This is an article that was written in the Longview News Journal that I would like to share. This is how a District should be run and I believe we need a new captain To Drive our LISD ship. We are losing great teachers daily due to the failure of our board, and our lack of a full time superintendent. I have seen now that our band program is falling apart due to the failure of our superintendent. Word of advice to Lobo Band Boosters, no matter how many signatures you get the board will refuse to even look at them, but I do support you fully in your quest to keep Mr. Robbinett at LISD. An effective school maintains healthy relationships among the units in a school structure. Everyone's goal is to help each other be successful. With the help of the school superintendent, the school's board of trustees sets the goals for the district and the superintendent. Then the board's job is to do everything in its power to help the superintendent be successful. The superintendent in turn, communicates the district goals to his or her administrators. Administrators work with their teachers or other employees to develop campus or department goals that will help meet the district goals. Administrators will have particular goals for their campus or departments to improve their performance. It is then each administrator's main focus to help their teachers or other employees be successful. One of the most common mistakes schools make is not maintaining the proper relationship among board members, superintendent, administrators, teachers and other employees, and students. Far too often, their main focus is that they want to be liked, to be friends with the people they supervise. Everyone wants to be liked, but that is not a supervisor's main focus. A supervisor must be respected, not liked. A supervisor's primary job is to be successful, or for schools, for the students to be successful. Students are educators' first responsibility, not the people they supervise. Other employees and teachers are certainly a supervisor's responsibility, but for an educator, they are not their primary responsibility. Teachers are so often attacked by the public they become defensive. Principals and other administrators become their protectors, and tend to isolate their individual school. Professionalism and openness then suffers. There must be a balance between needed feedback and unnecessary criticism. Using the analogy that a school is like a ship, the superintendent is the captain and the board similar to the owners or representatives of the owners. The owners, or board, determine the mission or destination of the ship. The captain, or superintendent, then guides the ship on the mission to the desired destination. The board no longer has any authority on that mission. The captain must motivate the crew, reach the destination, and return the ship successfully. Merely returning the ship without a cargo for profit does not constitute success. Operating a school for a year without proper student progress also is not a success. For a ship to be guided to destinations successfully, only one person can chart the course. For schools, only the superintendent must guide the district. Think of what would happen if several people were navigating. The ship might wander aimlessly and never reach its goal. The captain must be solely in charge of navigation. He must navigate through dangerous waters at times, and may get lost at times, but he has tools and time to return to course. Regrettably, parents and employees want to carry every little grievance directly to the board or superintendent when they don't get their way. Everyone in the school and community then become accustomed to the board and the superintendent dealing with daily complaints. Consequently, they forget to hold the board and superintendent accountable for the direction and progress of the school. Many board members and superintendents become used to this lack of accountability and enjoy playing a more political game. Sadly, this political game infiltrates principals, teachers and parents. As selfishness sets in, everyone begins to protect themselves and your schools become dysfunctional. Defensiveness and feelings of self-protection are not exclusive to our schools. Selfishness is rampant in our society, and is only reflected more brightly in our schools due to them being more numerous and prevalent in every community. As we protect ourselves, we blame others for all of our woes. Lack of trust causes lack of productivity and lack of accountability. Clearly defined goals with proper accountability for these goals starts at the top and must be held throughout the organization. Superintendents must provide concise and measurable goals for the principals and other administrators. Administrators' goals must be individualized and they must be held accountable by the superintendent. Administrators must provide the same framework for each school, teacher, and other employees. These goals should not be a surprise for anyone, and results must be shared as much as possible. Without a structure of direction and accountability, low or no expectations will always occur. High expectations will only occur with proper planning, detailed goals, close monitoring, strong accountability, and a climate in which everyone helps others to succeed.