How to Win Friends and Influence People

One way would be to read Dale Carnegie's ancient but still relevant book of the same title. Another way would be to study the way that our new superintendent is dealing with community groups and organizations, and then do the opposite. In the past couple of months he has undertaken a series of actions that have left many of us in head-shaking disbelief, as he has disregarded and undermined some of the most respected and longstanding organizations involved with the district, most notably the YMCA and the EEF.

In the case of the YMCA, here's the quick info:

• The YMCA Playground Partners program is a means for parents to be involved in  while also providing an excellent service to the schools and students.  Playground Partners is "an outdoor curriculum, through collaboration with parents as trained playground coaches, to enrich the playground..." experience.  The program is subsidized by the YMCA itself, and the district contributes funds as well. As those of us with kids in the schools can confirm, this program is excellent and benefits a great number of students at a relatively low cost.
• In addition, the superintendent announced that the district is planning to discontinue the after school care programs that the YMCA runs at three of the district's schools. This is possibly even more stunningly unilateral than the playground program item. The after school programs host scores of students in a professionally developed program. Those of us who have kids in those programs know that they are excellent, and provide an alternative to sending our kids to some random after school daycare away from school.
• The long and short of it is that the superintendent has proposed completely eliminating the YMCA after school care and Playground Partners programs. He had apparently not consulted with the YMCA, the school sites, or the parent community, since there has been quite an uproar in the wake of the board meeting. When the director of the YMCA, Susan Hight, was able to address the superintendent and the board, it was only by way of a public speaker's card filled out at the meeting. As far as we've heard, the YMCA found out about the cut when the meeting agenda was posted the Friday before the meeting. 
• When the YMCA did speak at the meeting it was to request that the cuts be put on hold until the district and YMCA could further discuss options.
• This is a clear example of the the Baird way of doing things: Shoot first, ask questions later.
• Why would the superintendent so snub a community organization that is as respected and established as the YMCA, and over a program that the YMCA subsidizes?
• The answer lies in the fact that the district hopes to expand its own after school programs which Baird & Miyashiro view as a cash cow. Sadly, these programs are nowhere near the caliber of the YMCA programs, in both training and organization. The district's after school programs are staffed by well-meaning and energetic young people who generally look to be of recent-high-school-graduate age. This is fine, except that they're not trained adequately, the turnover is very high, and the programs are really more akin to after school babysitting. While it might be in the interests of the Educational Services Department's bottom line to reap financial rewards from such an expansion, those of us who have children in the programs know that doing away with Playground Partners and expanding the district's after school effort will not do anything to involve parents and will definitely not be a positive move for the kids.

In the case of EEF, here are some recent developments:

• The superintendent has stated that he would prefer to disband the EEF and devolve its various activities  to the PTA at each school site.
• He has enlisted and co-opted the help of the present EEF president in an effort to severely limit EEF activities, including restricting them from on-campus activities.
• As the EEF battles internally with this problem of its leader aligning himself with the superintendent, the schools and community are sent mixed messages about what EEF is, what it's up to, and whether or not the district supports it.
• Based upon his recent actions, we must question where the loyalties of EEF president Bill Abrams lie. It appears, from the recent EEF meetings, that he has made some proverbial 'deal with the devil' and agreed to be Supt. Baird's henchman. This is unfortunate because EEF as an organization has become a well respected group that parents and the community can be proud of due to the efforts of past leadership and the ongoing work of those lower in the organization. We would humbly recommend that those who are other office holders in EEF use whatever procedural mechanisms may exist to oust Mr. Abrams and regain control of their very venerable and well regarded name.
• We do not yet understand why Supt. Baird would want to bring about the end of the EEF, but we're trying to. It seems unfathomable that a superintendent would intentionally seek to disband an organization whose sole mission is to raise money which is subsequently donated to the school district. Has he never heard that it's not good to look a gift-horse in the mouth?

And what did all of this amount to at the board meeting? You would assume that the school board members, four of whom have been here since Moses and should understand the dynamics of community groups like the YMCA and the EEF, would have been stunned at these strange power grabs and reacted accordingly. But, in typical fashion, they did not chastise the superintendent for alienating two of the most supportive groups in the district, they did not ask many questions or even appear all that interested. The did agree to postpone the cancellation of the YMCA after school program until further notice. 

And the perhaps the most disheartening thing is that they aren't so apathetic because they're bad people, it's because they're just too disconnected from the school district and constituents that they're supposed to serve. The board members who have been there too long need to agree that it would be best to get an infusion of new energy, oversight, and attention on the board. Please, Bill Parker, Cathy Regan, and Marla Strich: You have all had a long and productive run on the board (since the '90s). Send a message that you see the value of stepping aside for the good of the organization. Announce that you won't be seeking re-election in order to encourage folks who might like to run but are intimidated by incumbents. It will be an honorable and thoughtful thing to do.