Connector
May/Summer
 
Wow!  What a year!  At least it’s May so it shouldn’t snow more than one or two more times before summer.  There’s nothing like a light skim of ice on the approach to the pole vault pit to make the event more exciting. 
 
As usual, life seems to speed up this time of year in schools and ESUs around the state.  Questions need to be answered quicker and problems need to be dealt with yesterday.  Every job becomes fraught with challenges.  I’m finding out that my job, although stressful at times, is not nearly as dangerous as retirement is for the ESU 10 Board of Directors’ President, Lanny Kizer.  During a recent phone call he shared that he had an excuse to come to the house to put ice on his eye since, in his words, “I’m having a bad day because I came around the front of the grapple fork and it caught me right above the eye.”  Now that gives my day perspective.  I’ve had to put up with the sharp wit of the Callaway school superintendent, but have never had to ice my head because of it.
 
It’s always essential to focus on the job, no matter what it is!
 
The focus at ESU 10 right now is on the 2010-2011 Program of Services.  Concerted effort is extended to find the right programs and the associated funding sources so that we might continue to “partner with our customers to meet the changing needs through professional expertise, training, and support.”  This challenge gets more difficult to solve when projected funds are limited and needs are growing.  It becomes our job to administer, fund, and staff quality essential services in an efficient and effective way. 
 
Fortunately for all of you, I’ve always loved working jigsaw puzzles.  Hooking the right pieces together to complete the picture has always given me great satisfaction.  Working at ESU 10 is no different.  One might need to think out of the box on occasion and we might not always stay inside the straight edge, but there is never any need to force a piece when the picture starts to take shape.  The staff at ESU 10 always seems to find the right way to make things work. 
 
We need your help to make this happen.  Hopefully by now all of you will have answered the yearly ESU 10 survey.  The responses on that survey are used to evaluate what we do, to help us initiate new programs, delete unnecessary programs, and strengthen existing programs.  Thank you to all who do actually complete that survey. 
 
It’s time for me to get back to work.  The staff here will meet May 21st to discuss and decide how to implement recommendations made by the state accreditation external team.  I’m preparing for that event by becoming a trainer in the Aligned Thinking process.  Coach Jim Steffen says it can help me do what many believe impossible.  Now that sounds intriguing.  Next year could be quite entertaining.  

 Until then, thank you for what you do with and for children.  You are all important and valuable

The external visitation team members have come and gone from ESU 10.  They found that we do indeed “partner with our customers to meet changing needs through professional expertise, training, and support”.  This group, led by the fastidious Freida Lange, did an excellent job of understanding this organization in a short period of time.  We appreciate their efforts.  The information received from this team will be used for serious discussion and study as the ESU 10 organization strives to meet your many and varied needs in the years to come.
 
You will soon be receiving the annual survey that asks specific questions as we try to gauge how to serve you better.  Some of the questions will reflect findings from external team members.  In this article, however, I would like to briefly touch on the main findings that were reported. There were three commendations and two recommendations for next steps in the overall improvement process.   
 
 The first commendation cited that ESU 10’s technology service and expertise are effective, progressive, and well staffed – on “the cutting edge”.  It is always our intent to serve a wide variety of publics.  One of the most important publics served is the ESU 10 staff.  That learned expertise pays exponential dividends when working with school districts.  Technology allows the ability to provide quality visionary and cost-effective activities to all publics.
 
The second commendation noted that collaborative partnerships within ESU 10 boundaries and beyond are noteworthy in their diversity and growth. This organization sees that these partnerships are critical for future success.  Some publics feel services become client/provider situations.  That is never the intent at ESU 10, but it is a role we have reluctantly accepted in some cases if it creates new opportunities for participating entities. 
 
The third commendation highlights the knowledgeable staff and diverse areas of expertise at ESU 10 which allows it to readily meet the needs of our publics.  I have often remarked about how fortunate I am to work with a staff that is so dedicated to service and quality.  We are just beginning to better discover how to work with the strengths of others to promote individual growth.     
 
The first recommendation centered around the thought that we need to select and adopt a model of continuous improvement to provide a uniform structure and process to be used by all ESU 10 departments.

