Each fall, there is an education technology conference held at Gillette Stadium, where they use the common areas for keynote speakers and the luxury boxes for breakout workshops. Back in 2010, the first time I attended, I have to admit that I became a little distracted when the Patriots actually came out and started practicing on the main stadium field. I don’t really recall what that particular workshop was about, given that I spent most of the 45 minutes watching the players run through their drills.
I had to leave the conference early to get back to Shrewsbury for a meeting. As I tried to find the right parking lot, I ended up walking by the players’ and coaches’ entrance to the stadium, where I noticed the sign on the door. It said:
When you come here:
• Do your job
• Work hard
• Be attentive
• Put the team first
I wrote down what it said and filed it away, and then I ended up using these four bullet points at our back-to-school leadership team meeting the following August, when we had a discussion about the importance of leaders articulating the organization’s values and setting clear expectations. These past several weeks I’ve been reminded time and again of the words on that sign, as “Do your job” has become the Patriots’ and their fans’ motto during their run to the Super Bowl.
“Do your job.” It’s a simple imperative, but often not simple to achieve, which is why I believe the other three directives are on that sign as well. Doing your job requires hard work. It requires skill. It requires being attentive to detail. If you work with others, it requires putting the team’s needs ahead of your own. To do it really well, it requires passion and commitment. You have to go beyond “good enough.”
As I think about the challenges our students will face in their futures, it is clear to me that “good enough” will not work for their education. We, and they, need to do our jobs better than we ever have. As your superintendent, I assure you that the Shrewsbury Public Schools team is up to the challenge, because I see examples of hard work, skill, attention, and teamwork every day in our schools.
Unlike the Patriots, the work of our schools doesn’t depend on a series of singular events, leading up to a championship contest - there is no Super Bowl of public education. There are indeed many measures of school district success where we must challenge ourselves to succeed, but it is important to recognize that excellence and learning are not zero-sum propositions, where if someone wins someone else must then lose. If we do our jobs well, we will provide the opportunity for all of our students to win when it comes to maximizing their learning and reaching their potential.
So, if you are a community member who supports our schools by providing needed resources; a parent who ensures your children are well prepared for school; an educator who delivers excellent instruction; a staff member who provides great support; or a student who is giving your best effort to learn: Thank you for doing your job. You inspire me to do the best I can at mine.
Parts of this post were adapted from remarks I made at the Shrewsbury Education Foundation Awards Dinner on January 24, 2015
