| Sonoma County, CA | November 2, 2010 Election |
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Maintain Experienced Staff and Leadership TeamBy Eric KirchmannCandidate for Board Member; Cotati/Rohnert Park Unified School District |
This information is provided by the candidate | |
A first year teacher or leader is filled with enthusiasm and new untested ideas. With experience comes wisdom and knowing what works, how it works, why it works. Experience works.Most teachers are aware that it takes a few years to get a class established so you have the background and materials to present and the flexibility to try new things or go in different directions. You still need a basic foundation of proven best practices rather than going off on tangents, chasing windmills, or swinging like a pendulum from one extreme to the other. Raw enthusiasm, or change for change sake, is often disruptive and does not always yield desired results. Experience allows for a sound base and the security of trying new things knowing you can return to a sound foundation. Any organization is only as good as its members and it is vital that those members work together towards a goal with core values and an established foundation. A star may have five points reaching out in different directions but it is where the base or pentagon is, which allows for both the expansion and hub. Before you venture outside you must reflect on what you have learned inside. Synergy comes from interacting with many to form one path. Leadership is best when it is based upon experience and process. Most of us plan for a trip, pack for a trip, expect complications and complexities, and with preparation based upon experience we arrive at our destination (our goal) safe and sound and ready. We do not just hop in the car and go, trying one road after another, backtracking as we find dead ends, and wash outs. We have a plan, a destination and goal in mind and we don't just push the long skinny accelerator pedal to the floor being in too much of a hurry to simply go. No, a sensible traveler asks one coming down the mountain what lays ahead on the trek. Sensible leadership relies on a base, a foundation of experience, sensible planning and preparation, before embarking on any journey or path. I have been a dedicated worker and leader for over two decades in the Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District. I have seen and planned for growth as well as decline in enrollment and resources. It is easy to point a finger and blame but that is what I did over twenty years ago before I decided that that was too easy and that it was time for me to show the way. That is what leadership does, it steps up, it does not always follow a set path, sometimes it creates new ones; but to be successful it makes its moves based upon what has been learned by experienced travelers. Leadership involves listening, and finding answers together, and embarking in the direction that can be reached and which best suits the group. The United states is all of US. Thinking in terms of US is what leadership should be and it should be based on all that came before us, experience is what was here when we got here, and applying what we learned while we were here. I have learned a great deal in the past two decades of leading this District and one thing that stands out is the idea of US, working together, as an experienced team. I want that to be sustained as that is far more important than any one part or individual. I have the experience, and wish to be a helping part of a team, as we set direction for our future. A team works together, respects one another, and gets it's strength from each member working collectively and cooperatively to reach the determined goal and destination. We can and must do that. It is not about me, it is about us. Please vote. Thank you. |
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ca/sn Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 7, 2010 17:36
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