Tag Archive - Leadership

Bartow BOE: We Deserve Better

September 29, 2012 in Education, Politics with 0 Comments

I have been getting asked a lot over the past few days and weeks about my thoughts on the current state of the school board.  I have tried to stay out of this mess but think it is time to go on the record with my disappointment on how things are going.  Public education is at a crossroads right now, and there are lofty debates happening as we speak on what the future of public education will look like (charter schools, vouchers, etc.).  As our economy turns around (we all need to vote for Romney by the way), we must have a school system that instills confidence into prospective employers who want to locate into our community.  The success of our schools and school governance is an economic development issue that we cannot afford to screw up.  Here is where I land on the current state of the BOE: 

Board Member Conduct:

There are very clear standards for board member conduct that are currently in the ethics policy that has been adopted by the Bartow County School Board.  No board member has the authority to ever pressure or reprimand ANY school system employee for any reason.  In practical terms, there are really only two people who work “directly” for the members of the BOE…the superintendent & school board attorney.  Everyone else in the school system reports through a predetermined chain of command that ends with the superintendent.  It is highly inappropriate, unprofessional & a violation to ever mention a personnel matter in an open meeting.  Serving as a school board member is an important public service and you must always put the system & children before your own desire for power & privilege.  School board members essentially have no official individual authority and any action to the contrary should be considered self-serving.  The BOE must be willing to censure any board member who fails to take the necessary action to protect the integrity of the school system.

We are seeing these same kinds of actions in Clayton County and it puts system accreditation at risk.

Clayton County BOE Article

SACS Investigation:

This is not as simple as SACS deciding not to investigate.  In my opinion, it is a conflict of interest for the current Bartow BOE chairman to also serve in any capacity with SACS.  The perception will continue to be that calls for investigation are being ignored or manipulated in some inappropriate way.  At the very least, it looks bad and the Bartow BOE chairman needs to choose which organization he wants to serve on.

SACS Georgia State Council

Board Retreat:

In my almost 7 years on the board I cannot remember having a “retreat” outside of Bartow County. The truth is that this meeting was held in Rome to limit public participation.  If you remember, this meeting happened when staff reductions, elimination of middle school sports & tax increases were being proposed.  There are conflicting statements from the Superintendent & BOE Chairman on what happened.  One board member & a member of the media left the meeting when it was adjourned. Does anyone really believe that they both misunderstood?  After these two people left, the meeting continued for as much as 2 hours in violation of the law.  Someone is lying to us and to date they have not corrected the record on this issue.

What should have happened?

The meeting should have been held in Bartow County. There is no excuse for purposely trying to exclude the citizens of Bartow County. Once the meeting was reconvened the Superintendent or Board Chairman should have called the board member in question and media representative to return.  Now that the error has been made public, someone should officially take responsibility and make sure that this does not happen again.  Repeating a lie does not make it any more truthful.

Rome Volleyball/Excel Baseball Issue:

Excel is not the issue here, but the school board is supposed to have a written agreement with non-profits, private entities & governments for facility use.  This did not happen and as a result, the impression is that something inappropriate happened.

What should have happened?

Any organization should have to fill out the appropriate paperwork to use school facilities even if the charges are going to be waived.  ALL organizations must provide proof of liability insurance PRIOR to using BOE facilities. Excel & the BOE should have put on paper in advance what each party was doing.  The value of the facility being used and the value of the services and materials provided.  Liability insurance should have been given in advance of anyone using the property.  When board members are involved with an organization using BOE facilities the standard should be even higher to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

Finally, the school board does not have to function in inappropriate ways.  We must hold our elected representatives to a higher standard.  The events that have unfolded over the past few months are unfortunate but self-inflicted because the board failed to operate consistent with policies and historical precedent.  This pattern of behavior is suggestive of an organization that is operating from a lack of leadership. No single board member should have the power to manipulate the direction of the school system or intimidate system employees. We have great teachers and students and we must demand better if we want this community to reach its full potential.  Bartow County deserves better and it is time to end this nonsense and become a system that everyone can respect once again.

