Re “One-on-One With Every District Colleague” (August 2018): It was a simple enough idea and not necessarily original. You should talk to the people in your district — like health care activist Valerie Billingham once said, “Nothing about me without me.” Yet having a MEANINGFUL ONE-ON-ONE CONVERSATION WITH EVERY EMPLOYEE in your district, as Matt Teeter described in his My View column, is a daunting task for a superintendent, especially to complete in one year.

Sometimes all it takes is to hear that someone else has done it. That’s what Teeter’s article did for me. Sure, maybe your district is bigger than his, as is mine. It will probably take me a little longer, but that’s OK. Even in my first few interviews, it is abundantly clear that it will be a worthwhile endeavor.

Teeter not only motivated me to try something similar, he responded quickly to my request to share the form and questions he used. No need to recreate the wheel. Thanks, Matt.

PETER OLSON-SKOG
SUPERINTENDENT,
WEST ST. PAUL, MENDOTA HEIGHTS, EAGAN AREA SCHOOLS,
MENDOTA HEIGHTS, MINN.


Board Meetings
The Legal Brief column by Michele Jones (“Managing Public Comments at Board Meetings,” August 2018) was an interesting read.

I’m constantly surprised by how many school boards do not represent the community, but instead actually shut the community down (and out) by doubling down with the district on contentious issues.

School boards should be the check and balance and the seat of school oversight.

JOHN KLINE
VICE PRESIDENT, EDUCATION SALES AND CUSTOMER SUCCESS,
WEVIDEO FOR SCHOOLS,
SARATOGA, CALIF.


Attending to Civility
For some time, I’d talked myself into believing that the poisonous atmosphere of hatred and disrespect we hear so much in Washington, D.C., only existed in this immediate area. But newspaper articles and personal conversations with cab drivers and educators elsewhere tell me the toxic noise from Washington is hurting real people across the country. As a writer, I had to address the issue but needed sources of sound advice.

Thankfully, I was able to turn to the April issue of AASA’s School Administrator, which devoted its entire issue to “Civility in Classroom and Community.” Superintendent Julie Hackett’s report (“Where Are Our Voices of Reason?”) that she’d been chastised on Twitter for posting the image of Malala, the young human rights activist from Pakistan, because Malala is a “foreigner” was saddening. Hackett’s response to the baiters was uplifting.

Kudos to Hackett and AASA for showing education leaders that, at a time when the nation’s political officials say they’re tired of being “politically correct,” standing forthrightly for the indispensable public virtue of respect is central to their calling. As Hackett wrote, “Apathy breeds learned monsters, and indifference to intolerance threatens our very existence.” NICHOLAS PENNING
ARLINGTON, VA.

(Penning is a former public policy analyst at AASA.)