More action planning will be formalized.  Short range planning will continue, but more emphasis will be placed on long term planning as we prepare for school district needs 5-10 years in the future.  
 
The second recommendation suggests that we analyze and use multiple sources of data to establish target goals and objectives from which action plans will be developed.  This organization will work on more consistent methods of data collection.  There are some deep philosophical differences that come into play concerning this topic that will need to be resolved, but that introspective thought process will only strengthen this organization in the future.
 
There are many predictions that could be made concerning this study.  The staff at ESU 10 will need to sort through the facts to make rational decisions.  We would hate to be as overly optimistic as some have been over the years.  We wouldn’t want to make mistakes similar to that of Arthur Summerfield, the 1959 US Postmaster General, when he predicted that before man reached the moon that mail would be delivered by guided missile; or Dr. William Clark, 1966 president of the Arthritis Foundation, when he predicted there would be no arthritis by the year 2000.
 
Whatever decisions are made, be assured that "Our Focus is on Serving You!" 

Connector
November/December
 
TRANSFORMERS -What are you doing to transform education to best meet the needs of the students and institutions that you serve? 
 
That question has bounced around in my brain since I last put my thoughts into print for the September Connector. Fortunately for me, I work with an outstanding staff at ESU 10 where “we partner with our customers to meet changing needs through professional expertise, training, and support.” The knowledge level of this group continues to amaze me. There’s more to us than meets the eye. 
 
The pixels were barely captured on the screen before I received an e-mail from Adam Griebel, ESU 10 Programming Analyst, offering me his valuable expertise and knowledge on the topic of Transformers. One of his programming partners, Brian Schanbacher, validated the information. Nothing I learned from their tutelage pointed specifically toward creating educational excellence, but many of the principles do seem to apply. Besides, armed with this newly discovered knowledge, I have received an elevated level of respect from my grandsons as I casually toss about new vocabulary terms.       
 
What I have concluded is that the vast majority of educators working in the ESU 10 area display characteristics of Autobots. Autobots is an abbreviation that comes from the phrase – autonomous robotic organism. For those of you who don’t have an Adam to help you, these would be the good guys. They are led by Optimus Prime. The name of this leader brought a smile to my face.  Who among us would not like to be at an optimal level when we hit our prime?    
 
Then there are those bad guys out there called Decepticons. I just love the because, name if nothing else, it seems so applicable to real life. There are always those forces out there that try to steer educators and education in questionable directions. These robots are led by the infamous Megatron. Just the “mega” in the name makes the problems bigger than they deserve to be.
 
So there you have it. It is once again the classic fight of good versus evil. It is ESU 10's goal to help all that we serve to transform into classroom Autobots that maximize learning and achievement for all students. We want to serve as the All Spark in this process. That would be the power cube that, as defined by Adam, creates life from lifelessness.  We wish to add to the fountain of knowledge and wisdom. It would be our hope that you can plug into us to acquire infinite powers to be used in your professional careers. As we have learned through our many and varied experiences, there will always be Decepticons so we need powerful Autobots ready to stop them. May the force be with you. Are you up to the challenge?
 
What can we do to energize you?
 
                
 
 
Did You Know…
·        That ESU 10 serves 34 public school districts that have property valuations certified in 24 counties? 
·        That the 2009-2010 property valuation for the area served by ESU 10 is $12,060,543,981?
·        That the 2009-2010 ESU 10 general fund budget actually decreased $552,316 from what it was in 2008-2009?
·        That the ESU 10 tax levy rate has remained unchanged at .015 per $100 of valuation since 1998?

I’m suffering flashbacks today as I write this article.  It may take some research on your part, but I remember vividly that today, in the year I started higher education at Dana College, the Beatles’ animated psychedelic film, “Yellow Submarine”, premiered in London.  In it the Beatles save Pepperland from the evil Blue Meanies.
 
You are probably sitting there scratching your head wondering how in the world this relates to ESU 10 as we “partner with our customers to meet changing needs through professional expertise, training, and support”.  (No Kerry Kimple, this is not what fuels my dislike for the Duke Blue Devils.) The thought originates from the fact that it is always a battle at ESU 10 to provide an efficient and effective Program of Services that meets your needs.  To this end, staff is completing an in-depth assessment process this fall to gather information that should maintain and improve our ability to serve you.
 
