Lady Whistleblower Dearest Gentle Reader,
I’ve heard it said that great communication begins with connection, and it’s one of those maxims that seems so apparently true that, rather than being profound, it just comes across as being obvious.
Recently a communication between the King and School Bored fell into this author’s hands, and thus into this column. In the letter, the King disparages the district as a whole, its staff, and to close, the Bored itself.
Now for those of you having no idea what the King is referring to when he talks about people showing up with pitchforks, it’s that he very abruptly denied numerous student field trips: the middle school PBIS good behavior reward trip, the elementary trip to watch the women’s basketball game in Athens, and the preschooler’s trip to visit the Santa train. Like, who does that?? Numerous teachers and parents showed up to the November Bored meeting to speak about their unhappiness at such a unilateral move. The staff showed up with these metaphorical pitchforks when the King made decisions without talking to the staff about whatever his perceived problems were – problems, this author might note, that have still not been made entirely clear. So yes, gentle reader, teachers who stand up for kids are branded as pitchfork-parading peons, because how dare they utilize their right to speak up when they feel that their students are being denied opportunities for experiences outside of school.
It is sad irony then, that he closes the letter with a statement that he is “sad for the students”, but his sadness is that the teachers are not good role models – NOT that the teachers “pitchforks” were because he denied trips based solely on failing “to follow proper procedures”. This author isn’t sure how three separate groups of people all managed to do this and that three trips were denied, but it does seem to point out that either the commonly used procedure of the past was no longer acceptable to the King or the procedure changed without proper communication.
Be that as it may, it seems beyond harsh that the King would punish the children for a procedural error on the part of the staff. When such mistakes or misunderstandings occur, it is often considered a “teachable moment” not an opportunity for authoritarian punishment. (Note – after the meeting, the trips were subsequently approved.)
But all of this points to where we started: great communication begins with connection. Notice there is nothing in this statement that says great communication begins with a great communication plan. And the roots to this one run deep, so please hang tight for a bit of a deep dive.
This author would like to direct you, dear reader, back to the start of the calendar year. The Bored found out that the cost of insurance was going to outpace the projected budget, and it was entirely possible that the Bored would need to make some major cuts, so as not to end this year in the red. As a part of a public meeting, the Queen of Hearts haphazardly made a comment that perhaps the Kingdom could do without the second Ag teacher. The Queen said this because, back in the day, her Ag Daddy managed it alone. Of course, the Queen, not being blessed with profound intellectual gifts, did not seem to understand that the second Ag instructor was actually a replacement for the Industrial Arts teacher that taught alongside her Daddy.
The Queen’s comments so upset the public, that she was called out for it. The Queen did not like this sort of public attention, and she tried to play off her comment as simply brainstorming. In the face of this backlash, the Queen developed a serious backpedal whereby she claimed that she wasn’t really advocating for reducing the position. But this is where it is hard to lend credibility to this statement – because if she wasn’t serious about it and it wasn’t on the table, then why did she bring it up?
There was also blow back to the comments by another Bored member about reducing/removing the band program. This directly led to the band instructor looking for and subsequently leaving for another position during this school year. Whenever people feel that their livelihoods and security could be threatened, it’s only natural that they may feel encouraged to look for alternative positions. (#FAFO)
In addition to the money fiasco, there were other threats towards removing staff members. As a result, at the end of the last school year our last King abdicated, and the Kingdom was left leaderless, and much scrambling resulted in the last-minute coronation of the latest King.
