Be a Bridge Builder

Behind my desk...

The Bridge Builder

BY WILL ALLEN DROMGOOLE

An old man going a lone highway,

Came, at the evening cold and gray,

To a chasm vast and deep and wide.

Through which was flowing a sullen tide

The old man crossed in the twilight dim,

The sullen stream had no fear for him;

But he turned when safe on the other side

And built a bridge to span the tide.

“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,

“You are wasting your strength with building here;

Your journey will end with the ending day,

You never again will pass this way;

You’ve crossed the chasm, deep and wide,

Why build this bridge at evening tide?”

The builder lifted his old gray head;

“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,

“There followed after me to-day

A youth whose feet must pass this way.

This chasm that has been as naught to me

To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;

He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;

Good friend, I am building this bridge for him!”

September and October Paddles

For September we took a quick morning paddling on Simpson Lake.  It was a nice morning and we had a luncheon to attend just down the road.

We did see a guy on a paddleboard who was using it to exercise.  He was all over the place, moving quickly.  I like paddling because I can slow down and relax.

We had a big family trip planning for October.  A nice weekend paddling with friends and spending the night on the river.

The trouble with planning well in advance is that the weather is not always cooperative.  We've only had issues a couple of times because we like the mantra, "There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad equipment."

That may be true for the guys, but it gets a little different when taking the kids.  Thankfully the rain settled for the weekend, but the 5 inches of the rain the days prior put the river at level we needed to avoid.

I checked the river levels on what would have been our last morning on the water to find the river gauges at 2 to 3 times normal flow.  Guess it was a good thing we stayed back.

So what's a guy to do?  Find another place to paddle on a different weekend.  So, a week later we hit the lower Meramec for a nice morning paddle.

It was pretty foggy at the start, barely being able to see what was ahead.

 

 

The sun came out though and revealed some color leaves.

We came upon a boat dock and paddled around it a bit.  It was the first time I had seen storage seats on the top of a pontoon.

A Show-Me Board?

Recently I wrote about what I thought were a few of the qualities needed in Missouri's next Commissioner of Education.  I finished by saying that the State Board must take the time to get the selection right.

Since then we've seen Utah select a new State Superintendent.  Their website made note of the search, they included stakeholders in the selection process, and ended by selecting an in-state sitting superintendent.

Here in Missouri several superintendent groups are writing the State Board asking for a thoughtful process to select a new Commissioner.  Our hope is that our State Board will engage stakeholders to develop a leadership profile, recruit top candidates, and make a selection based on the leadership profile.

Will the State Board show us they value our input or make a quick, closed decision?  We are the Show-Me State after all.

Leadership Qualities Needed for Missouri's Next Commissioner of Education

Commissioner Nicastro recently announced her retirement effective at the end of the calendar year.  Given the state of things in Missouri (unaccredited schools, MSIP5, Accredited with Distinction, learning standards rewrite, new online testing, underfunded formula, etc.), school leaders are concerned who the new Commissioner might be.

Those concerns were not alleviated at the recent MSBA/MASA fall conference.  During a conference session with State Board of Education members the President of the Board intimated that the selection of a new Commissioner would be swift, closed, and without input from stakeholders.  I'm not sure his view aligns with the entire Board, but the comments only increased concerns.

During the last search for a Commissioner several names were being thrown around.  The same thing is happening this time.  For a moment though, let's not think in terms of WHO the Commissioner might, or should be, but rather in terms of what leadership qualities will be needed for the next Commissioner to be successful.

At the outset it is important that a new Commissioner rebuild trust and confidence in the department and the office.  The department has been decimated by budget cuts.  As such the department made a pendulum swing from assistance to regulation.  It's time to increase two-way communication, transparency, and get more practitioners in the department in order to rebuild trust.  Those in the field need to know that folks in the department understand the implications on local schools of the rules and requirements being enacted.

The next Commissioner must understand that Missouri has diverse schools.  Boards of Education across Missouri are opposing Amendment 3 because it forces a one-size-fits-all approach on Missouri schools.  The next Commissioner needs to understand that Missouri has diverse schools, much of which is determined by the community make up and culture.  A one-size-fits-all approach will not work.

