Snow--and cold. For those of you living in other areas of the world you probably don't find yourself worrying about frostbite while your kids trick-or-treat. This year in Aspen we are looking at sub zero weather resulting in some last minute costume re-thinks.
Also Indy pass is closed for the season---I got the dogs out there yesterday for some first tracks. The pups always like fresh terrority, and yesterday was good fun--today I might give it a go again but my thin blood might not be ready for the snow and the cold.
Hockey has begun with a weekend in Denver---and 'our' first 6 AM puck drop. I say 'our' because sadly my 13 year old daughter can't drive to the games so I also get the 4:45 AM wake up. This has to be character building right?
I did listen to an interesting book on the commute to Denver---It's called Limitless Mind. While I take much of what the author has to say with a grain of salt, I found some good stuff in it. One thing I really liked is the brain science behind how much more you learn from mistakes, and struggling with problems.
Which brings me back to the school board and all the weirdness surrounding it. The past superintendent, like something out of a zombie movie decided to leap out of retirement with a scary letter to both papers attacking my wife. He accused her of hysterically trying to sever his head from body in a BOE meeting with an angry shaking finger.
Sidebar---I know some of the folks who are against my wife's BOE candidacy have tried to use my blog to damage her (my last post was widely circulated as "OMG even her husband doesn't want her to win".)
To that I say " please get a sense of humor."
But back to Maloy strangeness. Bettina's actual comment was that the fish rots from the head down. Yes, in that analogy Maloy is the head, and removing it is the solution to stop the rot, but to whinge on about civil discourse while calling a woman hysterical, and misquoting her seems a wee bit unprofessional. Maloy also seems totally tone deaf or out of it when he believes his trump card is that my wife didn't reach out to him. While Maloy did reach out to many other APAC members, he seemed to find a straight shooting female business executive just too much. That is hardly my wife's fault. He also complains that his daughter's only crime was being related to him---of course that isn't a crime, but it is the definition of nepotism when you are the head honcho. I (and any governance expert) would suggest that a good leader who wanted the best for their kids would encourage them to take their first job at any company other than the one they run. Which is the point--Maloy was a horrible leader--he lead by fear, intimidation, and retaliation (see either the results of the climate study or his recent attack on Bettina).
To recap, he hired a disbarred criminal with no relevant HR experience to be his head of HR and gave her an unsecured loan (she has since declared bankruptcy), oversaw wonky finances included a line item labeled miscellaneous which makes up 8% of the total budget, high teacher and principal turnover, and declining test results and couldn't countenance a conversation where he took any ownership or responsibility. He demands positive spin to boot. Per Limitless Mind good leaders can admit mistakes and learn from them. Ditto students need to be encourage to take risks, push themselves and make mistakes---that is where deep learning comes from. You should expect to see that trait from the superintendent--instead we had a thin skinned leader who wouldn't hear anything but positive reports.
I have no clue how this will be spun to attack myself or Bettina, but I am sure some Aspenites will find some surprising and creative venues. Might I suggest something related to my not so good looks and lack of sleep as a humours rejoinder. Either way have at it, I don't mind and love a good laugh.
Tune the skis and strengthen the legs---it's about time to make some turns and move on from the school board campaign.
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Thursday, October 17, 2019
ohhh no running for school board
I failed in my attempts to get the wife to never ever volunteer again. Since the last post she actually got two jobs and she is running for school board. OMG---the school board thing might exemplify all that is wrong in a small town like Aspen---basically opinions are like assholes --everyone has one, which creates paralysis because it seems everyone must be heard before any decision can even be considered.
Before getting to paralysis by public input, let me share some of the fun in running for school board.
I am not sure which is harder--running for President or running for school board. Running for President involves raising a lot of money, but people are willing to give money to presidential candidates because the President can really impact your financial condition. School board not so much. While the President doesn't get paid much, it does come with free housing, transportation, and an opportunity to push the limits on the emoluments clause. School board offers nothing in terms of compensation.
The President of the United States gets tons of executive time to nap and tweet about Fox and friends, and free flights to golf courses. School board members have 22 public meetings a year running 4+ hours plus all the real work of the job. Figure it's about 20% of a full time job.
This week alone there are 3 debates for school board----I doubt Trump will do more than that in his entire 2020 run. School board candidates also have multiple papers demanding responses to multiple questions. Have you ever opened up a paper and seen responses from Presidential candidates to questions posed by news papers?
