Well!! Here I go again on my own.

I was just thinking about that White Snake song. Here I go again on my own going down the only road I've ever known.





That is what I have done again, going down the only road I have ever known. As anyone who knows me I don't let any dust settle beneath my feet. I am always on the go and up for new challenges. I took the position at the Kansas City Missouri School District as Manager of Grounds about 10 weeks ago. It has been a ride.


The schools when I came in on a scale of 1-10 were a -1 that is right a -1. There was no standards, no equipment that worked, no training for the employees, no personal protective equipment, and no organization.


I came in 6 weeks before school started and was charged with the task of making the schools that were going to be open to make them look as beautiful as possible. That is 34 open schools 36 closed sites covering 90 sq miles and over 350 acres of land that has not been treated right, with a very limited staff and budget. That meant I had to in six weeks:


1. Spray all the weeds on all open schools approx 150 acres.


2. Mulch all of the schools landscaping


3. Mulch all of the playgrounds


4. Put all of the school on an actual mowing schedule


5. Train employees on expectations and standards


(i.e trimming at a 90 degree along sidewalk, mowing lines, blowing everything etc.)


6. Spray weeds in all beds, walks and hard scapes


7. Mow all 34 sites the week before school starts so they all look newly mowed for school to start.





All in all it was a success. If you had asked me when I started if that was even possible I would have told you not even possible, but I had to put my game face on, show no fear. Failure was not an option, and just get it done by will and by force. It was not perfect but the first day of school I received NO phone calls about the landscaping or mowing. I was shocked in this case no news is good news.





So where do we go from here???


1. Put schools on a lawn program.


2. Seed all of the fronts of all of the open schools.


3. Get all open and closed schools on 9-11 day mowing schedule.


4. Do a lot of training over the winter.


5. Position for a successful winter season.


6. plan for Spring of '11


7. Set policies and standards.

8. Exceed Expectations



In the end its all about results. The Result of a better education for the students. The Result of a better work environment for the teachers. Result of a pride in where one goes to school. The Result is changing the perception of the people from the outside looking in and eventually growing a declining and broken school district. Not easy with a history like KCMDS has, but possible with the right leadership. I expect that 2011 will be a successful year and will be a new dawn for the KCMO school district. It has changed its leadership all the way down to me. It has changed it size. It has changed its look on the outside, and teaching on the inside.

It has given the students something to be proud of. It is definitely not business as usual with the KCMO school district and things are changing for the good.