A Little Play-Doh, A Big Lesson

As the Director of Communications for the Hazelwood School District, I spend a lot of time telling the stories of our schools. This week, I had the opportunity to follow along with our new superintendent, Dr. Bonita Jamison, as she began her listening tour across the district.

On Tuesday alone, we visited six schools. I took photos and watched Dr. Jamison interact with students and staff. At Garrett Elementary School, I witnessed something I certainly wasn't expecting.

Dr. Jamison was visiting Mrs. Moore's pre-kindergarten classroom when she sat down with a student who was busy creating things with Play-Doh. Dr. Jamison joined in the fun. She decided to make a pizza using blue and yellow Play-Doh.

Things were going well. Or at least as well as they can when an adult attempts to make a perfectly round Play-Doh pizza.

Dr. Jamison mentioned that she was having trouble getting her pizza into a circle. The student called Mrs. Moore over, and I assumed he was going to ask his teacher to help Dr. Jamison shape her pizza.

I was wrong. Instead, he reported Dr. Jamison to his teacher. Apparently, there was a very important classroom rule: Don't mix the colors.

And Dr. Jamison had mixed the blue and yellow Play-Doh.

On only the second day of the school year, our brand-new superintendent had already been reported by a Pre-K student. I couldn't stop laughing.

That evening, I visited my parents, who are both retired educators (a former teacher and a former principal) and told them the story. They got a good laugh out of it, too.

But Dr. Jamison wasn't laughing her way out of the situation. She had mixed up the Play-Doh, and she said she would return to the classroom with replacement Play-Doh to make it right.

The next day, she did exactly that. Dr. Jamison returned to Mrs. Moore's classroom with new Play-Doh that she had purchased herself.

It was a funny little moment during a very busy first week of school. But as I thought about it, I realized there was a bigger lesson hiding somewhere between the blue and yellow Play-Doh.

Accountability matters. So does following through.

Whether you're a pre-kindergarten student, a teacher, a communications director or a superintendent, people notice when you say you're going to do something—and they notice whether you actually do it. Dr. Jamison could have laughed off the Play-Dough incident and moved on. Instead, she made a commitment and followed through.

That's a pretty good lesson for all of us. And apparently, it's one our Pre-K students are already teaching us. Even if they have to report us first.

 

Darrin Lilly
Director of Communications & Public Relations