Let's get together

Let’s get together

by Louis Tutt
President, Maryland School for the Blind

From his remarks at the 150th Anniversary Celebration of the Mississippi School for the Blind

"Let's Get Together" is the topic Dr. Parrish has asked me to talk a little bit about this afternoon, and let me start with a quote from Dr. John Parrish from his article published in the January 1998 issue of Howe's Now: "It's time for parents and residential school educators to join in a common purpose: the shared responsibility for achieving educational excellence in all schools serving blind and visually impaired children. Opportunities must be provided for parents and professionals to exchange ideas on how this vital relationship can be strengthened in an atmosphere of cooperation."

"Let's Get Together" means teamwork and I don't want you to take that word "teamwork" lightly. A team is comprised of a group of people, not just one person. It took a group of people, a team working with John to plan, organize and carry out this conference. Teaming is about customer focus; it's also about collaboration and mutual respect; and teaming is about continuous improvement.

Who are our customers? Our customers are parents and children. When parents send their children to us, those children become students. Those parents expect us, and rightly so, to provide quality programs for their children. So when these students return home to their parents, these parents should be satisfied. And that's called customer satisfaction.

What does it mean to collaborate? First of all, collaboration is more than just cooperation. Collaboration is the working together of people who have mutual respect for one another as they work toward a win-win result. Collaboration means working through disagreements without personal attacks and biases that can, ultimately, cause collaboration to turn into altercation. Where there is true respect for the person, no matter who he/she is or where he/she comes from, then the efforts made toward collaboration will grow, and all the members of the team will feel each has made a significant contribution to the outcome desired. "Let's Get Together"

And what about continuous improvement? Peter Drucker, an American management consultant, has said, "The best way to predict your future is to create it." One hundred-fifty years ago, someone in Mississippi said we need a specialized school for blind children... and the Mississippi School for the Blind was created. Someone in Maryland said it . . . and someone at your specialized school said it, too. And thus, our schools were created. And often down through the years, these schools appointed superintendents, and those superintendents had to continually improve upon the work of their predecessors.

And so we here today, those of us who are superintendents or heads of schools, must be about continuous improvement If we are going to keep our doors open and challenge those who would threaten to shut our doors and take away that part of the continuum that many blind and visually impaired children, including those with multiple disabilities, so drastically need. It means that we as schools for the blind, state departments of education, and local school Systems need to get together and improve the education, regardless of placement, of blind and visually impaired children, including those with multiple disabilities.

These three quality principles—customer, collaboration, and continuous improvement—will not only help us "get together" but also will help us "stay together" in our individual schools and in our Council of Schools for the Blind as well. Benjamin Franklin said, "An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest." And that's what blind and visually impaired students ought to receive no matter where their educational placement happens to be. It does take teamwork... Mrs. Clinton says that it takes a village; I say, it takes a team. T.E.A.M. equals Together Everyone Achieves More.

I also think that we superintendents need to do three things: remember, redo and remain. We need to remember when we first came into the field, how exciting it was and how enthusiastic we were about these new opportunities we had before us. It's not so unlike dating and marriage. Dating is exciting and scary. After years of marriage couples begin to take one another for granted. They must stop and remember the exciting years of dating and the first years of marriage. We, too, superintendents, in a day when there is so much negative for us to deal with, remember those early years when we came into the field of vision. I started out in 1970 as a motor skills teacher of deafblind children at the Michigan School for the Blind. It was a new beginning, an exciting time.

After we remember, let's re-do. Re-do some of those things we did with kids, teachers, and parents. Let's tell the world how turned on we are about what we do. Let's talk about "getting together." Let's talk about leading. Good leaders are good followers. After all, all of us here are role models in one way or the other.

After remembering, we must remain - remain steadfast in our commitments as leaders. Be a rock when the bureaucratic storms come our way. Be ready, willing, and able to stand up for and with those who are blind or visually impaired, including those with multiple disabilities for their right to a quality education. Jim Ryan, the great former Kansas athlete, said, "Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going." Are we in the habit? I believe we are. And if we are not, then we had better be when we leave here this weekend. "Let's Get Together"

I’ll close with some sage advice about fighting, prudence, and laughter. Never get into fights with ugly people, because they have nothing to lose. Never insult an alligator until you've crossed the river. And, if you lose the power to laugh, you lose the power to think.

Agency Contact Information | Texas State Homepage | Texas State Wide Search

Please complete the comment form or send comments and suggestions to: Jim Allan (Webmaster-Jim Allan)