don nalley board of education speech april 21, 2011

8/6/2019 Don Nalley Board of Education Speech April 21, 2011

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Speech to the Huntsville City Schools Board of Education by Don Nalley,

Chair of the Chamber¶s Education Committee, April 21, 2011Good evening, I¶m Don Nalley. Let me start by thanking you for providing me the opportunityto address both the Board and our community this evening. The appeal I¶m going to maketonight is first and foremost as a Dad and secondly as a concerned citizen and business man inthis community that has chosen to raise my participation to the level of active volunteer serviceincluding the immediate past chair of the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerceand current Chair of the Chamber¶s Education Committee.

I want to bring a slightly different message than any I¶ve heard to date, and that is a call to action by this community for one common purpose. Think about this for a minute. What we havefacing us is one of the greatest challenges in the history of our community. We have to dosomething that is against our nature ± against human nature. We have to change. We are facedwith the absolute requirement that we must overcome our differences in order to take our community forward. There will be consequences of failure.

In both these Board meetings and across our community, I hear a common theme, heartfeltmessages and pleas. I¶ve heard reports of great things going on in some schools, andchastisement for poor choices or lack of direction in others. But if there is one thing in commonwith every message I¶ve heard to date, it is passion.What we need to do is capture that passionand direct it to a purpose I believe everyone in this community has in common, the desire for aschool system that provides a quality level of education to our youth from every school in thesystem. The opposite, continual disagreement and resistance to change is going to be our Achilles Heel, ±if allowed to continue. Our inability to come together will result in cripplingfailure before we even get started.

We¶ve come together before. This community has faced other challenges -- challenges that wereconsidered impossible to overcome. When President Kennedy issued the challenge of putting aman on the moon at the end of the very decade in which he was speaking, his challenge waswidely dismissed as science fiction. To most communities and to most people across our nation,it was. But this community didn¶t think so. We had to overcome our prejudice in working with

people who were considered bitter enemies andaccept them into our community while embracinga vision that was much bigger than our individual differences. Only then were we able to cometogether and achieve some of mankind¶s greatest achievements. This may be an even tougher assignment, but ³WE Can Do This. WE MUST Do This.´

Consequently, our legacy is THIS: When people in Huntsville decide to come together, to focuson a common goal larger than themselves, we change ourselves. When I hear parents¶,



teachers¶and our citizens¶concerns, it is very clear that we all really want the same thing. Your requests are nearly identical across the board. We want better education ± more opportunities for your children, higher test scores, more curriculum choices, a chance at a greater future for our children.

This community would and should fight for what is being discussed in this room. Is thereanything any of us wouldn¶t do to protect and help our child? None of us in this room are anydifferent. However, going back to my earlier statement, our fear is what is dividing us. Weshould all be fighting for change, and instead we find ourselves fighting against it.

It is time for Huntsville to think big again. I am asking you all to consider that as a communityour current energies our misplaced, we are divided, and we WILL NOT AND CANNOT WIN inthe current setting. We¶ve got to come together to improve our education systemtop to bottomand in every school in this community. It is time for Huntsville to focus again.

A motivational speaker, Zig Zigler, likes to say, ³You can have anything in this world you wantas long as you focus on making sure that the other guy gets everything they want.´ I think that istrue. And if it is, it¶s time ourcommunity starts looking across the street at what theother schoolsneed to succeed. If we can change this mindset, if we can all join the same army, if we can allunderstand that we all really want the same thing, we can win. Right now, our biggest enemy isourselves. The true enemy, poor education of our youth, is sitting back, enjoying the show. Ithasn¶t even begun to worry about forming a battle plan because we stand in our own way. So,let¶s accept the fact that change is required, let¶s rally around the need for change and the hopeand expectation of an improving education system.

So what do we want? I don¶t think there is anyone in this room that doesn¶t understand that wemust have a viable financial base with which to build and support schools and hire the best

principals and teachers money can employ. Why? That¶s simple ± to achieve the higheststandards of education possible. But, the bigger question is what needs to or MUST happen toget there? First, is the money.Before anything else can happen, the money issue must beresolved, or none of this can take root. No one is disputing that the finances of the HuntsvilleCity School system have not been managed wisely. That must be fixed, and quickly. Whether that is fixed first or parallel to improvements in academics is meaningless, it must be fixed and if it doesn¶t get fixed, then there is no public school system. What has to happen to fix thefinances? That¶s also simple to answer ± sacrifices must be made system-wide. And we canguarantee that it won¶t be considered ³fair´ to everyone. Every personin this community willneed to be prepared that these sacrifices will likely impact them or someone they know in someway. Perhaps if the system had been better managed over the years we wouldn¶t be in thissituation, but we are. We need to look forward. It is not about blaming the problems of today on



yesterday, this is an OPPORTUNITY TO GET IT RIGHT, to shape what we want now and inthe future. I think it will help us all to remember our legacy in facing the future. Remember thiscommunity¶s past greatness and the inspiration to the world it created. To pull in the samedirection, we cannot be the obstacles to improvement and expectation. Those that would returnfire with lawsuits ± I would ask you if that action would be performed on behalf of the kids? Inmy personal view, any lawsuit right now will do nothing more than take money right out of thesystem that we are trying to reform for the betterment of ALL ± we need that money and the timeexpended to educate our children.

Secondly, we need a quality education system, top to bottom. We don¶t have that right now, butwe can, if we will keep our long-term goals in mind. What does this new community coalitionneed to know to make this happen? Simply that if a particular school is not getting it done rightnow, change is in order. A wise person once said the definition of insanity is to expect adifferent result despite continuing the same actions. Academic scores in the 50¶s are simply notacceptable.

What¶s the reward? That¶s also easy to answer, as it all starts here. This is not the chicken andthe egg story wherein we wonder which comes first. Education comes first. Education drivesour economy, and if this community doesn¶t get it right, we will not be the community we alllove to call a leader in technology. Quality education drives the economy, not the other wayaround. Studies have shown that a quality education:

y Reduces crimey Increases voter participationy Reduces needs for social services, whichy Reduces the need for increased taxesy Draws families, new citizens and businesses to the communityy Increases good health, whichy Reduces health costsy Increases land and home valuesy Draws and creates businessesy And develops better employees, whichy Creates more competitive businesses.

And I could go on and on.A quality school system drives the continued economic growth andvitality of a community for decades to come. A poor school system can create a negative pull ona community for decades.



The Chamber of Commerce and the businesses and members it represents support and call for you, the Board, to stand tall. Get through the financial issues that absolutely must be fixed,immediately. But more than that, we need the community to support this Board each step of theway as you begin execution of a plan that would make the changes necessary in those schoolswith poor academic performance. We need those schools turned into quality facilities of education. We don¶t need just pockets of good schools. Rather, this community should and cancreate an environment conducive to quality education throughout the entire system.Impediments to that objective should be moved or sidelined, for good.

You have a tough job. But this community can help you. There are a lot of parents that want thesame things you do. So let¶s all join the same army. You, the Board, are the leaders. Cometogether, form the game plan, chart the path, let us, the community, know what that plan is, andlet¶s start making it happen.

Thank you.

don nalley board of education speech april 21, 2011

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