WEEK 5 REFLECTIONS

As Superintendents we are the leaders of the educational organization and those we lead are a reflection of us.  It is our responsibility to lead in a manner that supports ethical and morally right behavior.  We are entrusted with leading the youth of today and building them into leaders of tomorrow.  Our actions should always be in aligned with modeling acceptable behavior.  Also, we must ensure our employees are properly educated regarding Texas educator ethics and when someone violates those standards we must act in a fast, firm and consistent manner.                

For me personally the assignment that I found the most helpful was week three involving revenues because as I mentioned our district has received less revenue the last two years and it has cause us to reassess what we are doing.  I did not realize how many formulas and calculations were used to determine how much money we get to accomplish our goals.  It is often not enough to meet the needs of our students and as leaders we must communicate the need to help students be successful even if it some from some local funds.  As my Superintendent told me communication is the key, keep the board informed so when an expense comes up they can see the justification in needing to correct the problem.  Also important is the number of students in attendance each day and what services they may need.  A decline of 1% attendance over a year can be costly for a district and we need to work together to keep kids coming to school so they can achieve success.  Although the finance system is a mess sometimes we do have a foundation to work on and if we can get legislators in Austin to see the plight we can fix it and generate revenue to build the leaders of tomorrow.

Finally, this course required a group wiki and blog component and I think these things are used or lost.  By returning to my blog I was able to look back at the progress I have made and how I viewed things months ago and how my perception has changed somewhat.  In addition, I became more familiar with a wiki and how to sue it for collaboration.  I am now able to better communicate and share with educators across the state in an effort to get productive feedback on my thoughts and feelings about education.  Working together and reaching a consensus on different topics and seeing that campuses in various locations of the state sometimes fight the same battles.  I am glad to have begun developing a network of classmates to bounce ideas off of and build relationships with.  All in all I have a solid foundation to continue learning about the ever changing world of school finance because of this course.