There are some similarities as well, both candidates for President and school board must complete financial disclosure forms, create independent entities to finance their campaign, disclose donations and campaign related expenses. Running for school board and your friend makes a cheese platter for you, your better disclose that in-kind donation. Running for President and you pay off porn stars to keep silent about an affair, no need to disclose. Running for school board and you ask the school for confirmation about data about students college success (college graduation rates) that they mentioned in a school board meeting and get stonewalled. Ask for other data and be told it must be shared with all candidates. Try to speak to teachers or admin about their concerns and be told only if all candidates running for school board can be present. Run for President and you won't face those issues.
Basically you have got to be crazy to run for school board.
Which brings me to my wife--she has huge business chops. She knows when to listen and when to act. There is way to much listening in this town and way too little action. There seems to be a fear of upsetting people, and people in this town are capable of epic grudges. A supporter said she wouldn't put up a sign because she was worried some clients wouldn't use her catering services if she supports my wife.
There is also a ton of lip service to being positive--well there is no positive spin that should be put on hiring a disbarred felon with no HR experience to be the schools head of HR and then giving her an unsecured loan for 30k. That situation along with declining school performance and skyrocketing employee turnover should cost the superintendent's job--it did but only after way too much strum u drag.
My wife has a sales and operations background. What she excels at is asking the right questions. Why isn't the school board allowed to respond at school board meetings. Imagine the parent that comes to complain about John's teacher being asked 'did you speak to the teacher? What did they suggest? Did you speak to the principal? What did they suggest? Did you speak to their counselor? What did they suggest? Why do you think all of their suggestions are wrong? Do you think that we should reset the schools strategic plan or hold the superintendent's feet to the fire over John's situation?' Maybe if the school board spent less time listening to John's parents they could spend more time asking the CFO how come one of the best funded schools in the state pays their teachers so little. Or asking the head of HR what creative things they are doing to lower benefit costs (Roaring fork collective bargaining agreement anyone?).
To put a fine point on it, we got one guy running whose message is ' I am a long term local and blue collar so vote for me' and another who says I am positive and filled with gratitude and even though I haven't been to a school board meeting ever I have gleaned excellent executive management experience running my firm with a handful of employees, while another toutes her financial expertise while sitting on a school finance oversight board that didn't meet for 10 years. And then there is my wife who managed global client relationships for the largest disaster recovery firm during 9/11, who ran a businesses that raised prices 500% and increase customer satisfaction at the same time and went toe to toe with Jamie Dimon over software costs and won. Please please don't vote for her. I am just too selfish to want to share that much of her with you Aspenites.
Before getting to paralysis by public input, let me share some of the fun in running for school board.
I am not sure which is harder--running for President or running for school board. Running for President involves raising a lot of money, but people are willing to give money to presidential candidates because the President can really impact your financial condition. School board not so much. While the President doesn't get paid much, it does come with free housing, transportation, and an opportunity to push the limits on the emoluments clause. School board offers nothing in terms of compensation.
The President of the United States gets tons of executive time to nap and tweet about Fox and friends, and free flights to golf courses. School board members have 22 public meetings a year running 4+ hours plus all the real work of the job. Figure it's about 20% of a full time job.
This week alone there are 3 debates for school board----I doubt Trump will do more than that in his entire 2020 run. School board candidates also have multiple papers demanding responses to multiple questions. Have you ever opened up a paper and seen responses from Presidential candidates to questions posed by news papers?
There are some similarities as well, both candidates for President and school board must complete financial disclosure forms, create independent entities to finance their campaign, disclose donations and campaign related expenses. Running for school board and your friend makes a cheese platter for you, your better disclose that in-kind donation. Running for President and you pay off porn stars to keep silent about an affair, no need to disclose. Running for school board and you ask the school for confirmation about data about students college success (college graduation rates) that they mentioned in a school board meeting and get stonewalled. Ask for other data and be told it must be shared with all candidates. Try to speak to teachers or admin about their concerns and be told only if all candidates running for school board can be present. Run for President and you won't face those issues.
Basically you have got to be crazy to run for school board.
Which brings me to my wife--she has huge business chops. She knows when to listen and when to act. There is way to much listening in this town and way too little action. There seems to be a fear of upsetting people, and people in this town are capable of epic grudges. A supporter said she wouldn't put up a sign because she was worried some clients wouldn't use her catering services if she supports my wife.
There is also a ton of lip service to being positive--well there is no positive spin that should be put on hiring a disbarred felon with no HR experience to be the schools head of HR and then giving her an unsecured loan for 30k. That situation along with declining school performance and skyrocketing employee turnover should cost the superintendent's job--it did but only after way too much strum u drag.
