Houston Blog
My blog from Houston, Texas. Updated most weeks, usually on Sundays.
Once again, this week turned out to be busier than I had expected. This was partly because of some interesting travel. On Thursday morning, after conducting several early meetings, I travelled to Dallas to see scores of Awty students perform in the annual ISAS (Independent Schools Association of the South-West) Arts Festival. Hosted by Greenhill School in the Dallas suburb of Addison, this was a marvelous display of young talent, not only from Awty (although I thought our students were especially sensational!), but from throughout the American south-west. I was able to see several of our groups performing - after a very extended conversation with the security guards at the gate of the School who wanted to refuse me admission because I didn’t have a security card, this being the card you collect from inside the campus!!! After eventually giving away my drivers’ license details and negotiating my way inside, I thoroughly enjoyed the performances by the Awty Jazz Band (always a hit with me), some individual and duet performances in the “Coffee House” (which was actually a tent, not a house, and it had no coffee), the Woodwind Solos, the vocal solos, and the Awty Strings. I was a little sorry that I couldn’t stay for Friday’s performances and Saturday’s because I had to get back to Awty to teach my ToK Class, and I thus missed the Awty Choir (a real pity!), the strong solos and ensembles, the wind ensemble and some other performances that I am sure will have been sensational.
I had another long day of travel on Tuesday when I drove to Belton (north of Austin), and back. A meeting of Heads of Schools was called at very short notice by TAPPS, the sporting organization in which we participate, to address some issues that had been the subject of recent articles in the national press. When I looked up the directions on Google Maps, I discovered that the direct route would take 3 hours and 8 minutes to drive, whereas the roundabout ‘scenic’ route would take 3 hours and 12 minutes, I decided to save the time and take the direct route - which was actually a very pretty drive as the wildflowers are still providing a stunning display in the rural fields of this part of Texas.
I did feel some pressure on my time, however, as Tuesday evening was also the time scheduled for the first meeting of the Strategic Planning Advisory Task Force. This is a great group of highly motivated parents, students, teachers and others who have volunteered to give up their time and help with the development of our new strategic plan. I managed to return to our campus from Belton with just 6 minutes to spare before our 7 pm starting time.
Our first meeting was a long one (about two and a half hours), but no-one seemed to mind, such was the interest and enthusiasm of those present. I spent some time outlining the nature of strategic planning, including the various components of a strategic plan and the model that our board approved at its meeting in December 2011. The Task Force seemed especially impressed by a short video I presented of NAIS President, Mr Pat Bassett, who explained why the term ‘strategic planning’ is actually oxymoronic - if you want to be strategic, you need to be flexible, which mitigates against planning. Therefore, if you plan, at least in the traditional way, it prevents you being strategic. For that reason, this might be the last time you hear me mentioning ‘strategic planning’ - collectively, we need to start thinking in terms of ‘strategic visioning’.
Bassett argued very persuasively that schools of the future need to be sustainable in five distinct ways, and that their strategic visioning should reflect these five sustainabilities. The five strategic areas he emphasized were:
Financial Sustainability: becoming more efficient and less costly
Environmental Sustainability: incorporating sustainability practices into teaching and practice; becoming more green and less wasteful
Global Sustainability: becoming more networked internationally and less parochial in outlook
Programmatic Sustainability: becoming more focused on the skills and values that the marketplace of the 21st Century will seek and reward (including technology), and less narrowly isolated in a narrow, linear, overly structured approach to teaching and learning
Demographic Sustainability: becoming more inclusive and representative of the school-age population, and less unapproachable financially and socially
Of course, there was much more to each of these labels that I have described here, but the Task Force is keen to use these ‘five sustainabilities’ as the focus for our next phase of consultation, which will be a full day of come-and-go small group discussions in the PAAC from 7:30 am to 7:00 pm (tentatively) on Wednesday 2nd May. Please mark that date in your diaries!
In the survey, respondents were asked to identify the strengths they perceived at Awty. Although some of the results need further breakdown (such as differences between the Primary, Middle and Upper Schools, and between the French and International Sections), the top 10 strengths overall, and for each major sub-group, are shown below:
Respondents were also asked to identify the main areas where they felt Awty could improve. The top 10 overall areas requiring development, with results also shown for each major sub-group, are below:
I could (and would very much like to) say much more about this survey, but then I would run the risk of violating ‘blog etiquette’ to be brief (indeed, I may have already done so!). I will be presenting some more feedback on the questionnaire at the State of the School Address on 16th April. If you can’t wait that long, or if you would like to access a really detailed analysis of information, I have compiled a full report on the strategic plan/visioning questionnaire which you would be very welcome to download. It is a substantial document, comprising as it does 124 pages of detailed analysis and comments, and a copy can be downloaded from http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3656033/Awty.pdf
My bonus photos this week show some of our students performing at the ISAS Arts Festival in Dallas this week.
From Strategic Plan to Strategic Vision
Sunday, 1 April 2012
On Thursday I went to Dallas to watch our students perform at the ISAS Arts Festival. Needless to say, I thought they were brilliant - I can’t begin to tell you how proud I was of them. There are more images of the ISAS Arts Festival at the end of this blog.