Ask business leaders what their biggest concern is, and often they will tell you about their concern for Schools and the kids coming out of High School. Unless you have lived in a cave for the last 20 years, you know that Schools are having a tough time. Being on a School Board for 7 years gave me some insight into the problems, and I have some ideas on how to fix the problems.

In my view, we don’t have a problem with teachers, we have a problem with parents (or lack of) and families.

Recently there has been talk about what School Districts can do to close the “achievement gap”. Rather than wait for a solution to magically happen, I have a few tips for people who want to see their kids close the achievement gap:

1.Get kids to school. Parents, this is your job. Schools can’t help kids that are not there. The schools cannot get your child up, and to school every day. The so called achievement gap shows up when kids don’t go to school (usually).
2.Get your kids to school on time Parents, this is your job – again. Schools should not and can not make wake up calls. Oh yes, and get them to bed on time.
3.Teach your child to behave. Asking a teacher to teach proper behavior severely cuts into teaching subject matter. No learning gap will be closed while teachers are busy attending to kids who don’t behave.
4.Feed your kids in the morning. A bowl of cereal, milk, and fruit costs less than $10 per week. Feed them, close the “gap”.
5.Parents, care about your child’s education. The schools and teachers will often bend over backwards to help those who care and are trying. However, if the child and parent do not care, a teacher is going to have a very hard time. Show up at conferences. Check assignments.
6.Parents, check your kids homework assignments. At a minimum, make sure that they have assignments (and they do) and that they are done. A child that does not do homework will never close the “gap”.
7.Turn off the TV. A kid now spends more time in front of a TV than they do in a school. If you can’t turn it off, get rid of it. TV never will close the “gap”.
8.Have dinner with your kids, ask them about the school day. Demonstrate that you care about their education.
9.Read to them starting at a young age. Have them read to you when they can. Instead of TV have them read. Close the gap, READ.
10.Don’t count on the schools to do your job. The Schools can help but they can’t do it all. Schools only have kids for about 14% of the entire year. What do your kids do with the other 86%? How is that schools only have kids for 14% of the year, and they get blamed for an achievement gap??

Schools cannot by law act as parents (or guardians). If parents can’t do the job, how can we expect the Schools to do it for them? Closing the achievement gap begins at home, not at school.

Gary Seidel
Former School Board Member
President, Point ONE Commercial Real Estate

"Boiling the Ocean"

I once worked with a man who had been a Senior Vice President at IBM, during IBM’s zenith. He was at the end of his career and took to mentoring me, the “new kid” from the small IBM acquisition. He was full of stories and quotes. The best was:

“Don’t Boil the Ocean.”

He was a person who understood his position and how people reacted to him. If a high level Executive makes a comment (or even a gesture), some people will go off on a tangent gathering information to demonstrate their competence, at times out of fear or just to “show off”. We have all seen it and experienced it.

One time I remember asking a simple question during a meeting. At the next meeting I had a ten page report, with detailed statistics and analysis, and did not even know what it was regarding. Someone on staff took the question personally and spent a great deal of time and money on a report that was not needed. Don’t boil the ocean.

Once while walking through a manufacturing department, I notice 2 file cabinets that were full, and they needed another one. It turns out that they were storing quality reports on a particular Printed Circuit Board, and Engineering had made the request some time ago. Further checking showed that no engineer had ever looked at the reports nor had ever even asked for the reports. Digging deeper I found one engineer who had made a comment two years earlier and that triggered this “quality tracking”. The ocean was boiled, and reports were plentiful (and never used).

When you are in a leadership position, be it real or perceived, be careful about what you say and how you say it. Make sure that people understand what you are asking for, and your expectations. And be careful about the people who like to boil the ocean, they will do it when you least expect it (and more often then you care to admit). It is a waste of time and valuable resources.

Build trust, be specific when needed, but whatever you do, Don’t Boil the Ocean….