Reagan Address December 23, 1981

December 24, 2011 in Leadership, Politics with 0 Comments

Decision Points

November 16, 2011 in Book Notes, Leadership with 0 Comments

I finally finished reading the book Decision Points that looked back on President Bush’s two terms.  It was a peek behind the curtain on how decisions were made inside the White House. President Bush takes the reader through the decisions and then takes a critical look at the results using the information available today.  I thought President Bush was very transparent in his analysis and desire to share his story in his own words. Here are some other key takeaways from the book:

 

  • This country could really use President Bush right now. Wake up America and do the right thing in 2012!
  • I could not help the contrast the decisive leadership of Bush versus the paralysis of the Obama administration.
  • We need to expand the Bush Faith Based Initiative.
  • Bush was right….Please let me invest a portion of my Social Security in a private account.
  • In spite of the questions surrounding WMD…..Iraq was a critical piece of the War on Terror.
  • President Bush will be remembered as our countries best Commander-in Chief
  • TARP was probably needed even though I have some issues with the programs implementation.
  • Reagan and Bush 41 get credit for the end of the Cold War….President Bush will ultimately get credit for the democratic “Arab Spring” movement that has been sweeping the Middle East.
  • No President Democrat or Republican did more to end the suffering in Africa than Bush
  • Leadership trumps politics

 

This book opened my eyes on some new issues but in the end it just confirmed my belief that President Bush was a very effective leader. No presidential administration will be problem free but Bush kept his moral compass pointed towards spreading FREEDOM throughout the world. Every American should read this book with an eye on next years presidential election.  The Bush and Obama administrations are polar opposites and the choice is clear….Freedom or Failure. President Obama promised to fundamentally transform  this country….and he has (for the worse). America now the Decision is ours…Will you choose Freedom or Failure?

 

I will be casting my vote for Freedom…I still believe in American Exceptionalism!

Where have all the leaders gone?

June 10, 2011 in Leadership, Politics with 0 Comments

As we begin to enter this highly charged political season I find myself looking at the GOP choices with an eyebrow raised. This field is a little uninspired at this point and I keep asking myself…  “Where have all the leaders gone? This election scares me because its is starting to look like 1996 all over again and this country cannot absorb four more years of the Obama administration. Next week these candidates will engage in the first “real” debate of the year in New Hampshire and I hope that we start to see come real leadership emerge from this field.

Personally, I am hoping that the rise of Herman Cain continues and that he emerges as the common sense voice that this party so desperately needs. Cain provides a perspective that comes across as informed and authentic. He may be the one candidate that can actually unite the Tea Party and Traditional wings of the Republican party.  This election is to important to simply crown some media personality based on TV polls.  This time in our history calls for a real leader…..I am hoping we see one emerge soon.

Margin

June 6, 2011 in Leadership with 0 Comments

The most difficult task in the life of any emerging leader is how to manage his or her time effectively.  The demands placed on those who have ultimate responsibility for the success of the organization often take precedence over family, health and other important areas of life.  The best leaders understand how to compartmentalize all of these areas so that no one facet of their life goes unattended. The problem in today’s world is that we are so pressed for time that we over schedule and over stress ourselves so much that the product we generate is far below what we are capable of.  We have been convinced that success is less about the quality of the time that we have available to us and more about filling every available second with perfunctory tasks that may not even be essential.  This in my view represents one the true failures of this country especially as compared to our friends in Europe.  They make sure to take time out to enjoy life and really live a MARGIN filled life.

In his book Margin, Richard Swenson says that living a life full of margin is the opposite of living an overloaded life.  The problem with this is that many people according to Swenson do not know when they cross from margin to overload.  Swenson goes on to make the point that we would all function better if we had a “flashing 100% meter” that warned us when we were getting to close to overload.  Instead we lives at 120% of our capacity and then we “wonder why the burden feels so heavy”.  The key to living a life of margin is to preschedule yourself in such a way that you live a life at 80% of your capacity.  This allows us to be able to react when life throws problems so that we can adapt to them and work through the situation with energy left in the tank.

