So I had some thoughts…
…that’s normal right?
My brain thinks in lists. I have a hard time functioning without them.
What do we need from Publix? Boom—list.
What’s my favorite movie? Boom—list.
What do we need to replace at home because my daughter lost/broke something? Boom—list.
Here’s the thing, my brain thinks in lists—NOT because I’m super organized—but because I can get suuuper distracted with the sales at Publix, whenever I just freely scroll through Netflix, or sucked in when Instagram shows me a gadget that I don’t need.
For me, making myself make a list helps me think through what we *really* need or maybe if things are crazy at the moment, what we need right now before anything else.
Otherwise, I’ll end up having to head to Publix five times in three days to pick up one thing. Don’t get me wrong. I’ll definitely shop around when I’m just going down the aisle and I’ll stop to chat with a neighbor that I see, but my family would kiiiillll me if we needed toilet paper and I came home with BOGO family-sized bags of chips.
In the last few weeks, I had awesome opportunities to hear from a lot of people and families in the PAT parent/guardian community and when the chance came up to have some conversations in person, I took it.
Whether it was a dad with 2 older kids on their third year, a mom who’s friends with my daughter, a grandmother, or others connected to the school—and I always have a list.
My list:
I want to have really gotten to connect with and know that person/their story.
I want to get their input on what matters to them and how I can be a part of the solution.
If I’m honest, if it were me..., all I ever want in my conversations is to feel connected and heard.
It was really great, not just because it felt like there was making progress in building a community but personally, it was good for me—a super introvert—to talk and be reminded of why we do what we do.
It was a reminder that every time someone shares, it helps to shape my experience and more importantly, my daughter’s.
In turn, my aim is that what I do and what I share helps other families—and that’s what community looks like.
Thank you for everyone who has provided their support and who were so gracious in having conversations with me before I met with the Administration Team.
Then came the time to meet with the admin team at PAT.
What was I even going to talk about? Well…Boom—list.
But even with a list in hand, I felt a mix of excitement and nervousness (again, hello, secret introvert here)—but as always, I had some personal goals and some objectives:
Connect with and get to know people who shape my daughter’s life and experience.
Practice open communication, just like I hope to see in the future.
Practice collaborating on topics, also like I hope to see in the future.
Get input for how I, as a parent, can be supportive.
Mutually commit to building a better communicative and collaborative community.
There was A LOT being brought to the table and a lot that was discussed, so I would’ve been lost without my list.
As we worked our way through the different topics like pros/cons of a robocall system, hearing about Mr. Scrubb’s interschool sports league, efforts to address teacher retention, discussing about using student/teacher/parent feedback—OR even when my head was nudging me about all the topics we didn’t get to…I kept in mind the starting goal:
Creating a culture of communication and collaboration.
Without clear communication and collaboration…we’re just arguing about how to put out a dumpster fire without bringing tools or doing anything to actually deal with it.
Anything worth doing, or any problem worth fixing, is worth
In one conversation all communication problems and all parent/guardians issues were fixed. Right? Right…? Jk.
There were times when I was pleasantly surprised and other times I was fighting an internal battle to not go deeper on a subject. But I was keeping in mind that this is just one conversation and one connection point.
A true community and a true culture takes many conversations and connections.
That’s where commitment and trust comes in.
A commitment to keep having the right conversations and putting trust in the connections that are made (and what can come out of it).
Now, sometimes I think:
“What about broken trust?”
Or “Am I trusting too early?”
Well, if anything, I can trust that the connection was made and I can trust my own commitment.
It’s like going to Publix and they’re always sold out of toilet paper—maybe I can’t control their stock and just trust that they’ll have it—but I can trust that I’ll make a list and won’t forget to look, or have a backup plan to stop at CVS instead.
When I feel like I’m lacking trust, I can trust and commit to doing what I feel or know is right.
You can see some of my personal informal thoughts/notes in the write-up (linked here) but taking a step back, the goal was to create a community culture of communication and collaboration FIRST, which gives the community a space to solve problems, tackle challenges, and build something better.
The commitments/action items are all starting points and even down to what I personally took away from it—it’s a starting point because alllll the other things that the community may want to see or that I know I want to see… can’t happen without a solid starting point.
So what am I committed to?
I’m committing to having tough conversations, actively researching solutions, trying out the solutions that are offered, and being here for people in the community.
Real talk, it doesn’t even sound like a lot when I say it in my head—but it’s gotta start somewhere.
If not now, when? If not here, where? And if not us…