BUILDING DISTRICT 227'S VISION COMMUNITY
Our school district 227 powerful vision cannot just be about what we are presently, but what we want to become. A great vision captures a critical dimension of a dynamic school system. For school board 227, it is about where we are going and the kind of school system we are endeavoring to create and restore. A positive vision is focused on the future and seeks to shape events rather than merely allow them to happen. In the twenty-first century, we are bombarded with more calls for proactive, visionary, transformative leaders with an academic and scholarly record of accomplishment as leaders of school systems. These are the school leaders who are willing to bear the risks and sacrifices necessary to achieve larger purposes. In like manner, district 227 needs a visionary school board who are capable of choosing visionary leaders, to speak forcefully addressing the integral and essential role of our public high schools in our democratic system, and to engage the school community to achieve excellent schools and essential accountability-data-driven programs for student success.
As a nation, our history is abundantly supplied with examples of powerful visions that continue to shape our thinking and actions today. The Declaration of Independence is probably our most famous example of a powerful and positive vision statement. When the Declaration was written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, the idea that all men were created equal was itself revolutionary for it envisioned a social state that did not exist anywhere in the world. We have spent the next 236 years struggling with what that statement means, particularly in our own district 227 for over a decade from a school board majority who has sought to question the significance of fulfilling our school board roles, addressing district 227 goals, our First Amendment Freedoms (speech, press, petition, religion), and right to full board and public participation in our community's internal affairs which our nation accords to all men and women. But by April 9, 2013, we were back on course. Today, we can rejoice in the new board's integrity of accountability and glory in the health and strength of addressing our school board roles, accountability, student achievement, reengaging our school district community to achieve this goal, and raising student achievement performance levels in the process.
On our Nation's journey from slavery to freedom for all Americans, in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century, we witnessed the struggle to ensure women the right to vote, and the civil rights movement that began with the Civil War in the 1860s. One hundred years later, in the 1960s our democracy template and freedom movements accelerated and continues to this day. In 1963 we were both participants and witnessed Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech that articulated a powerful vision of a color blind society in which citizens would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. John F. Kennedy's vision of space exploration seized the imagination of the American people. It birthed an era of space exploration that could not have been imagined fifty years ago except as science fiction. In more modest as well as in these grander and more inspiring contexts visions are a decisive dimension of effective organizations.
Positive and inspiring visions require the widespread involvement of School Board 227, District 227 Administration, Staff, Students, Parents, and Community whose lives will be influenced and shaped by the vision. Powerful visions are the result of endless hours of discussion and dialogue among key stakeholders. Without involvement, there is unlikely to be much commitment from those upon whom we must rely to achieve the District's vision. Action, Compliance, and commitment represent the essential levels of school board, district, and community engagement. It is the action required for understanding and putting in place the framework and proper keystones for students to learn and achieve at the highest possible levels. It is a process that Joel Barker, of Infinity International, calls "Building the Vision Community."
David E. Morgan, Ph.D., Educational Leadership
School Board Member
Rich Township High School District 227
School Board Evaluation Chair
Olympia Fields, Illinois 60461
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