News
Opinion
Decisions, decisions
Let's start with the Eagle County School Board meeting on Jan. 11 with the hot-button topic of closing primary schools to save money in a tight financial time. The decision was to keep them open. Apparently, it was a financial wash if you spread the somewhat fuzzy $400,000 potential school-closing savings across 19 district schools, coupled with further reductions of this saving through unintended consequences.
The tie-breaker was a choice between two beliefs — the value to a community to have a primary school in place versus having a larger primary school elsewhere with more program options for students.
Currently, it is a question of dealing with a $5.5 million budget shortfall and cutting teachers as part of the new reduction-in-force process. These decisions might be a lot easier if the school district's lofty mission, vision and goal statements were expanded to put more meat behind them to become real decision drivers. This further peeling of the onion might start with a random mix of challenges, considerations and questions — some implied but never before spelled out.
The following is a first cut at such a list with focus items relating to students, teachers, administration, support staff, parents and stake-holders:
• Review high-principled vision goals to ensure relevance and practicality.
• Communicate better. For example, the Milken Family Foundation performance-improvement system was considered some years, and where it stands today is simply not understood by everyone.
• Seek creative ways to link motivation and job satisfaction of support staff to the primary mission of educating our youth.
• Maximize advantages of having a mix of first language students.
• Constantly review and balance views — many student electives versus stick to basics of reading, math and science.
• Be bold and willing to think outside the box. For example, a suggestion apparently has been made for an across-the-board temporary salary reduction that could keep many teachers on board but was dismissed for some reason. If you take a look at this from 30,000 feet, you simply say, “Just solve any of the technical problems so it can be considered as a viable option.”
• Constantly review and balance views — small, local, personal versus large, efficient.
• The traditional notion that schools make and bind together a community is an open question with the many school alternatives — public, private, charter and parochial. Is this a problem of children being strangers to each other, and if so, should the district play a role in expanding cooperation amongst schools?
• Be sensitive with salary inequities of teachers versus senior administrative staff and over-equities of senior administrative staff versus statewide averages.
• An unwritten grand bargain has always existed here. Many parents and stakeholders make a conscious tradeoff for the passion to live-work in snow country. They have less money, fewer benefits, unpredictable-seasonal work versus living in a higher-paying job market where all year you save vacation time and money to holiday in snow country. Those who live and work here without the give-ups are indeed fortunate.
• Reduce high teacher turnover through an interview-selection process that tests a candidate's real passion of wanting to live and work here in snow country but realizing there are some give-ups.
• With the largest Eagle County tax slice, the district is duty bound to be beyond reproach in financial prudence, proactive listening, transparency and continuing to solicit outside, expert advice on an ongoing basis — for example, tapping into the many retired folk experiences.
• Be proactive in bringing more parents and stakeholders to attend board meetings to get more involvement and potential board candidates.
This is an example of a guidance and decision-assistance tool. Finally, being on a school board must be one of the most difficult, and at times unrewarding, jobs around. The fact that board members frequently run unopposed makes the point. My hat goes out to you all. Thanks for serving.
Paul Rondeau
Vail
All for fun
I was recently in a yoga class in which the teacher offered us a very challenging pose, just for fun, reminding us of a very important detail about this life: Everything we do is for fun.
Maybe some wouldn't call it fun, but every experience — the happy times, the sad times, the hard times and the bliss — we manifest into our reality to teach us something for fun. For some people, complaining is fun. For others, helping others; others, being helped.
It was a beautiful reminder for me that how we choose to react to a situation (possibly even unconsciously choosing certain situations for ourselves to experience) nourishes us in some way, even if we respond to it with “negativity.”
I often felt really ashamed and bad about expressing “disordered” eating patters and felt jealousy of people who where just normal around food and didn't think about it as much as I did. Then I realized that everything I was doing with food, even the anorexia and later the binge eating, was fun for me, nourishing me on levels that I couldn't realize at the time.
It took a lot of reflection to realize some of the ways that my eating patterns where actually nourishing and supporting me and what things I needed to work on within myself to begin letting go of them. For now, I am content believing that whatever reality is presenting itself to us, there is a reason for it and it would be fun for us to be immersed in it. We can be immersed in an experience and observe it at the same time. You may be surprised with what is revealed.
