Outgoing President Shares Four Feelings in Last Stage Appearance
By Jay P. Goldman
At Saturday’s 3rd General Session, Randy Collins, the immediate past president of AASA, said he held a distinction among AASA leaders that probably would never be duplicated.
“I’m setting history,” he said from the stage at the AASA national conference. “I’ll be the first and probably the last (AASA president) to be up here wearing both a hearing aid and braces.”
Collins, who is the superintendent in Waterford, Conn., said his three-year tenure as an AASA officer was marked by extremes that included the global economic crisis, the rise of the war in Afghanistan, the election of Barack Obama to the presidency and the loss of his father. “I’m still catching my breath,” he said.
In his final public presentation as an AASA officer, Collins said he has experienced four distinct feelings over these recent developments:
- Uneasiness over the worsening fiscal picture and its sharp impact on schooling;
- Weariness over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and their role in leading to “more human misery.”
- Great hope and optimism over working with a collaborative federal branch of government in Washington, D.C.; and
- Sadness over his father’s death about a year ago.
Collins described his satisfaction as an officer of the association, saying he felt AASA was experiencing a renaissance under Executive Director Daniel Domenech. He complimented the association’s staff as “remarkable” and thanked the attendees for giving him the opportunity to serve the organization in a leadership capacity.