My wife has a sales and operations background. What she excels at is asking the right questions. Why isn't the school board allowed to respond at school board meetings. Imagine the parent that comes to complain about John's teacher being asked 'did you speak to the teacher? What did they suggest? Did you speak to the principal? What did they suggest? Did you speak to their counselor? What did they suggest? Why do you think all of their suggestions are wrong? Do you think that we should reset the schools strategic plan or hold the superintendent's feet to the fire over John's situation?' Maybe if the school board spent less time listening to John's parents they could spend more time asking the CFO how come one of the best funded schools in the state pays their teachers so little. Or asking the head of HR what creative things they are doing to lower benefit costs (Roaring fork collective bargaining agreement anyone?).
To put a fine point on it, we got one guy running whose message is ' I am a long term local and blue collar so vote for me' and another who says I am positive and filled with gratitude and even though I haven't been to a school board meeting ever I have gleaned excellent executive management experience running my firm with a handful of employees, while another toutes her financial expertise while sitting on a school finance oversight board that didn't meet for 10 years. And then there is my wife who managed global client relationships for the largest disaster recovery firm during 9/11, who ran a businesses that raised prices 500% and increase customer satisfaction at the same time and went toe to toe with Jamie Dimon over software costs and won. Please please don't vote for her. I am just too selfish to want to share that much of her with you Aspenites.
Tuesday, October 8, 2019
stop her before she volunteers again
First off, thank God for women (and men) who volunteer. Without them the world would stop spinning (or we would be camping out at away games, cancel outdoor ed, EX ed, pretty much all ed, be eating TV dinners, and wearing the same clothes from the 70s).
To my lovely wife and all of your like minded friends thanks for doing everything you do.
But why oh why did you say "yes" we will take a French kid for 2 months. This isn't an exchange--no one in my family is going to Chamonix. He is not part of an official exchange program (although his mom runs the French side of the Sisters City Chamonix exchange program).
So we have this French kid staying in our house for 2 months. He is a nice enough kid I guess. He walks the dogs and does dishes when asked. He doesn't ask for anything or seem to expect anything. Actually he pretty much does nothing from what I can tell.
I can usually get anyone to talk. Not this kid. He says it isn't a language problem, so I guess it's his personality but check this out.
At dinner last night I asked him if he wanted seconds. He said "uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, ....................... I don't know".
In an effort to get him to talk about something I gave all the kids homework. I asked them each to pick a meal they would like to have for dinner---daughter immediately said pesto and garlic bread, son said schintel, and French kid after a day of thought came up with ' uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I don't know.'
I asked him how school in France differed from school in Aspen he said 'uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh uhhhhhhhhhhhh uhhhhhhhhhhh I don't know' I followed that up with come on give me something and he said 'uhhhhhhhhh school in Chamonix has fewer windows'.
yup so pretty much he sits in his room or sits in a corner and says nothing. There is another French girl here from Chamonix here right now and when asked if they would like to join us for dinner she said no way. When we asked the family he stayed with before when he came two years ago as part of the sister city program if they would like to hang with there old exchange student they also took a pass.
My wife is exasperated with him. My son is pissed because kids at school think he isn't being 'nice' to the French kid--of course none of them want to hang out with the French kid either cause --well aside from breathing he doesn't do much else.
Bottom line---wife please don't volunteer anymore.
To my lovely wife and all of your like minded friends thanks for doing everything you do.
But why oh why did you say "yes" we will take a French kid for 2 months. This isn't an exchange--no one in my family is going to Chamonix. He is not part of an official exchange program (although his mom runs the French side of the Sisters City Chamonix exchange program).
So we have this French kid staying in our house for 2 months. He is a nice enough kid I guess. He walks the dogs and does dishes when asked. He doesn't ask for anything or seem to expect anything. Actually he pretty much does nothing from what I can tell.
I can usually get anyone to talk. Not this kid. He says it isn't a language problem, so I guess it's his personality but check this out.
At dinner last night I asked him if he wanted seconds. He said "uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, ....................... I don't know".
In an effort to get him to talk about something I gave all the kids homework. I asked them each to pick a meal they would like to have for dinner---daughter immediately said pesto and garlic bread, son said schintel, and French kid after a day of thought came up with ' uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I don't know.'
I asked him how school in France differed from school in Aspen he said 'uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh uhhhhhhhhhhhh uhhhhhhhhhhh I don't know' I followed that up with come on give me something and he said 'uhhhhhhhhh school in Chamonix has fewer windows'.
yup so pretty much he sits in his room or sits in a corner and says nothing. There is another French girl here from Chamonix here right now and when asked if they would like to join us for dinner she said no way. When we asked the family he stayed with before when he came two years ago as part of the sister city program if they would like to hang with there old exchange student they also took a pass.
My wife is exasperated with him. My son is pissed because kids at school think he isn't being 'nice' to the French kid--of course none of them want to hang out with the French kid either cause --well aside from breathing he doesn't do much else.
Bottom line---wife please don't volunteer anymore.
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