On February 6, 2021, I virtually attended the Concordia Leadership Symposium featuring Dr. David Miyashiro, Superintendent of Cajon Valley Union School District and Ed Hidalgo, Chief Innovation and Engagement Officer. This presentation highlighted the innovative practices in the district prior to COVID and now, tough decisions that have been made during the pandemic with the hopes of inspiring future school leaders.
How should school leadership handle tough decisions?
During this global pandemic we are living and problem solving through unprecedented situations. While 90 percent of schools in California, including my school, are still using distance learning models, Cajon Valley began opening up to a hybrid learning model at the beginning of this school year. According to Dr. Miyashiro after conversations with all stakeholders in the school community Cajon Valley Unified School District made the decision to open child care pods for families of essential workers. This demonstrated the innovation as they opened before the safety guidelines of mask wearing and six-feet distance came from health departments. When Dr. Miyashiro said they opened in April, I initially was shocked and thought it was a reckless decision. However, the testimonials from students, parents, teachers, support staff and leaders reinforced the district’s decision to reopen early.
However, there was a point that made me wonder if reopening early was truly the right decision. Dr. Miyashiro said an email went out in December 2020 stating that 35 teachers were out and there was a shortage of substitutes. While he went to a school and was a guest teacher for the day, what about the other 34 classes that were without a teacher that day? I wondered how the children and schools were affected by the large number of classrooms without a teacher. If so many classes are without consistent teachers, how is this considered successful? This helped me understand how difficult it can be for school leaders to make decisions and also the need for reflection and revisiting decisions if they are not proving successful. California Administrator Performance Expectation (CAPE) 5A is all about administrators reflecting on their practice and if decisions are successful, perhaps this district needs more reflection and monitoring of success.
As the symposium progressed, it was clear that Dr. Miyashiro and Mr. Hidalgo pride themselves with the innovative practices in their district, but I wonder if their vision sometimes fogs their decision making. Along with the example above, I am curious how the local teacher’s union felt about the decision to reopen. While he spoke about conversations with stakeholders, I did not hear him mention how negotiations It is clear that the leadership at Cajon Valley Union District are problem solvers and have the community’s best interests in mind, however it is not clear if they are reflecting on and evaluating the success of some of their decisions. In his presentation on Leading in Times of Uncertainty, Eric Sheninger states when making decisions a consensus must be made by consensus of ALL stakeholders, which is reflective of CAPE 1B. If leadership is ignoring the concerns of teachers, they can not say all stakeholders were on board with their decision.
School district leaders are consistently faced with hard decisions and while it's refreshing to hear school leaders who do not run away from those tough choices, I hope they take time to reflect on those choices.
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