I appreciate the comments and activities that many of you have referenced in the blog in the last few weeks. As you work your way through the activities in your Internship Plan, I encourage you to think about these issues and activities from the superintendent's perspective rather than from the perspective of your current position. For example, as you address budget issues in your plan, the perspective of the superintendent must consider the entire district and often includes political pressures and perhaps even politically negotiated agreements to spend money on certain campuses or to divert funds to address specific issues. As a principal or assistant principal, one's perspective is much more limited and one can afford to be more focused on the individual needs of students and campus issues. As you work through your internship plan, try to address the issues and activities from a superintendent's perspective. You will see that, in many cases, it is a different perspective than the one you might have in your current position. If you do see differences in perspectives from the superintendent's position and your current position, point out those differnces as you descirbe these activities in this blog.
Here's another interesting thought for your consideration. In recent education reports (Education Week, Today's Education, etc.) there have been references to the possibility that the federal department of education could be abolished or at least scaled back significantly. It might be interesting to ask your campus supervisor how they would feel about the U.S. Department of Education being abolished? I suspect that we will see a diverse response among our superintendent candidates. Depending on your location and the interaction with the feds, I predict that the responses will vary from jubilation to indifference to deep consternation. Share your response with us on this blog.
I know you are all working hard in Dr. Nicks' course and I encourage you to continue working through the internship plan as well. Do not allow yourself to get behind on these activities. Don't hesitate to contact me if I can be of assistance.
Dr. Creel
Dr. Creel,
ReplyDeleteNot to get to political, but I think to federal government has reached beyond the founding fathers original intent. States rights are very important along with local control. I would like to see the State and local communities have more control. Some government oversight is definitely necessary, but it seems we are far from the original plan. The Department of Education was not formed until 1979, we survived 200 years without it. How significant has it been since its establishment? Of course this is my opinion, I would have to research the Department of Education more throughly to formulate a more thoughtful opinion.