Finding a way to manage life’s responsibilities in light of this is key to any leader’s ultimate success especially in the increasingly unhealthy situation presented to us in America today.  Living a life of Margin and more importantly LEADING a life of margin will foster good will and higher productivity among employees. This will also build a more unified and cohesive organization whose principles are truly founded on values that really matter the most.

 

Miracle on Mt. Moriah

October 14, 2008 in Christianity with 0 Comments

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to spend time with family in the mountains of North Georgia. On Sunday my sister-in-law Sonya brought a lesson from Beth Moore for us to listen to on Triumphs and Tests. We all go through difficult times in our lives and I think that these become the sign posts that help determine the path of our lives. The lesson that we studied was God’s instruction to Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Read Genesis 22:1-19 for yourself.

The first thing you find in this story is that God tells us right from the beginning that he is testing Abraham.  In many cases if you think about your own life our most difficult tests involve the people that we love the most.  This is also true for Abraham and God acknowledges how much Abraham loves Isaac in verse 2. 

In the the study materials Beth Moore makes the point that Obedience is not the hardest part of our most trying tests. Keeping the Faith can be hardest of all.

We see in verse 5 that Abraham has this faith because he tells his servents that he and and Isaac will return later.  He knew that God had told him that that his line shall be made possible through Isaac. He believed that God would have to intervene in this test to fulfill this earlier promise. As Abraham was ready to strike his son with the knife an angel of the Lord called out to him not to harm his son.  The Lord provided a ram as a substitute sacrifice for Isaac.  If you just read the story you might think that this is the miracle of the story but you would be wrong. The miracle of Mt. Moriah was that it forshadowed the coming of Jesus and his attonement for our sins.

This story is about a Fathers love for his child and the need for a substitute sacrifice for sin.  In this story the ram is the substitute sacrifice but Christ was the substitute sacrifice on calvary for all of our sins. God has a deep abiding love for each of us as his children and he had to provide a pathway for us to re-enter the kingdom of Heaven. He loved each of us so much that he sent HIS ONLY SON to be this mechinisim for our salvation. What greater proof do we need to understand God’s love for us? If you are a parent then you know the deep seeded love that a parent has for a child. God used his son and the story of Abraham on Mt. Moriah to touch something deep inside of us (especially parents) that we would understand that he wants all of us to fulfill our God ordained purpose and be with him in Heaven.

The Miracle of Mt. Moriah did not end on that mountain and it did not end with Jesus on Calvary. You can have this miracle in your own life by asking God to live in your heart and allowing Jesus to be your pathway back to The Father.  If you are already a Christian then I will tell you to be ready for the tests in your life but never forget that you don’t face it alone.  God tested Abraham to prepare him and Isaac for something greater.  We all need to let God direct our path and see what amazing journey he has planned for us!  Triumphs and Tests will occur along the way but what wonders await on the other side!

God loves you! Remember that the greater the tests in your life, The greater the reward God is planning for you!

A Crisis Of Leadership

September 30, 2008 in Leadership, Politics with 3 Comments

The biggest problem with the current economic crisis is that we have had a complete breakdown in leadership in this country. In a time when Americans expect to see our leaders work together to find solutions, we just see more political rhetoric that produces no results. This applies to both parties, the president and our current presidential nominees.

All of these individuals have failed to adequetely address and explain the problem in a way that the American people can understand it.  I have been very disapointed in all of these people and it makes me wonder what has happened to this country.  In WWII this nation came together to do some amazing things. People sacrificed, leaders led and we were able to mobilze this country like never before. We have a current crop of political leaders who care more about power and sound bites than the success of America.

There is a small part of me that almost wonders if letting the whole thing fall apart might not be what is in the best interest of this nation.  The financial cost may be staggering (personally I would lose as well) but this dramatic failue might be the only way to save this countries soul.  We need to fill this leadership vaccum and put this nation first over political parties again.