One of my great friends is a former psychologist from Texas.  If you listen long enough, she will always say something that sticks.  One of my favorite lines is, “Don’t try to make a happy baby happier.”  What a visual!  A baby is completely comfortable and making sweet noises.  What does the dad do?  Tickle it!  The baby begins to cry and the moment is ruined.

This is also true in school districts. “Highlight” presentations can often lead to the need to pick on things.  The next thing you know, the “highlight” turned into a source of jealousy or contention.  Something that was humming along can take a bad turn with an unnecessary spotlight.  Sometimes, it’s best to be quiet when people are generally happy with aspects of the work.  Resist the urge to tickle the baby! 

Paula's favorite book / story of all time is Pride and Prejudice.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the book, it was written in 1813.  We watched the movie again (for like 1,000 times) this morning.  An older edition of the book sits on our shelf as a present from me to Paula a year ago.  It has meaning.

I am working today on challenges I see heading our direction.  They are on the horizon, yet not difficult for me to see and they are completely predictable.  I was going to write to each of you today outlining these issues in detail.  I have reconsidered and believe lessons from a book written 208 years ago would suffice.

Paula believes that Pride and Prejudice has elements from our lives.  I, of course, am reflected in the character of Mr. Darcy.  She is reflected in the character of Elizabeth (Lizzy).  I will forgo the plot analysis and go to the heart of why Paula loves this book.  It is the story of how people...

Every job has a shelf life. Some will end with retirement, while most will end for other reasons. Regardless, they will all end.

I left my successor three envelopes with simple instructions on the face of each. The first read, “Open this envelope after you make your first big mistake.” After about a month, my friend made a mistake worthy of opening the first envelope. She called me laughing at the message I had written inside. It read, “You just hit a speed bump. It happens. It doesn’t really matter what happened or the circumstances. Blame it on me. It doesn’t matter. I’m gone and plenty of people are happy about it. Nobody will question you this time.” It worked!

Before the end of the first semester, I received another call from her. Again, she was “belly” laughing. She opened the second envelope after a minor blunder. My message to her read, “There is power in taking full responsibility for whatever you did. Apologize!...