Now, the first thing the Bored did was to get with the new King to create a “communication plan”. If your Kingdom is large – then it only makes sense to have such a structured plan. But when your Kingdom is teeny tiny, well – sometimes restricting communication to the tightest chain of command actually serves to put up barriers for communicating. In his letter, the King says about the Kingdom, “It’s not a place where people come together to solve problems.” Well, you know what? It used to be. And if a principal breaks the chain of command by, say, talking to a school Bored member? You will get reprimanded. As a teacher, you want to talk to the superintendent without first going to your principal? Reprimand. Member of the community? You also need to follow the chain of command. It’s all in their anti-communication plan. It very much seems that both the King and the Bored’s primary concern with the plan was to make sure that there were as many buffers as possible between themselves and everyone else. It has escalated to the point that there are Bored members who have been told that they “legally” cannot talk to anyone. SO HOW ARE PEOPLE SUPPOSED TO COME TOGETHER TO SOLVE PROBLEMS? This is not the historical operation of the Kingdom. This is how the King and Bored decided, together, to try and control both the staff and the public.
This King has never bothered with making connections – not with the public, with staff, or with students. The King thinks that superficial media posts can stand in for the hard work of developing relationships. This author is here to state emphatically that it doesn’t. This is one of the reasons that everyone finds these constant self-posts to be so laughable.
And the School Bored does not deserve a pass on this either. At the very top of the chain of the COMMAND structure, it SAYS that the citizens of the Kingdom are their bosses. Citizens are at the top.( #sorrynotsorry) But if those citizens want to communicate, they will be directed to the “correct” step of the chain of command. Not sure how that really operates when it comes to being an elected official – but this author suspects that this is just another way for the Queen to claim that she doesn’t need to answer to the peasants of our fair land, as she definitely doesn’t want to go through the Ag debacle again! Unfortunately, the Queen doesn’t seem to understand that no chain of command will protect her from the consequences of her own uninformed and thoughtless comments.
All of this illustrates yet another problem with the School Bored. It’s always “rules for thee, not for me”. There have been numerous times where the Bored, the current King, or past Kings have not followed their own protocols and rules. For example, let’s take a look at the previously mentioned letter from the King to the School Bored.
From the Kingdom’s communication plan, there are seven steps outlining communication strategies with some accompanying elaborations. The bolded, italicized statements are directly from the plan.
“The more difficult the situation, the more important it is to communicate face-to-face” Perhaps the King isn’t really serious about leaving since this “difficult” situation was handled via email? This one wonders if it’s nothing more than sound and fury, signifying nothing – and that this is just another tool in the King’s box of manipulation tricks. If anyone should be held accountable for their actions, then surely the King is not exempt.
Also, this step includes the directive that one must “Ensure the message is compliant with district policies” but nowhere in the plan is this expanded upon. Beware fellow communicators, this smells like a trap! Because it has increasingly become common for the higher ups to claim that communication is disrespectful or unprofessional simply based on whether or not the communicator agrees with the higher ups!
”Proofread for informational errors as well as any grammar, punctuation, spelling, omitted words, repeated words, spacing/format, and typographical errors” Hmmmm – need this author comment further?
“Show respect for the other person and their feedback” At the end of his letter, the King basically tells the Bored that he wants this to remain between them until the details are worked out, but he belittles them and tells them he knows they won’t honor his request.
At the last, the strategies suggest, “Encourage feedback and questions, [b]e open to constructive criticism, and [b]e responsive to inquiries”. This author fails to find any of these techniques employed.
Let’s be clear here. The King wants to quit. He doesn’t like the Kingdom, he doesn’t like the staff, and he seemingly doesn’t like the Bored. He wants to be PAID for quitting – he wants BOUGHT OUT.
This is ridiculous. If the King were the professional he claims to be, then it was on him to do his due diligence to research where he was going and who the people were that he wanted to work for. He did not bother to do this. He never bothered to get to know the people who would be working for him. He never bothered to investigate the history of the Kingdom and, even after he was hired – well, he didn’t bother then, either.
He thought, quite wrongly, that he was working for some expansive and massive Kingdom, whereby he would be able to set up enough barriers to ensure that he would never need to make meaningful connections beyond his inner circle and carefully selected lackeys. Small kingdoms mean small communities, and they mean lots and lots of skill in managing personal communication. The Kingdom of FedHock does not need a social media figurehead.
And just to close dear reader, what you were most likely waiting for.
Fixed It.
Sincerely,
Lady Whistleblower
