In reflecting upon my strengths and competencies, I remain confident in my ability to build relations with the Board of Trustees. I continue to struggle with management issues. This does not reflect upon my management of personnel, but rather my management of time and resources. As a superintendent, I believe I understand the procedures for accurate, effective and ethical purchases and record keeping. I would want to make sure I have a very capable CFO who understands the intricacies of accounting and upon whom I feel has the highest of ethics and standards. As one superintendent once stated to me, “my job is to hire the best people and make the ones I’ve got better.” This makes sense to me. The parts of this course that have made the greatest impact on me include a variety of resources. From week one lecture notes, I am reminded that “operating school districts with fewer resources than needed is not a new concept.” Given the current budget crisis in education, this gives me hope that we will overcome! I wholeheartedly agree with Dr. Arterbury’s statement in the video: “It is not likely that we could maintain a democracy or a world class work force without an educated society.” His statement reminds me of the importance of taking on this challenge of educating all students. The Worksheets for Establishing Foundation School Program Aid used in week three from Texas Education Agency was helpful to me in that it solidified the importance of the ADA number for every district. Without this number, no one could complete the worksheet. As much as the technology and incomplete information for the week three assignment frustrated me, I felt this was the one class where I learned the most. Of course, this is the area where my preliminary self-assessment indicated I also had the most to learn!! I learned the importance of networking with others. Without the assistance and willingness of my small group to make sure we “got to the bottom” of the assignment, I would have been lost. We were persistent and professional in researching all options. In addition, I was reminded of the importance of reaching out to others in time of frustration and crisis for two reasons. First of all, this confirmed that I was not crazy and that the misunderstandings/frustrations were universal. This was very affirming. Secondly, the resourcefulness of everyone in the class and the vast amount of experience and knowledge only enhanced my knowledge and ability to reason through the data. My insight from the interviews with my superintendent and CFO again affirm the importance of finding a very capable and ethic-minded CFO. The intricacies of school finance continue to challenge me, but I am confident that finding and partnering with the right CFO will help me navigate through the school funding nightmare. Lastly, I learned that while having a strong opinion is important, it is equally important to remember that patience and kindness pay off. Instead of getting too frustrated about the assignment, I was reminded that by using the resources of other professionals and continuing to pursue options, a solution is imminent. I believe this lesson will be most important as superintendents continue to face budget challenges and frustrations of working with the legislators. I have no doubt there are times when a superintendent feels the information provided is lacking and that there are no solutions to the challenges he/she faces. The experiences in this class provided me with a small exposure to those feelings and the processes we pursued as a cohort mirror what a resourceful superintendent should do in these situations. |
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Final Reflection for EDLD 5342 Week Five
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Fustration tends to be a trend in public education and if one does not rely on teamwork and collaboration one could find themselves completely isolated and alone. I cannot imagine taking this class without my wiki group!
ReplyDeleteI can so TOTALLY see you working well with a school board. You have a knack for building relationships and collaboration. I am fortunate to have you as a classmate!
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