On Monday, I had the special privilege to participate as the "Principal for the Day" at Tully Elementary School in Jeffersontown. For the greater part of the day, I was able to help "lead" the Tully Tigers through their daily activities from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, to recognizing Tully's Terrific Tigers (student awards), to making classroom rounds and reading to students, to talking with a number of the faculty and staff. It was a quite enjoyable experience and I'm certain that I was the true benefactor of the day!
As I walked the halls and visited the classrooms with Dr. John Ansman, the real Prinipal for Tully Elementary, I was amazed at the striking number of similarities that exist between his job and my own (including my being interviewed and having to answer the tough questions from a very inquizative 5th grade class!) Every situation we encountered throughout the day parallels the same issues, challenges, and opportunities that I see each day in the hospital. Dr. Ansman has purview and responsbility over personnel coaching and training, parent communication and interactions, coordination of community volunteers to assist the operations of the school, quality monitoring and planning to ensure high KAT test scores for his school and students, budgeting issues, and political advocacy and awareness within the city and state to name a few. I of course, have ultimate responsibilty over our team members and their development, meeting and greeting patients, accountability for quality and core measure scores, budgeting issues, and advocacy with our governmental officials to name a few. Most importantly, we both share the responsibilty for providing and ensuring a caring and compassionate environment for those that entrust the future and lives of their loved ones in the hands of our team members and professionals.
I had no idea how much our jobs and our missions overlap. The public school systems in our country are often criticized, but from the interactions I have had since living in the community, I can offer nothing but praise for JCPS. When considering the limited resources with which our schools have to operate, I am quite impressed with and greatly respect the work that our city's teachers are doing to provide for our children. To anyone that would disagree with me, I would encourage you to spend some time in the schools and witness first hand all that is being done to prepare and educate our students for the future.
I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to participate in this wonderful program and see the excellent work that our Jefferson County Public School system is providing to our city's youth. To Dr. Ansman, Linda Dauenhauer, and the entire Tully Tiger team, I salute you for a job well done! Thank you for sharing your day and your school with me, it was a truly memorable experience!
PS. Laura Lagerstrom - I greatly appreciate you thinking of me and making the introduction to make this day possible! Thank you!!!
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