April 2019: School Administrator
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Additional Articles
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Taking on Goliath: Applying for FEMA Mitigation Funds for SchoolsOne superintendent shares tips for applying for federal emergency funds
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Sworn to Serve and ProtectAs safety concerns mount, the expectations escalate for school resource officers to be a positive force in K-12 schools
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The Deliberate Step of Arming Our Campus PoliceA superintendent shares about the decision to arm campus officers
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Soft and Safe School DesignMitigating the possibilities of a violent act through architectural features that attend to students’ social-emotional needs
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The Structural Rebuild of Sandy Hook, One Critical Decision at a TimeThe superintendent in Newtown, Conn. describes challenges of leadership after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in December 2012.
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A Holistic Approach to School Safety Is it possible and practical to balance metal detectors and mental detectors?
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Lockdowns at School: Differing Views Over What Works
Lockdowns became a staple in school emergency plans following the massacre at Columbine High School in 1999.
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Board EmphasisWhat school boards most want their superintendents to emphasize in their roles.
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Advocating Arts or Athletics?The school board splits its vote on what to cut in a budget shortfall, turning to the superintendent to make the call.
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A Tweet Mightier Than the SwordThe superintendent's use of social media shows "hip" leadership to millennials and young families.
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Pratfalls of Electronic CommunicationStemming senseless behavior of the adults when using district e-mail.
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Changing Mindsets, Changing Adult Behaviors
Turning a board meeting of information into a meeting of action toward student results.
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Our Words Matter
Increasingly, our youngest children are coming to school using language that is coarse, vulgar and lewd.
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Scaling Innovation by Charting, Not Choosing
Any superintendent will tell you that making strategic leadership decisions feels like a tug-of-war between competing priorities.
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Engagement That Boosts Student ReadingLittle Rock, Ark., superintendent’s three goals for lifting student literacy.
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Always Being PreparedAS A YOUTH, I worked as an aquatics instructor and lifeguard at Boy Scout Camp Lewallen outside St. Louis. As part of the job, I was taught how to maintain safety in and around the pool and how to respond appropriately to crisis situations.
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AASA's Rapid Response in Crisis MomentsThe association’s investment in helping leaders deal with catastrophic moments.
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Becoming a Cop to Protect 'My Kids'A superintendent in rural Illinois becomes a cop to protect “my kids.”
Staff
Editor's Note
A New Normal
TANNERSVILLE IS a tiny 200-year-old village (population 539) located inside the sprawling Catskill State Park in upstate New York. It’s also the location where Susan Vickers as the superintendent of the small school system is trying desperately to make sense of her role right now.
Ever since the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla., last February, she has been expected to be her school community’s answer person on all things related to safety and security for the 372 students and 102 staff who make up the Hunter-Tannersville Central Schools. Like most educators who land in school leadership because of their knowhow in teaching and learning, pedagogy, personnel management and student support, Vickers faced a steep learning curve to become conversant in matters of school fortification and “hardening” classrooms.
Two nights after Parkland, at a school board meeting, Vickers pleaded with the board and community to begin action to replace all interior doors in the schools, built in 1931.
Now 14 months later, she says, “My knowledge of this issue is growing daily.” But the angst of feeling ill-prepared to protect those in her care hasn’t fully subsided. She concedes, “We are only one page ahead of [the Monday morning quarterbacks] in understanding what to do.”
In publishing her piece “Education Leader and Security Professional” as the lead feature this month, we see Susan Vickers as the representation of everyone who leads a public school system today when the new normal, as she puts it, “has to be a strong disposition to protect.”
Jay P. Goldman
Editor, School Administrator
703-875-0745
jgoldman@aasa.org
@JPGoldman
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