Leadership Lite

School Administrator, August 2017


A Crack at Karaoke
In the style of CBS-TV’s “The Late Late Show,” Superintendent Jim Scanlon of the West Chester, Pa., schools, created a Carpool Karaoke video during which he and a handful of school district colleagues belted out a version of “Sweet Caroline” from inside a moving vehicle. The video was shown during the district’s “Welcome Back” ceremony for 1,300 staff.

Scanlon said it’s important to “laugh with ourselves and laugh at ourselves” before quickly adding, “We will destroy the tapes afterwards.”
SOURCE: dailylocal.com

 

Marathon Day
Wayne Rodolfich set up quite an endurance test for his first day as superintendent of the Pascagoula-Gautier Schools in Pascagoula, Miss., a year ago. The goal: Visit all 500 classrooms in the 19 schools across the system.

His hardy quest started at 7:30 a.m. at an elementary school. His last came 6½ hours later. He averaged just under one minute per classroom and skipped lunch.

Rodolfich likened the quick appearances to a comedy shtick in front of students. “Some laugh, some don’t say anything,” he said.
SOURCE: The Sun-Herald, Biloxi, Miss.


Board Trivia
Karen Strong, an associate executive director of the Texas Association of School Boards, loves dealing in the trivia of all things school board-related in her state. Her quest for intriguing data turned up these nuggets:

The largest school board belongs to South Texas Independent School District located in the tip of Texas, near the Mexico border. The board has 21 members!

The smallest district by student size that’s governed by a board is Divide Independent School District, with an official enrollment of 12.



A Happy Ending
For a first-day-of-school story, Debbie Cafazzo, education reporter for the Tacoma, Wash., News-Tribune, had asked her newspaper’s photographer to refrain from taking photos of any kids getting off the school bus by themselves. The suburban district she covered had a photo policy requiring parental permission, so the instructions were to focus on kids accompanied by a parent.

Sure enough, without Cafazzo’s knowledge, the next morning’s newspaper carried the prominent image of a cute kindergarten pupil stepping off the bus crying her eyes out. The child’s mother complained to the editor about a violation of her daughter’s privacy and about making her feel guilty for going to work and not joining her daughter.

“I was fully expecting to hear from mom’s lawyer,” Cafazzo quipped.

In an unexpected twist, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee spotted the photo and arranged a visit with the little girl at the school, where he presented the youngster with a state lapel pin.

 
 

Short, humorous anecdotes, quips, quotations and malapropisms for this column relating to school district administration should be addressed to: Editor, School Administrator, 1615 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314. Fax: 703-841-1543. E-mail: magazine@aasa.org. Upon request, names may be withheld in print.