On behalf of the Pittsylvania County School Board, may I take this opportunity to welcome you back to “A Great Place to Learn and Work!” Indeed, we are fortunate to have you working with us. We eagerly anticipate an opportunity to build relationships with each of you. Our mission is to educate and nurture students to be successful and productive citizens. As we begin this school year, we talk of high expectations and lofty standards of excellence. Our vision is to be recognized as having an innovative, challenging and exemplary school system. To accomplish these goals will be quite a challenge. Shakespeare wrote, “To climb steep hills requires a slow pace at first.”

Have you seen the movie Secretariat? It is an inspiring, true story about how faith, perseverance and determination allow us to achieve the impossible. Housewife and mother Penny Chenery, against all odds and with the help of veteran trainer Lucien Lourin, manages to navigate through a male-dominated business to win the first Triple Crown in 25 years.

Pittsylvania County Schools (PCS) are faced with a particularly tough challenge. Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) has become increasingly more difficult to attain. In 2009, PCS had 15 out of 18 schools to make AYP. This year we predict that only 7 out of 18 will attain this goal. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote that, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy!”

Executive Leadership Coach, Marshall Goldsmith’s book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, asks the question: “What holds you back from achievement?” He writes of twenty (20) bad habits leaders (individuals, organizations) possess. One of the bad habits Goldsmith mentions in his book is “clinging to the past!”

Victorious individuals do not focus on the past; instead, they face the challenges of today and tomorrow. Victorious individuals feel the alternative to winning is totally unacceptable, so they figure out what must be done to achieve the victory, and then go after it with everything at their disposal. The challenge for PCS will be how we move forward in the future as an organization to meet the rigorous requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Albert Einstein says, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”

I am confident that the leaders and followers of PCS are going to rise up to meet the challenge of AYP! How? By applying five simple principles to our plan of action!

Principle #1: The plan is progress … not perfection.
Principle #2: The past is over … forget it!
Principle #3: The secret is a determined attitude … maintain it!
Principle #4: The future holds out hope … reach for it!
Principle #5: The need is keeping a high standard … together!

So many times we fall short of fulfilling our potential because of the limitations we place on ourselves. The best leaders and followers race beyond their comfort zones and challenge themselves to overcome the obstacles that stand in their way. If we are to improve as an organization, then we must be willing to improve as individuals. We must seek out those defining moments that accelerate our growth and maturity.

Former Boston Celtics great Bill Russell’s words resonate with application when he said, “The game (NCLB) is scheduled, we have to play it (SOL testing) --- we might as well win (meeting AYP).”

Recently, I discussed the concept of “organized abandonment” with school division leaders. Indeed, it is a concept that you will likely hear more about during the 2011-2012 school year. In a 1999 article entitled, Change Leaders, businessman and educator Peter F. Drucker wrote this about organized abandonment: “The first step for a change leader is to free up resources that are committed to maintaining things that no longer contribute to performance and no longer produce results.” Feedback from the Teachers’ Advisory Council indicated that instructors were intent on educating students to high levels; however, they expressed that a “threat” to the school system exists in the form of certain “things” that get in the way of teachers preventing them from being able to do their jobs well. I was informed that it is for this reason that teachers with ten (10) to twenty (20) years of experience could possibly be leaving Pittsylvania County Schools to pursue educational employment opportunities in other surrounding counties and localities. Strategic and forward-thinking leaders understand that maintaining the long-term viability for an organization is of the utmost importance. I am of the opinion that strategic planning must include eliminating anything that has taken on a life of its own, may have become obsolete or is counterproductive. Budgetary constraints over the past three (3) years have resulted in staff members being asked to do more with less. The time has come for the school division to determine, at all levels (schools, central office, departments), which activities to nurture and which activities to abandon. Taking a systematic look at what we should stop doing, start doing and/or amend doing to appropriately lessen the workload, will lead to improved morale in the school division and greater productivity toward student learning. Ask your building administration for more details. 

The Pittsylvania County School Board will conduct its next meeting on August 9, 2011, here at the Administrative Offices in Chatham, Virginia. The closed session will begin at 6:30 p.m. and the business meeting will start at 7:00 p.m. All interested persons are invited to attend.

Thursday, August 11, 2011, is designated as Open House day for parents and students. The workday schedule for teachers is as follows: