The best advice Baker ever gave me

Baker kicks it old school

Today is Roy Baker's birthday. Dr. Baker was a great school leader who shepherded the Norris District through unprecedented growth and helped us come roaring back when a tornado decimated our campus. More importantly to me, Roy is a friend and a mentor.

The best advice Baker ever gave me? I'll share it with you:

"I don't care what somebody else says the message is. The only thing that matters is what the message is based upon your actions."

Stay focused on results!

Baker's always done that. He's wired that way. I spoke with him this afternoon to wish him a happy b-day, asked what he was up to. I had heard he'd been doing well in a local golf league paired up with Gary DeBoer. Baker growled, "We actually lost today so we're going to get second."

No prizes for second and "Good is the enemy of great." Keep striving and stay focused on results.

Happy Birthday, Doc.

Comments

The Roy Baker School of Leadership Lessons

Wednesday morning I have a wonderful opportunity. I get the chance to kick off a day of interviewing as one of three final superintendent candidates for Norris. I have no idea whether I’ll emerge from the battle as the candidate of choice, but I know that I am excited beyond belief and I am proud to be the internal candidate who represents the legacy and tradition of Norris leadership. It may sound audacious, but I believe I’ ve been reared by the best. I say that because I worked just down the hall from our retiring superintendent Roy Baker for four years as the high school principal and for the last year and half+ now, I have had the chance to work right next door to him as an assistant superintendent. Heck, by process of osmosis alone I have learned quite a bit about leadership. Some of my learning has been just through that exposure to the Sup day in and day out, as things come up. And some of that learning has been very intentional – wherein Roy has deliberately conveyed an...

Norris Intermediate Open House dedication speech

Norris Intermediate Open House dedication speech August 4, 2013 Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for this wonderful celebration of the opening of Norris Intermediate School. This is 65,000 square feet and another 12 acres of awesomeness joining one of the most beautiful developed campuses in the state to support great k-12 education for our students. I'm Dr. John Skretta, Superintendent of the Norris School District and it is my pleasure to welcome you here today for our ribbon-cutting and campus-wide open house. Norris Board members & district partners from DLR and Hausmann join principal Dr. Bob Brandt in cutting the ribbon opening Norris Intermediate School While many of you parents here today were probably hoping we'd actually start classes immediately and you could drop your kids off now and leave them with us, you'll have to wait about 10 days yet. The first actual student day is not until August 14, and you'll notice in walking...

Comments to @norris160 teachers on technology integration

This morning Tech Director Noel Erskine and Network Administrator Jim McConnell hosted an ad hoc committee to engage in strategic planning and professional development preparation for further technology integration. Here were some of the topics, areas of interest, and needs identified: Topics: Clickers Prezi Blogging with Google sites Google forms Google sites Advanced Google forms with self-grading quizzes Review game web sites. Sessions on web resources for specific curricular strands or grade levels Paperless classroom workflow and setup. Smartpen (Livescribe) Technology needs: More computer availability More Clickers One comment I would offer is in follow-up to Rick's comments about the need for more computers, which I think was widely re-affirmed. Dr. Brandt and Shari seemed ecstatic to learn that a cart of netbooks will be rolling their way soon. This summer we had the opportunity as members of the admin team to meet with Scott McLeod and discuss tech...

Skretta's Scintillating Salutations

Search This Blog