Last week, as I interviewed
Rob Hudson, President of LEAPS (
Leaders Engaged for the Advancement of Public Schools), and now as I reflect on his nomination to the Board of Trustees for the Tupelo Public School District, I believe we're in store for interesting -- and positive -- times in North Mississippi's academic circles.
To be honest, the results of the survey were anything but flattering. 1500 people polled, 81% believes the district truly
desires strong academic achievement, but only half of those (42%) believes that five years from now, TPSD will provide a better education than other NEMS school systems. And when it comes to safety and discipline, the numbers are even more grim.
On the other hand, I'm optimistic. Hudson put himself waaaay out there by gathering the best and brightest for the 14-person board of LEAPS. The group was formed little more than a month before the presentation of last week's survey results, and yet the survey was accomplished with dispatch and a certain informational eloquence. Knowing that, three things are obvious to me:
- Hudson, a successful businessman, can make things happen.
- He cares about collaborative advancement, not confrontational competition, and strongly believes in solutions, not continuous complaint.
- He's surrounded by people in the community who are equally concerned about education and are willing to roll their sleeves up, too.
As I also interviewed interim superintendent
David Meadows, I instantly felt he would -- in the short run -- have a soothing effect on academic tension in the community. He was glad for the unexpected turnout at the survey presentation, preferring to interpret the numbers as a show of well-meant concern rather than a wall of resistance. Such optimism and diplomacy will, I think, work wonders toward healing long-standing wounds in the community, bringing people back together and opening their minds to solve educational issues in our midst.
I met
Dr. Randy Shaver a while back and heard him speak energetically of growing TPSD's influence on students. I shook his hand that day and believed his innermost motivations were good ones. Why would they
not be? He's an educated man with nothing to gain from his students' complaints, and those of their parents. But without buying into the drama and conflict surrounding his brisk departure, if anyone must communicate well, it has to be the head of a school district. That clearly was not one of Mr. Shaver's strengths. And while I would not have preferred such a politicization of a school superintendent's agenda and ultimate "dismissal," I have to agree that the court of public opinion has spoken. The constituencies of TPSD -- namely, the parents, teachers, administrators, and district's residents and businesspeople -- have come together in a generally-positive way to forge the way for change and expansion. Even Mr. Shaver's closing contract negotiations went relatively smoothly.
Make no mistake, I don't believe that any of our educational challenges will be solved overnight. There's too much history and regressive inertia for that, not to mention that no matter what the motivations are, some people just don't like change.
But at the end of the school day, I'm optimistic that our collective motivations are good ones. I'm confident that we've learned something from this experience. I believe we'll harness the Tupelo Spirit we're known for. I think we'll live up to our 2011 All-America City nomination (we won the award in 1999) and close the book on the past and -- as I'm sure Mr. Hudson would agree -- get on with the business of shaping our children's futures for the (much) better.
That's a good thing...
