Balancing Act

Leadership is a constant balancing act.  We need to weight the needs of the families we serve but equaling as important are the people that work for us.  Mineola has just over 600 employees; many have incurred serious hardship from Hurricane Sandy.  As I went to each building yesterday the number of children still without power seemed to be low, while the number of staff members was much greater.  It makes sense since our staff travel from all over the island to work in Mineola UFSD.  But the devastation has been great.  At last count 13 staff members have been displaced from their homes; in many cases all of the possessions were lost.  One teacher went into labor two days after Sandy destroyed her home.  In another case a teacher was in a serious car accident because the traffic lights were out.  School systems are giant extended families and some of our family needs help.  Let’s remember that as we head back to school this week.  While things may be getting back to normal for many of us that won’t be the case for some us.  I still don’t have power or heat.  It doesn’t seem like such a big deal in the scheme of things.