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A hopeful message from Wilcox

By TIMES EDITORIALS
Published August 4, 2006

In his back-to-school message, Pinellas superintendent Clayton Wilcox offers teachers some classroom relief, a spirited tribute and an uncommon dose of humility. As a balm for wounded morale, his words set a hopeful tone for a new school year.

"I want each of you to know that I heard you and I believe the system heard you as well," Wilcox says in a video circulated to all schools. "On a personal note, I will carefully monitor my words and tone when urging change. ... To those I may have offended, I offer my sincere apology ... I know each of you care about our students, and the last thing you need from me as your superintendent is to be addressed as part of the problem rather than as the solution."

Wilcox has been abrupt in some of his remarks and his manner, which has cost him dearly with teachers. But in the roughly two months that have followed the release of two surveys revealing serious morale problems among Pinellas teachers, he has shown a willingness to listen and respond that is gaining notice throughout the district.

This school year, in fact, he is scaling back some of the more onerous requirements of a classroom assessment program - begun by his predecessor - that has sometimes tied teachers in knots. He also has committed to a "real and living discipline plan" to help teachers deal with unruly students, even if the result is an immediate surge in reported discipline rates. "We're looking for long-term success," he says.

Wilcox also has broadened his field of informal community and district advisers, which can only help him maintain steady footing. Already, Linda Lerner, a School Board member who at times has been sharply critical of Wilcox, says she is encouraged by the way he is reaching out to teachers. She found his words on the video, she says, to be "very touching."

These are only beginning steps, of course, and teacher morale problems are deeply rooted. But they are movement in the right direction, and they show Wilcox is listening. That's the right way to open the classroom doors this year.

[Last modified August 4, 2006, 01:21:42]