{"id":859,"date":"2011-08-11T16:15:27","date_gmt":"2011-08-11T20:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/?p=859"},"modified":"2011-08-11T16:15:27","modified_gmt":"2011-08-11T20:15:27","slug":"the-mcps-bathtub-is-not-leaking%e2%80%a6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/?p=859","title":{"rendered":"The MCPS “Bathtub” is not leaking\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a posting earlier this year \u2013 An Old Dog plans new tricks\u2026<\/a> I picked up on a fearful concern expressed, both inside and outside Montgomery County, about the consequences of the community\u2019s selection — during a time of diminishing state and local resources — of a replacement for the superintendent who was retiring after 12 years and leaving behind what had been acknowledged by local and national observers to be a district that uniquely<\/em> had worked collaboratively as a system<\/em>.<\/p>\n

At the time, falling back on this site\u2019s usual metaphorical approach to understanding, I then cautioned that superintendent turnover traditionally results in a \u201cThrowing out the Babies with the Bathtub<\/em>\u201d condition\u2026 and how the neighboring Washington DC schools offered a continuing example.\u00a0 Every time they threw out a superintendent (seven of the \u201cbest and brightest\u201d in the last decade) they also threw out the \u201cbathtub\u201d in which the community\u2019s children (and their teachers) \u201cswim\u201d everyday.\u00a0 That \u201cbathtub\u201d — the school district — is the holding space that serves as the container of supportive processes and practices that keep people throughout the system \u201cafloat\u201d as they perform their daily work with and for children.<\/p>\n

Continuing the metaphor, I raised some questions about how (in a general reform culture that tends to view school districts as an \u201cenemy\u201d to be flattened and disempowered) the MCPS story could serve to raise questions for the search committee about the superintendent\u2019s role in developing a sustainable \u201cBathtub<\/em>\u201d\u2013<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0 \u00a0as the systemic container<\/span> created with a single purpose:\u00a0 to develop and support the learning capacities of all the children <\/em>whose learning lives it encloses\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0 \u00a0and as a connected <\/em>container which must hold everybody<\/span> (the children and adults) and everything<\/span> (what they do alone and together in managing learning and teaching) needed to achieve that single focus\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0 \u00a0and within which trust<\/em> serves as the \u201cwater\u201d that supports them \u2013 the medium that makes it possible to create and sustain over time the supportive connecting relationships required to achieve both individual and collective purposes.<\/p>\n

Back to the present\u2026<\/span> The Board chose a new superintendent \u2013 Joshua Starr<\/span> \u2013 who took on the system leadership role only six weeks ago.\u00a0\u00a0 Yet, never having met him, I still feel confident to predict that the MCPS \u201cbathtub\u201d will not leak \u2013 and that the Board and community will not be \u201dthrowing out its babies\u201d to create a new \u201cbathtub.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cdata\u201d that supports this preliminary conclusion comes from the talk<\/em> and walk<\/em> of both the Board and the new superintendent.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The Board\u2019s actions — that went against the grain of what \u201cexperts\u201d say a new superintendent should be expected to do (see the DCPS reference above for how well that worked for them) – seem to validate the theory emerging from my 14 years of observing this Board\u2019s learning process that MCPS had been on a journey that had changed their way-of-thinking<\/em> about themselves, how they fit together with the rest of the system, and why.\u00a0 They appeared to have developed an operational perspective that, in an analysis I did for the Stupski Foundation\u2019s study of MCPS, I had termed \u201cSystemic Governance<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, for me, their choice of Starr fit.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Why Starr?\u00a0 Again with no personal knowledge other than press interviews<\/a> and reports, here are some of his words and actions that tell me his way-of-thinking resonates with the MCPS way-of-thinking<\/em><\/span> that I had been benchmarking for 14 years in order to dig down to a level of understanding that answers the root question \u2013 Why<\/span><\/em> do we do what we do… and in the ways that we do it? \u00a0This had turned out to be a framing perception that gave meaning to the valuable benchmarking of MCPS’ \u201cWhat\u2019<\/em>s\u201d and \u201cHow\u2019<\/em>s by others \u2013 (e.g., Harvard, Panasonic, Stupski, APQC) interested in applying them to their own reform efforts.<\/p>\n

More significantly, not only did he seem to fit MCPS\u2019 way-of-thinking, he fit mine<\/em>. \u00a0What I\u2019ve heard or read suggests to me that he understands both the nature of the \u201cterritory\u201d he has to help the community \u201cnavigate\u201d\u2026 and the key role that only he can play in the journey.<\/p>\n

(To better understand why I purposefully used the term \u201cnavigate,\u201d see Total System Management: The Leader as Convoy Commander<\/a>, and then for how that \u201ctheory\u201d played out in MCPS\u2019 \u201cpractice\u201d\u00a0 – The Convoy Revisited: How did it Steer and Develop its capacity at the same time?<\/a>)<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure that one of the criteria for Starr\u2019s selection had been the \u201ctalk\u201d <\/em>of his \u201cvision\u201d (the attracting \u201clight at the end of the tunnel\u201d).\u00a0\u00a0 But the initial steps of his \u201cwalk<\/em>\u201d recognizes that system leadership requires a complementary vision to create light at the \u201cend of the tunnel\u201d where the journey starts that is comparable in scope and nature.\u00a0 And which must be based on information that accurately illuminates that reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also have established a transition team made up of both internal and external leaders who are helping me learn, as quickly as possible, about the areas that need the most focus to accelerate our progress in closing the achievement gap and raising standards.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cHe has arranged meetings with key people in schools and the community \u201cto sit down and ask questions and find out what would they do if they were in my shoes,\u201d \u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cA transition team composed principally of his long-term mentors and former and current county schools staff members is also delving into school system data and research. The team is planning focus groups and developing a report about the system\u2019s challenges and strengths. It will be delivered in the beginning of the school year.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIn the fall, the school system plans to start a series of \u201clisten and learn\u201d events across the county for Starr to hear from parents and staff members. He also will convene online town hall meetings with students and host public talks about books that reflect his educational philosophy.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So at the risk of mixing my metaphors of the school system as \u201cbathtub\u201d or \u201cconvoy,\u201d at this point I feel good<\/em> (both as an educator and as a Montgomery County taxpayer) that Starr will be the person with his hands on the \u201cfaucet\u201d or \u201cwheel.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a posting earlier this year \u2013 An Old Dog plans new tricks\u2026 I picked up on a fearful concern expressed, both inside and outside Montgomery County, about the consequences of the community\u2019s selection — during a time of diminishing state and local resources — of a replacement for the superintendent who was retiring after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=859"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":877,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions\/877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}