As I was out driving this week I heard a bit of news on the radio that intrigued me. Here’s a piece from Inside NoVa that explains.
‘My drivers have become my trainers’: Superintendent to become part-time bus driver amid shortages
Superintendent Dr. Shannon Grimsley is occasionally stepping away from her desk to transport students to and from school. Photo by Holly Jenkins
Shortage of school bus drivers is pretty much a national thing these days. We’re certainly struggling with it here in Columbia/HoCo. So the thought of a school system superintent getting behind the wheel caught my attention. Was it just a publicity stunt? Or was there more to it?
Grimsley’s mission is to try and see what limitations or challenges currently exist within the hiring process for bus drivers, and if that could be contributing to the ongoing shortage. Grimsley has so far completed about several hours of classroom instruction.
“It seems really overwhelming at first, and I think that leads to why a lot of people won't step through the door to try it,” Grimsley said.
I can’t find a link to the radio piece I heard, alas, but it contained additional insight into Superintendent Grimsley’s purpose. She’s not there simply to gather more information about the hiring process, but also to experience first-hand what the job is like. What are the challenges?
It’s more than learning to drive a bus and pass the numerous written exams. For instance:
- Pay
- Hours
- Supervising students on the bus
- Handling adverse weather conditions
- Interacting with parents
- Responding to student health emergencies
That’s why the quote “my drivers have become my trainers” is so significant to me. How often are people in positions of leadership open to learning from those considered to be “lower” than they are in their organization?
On the other hand, here’s a piece from NBC news about a state legislator in Minnesota who looks like he’s occupying the entire region on the other side of the coin from Superintendent Grimsley in Virginia.
Screenshot from with Twitter account of Peter Sagal
Yes, you read that correctly. Minnesota state senator Steve Drazkowski doesn’t think there are hungry kids in schools because he’s personally never seen any hungry people in his state.
A Republican state senator in Minnesota said Tuesday he was voting against a bill to provide free breakfast and lunch for school students in part because he'd never encountered anyone in the state who was hungry.
This makes me wonder: has he ever put any energy into investigating hunger in Minnesota? More importantly, does he care?
Drazkowski called the bill "pure socialism," adding, "This is about the government dictating to kids what they're going to eat and how much they’re going to eat."
Now imagine if Drazkowski had taken a similar course of action to that of the Rappahannock County Public Schools Superintendent. What if he had made it his job to learn what the needs are, how students are impacted by hunger, and put himself in the position of having the people who know the most about this issue be his instructors.
Not for a photo op. Not for a sound bite. Not for a ‘show horse’ moment on the floor of the Minnesota State Legislature. But because the citizens of the state are his constituents and true leadership means learning, and empathy, and respect for those you serve.
In case you are wondering, the bill to fund school meals passed and is likely to be signed into law by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
The juxtaposition of these two stories feels almost like a
parable to me. In the big picture, both involve schools. Both show how differences in leadership can have wildly differing outcomes. I want to know what happened in the formative years of these two individuals that led to what we are seeing today. How did they get here? What experiences shaped them?
What do you think?
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