One of the exciting parts of an ESU job is the effort to accurately predict future school district needs and budget and train in preparation for those events.  This staff's ability to do just that is what makes them so valuable.  Your assistance and suggestions are always appreciated to insure that we focus on your needs. 
 
There are many evil Blue Meanies lurking out there.  In the next few years they are poised to adversely affect educational opportunities in this state.  Some of them will need to be dealt with and endured.  Others will be avoided through local, regional, and statewide catalytic thought and effort. 
 
I constantly communicate with peers located throughout this country.  It is understood that K-12 professional educators provide a quality product to Nebraska students.  All of us at ESU 10 are proud to be part of that effort.  In these times, none of us can be an entity unto ourselves.  Through cooperation and foresight we can continue to provide excellence.  We can transform youngsters into contributing adults.
 
Transformers----- I see my next article looming!                 
 
 
Did You Know…
 

• That the Assistive Technology Partnership located at the ESU 10 Cozad Center provided 176 training activities, 348 consultations, 151 demonstrations, 122 awareness activities, and loaned 401 items in 2008-2009?

• That ESU 13 in Scottsbluff recently joined the Greater Nebraska Educational Network Consortium which provides shared technology and internet services with ESU 10, ESU 11 in Holdrege, ESU 15 in Trenton, and ESU 16 in Ogallala?

• That the ESU 10 Title I Cooperative will serve 16 of the 34 school districts in this ESU area and administer over $1.2 million?

• That the last print edition of The Connector will be the May/Summer issue of 2012?  After that issue, it will be an online publication only.

It is hard to believe that this is the last “Connector” assignment requested from me for the 2008-2009 year.  This article is written in March to meet deadlines, but the end of the year is in sight.  Larry Babcock, Elm Creek Public Schools Superintendent, reminded me today that school years are like a long distance run.  You need to hang in there and finish strong.  That sounded like such good advice I decided to share that thought with all of you as you close out your year.
 
The staff at ESU 10 has a hard time discerning the beginning and end of school years since our fiscal year ends June 30th.  That date comes right in the middle of the wild and crazy summer training and equipment upgrade season.  The finish line always seems to keep moving for us, but the staff here appears to enjoy the challenge of always stretching toward a phantom finish line as we continue to “partner with our customers to meet changing needs through professional expertise, training, and support."  It is a joy working with a group of people who derive pleasure from solving the problems that confront them.  These problems, and your identified needs acknowledged in our annual survey instrument, continue to drive this ESU to provide a quality Program of Services.   
 
The one thing that I have gleaned from the outstanding ESU 10 staff  over the past fifteen years is the desire that each of them has to be an impact person.  The first time I ever thought about this concept was back in 1991 while employed as the superintendent of Gothenburg Public Schools.  We were working with the Power of Positive Students International Foundation.  Michael Mitchell was the executive editor of their magazine titled “Positive Ink."  He gave many good examples about how we impact others, but summarized his thoughts by saying that, “The power to produce positive changes in others is available to all of us.  We can be impact people if we focus on encouraging, motivating and inspiring others to be the best they can be.”
 
It’s my pledge that all of us here at ESU 10 will continue to strive to do our best to make a measurable difference for all of the publics we serve.  Thank you for providing the impetus for us to want to be impact people so that we can do just as Mr. Babcock suggested – finish strong.
 
 
Did You Know… 
 
    ·   That ESU 10 is operating the crane cam for Rowe Sanctuary at www.rowesanctuary.org?
    ·   That Jason Everett built new kiosks located at each main ESU 10 entrance that inform and direct visitors to locations and meetings within the building?  Jason also programmed the software used at these centers.
    ·   That 31 school districts have already contracted for special education programs to be delivered during the 2009-2010 school year?  
    ·   That Rick Love, Vocational Transition Specialist, hosted a seminar for the 25 participating ESU 10 transition consortium school districts with topics that included individual healthcare plans, College Savings Plan of Nebraska, improving student outcomes, and vocational assessment?
    ·   That Paula Mellinger and Marcia Carmann have both decided, against the wishes of the ESU 10 administrator, to retire at the end of the current contract year?  Best wishes to both of these fine educators.