President's Perspective: Foundations have been laid for the next leaders

Posted Date: 12/13/2021

Just as Neo before he saves Zion through his selfless battle with Mr. Smith, I find myself reflecting, evaluating my time in service to measure the outcomes and success. Did I meet my own expectation to leave the place better than I found it? To answer that question, I must sift through the data in my mind. What were the goals set and were they tracked through meeting agendas, minutes and assessment results to leave a clear path of evidence? And even though these would be concrete tools to demonstrate effort and intent, the real proof is shown through the foundations that have been laid for the next leaders to build upon.  

The strategic plan process from eight years ago has guided the work of the staff and board at KASB.  We eliminated pension debt, reduced our imprint on the earth by reducing volumes of printed materials and switching to digital mediums for communications, travelled across the 82,878 square miles of waving wheat and rolling hills into 286 Unified School Districts to teach best practices for educational leadership, reorganized staff to better meet the needs of our members, and survived the Great Recession and a global pandemic.  We have begun the critical work to address the difficult work of equity to ensure we meet all kids’ needs and to address the discrimination of the historically marginalized. I think we have accomplished a few things. 

The biggest indicator of our success is the ease of our current leadership transition. Succession planning is critical to any healthy organization to keep it vital, learning and growing and that plan is working.  Dr. Brian Jordan takes over right where Dr. John Heim left off leading his staff to sustain KASB and to diversify services to meet all members’ needs. 

I, like you on your local boards, am only one of 18 committed colleagues on the KASB board, walking together to create this map for our incredibly competent staff to implement the vision to lead, serve and advocate as the voice of Kansas public education. We all come from different places, experiences and perspectives. If I have learned anything, the most important is that we need not shout or yell dissent or divisive diatribes. Like a choir, when we listen to one another, we create a great chorus in harmony working to make sure our home on the range is even more colorful and complete for the next generation of Kansans. 

The foundation for that starts with each child having a stable, caring adult in their lives. We can’t be that person for every child, but we can hire teachers, bus drivers and cooks who care about kids to fill those roles. We can encourage parents to engage in their student’s education by partnering with us to create warm, inclusive environments that model the characteristics we want in our future employees and caregivers.  We are planting the seeds of kindness, compassion, respect, and acceptance for each child to remain resilient through the storms across these plains and to the stars through difficulties.  Ad Astra per Aspera is more than just a state motto, it’s way of life. 

I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity I’ve had to lead, serve and advocate with each one of you. I will forever cherish the relationships I’ve formed. Thank you for walking with me. While the work on this board is ending, I will never stop advocating for Kansas kids and I hope our lives intersect again.