I've worked with others to find common ground in order to move ahead. Sometimes we need to give each other a fresh start, in the same way we ask teachers to give students a fresh start every day. I commit to working with all of you to face problems together and sharing responsibility with others: liaisons, departments, teachers, community members, etc. to best meet the needs of our students and families. I commit to trying to go from either/or to both/and thinking. I commit to supporting and pushing you towards your leadership edge.
Illuminate Reports Now Available
Strategic Plan
Three More Public Input Sessions
- January 30 at East Boston Library, 365 S Bremen St, East Boston
- February 6 at Condon Community Center, 200 D St, South Boston
- February 11 at Thelma D. Burns Building, 575 Warren St, Dorchester
Budget Hearings Scheduled
- February 13, 2020 FY21 Budget Hearing, Curley K-8, 6 pm
- March 10, 2020 FY21 Budget Hearing, King K-8, 6 pm
- March 18, 2020 FY21 Budget Hearing, Bolling, 5 pm
