School management provides the solid foundation upon which a vision can be built. Without the management piece in place, a vision lacks the necessary footing to progress. This is why most administrators in large school districts begin as a dean of students, progress to an assistant principal, before ascending to the title of principal. Management skills are refined and polished along the way, while the vision and a path to achieve the vision become more clear.
Acknowledging this, it is clear two of our speakers this weekend are working primarily on the management end, while one is primarily an educational visionary. The assistant principals at Urbandale Middle School and St. Francis provided OC 9 with practical advice and tools which allow them to work smart, fast and efficient. Both principals echoed many other's as they spoke about the rigors and loneliness of the job.
Jason Glass is an instructional leader. His ideas have Iowa educators and leaders talking. The blueprint he proposes for education is a vision of learning. I support many of the ideas in the blueprint, but I question the ability for the blueprint to be taken on as our own by school districts across the state. Thus, will it be shared? Districts will be the primary managers of the blueprint. Also, he has been very honest about moving from job to job and said he cannot imagine being in a position for longer than seven years. (This statement came during our Evaluator Training class at Drake in the Spring of 2011.) Who oversees the vision once he is gone? What will happen to the blueprint? What happens to the blueprint if Governor Brandstad is not re-elected or chooses not to run in the next election? Schools need continuity just like students. In the absence of continuity, schools will go back to closing their doors and conducting business as usual.
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