Archive: Opinions

This week's announcement that Lansing School Superintendent Stephen Grimm would be leaving the district wasn't entirely a surprise.  In my opinion it is unfortunate, and demonstrates that Lansing as a community has not done what it has to do to keep top administrative talent in its school system.

Grimm has the longest tenure of any Lansing superintendent in recent history.  Officially the reasons we can't keep top administrators are that it is a very competitive market, that districts mine each other for superintendent talent, making it very attractive to make a move, or, in mafia movie vernacular, making top administrative talent an offer they can't refuse.

I believe this district in particular has two key issues that nobody wants to talk about out loud, and that, no doubt I will take a huge amount of abuse for mentioning.

First, without consistent administrative leadership for many years the teacher's union, I believe, filled the leadership gap.  Thank heavens someone did, or I do not believe Lansing would be nearly as much of a leader in education as it clearly is.  Having taken on that burden it is understandable that they would resist ceding it back to the administrative leadership.  The district needs a superintendent who is in charge, who teachers will work with, and who can provide consistent leadership for many years, not just a few, and not just five.  Long term goals that everyone in the district wan work together to achieve.

The second issue is that one long time school board member has made it as difficult as possible for superintendents to function, attacking their integrity in public meetings and unnecessarily disrupting the work of the board by ignoring board procedures, rarely being prepared for meetings, or distracting from the focus of scheduled work.  This behavior seems to go beyond any one superintendent.  In my observation it has been extended to all recent superintendents.  Ironically this board member has been a strong voice against bullying in the schools.  In my opinion board members should duke it out during the hiring process, then rally as a unit behind their choice unless there is proven gross misconduct on the administrator's part.

Having said these two things I want to make a couple of things clear.  First of all, I believe we are blessed to have most of the teachers we have.  What an incredible group of talented and successful educators!  You only have to look at the district 'report cards' to see that they make this district educationally soar far beyond what most districts are able to accomplish.  My criticism is cultural, not anything to do with talent and energy and academic success.

On the board issue, I am not saying there should not be dissent on the board.  Frankly I agree with this board member on a number of topics.  And I believe there should be more disagreement that I have typically seen on the Lansing board.  Board members represent the varying factions within a community, and they should bring all points of view to the table and work out great, respectful compromises.  In this case, the one board member has created a 'crying wolf' atmosphere in which I believe her many good ideas are victims of other board members' expectation that she will disrupt the process.  They were  accused of being disrespectful and dismissive of her in a recent meeting, but I believe that while disrespect and dismissiveness of a board colleague should not be acceptable under any circumstances that she has long sewn what she occasionally reaps.

When I learned that Grimm's resignation is official the other night the first thing I thought of was the Einstein definition of insanity, expecting a different result from the same behavior time after time.  To be honest, I also hoped for a different result even while I thought that our behavior as a district hadn't changed much.

This resignation is an opportunity for the board to examine the district's behavior and to instigate changes that will not only attract excellent talent to the Lansing schools, but keep it here.  If the board simply hires a replacement, Lansing will be doomed to a 'Groundhog Day' of living the same day' over and over again.

I believe that all districts have dissent, and part of the reason superintendents get the big bucks is to put up with a lot of crap.  But in the bull market for experienced superintendents with all those offers that are so hard to refuse, why would they stay?  That is the exact question our school board needs to answer, or we will be doomed to continue Lansing's most unfortunate cycle of chewing up superintendents and spitting them out.

The real victims of that cycle aren't superintendents, board members, or teacher.  I'm not saying I am right about any of this.  I have been to most school board meeting for the past seven years, and for what it's worth this is part of what I have taken away from those meetings.  I know for a fact that some others, at least one of whom also attends all the school board meetings, interpret what they see there differently.  Whatever the cause, the one unrefutable fact is that Lansing can't keep a school superintendent, and therefore can't effectively set and reach long term goals.  The real victims are kids so it is important to say these things out loud and have the discussion and break the cycle.

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