The clock and the calendar drive a lot of activity in our lives. We always seem to need to be somewhere or do something by a certain time or on a certain day.

Back in my career, for example, there were deadlines. The art for an ad campaign had to be completed by, say 6:00 p.m. on a certain day. When I was promoted and put in charge, I questioned everything about the way we were doing business, including these deadlines, which I often found to be arbitrary, that is, there was nothing magical or special about many of them.

More important, they caused a lot of stress, increased errors, and hurt morale. It was the 6 p.m. deadline that was the worst. An artist or writer would come into my office at noon or so and let me know that he or she was working quickly, but could not be sure that the assignment would be completed by 6 p.m.

“So turn it in early tomorrow morning,” I would say. “You can turn it in at 6 tonight, but that’s when we go home and no one’s going to look at it until the morning, anyway. So, really, 9 a.m. tomorrow is the same as 6 p.m. today.”

The effect was immediate: The stress disappeared, mistakes were fewer, and morale improved.

A school district is not a private enterprise and cannot be run as one. But there are business principles that can and should be incorporated into district operations. One of the challenges we have is that too few people in charge have sufficient experience in private enterprise to know which best practices to adopt.

One of the best practices that would benefit everyone is a closer review of the clock and the calendar.

There’s a school board meeting tonight at 6 p.m. If you want to submit a comment, it needs to be done by 9 a.m. this morning. Why 9? Why not 9:30 or 10 or even 8 a.m.?

Why that is so has never been fully explained to us. Comments are “randomized,” to avoid any perception of bias, but that process has never been explained, either.

Then there is the time limit. The public comment section is limited to a paltry 20 minutes and all comments that are read are started with a timer. When the time limit of three or two minutes is reached, the comment is done. When all of the comments reach 20 minutes total, that’s the end.

So why, if the comments are randomized and if everything is run by the clock, do comments need to be submitted by 9 a.m.? This is one of those deadlines that needs to be explained, particularly when the comments portion of the show is routinely extended during in-person meetings when there are a lot of people waiting to speak.

Perhaps there is a good reason. Perhaps not. Either way, some sunlight on the process and the rationale would be helpful. Actually, it would have been helpful months ago when the remote meetings started but providing this sort of information has never been a hallmark of past school boards or the board majority of this one.

Here’s the link to tonight’s agenda, which also has the links to join the meeting at 6 tonight or to submit a comment. If you want to submit a comment, you need to hurry because the clock is ticking.

https://newportmesa.agendaonline.net/public/Meeting.aspx?AgencyID=47&MeetingID=80547&AgencyTypeID=1&IsArchived=False

Tick, tick, tick…

The clock was ticking several weeks ago when the new super discussion began. For reasons I do not believe were valid, the board voted 6-1 to appoint – or anoint – Russell Lee-Sung as the new superintendent. The board should have waited until the new members were seated, but the clock was ticking and all but Trustee Ashley Anderson decided that the decision absolutely, positively had to be made on that day, at that time.

So where was the community input on that? Nowhere. It seems to me that every time a school needs a new principal, there’s a fake community meeting held to ask people what they’d like to see in the new head of the school, as if those characteristics change each time. But for the super, nothing. Just a rush to get it done before some fake deadline.

Tick, tick, tick, tick…

Today’s agenda has yet another fake deadline and this one is on a subject that seems like “deja vu all over again.”

Back in June, the great tragedy of the destruction of the trees at Ensign MS told the community that the school district is capable of anything at anytime. That day, this was the result:

It was a horrible time and the public response was so intense that one would think it would never again happen. But it is, unless you do something about it.

Tonight’s agenda includes item 17.a.2., which is “Ratify Agreement with MTGL for Geopier Foundation Design for the Theater Project at Estancia High School“

It’s major step toward the construction of a new theater at Estancia that would cause the destruction of many beautiful, mature trees on the campus. Here’s an image to help give you an idea of the scope. Say goodbye to the trees in this pic:

Those trees are the only cluster of trees on the entire campus. Kids love to sit under them before and after school and during breaks. But if a board majority has its way, they’ll soon be gone.

Some questions…

1) What’s the rush? This is a major project and the new board members should be able to weigh in. (Tick, tick, tick…)


2) Why that location? The community has identified alternate locations that would provide a theater with the same footprint without destroying the beautiful, mature trees.


3) Where is the community input? There has been a woeful lack of public input on this project. And judging from the banter I have seen on the social media platforms, the community would like more opportunities to weigh in. In their defense, though, community input has been more of a chore for the district than an opportunity so at least they are consistent.

4) Where’s the need? I have seen messages, including some from theater students, indicating that the existing theater needs some improvements and enhancements but that otherwise, it’s just fine. Where are the surveys and studies showing the need? Were they even conducted?

The theater decisions can wait. It can wait until the new board is seated and the new trustees have an opportunity to provide input.

If you hurry, you can beat that fake 9 a.m. comments deadline.

Steve Smith