The next Commissioner must be able to assess and define the reality of Missouri education and put supports in place to assist districts of varying make up.  Perhaps a restructuring of the department is necessary to start an Office of Urban Education with experts in moving urban districts forward.  An Office of Rural Education is probably also warranted because rural districts have unique needs as well. 

The next Commissioner must be politically savvy.  He or she will have to work with a Democrat Governor and a Republican Legislature.  The Commissioner must help both get past ideology and think in terms of sound, pragmatic public policy for Missouri schools.

The list could go on for some time, but I'll stop here.  The challenges the next Commissioner will face are numerous.  The State Board of Education must take the time to get the selection right.

What does success look like?

Recently I visited my hometown.  In preparation for the visit I emailed a classmate who still lives in the area and invited them to dinner while I was in town.  At that point I learned that several classmates would be in town and were all going to dinner -- an impromptu partial class reunion it was.

Amateur photography by someone's spouse.

At one point during the night we all took a few moments to tell about our families and what we've been doing.  The stories I heard have me wondering what success really looks like.

According to Dictionary.com success is:

1. The favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors; the accomplishment of one's goals.
2. The attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.
3. A performance or achievement that is marked by success, as by the attainment of honors.
4. A person or thing that has had success, as measured by attainment of goals, wealth, etc.

As I listened to their stories it is clear that some have been successful according to one or more of these definitions.  Yet most of us have read some version of these quotes defining success a bit differently.

    Success is a journey, not a destination. -- Ben Sweetland 

    Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the          

    outcome. -- Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr.

After a bit of reflection I've come to think that the standard way we look at success is flawed.  The stay-at-home mom among the group that is not only rearing her own kids, but also the kids of her deceased twin brother is a success in my book.  So is the guy that has jumped from job to job over the course of his life but now has steady employment that allows him to spend time engaging in his hobbies.  Success is not a single measure.

This reunion of sorts took place the day after Missouri released test and annual performance report (APR) scores for school districts.  The internal workings and calculations of the APR can be complicated, but the APR is one number in the end -- a percentage of points a district or school earned out of the total.

These results have been published in local news media across the state.  Those with increasing APR scores are applauded for their work, while those who slipped backwards are being asked why it happened.  In many cases the reason rests with a new, volatile system that defines success as one number -- the higher the better.

As in life, success for schools can't be defined as a single measure.  Teachers are more than their students' test scores.  Schools are more than attendance and test scores.  Districts are more than a single number.  Each day schools across the country welcome a diverse student body, feed them breakfast, feed them lunch, provide a safe learning environment, and offer after-school activities to keep them engaged.  We serve a noble purpose.  That, in itself, should be success.

August Paddle

Each year the Blue and Gold Scholarship Foundation holds a dinner auction as its one and only fundraiser.  Over the life of its existence the foundation has provided more than $400,000 in ongoing scholarships to kids from Wright City.

For several years I've donated an outfitted canoe trip and for most of that time it has been purchased by the same group of guys.

This year we were a bit unorganized in determining our location and when we would reach a decision water levels weren't conducive to paddling.  Finally we planned to head to Eminence and attempt to get a campsite at Circle B.  They were all booked up, but we were hoping to capture a last minute cancellation spot.

On the drive down we called an audible.  We would instead check if anything was available at the Department of Conservation campsites at Cedar Grove.  They were all taken of course.

We continued downstream on Hwy 19 and ended up at Pulltite.  This group had stayed and paddled here in the past.

On Saturday we put in at Pulltite.  Being a Saturday it was more crowded than I like, but sometimes the weekends are your only opportunities to be on the water.

After a while it cleared out for brief periods of time.  That was good because I was going to spend some time practicing rolls some more.

 

Throughout the day we helped folks having trouble.  Unfortunately we weren't able to recover some lost eye glasses for a boy, but we did get out the first aid kit for a young woman who took a nasty scrape from a tree.

We finished the day at Round Spring.

On Sunday we decided to paddle from Cedar Grove to Akers' Ferry.  It was a nice paddle and John had good luck fishing.  Thankfully no one really needed any help.

 

July Paddle

For July we put in at Castlerock State Park on the Meramec River and paddled up stream.  After my rolling troubles at NOC I spent some time practicing rolls.