Telling "Our Story" is More Important Than Ever

Wow! I truly had no idea on January 11th when I sent out my document titled, "When did Public Education Become the Enemy?" that it would hit such a nerve with so many people. I am glad it was printed in the Omaha World-Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, Beatrice Daily Sun, York News-Times, Grand Island Independent, Kearney Hub, and others. It spread like wildfire on Facebook and Twitter. Schools sent it home in newsletters. It was used at staff meetings. All in all, I received over 400 emails, texts, phone calls, and/or social media messages thanking me for the piece. Someone said it had been shared on Facebook over 2,000 times. Somehow, I even heard from folks in South Dakota, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma that were using it in some fashion. I received positive feedback from multiple state senators. This blog was read over 5,800 times last week.

That's all fine and dandy but that's not what this is about or what the intent is/was.

We need ALL educators and supporters to tell their school's and their district's story. I'm not a conspiracy theorist or a "sky is falling" kind of person but it sure feels like public education is under attack. We haven't done a good enough job of telling our story, sharing our successes, and letting folks know of our passionate pursuit of continued improvement for the most valuable resource our state has; its children!

As public schools, we will NEVER reach a point that we can't continue to improve. We will ALWAYS be a work in progress. We will FOREVER be in pursuit of getting better for our students. ALL winning organizations are like that.

It is my hope that others that support public education will write in and voice their support for what we do every day. We don't need to whine and complain about it. We just need to share our success stories. There are many of them all throughout the state. We're doing more than we've ever done before. Our students and their families need us more than ever. We're delivering and need to continue to do more!

The "funding issue" is one piece of this puzzle but to be honest, the thing that hurts me the most, is the total disdain that many show towards public education. We're not the enemy.

Here in York, we've had to talk over the years about "controlling what we can control" and that is our effort, enthusiasm, passion, work ethic, and desire to be the best we can be. We can't control all the things that go on in "politics" but we can control our professionalism and willingness to remain student-centered.

These are tough times for public education but I can promise you this.....we will "find a way" to make great things happen for our students day in and day out. We will continue to provide ALL of our students with outstanding opportunities. We won't ever give up. That's what public education is all about!