The demand for information by parents, administrators, teachers, students and the community grows exponentially. The efficient IT professional who consistently stretches resources to meet increased demands, sows the seeds of tension, stress, work related injury, illness and poor performance for support personnel. Perhaps my memory is failing, but I seem to recall a time when we were only occasionally overworked. Things have changed. I cannot now identify a segment of the school community that is not consistently overworked.
National statistics point to extended workweeks for everyone.
I find it common to talk to fellow managers who put in 50 and 60 hour work-weeks. I present this discussion not to complain, but rather to suggest that we are all part of a collective problem that only together we can solve. The two recent tragedies in my district have caused me to think seriously about what we are doing to ourselves and to our children. To suggest that we shouldn t build a world class education in California would be ludicrous, but how we do it deserves considerable attention. Can the subtle message of constant pressure to perform be inducing dysfunction in our students and our staffs.