Hey Advocates,

I'm at the airport waiting to board my plane back to Idaho. I had the pleasure of keynoting for the Ames School District yesterday. I noticed how fired up the school district staff was about the upcoming school year. 

I want to check on my school administrators. I found an article that said one out of two principals are considering a career change. Many administrators plan to leave within the next three years. I must admit that I haven't been checking in on my school leaders as much because many of my conversations have been around teachers. It makes sense that as a result of teacher shortages, there would be added stress on administrators to fill vacant positions.

My bad principals, technically, I forgot about you for a minute. Yesterday, I sat in a middle school library and engaged in a deep conversation with a room full of school administrators in primary and secondary schools. The topic: Dealing with racial slurs in schools. This is a challenge at...

Greetings Advocates,

I'm just getting home from a trip to Arizona. I had the pleasure of keynoting yesterday at the Pendergast "Power Up" back-to-school event. As the educators prepared for the upcoming year, there was so much positive energy. Thanks for such an incredible experience!

I'd love to come to your school/district. If you are looking for a speaker, let's chat! 

I'm writing this reflecting on how quickly summer is moving - and recognizing that for some of us, the 2022-2023 school year begins in August, which is Monday! By mid-August, most school systems will have their professional days and, in some cases, will have students back in the buildings.

Why does this matter? I've been thinking about teacher vacancies lately and have written about them. I read something recently, and at first, I thought it was satire. The piece I read said that military veterans and their spouses could teach in Florida without a teaching license or certification. I know people who are...

Hello Advocates,

Today is the last day to join the FREE book club. You can sign up here.

I don't know about you, but the summer is just flying past. Here we are in July, and I know some school systems go back in August. This reminds me that I wrote about teacher resignations and retirements last week.

The Washington Post had a story on local retirements and resignations in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Check it out. The report included the remarkable fact that 3% of teachers in the U.S. were leaving the profession. It doesn't sound like a lot, but that's 300,000 teachers. It didn't mention support staff either. Think about that number in light of your school district or your local town or city. That's a lot of teachers.

I know that many districts are looking to fill positions. As I said last week, some are considering creative solutions, such as allowing people who have not yet completed undergraduate degrees to teach. Some districts are offering money to new teachers....

Hey Advocates,

I hope you are having a good summer. And, a nod to those celebrating Bastille Day yesterday. Also, Wednesday was my birthday, perfect timing for my book release 

Many of you know that I was disappointed that we did not take the opportunity to really look at our communities and do a reset during the pandemic. Well, the pandemic is not over. I have read that we can expect two new variants by the fall. Unfortunately, policies in some schools are not keeping up with our reality. In one school district, officials decided to do away with COVID leave, which means that any staff member who has COVID will have to take sick leave or personal days to stay home.

Imagine the impact that will have system-wide. You may have teachers coming to work while they're ill because they don't want to use up their sick leave.

I'm curious because I've seen different reports of teacher resignations. And while schools generally see significant turnover, this year feels very different....

Greetings, Advocates,

By now, those in school have probably started your summer breaks - unless you're a 12-month employee. Whatever your status, I hope you enjoy some time to yourself to recover, reflect, and rejuvenate.

I don't usually do this, but I feel I need to issue a trigger warning for this post. A month or so ago, I wrote about the murder of 19 4th-grade students and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas. I also noted that the husband of one of the teachers had visited her gravesite and had a heart attack shortly after. He died, leaving their four children orphaned.

People tend to draw together when something like this happens, especially in a small community. And this has been the case in Uvalde.

From the very beginning, the role of law enforcement has been questioned. They initially said the gunman entered through a door that had been propped open, then they said the door was closed, but the lock was faulty. 

They said they were there as soon as possible but could...

Greetings Advocates,

Happy Father's Day Weekend to fathers, step-fathers, uncles, older brothers, single parents, mentors, and anyone who takes on the role of a father for a child.

I hope your weekend includes some time celebrating you. Thank you for all you do.

I've been noticing that with the recent school shootings, conversations have turned back to the topic of police officers in schools. To be clear, there are school security officers and police officers, some armed, who serve in schools. 

Since the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, the number of police officers in schools has increased; however, school shootings have also increased.

While much depends on the individual students and their relationship with law enforcement, young Black and Brown students are often in trouble for behavior or disciplinary issues when there are school officers. The majority of school shooters have been young men who are White.

One suggestion on how to keep our students safe is to arm...

Greetings, Advocates,

I've been thinking about you all lately, inspired partly by a recent New York Times story that featured several teachers saying that this had been the most challenging year of their teaching careers. We will probably not know the exact numbers, but I've seen social media postings indicating that in some districts and some school buildings, 55% of teachers are leaving, whether it's due to retirement or leaving for other jobs. One Maryland district had trouble filling sub-jobs in the spring when 58% of requests for substitutes were not filled because they didn't have enough subs available. 

We all know that many teachers schedule their annual physicals, dentist's visits, surgery during the summer, professional development workshops, additional coursework for recertification, and sometimes curriculum development. 

This has been a challenging year in so many ways. What's missing? Family, rest, relaxation, vacation, and time to de-stress.

Some of you are...

Hey Advocactes,

Happy Memorial Day to the readers in the United States. These days, Memorial Day signals the start of the summer. It's often when neighborhood swimming pools open and families get together for a barbecue. We shouldn't forget that Memorial Day is the day we honor the members of the armed forces who have died in service to the country. 

Speaking of those who have died, earlier this week, an 18-year-old entered a school in Texas and shot and killed 19 children and two teachers. The students were in fourth grade. The gunman wounded several others. This is the 27th school shooting in the United States in 2022. When I heard that, I was speechless. I had no words. The first thought in my mind was about my own two kids. My daughter celebrated her 12th birthday this week, and my son is 9. What if this had been at my kid's school?

As more information is released regarding the shooting in Texas, questions are raised about the role of law enforcement. We...