Sofia Kovalenko
Vail
Let's start with the Eagle County School Board meeting on Jan. 11 with the hot-button topic of closing primary schools to save money in a tight financial time. The decision was to keep them open. Apparently, it was a financial wash if you spread the somewhat fuzzy $400,000 potential school-closing savings across 19 district schools, coupled with further reductions of this saving through unintended consequences.
The tie-breaker was a choice between two beliefs — the value to a community to have a primary school in place versus having a larger primary school elsewhere with more program options for students.
Currently, it is a question of dealing with a $5.5 million budget shortfall and cutting teachers as part of the new reduction-in-force process. These decisions might be a lot easier if the school district's lofty mission, vision and goal statements were expanded to put more meat behind them to become real decision drivers. This further peeling of the onion might start with a random mix of challenges, considerations and questions — some implied but never before spelled out.
The following is a first cut at such a list with focus items relating to students, teachers, administration, support staff, parents and stake-holders:
• Review high-principled vision goals to ensure relevance and practicality.
• Communicate better. For example, the Milken Family Foundation performance-improvement system was considered some years, and where it stands today is simply not understood by everyone.
• Seek creative ways to link motivation and job satisfaction of support staff to the primary mission of educating our youth.
• Maximize advantages of having a mix of first language students.
• Constantly review and balance views — many student electives versus stick to basics of reading, math and science.
• Be bold and willing to think outside the box. For example, a suggestion apparently has been made for an across-the-board temporary salary reduction that could keep many teachers on board but was dismissed for some reason. If you take a look at this from 30,000 feet, you simply say, “Just solve any of the technical problems so it can be considered as a viable option.”
• Constantly review and balance views — small, local, personal versus large, efficient.
• The traditional notion that schools make and bind together a community is an open question with the many school alternatives — public, private, charter and parochial. Is this a problem of children being strangers to each other, and if so, should the district play a role in expanding cooperation amongst schools?
• Be sensitive with salary inequities of teachers versus senior administrative staff and over-equities of senior administrative staff versus statewide averages.
• An unwritten grand bargain has always existed here. Many parents and stakeholders make a conscious tradeoff for the passion to live-work in snow country. They have less money, fewer benefits, unpredictable-seasonal work versus living in a higher-paying job market where all year you save vacation time and money to holiday in snow country. Those who live and work here without the give-ups are indeed fortunate.
• Reduce high teacher turnover through an interview-selection process that tests a candidate's real passion of wanting to live and work here in snow country but realizing there are some give-ups.
• With the largest Eagle County tax slice, the district is duty bound to be beyond reproach in financial prudence, proactive listening, transparency and continuing to solicit outside, expert advice on an ongoing basis — for example, tapping into the many retired folk experiences.
• Be proactive in bringing more parents and stakeholders to attend board meetings to get more involvement and potential board candidates.
This is an example of a guidance and decision-assistance tool. Finally, being on a school board must be one of the most difficult, and at times unrewarding, jobs around. The fact that board members frequently run unopposed makes the point. My hat goes out to you all. Thanks for serving.
Paul Rondeau
Vail
All for fun
I was recently in a yoga class in which the teacher offered us a very challenging pose, just for fun, reminding us of a very important detail about this life: Everything we do is for fun.
Maybe some wouldn't call it fun, but every experience — the happy times, the sad times, the hard times and the bliss — we manifest into our reality to teach us something for fun. For some people, complaining is fun. For others, helping others; others, being helped.
It was a beautiful reminder for me that how we choose to react to a situation (possibly even unconsciously choosing certain situations for ourselves to experience) nourishes us in some way, even if we respond to it with “negativity.”
I often felt really ashamed and bad about expressing “disordered” eating patters and felt jealousy of people who where just normal around food and didn't think about it as much as I did. Then I realized that everything I was doing with food, even the anorexia and later the binge eating, was fun for me, nourishing me on levels that I couldn't realize at the time.
It took a lot of reflection to realize some of the ways that my eating patterns where actually nourishing and supporting me and what things I needed to work on within myself to begin letting go of them. For now, I am content believing that whatever reality is presenting itself to us, there is a reason for it and it would be fun for us to be immersed in it. We can be immersed in an experience and observe it at the same time. You may be surprised with what is revealed.
Sofia Kovalenko
Vail
