Things Fall Apart

It's 7:30 and no bells (more like mechanical beeps, but . . .). 7:40 and announcement that class has begun and the bells are not ringing. The bells begin working by third period, but still almost half of the class is tardy, some as much as twenty minutes. Outside the classroom today, I've entered the halls five or six times to ask/tell students to move out of the halls and to be quiet while classes are in session. A cell phone rings in class. A fight erupts. Students flee the building for lunch.

When events begin to converge daily into a fog of chaos, it is a symptom of an organization adrift. It is an interesting experience to simply sit back and watch the ebb and flow of organization and cooperation with disorganization and conflict. It certainly is a part of any organization and human relationships. But, when does it become disfunctional? What is it, I wonder, that makes an organization perform? What is it that makes an organization underperform? And, for that matter, what the heck does it mean for a school to perform?

It is perhaps too easy to cloak problems and answers in a swirl of half understood half truths. Leadership. Ok, what does that mean exactly? What is a "leader" doing from day to day, moment to moment that contributes. Efficiency? What is that? Of course, it depends on what is measured. If efficiency is good CSAP scores, I can provide efficiency, but forget the education. Competition. Should some schools, many schools, be allowed to go out of business. That is certainly the market model.

But, finally, upon reflection here, what is it, exactly, that holds a school together. What glue do we need, or, what already glued connections have we lost, to make sure that things don't fall apart?