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No One Asked Me But… (December 30, 2015)

By DR. LARRY MOSES

No one asked me but… I have over sixty hours of class work in school administration and leadership. That being said, let me tell you that the most important administration and leadership training I ever received was as a twenty-year-old college drop-out.
After a year and half of college where I was mostly engaged in playing football and eating lunch, someone pointed out that I should probably actually go to classes and study for exams. Instead, I joined the United States Marine Corps.

The basic principles of leadership that I learned as a private in Marine Corps Boot Camp were: “Don’t make excuses. All problems are solved pragmatically not theoretically. And don’t make the same mistake more than once.”
I remember the day I learned these leadership principles at the hands, literally, of Drill Instructor Sgt. Johnson, better known as “Sir.” I was serving as the Right Guide for Recruit Infantry Platoon 116. The platoon had had a rather poor performance on the “grinder” and Sgt. Johnson was not happy.

When we returned to our billet area, I was called into the Drill Instructor’s hut – not a good thing. As I stood at attention Sgt. Johnson, ask me about the performance. I began to make excuses. Sgt. Johnson stopped me with “Your answer, boot, is “No excuse, Sir. I will find a way to correct the problem. It will not happen again.”

As I again attempted to make an excuse for the platoon, Sgt. Johnson grabbed the front of my shirt lifted me off the ground and said; “Your answer, boot, is “No excuse, Sir. I will find away to correct the problem. It will not happen again.”
I replied “No excuse, Sir. I will find a way to correct the problem. It will not happen again.”

When asked why so many at-risk students are failing school, CCSD leaders say they can’t educate kids who come from parental-, community-, or financially-disadvantageous situations. If Sgt. Johnson were in charge, he would grab the CCSD leadership by their shirts and explain the only acceptable answer is: “No excuse, Sir. I will correct the problem. It will not happen again.”

Karl Weber in his book Waiting for Superman: How We Can Save America’s Failing Public Schools states, “…successful schools seemed to have at least one thing in common: pragmatism. …ideology isn’t allowed to get in the way of meeting children’s needs. …The only thing that matters is results for kids.”
Weber very correctly concludes that Superman is not coming; so educators had better figure out how to educate all kids.
It is time the CCSD adopt this no excuses, pragmatic approach to educating all of CCSD students.

Prior to coming to Moapa Valley, I served as the principal of an inner city junior high school. Yes, junior high school, not a middle school. It was a seventh to ninth grade school.
I had a math teacher who failed eighty percent of her students during the first quarter. I called her into my office (another leadership principle I learned in the Corps, praise in public, and criticize in private).
The conversation went something like this. “Can you explain to me why eighty percent of your students are failing?”
She replied, “They came to me without the basics needed to succeed in a seventh grade math class. They have no support at home and do not have a desire to learn. They don’t even know how to figure fractions.”
My next question was, “Do they need fractions to be successful in your class?”
Her answer was “Yes!”
My reply was “Then teach them fractions.”
At this point she indignantly stated, “I will not lower my standards and if I stop to teach them fractions, I will not teach the curriculum.”

My reply was “You are not teaching curriculum you are teaching students. I have not ask you to lower you standards. You are a math teacher and you are supposed to know what a seventh grade math student should know. It is your job to do what is necessary for your students to acquire those math skills. I will not tell you how to do it but I will hold you responsible for their success. I will trust that you will figure it out.”I was hoping her answer would be: “No excuse. I will find a way to correct the problem.” That was not the case. She transferred at the semester. I was more than glad to sign the transfer papers for it allowed me to find a math teacher who understood that fixing the problem was the issue not fixing the blame.
Another aspect of leadership I learned from a Marine Corps Sgt. Major was: “Trust your troops. And be sure your troops know you can be trusted to protect them.” I learned as a young corporal that to get my responsibilities taken care of I had to rely on my squad.

A leader cannot do the work by him/herself. The important thing a leader can do is define the goal and allow his/her people to use their expertise to reach that goal. The leader needs to make sure his/her people have what they need to succeed and to make sure no one gets in their way. That principle is taught at the lowest level of command in the Marine Corps.
We need to hire professional teachers, explain the goals of the district, and allow the professional teacher to decide how the goals will be met. The professional teacher selects the materials he/she uses and outlines the path to reach the goal.
We need to return to Principals running their schools and teachers running their classrooms. Principals, for the most part, are teachers who have moved to administration. It is sometimes hard for them to understand they are no longer teachers. It is the principal’s job to hold the teacher responsible for reaching the goals set by the district, not dictate how they reached that goal. The only measure of the teacher is to be found in the success of their students. The only measure of the principal is the success of their school as reflected in the success of the students in that school.

It is time to center on fixing the problem rather than fixing the blame. The only acceptable answer to the problems of CCSD is “No excuse. The problem will be solved. It will not happen again.”

Thought of the week…The fate of our country will not be decided on a battlefield it will be determined in a classroom.
Karl Weber

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