Well, this thread is about TAS and it is supposed to be open and honest communication. It has been said several times that it would be preferable that TAS would host such a forum, but at this point no such forum is available for the TAS community at TAS. So I am grateful for the Forumosa moderator to provide this space to discuss this thread.
The retreat last week was supposed to help board and admin team to work out a better governance structure, to encourage cooperation etc.
The theme of the workshop was “Leadership through Partnership.”
One outcome was that board and admin team decided they want to “focus on working together to serve the students and teachers of Taipei American School.”
Now, this sounds wonderful, but does this mean that they didn’t try to work to serve the students last year? Also, why “serve the teachers”? Of course teachers need to get all the support they need to provide the best education for the students, but is it an equal goal for the board and admin team to serve the teachers just at the same level they serve the students?
Also, does “Leadership through Partnership.” provide a rigorpus strategy or methodological framework of how to achieve that goal?
In a way that statement about the workshop outcome reminded me of a scene in the movie “Mars Attacks!” (1996):
President Dale (after the Martians blew up the White House): “Why can’t we work out our differences? Why can’t we work things out? Little people, why can’t we all just get along?”
Holding hands and expressing the desire to work together is nice, but I thought we always assumed that everyone at TAS has already the best intentions to serve the students in the first place. The problem is how to do that in daily school reality.
The mission of TAS states that we are a learning community and that term does not only sound good but it has a very sound organizational basis and theoretical foundation. It is based on Peter Senge’s work at MIT on Learning organizations (Peter M. Senge, The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization (New York: Currency Doubleday, 1990), 371 p. and Schools That Learn: A Fifth Discipline Fieldbook for Parents, Educators, and Everyone Who Cares About Education by Peter Senge, Nelda Cambron-McCabe, Timothy Lucas, Bryan Smith, Janis Dutton, and Art Kleiner, Doubleday/Currency, 2000). The facilitator of the workshop Dr. Ralph Davison is a Senior Search Consultant whose Doctoral work centered on the missionary education work and he told me that he is not really familiar with Senge’s work on learning organizations.
I sincerely hope that the workshop was not just an exercise to put on the checklist for the WASC review team but that there is a serious, professional effort to improve the governance structure at TAS and thereby also improve the school climate.
Added on August 30
I just learned that Kent Peterson, coauthor of
ERIC #: ED450456
Title: Shaping School Culture: The Heart of Leadership.
Authors: Deal, Terrence E.; Peterson, Kent D.;
will visit TAS soon. Does anyone on this lists, (e.g. the teachers) know about this author or the book? It talks about “Schools as Tribes”, “Ritual and Ceremony: Culture in Action”, reveals the relevance of school rituals, traditions, and ceremonies.
Does this have to do with “spirit week” where the students split up into different groups and compete in screaming contests and where they wear pajamas at school?
Added on September 4
During the recent Superintendent’s Parent Coffee several parents expressed concerns about student manners and dress code at TAS.
Disrespectful behavior, flip-flop sandals, and many dresses worn to school by some students were considered inappropriate and damaging to the reputation of the school and also not safe (according to the science department). Privately a parent told me that people in the neighborhood talk about TAS girls being dressed “like hookers”.
This seems to be an old complaint (mainly by parents with Asian background) and one of the principals rejected the complaint by pointing out that TAS students deserve credit for not being more noisy during lunch. Flip flops are officially permitted and enforcement of the rules didn’t seem to have a top priority for he school administration.
With regards to the dress code he shared an anecdote: One day he saw a scantly clad girl in the hallway and he approached her: “Young lady, I want to see you in my office.” It turned out that this was not a student but one of the moms.
One mom expressed her strong opinion that matters like dress code and behavior should be addressed at home and not at the school.
Another case mentioned by a mom involved a male and female student being seen alone in the school buildings after 9p.m. When she called the mother of the boy she got the answer that in case there will be a sexual harassment fine, the boy will have to pay for it from his allowance.
I mention these cases mainly because TAS will have a consultant visiting the school. Dr Kent Peterson will talk to the parents on 9/12 about “Shaping School Culture” and code of conduct and dress code certainly contribute to school culture.
I want to end with a modest suggestion: TAS is a private organization just like a club or a restaurant. So TAS can introduce a dress code that is valid for everyone who enters the premises not only for students. It can be simply enforced by the security guards at the entrance who already are there checking the badges.
Good restaurants who require male customers to wear ties also offer ties in case someone forgot to bring one.
In the same way, TAS could offer TAS t-shirts or simple gym shoes for rent or sale to everyone who arrives without proper attire.
Parents who think that these issues are important for our school cultue also might want to talk to Ben Bolte (Carney, Sandoe & Assoc) who will give a presentation on Wed 9/6 at 8a.m. about how his company plans to search a new superintendent for TAS.