Leadership Lite
School Administrator, December 2019
His Early-Morning Barometer
As the winter season approached, Garn Christensen, superintendent of the Eastmont School District in East Wenatchee, Wash., thought it might be a good idea to remind district employees how he makes school cancellation decisions.
In a detailed memo, Christensen explained how he relies on transportation staff to test the roads in the wee hours before he examines the conditions himself at 6 a.m. during his daily drive to the YMCA gym or pool for an hour.
Then the veteran superintendent fessed up to what he really considers his measuring stick: the Water Lilies. “This is a group I observed my first summer in the valley who are mostly senior ladies who do water aerobics at the Y from 6–7 a.m. In the winter, they are usually pulling in at the same time as me. I watch them climb out of their Subarus with scarfs, Sorel Boots and heavy parkas. If the Water Lilies are there, Eastmont is going to school – NO Delays!”
Sugary Bribes
The hashtag was #TryingToTwistMyArm, and the tool to influence the superintendents’ snow day decision making was sweet indeed.
In Hillsboro, Mo., it was a variety of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups left during the early evening on the front porch of Superintendent Aaron Cornman with an affixed note, “You know what to do.” In Festus, Mo., the incentive on the doorstep was a supply of Frosty Nerds, but the attached note had the urgency of ransom for Superintendent Link Luttrell: “Don’t be a nerd #callitofflink.”
Alas, despite one newspaper later awarding an A for aspiration, neither superintendent succumbed to his sweet tooth.
SOURCE: KansasCity.com
Immobile But Mildly Amused
After making the call to send students and staff home early because of a fast-developing winter storm, Eric Knost, then-superintendent of the Rockwood Public Schools in St. Louis County, Mo., took to the clogged interstate to get to his own home. That proved to be almost a 12-hour ordeal for what often takes less than 30 minutes.
The superintendent tweeted updates to keep himself entertained, at one point sharing a photo of the snow-stopped traffic at 4 p.m. and resending it at 8:12 p.m., saying “I’m in the same place.”
A subsequent tweet: “Had a thought that made me chuckle. If this were a school night, my Twitter would be blowing up and trending. But it’s mostly crickets tonight. The snow is actually peaceful in a parking lot that’s usually a highway.”
SOURCE: Fox 2 News, St. Louis, Mo.
Fashion Throwbacks
William Connors, principal of the Old Bridge Public School in New Brunswick, N.J., stirred up passion when he delivered a presentation titled “Habits” to the local Professional Reading Circle of Teachers.
According to an account in The New York Times, Connors said he disapproved of short skirts on teachers and thought the evils of smoking were undermined by teachers who were smokers. “The female teachers present became indignant at Principal Connors’ attack on the short skirt,” the newspaper reported.
The story appeared in print on Feb. 17, 1901.
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.