Open letter,
As I depart from the Richmond School District, I want to take a moment to bid all those I have had the privilege to collaborate with over the years a fond farewell.
Many of these are educational leaders no longer with the school district; some have retired; some have moved to other districts and some continue today to pursue their commitment to educational and civic excellence in academia and government.
These are the individuals who inspired me to become a life-long learner, and I often think fondly of them as I pursue my graduate studies in Educational Leadership.
Through their legacy, they fostered processual leadership models, where they stepped away from leadership as a personal quality, to leadership as a dynamic process between themselves, followership and the working environments they shaped together.
All of this was accomplished through some of the most trying and heart-wrenching budgetary times imaginable, precipitated by declining enrolment that began in earnest in the early 2000s.
The poise and grace with which they rose to these fiscal challenges still humbles me today, even after all these years.
You see, the quandary of public education is this: educational leaders must prepare learners in the present for a future that they cannot know much about, and will not share with these learners.
In the school district today, so many educators have touched my life, as they rise to this enigmatic challenge in times of scarce resources and dynamic curriculum change.
There are teachers and school administrators on the front lines of all of this.
But there are also many unseen, but whose presence touch your lives in so many ways.
I hope, the next time you visit a school district facility, you will, as I, appreciate and acknowledge the work of these dedicated employees.
Now, as I approach the end of my graduate studies, I salute all of those I have referenced here because they have essentially “written” much of my current research.
I wish all staff, students and those in the Richmond community who dedicate their time and service to preparing students for this future, the very best that life can offer, as you continue to dedicate your careers to this noble purpose of public education.
Wendy Grondzil
Former assistant secretary treasurer
Richmond School District
