Starting Point
Diplomatic Discourse

School Administrator, September 2020

CIVIL DISCOURSE is always a fitting path for those charged with making weighty decisions in public life — maybe never more so than now in the stressed state of our democratic republic.

That ought to make Jason Glass’s thoughtful set of five rules of engagement (“On Civility”) requisite reading for anyone in the ranks of public school leadership right now. The author draws on his experience leading a sprawling school system just outside Denver, Colo., where he counts residents about equally split between registered Republicans and Democrats and where the population bears facets of urban, suburban and rural socioeconomics. It’s the sort of place where everyday decisions could land you in the vise between polar extremes.

Glass has had plenty of chances to exercise his own rules in recent months to come up with the best decision on school reopening for his school community in Jefferson County, Colo., where he’s been superintendent for three years. He departs this month for a new political landscape, that of his native Kentucky, where he has been appointed state education commissioner.
 

Jay P. Goldman
Editor, School Administrator
Voice: 703-875-0745
E-mail: jgoldman@aasa.org
Twitter: @JPGoldman