July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
A school vision worth pursuing (02/17/07)
Editorial
A week ago today, Dr. Tim Long unveiled his "to-do" list, a set of goals that was overwhelming for its breadth and its ambition.
Long, the new superintendent of Jay Schools, didn't whip these goals out of thin air. Instead, he developed them by listening to school staff, parents, students, families, and taxpayers.
The result of all that listening and surveying was a list that covered everything from curriculum to transportation, from athletic facilities to job descriptions for school employees.
Board members had to be impressed as Long walked through the long list last Saturday morning. If they were looking for a superintendent with a sense of direction, they now know they have one.
Are all of the goals outlined by Long affordable? Probably not. Some may be out of reach today and may have to be deferred until funding can be found; Long emphasized that part of his job is to come back to the board with proposals that are fiscally realistic for the Jay School Corporation.
Are all of the goals outlined achievable? Time will tell. Some of those goals - boosting graduation rates and shrinking the amount of bus travel time for students - have been struggled with for decades.
But just because they're difficult to achieve doesn't mean they should be abandoned.
In fact, we'd argue that their difficulty makes them even more important.
Long's goal-setting exercise is valuable in a couple of different ways. First, of course, is that it sets targets, letting people know where the school system wants to be heading. And because it does that, it clarifies the steps along the way.
Sometimes changes in procedure or courses of action seem arbitrary or pointless; that's what happens when people don't know why the changes are being made.
"For most people, (change) is just a fear of the unknown," Long said last week. "That's why goal-setting is so important."
What the superintendent outlined last Saturday is a vision of what Jay County residents - stakeholders in the school community - have told him they want to achieve.
It's comprehensive. It's ambitious. But it's a vision worth pursuing. - J.R.[[In-content Ad]]
Long, the new superintendent of Jay Schools, didn't whip these goals out of thin air. Instead, he developed them by listening to school staff, parents, students, families, and taxpayers.
The result of all that listening and surveying was a list that covered everything from curriculum to transportation, from athletic facilities to job descriptions for school employees.
Board members had to be impressed as Long walked through the long list last Saturday morning. If they were looking for a superintendent with a sense of direction, they now know they have one.
Are all of the goals outlined by Long affordable? Probably not. Some may be out of reach today and may have to be deferred until funding can be found; Long emphasized that part of his job is to come back to the board with proposals that are fiscally realistic for the Jay School Corporation.
Are all of the goals outlined achievable? Time will tell. Some of those goals - boosting graduation rates and shrinking the amount of bus travel time for students - have been struggled with for decades.
But just because they're difficult to achieve doesn't mean they should be abandoned.
In fact, we'd argue that their difficulty makes them even more important.
Long's goal-setting exercise is valuable in a couple of different ways. First, of course, is that it sets targets, letting people know where the school system wants to be heading. And because it does that, it clarifies the steps along the way.
Sometimes changes in procedure or courses of action seem arbitrary or pointless; that's what happens when people don't know why the changes are being made.
"For most people, (change) is just a fear of the unknown," Long said last week. "That's why goal-setting is so important."
What the superintendent outlined last Saturday is a vision of what Jay County residents - stakeholders in the school community - have told him they want to achieve.
It's comprehensive. It's ambitious. But it's a vision worth pursuing. - J.R.[[In-content Ad]]
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