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Leadership: The Yin and Yang of Head and Heart
On May 22, 2011, around 6:20 p.m. I was walking down Connecticut Avenue in Joplin, Missouri. The debris on the street was heavy as I headed towards my office nearly 7 blocks away. I needed to grab my laptop before I headed to the emergency command center. The story of...
Safe and Sound Schools: An Interview with Michele Gay
Michele Gay is a former teacher and a parent. She lost her youngest daughter in the shooting attack on Sandy Hook School in December of 2012. Determined to build a positive legacy for her daughter and help others learn to better prevent, prepare, and recover from...
An Empty Stomach Has No Ears
Recently, I spent some time in North Central Missouri in the community of Edina. A rural community in Knox County that bears a striking resemblance to the area I grew up in Southeast Kansas. A community group had come together to implement the Bright Futures...
Life is a Highway…Just Drive
As kids grow up, there are few things more unnerving for a parent than when they start learning to drive. Being in the passenger seat while they first try to parallel park is scary. It's even scarier to imagine (or experience) not being in that seat as they pull out...
Building Resilient Communities
Severe weather events, global conflict, and economic hardships seem to have become commonplace in this world we live in. Media coverage brings to light how people and communities respond when faced with the real-life drama created by extreme adversity. A word often...
Creating Rapid Response Systems to Meet Student Needs
Less than one hour north from where I am writing this blog sets the community of Lamar, Missouri. For you history buffs out there, our 33rd President of the United States was born in Lamar…Harry S. Truman. In 1946, Missouri’s native son, President Harry S. Truman,...
