A false snow day, a marriage requirement and dirty bathrooms - Leadership Lite - Brief Article

School Administrator, Feb, 2002

A Snowy Rerun

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, Ben Helt, communications director of the Northwest R-I School District in Jefferson County, Mo., was reviewing his district's school-closing procedures one day last fall when he received a call from a parent who claimed the local Fox TV station had listed Northwest as closed for the day. Since it wasn't snowing at the time, Helt was puzzled.

Sensing a hoax, Helt called the TV station to correct the error and suggest a new security code for reporting future school closings. The station said it had received no such calls and hadn't broadcast any closings that morning.

About that time, the parent called Helt back sounding embarrassed. She explained she had emerged from the shower and noticed the school closings scrawling across the bottom of the screen. Then she realized her son had put on a videotape of a movie the family had taped off the television last winter--on a real snow-closing day.

Hitched to a Job

Marriage as a prerequisite to landing a superintendency?

Odd as it sounds, Dan Curry faced that request about 10 years ago from the Hancock County, W.Va., school board, whose outgoing superintendent, divorced after 30 years, had caused a public stir through his womanizing with unmarried teachers before the board asked him to leave.

Curry, himself divorced for about three years, found the Hancock board "skittish of getting another single superintendent." So, he reports, "they very directly asked me if I might get married."

It so happened that Curry was almost engaged at the time and making joint career decisions with his intended. He and Carolyn were married that May, and Curry took over the Hancock County post two months later.

Dirty Duty

The responsibility for emptying garbage cans, vacuuming the school halls and cleaning the urinals and bathroom sinks doesn't usually fall to well-paid school administrative staff. Unless you work in Chilton County, Ala.

Last summer, the central-office staff opted to take over the janitorial duties to cope with state budget cuts, thus allowing the building's regular custodian to be reassigned to a newly opened school that was without custodial help.

The administrators took to the dirty work in stride, posting friendly reminders to each other about the merits of cleanliness. One bathroom sign read: "Your mother doesn't work here. Clean up after yourself."

Eye of the Beholder

Kirk Strang, a veteran education lawyer in Madison, Wis., spends enough time around school leaders to realize the grass may indeed be greener on the other side of his professional fence. So Strang compiled the top 10 reasons why it may be better to work as a superintendent than as a school attorney.

Here are five of the reasons he told a group of superintendents:

* Think about it: Which one is the boss?

* How many superintendent jokes have you heard lately?

* If we asked to be called "doctor," people would just laugh.

* Your career is dedicated to teaching children the English language. Our careers are dedicated to its complete destruction.

* Three words: Tax-sheltered annuity.

Techno Follies

Feeling challenged by the technology at your finger-tips?

Many workers apparently are, reports The Wall Street Journal , which compiled anecdotes from the "you ain't seen nothin' yet" department. Consider these:

* Because of a flood of calls asking where the "Any" key is on their keyboard, Compaq may change the command of "Press Any Key" to "Press Enter Key."

* A technician from Dell received a call from an enraged customer who was upset when his computer told him he was "bad and an invalid."

* An exasperated owner of a new Dell computer complained she could not get the PC to power on. "I pushed and pushed on this foot pedal and nothing happens." The foot pedal was her computer's mouse.

* The help desk at Canon fielded a call about a printer that wasn't functioning. "Are you running it under Windows?" the technician asked. "No, my desk is next to the door," she replied. "But that is a good point. The man in the cubicle next to me is under a window and his printer is working fine."

Sleep Deprived

You know it's been a long workweek when the superintendent shows up early on a Friday morning and finding his office locked aims the remote control for his car at the doorknob.