When we become enamored with the technology of today, I keep reminding myself that when I was a kid, filmstrips and 16 mm films were the technology of the day.

Funny thing is:  No one ever remembers a filmstrip that made a difference in their lives.  Everyone remembers a teacher who made a difference.

It's important to remember that.  In fact, most of the cost of our school system is in employee compensation, and the vast majority of that is invested in the people on the frontlines of education.  And the rest is mostly invested in the people who make it possible for teachers to operate (custodians, bus drivers, food service workers, and others).

But schools today have a real challenge in teacher retention.  It's a national problem, but it's exacerbated here in Fairfax by our mobility and by the cost of living (particularly housing) that increasingly drives our employees (from teachers to custodians) out further and further away from where they work.  We simultaneously face a rising tide of retirements and a rising demand for teachers of excellence at a time when budgets may become constrained and the cost of living certainly will rise. 

To address that, the School Board should look at all employee (not just teachers) salaries, benefits, training, and retirement in a more holistic fashion.  A younger and more mobile workforce suggests different ways of looking at compensation and work environment, based not only on years of service but also on accomplishment, excellence, critical shortages (chemistry, math and special education teachers are harder to find), and non-salary benefits.

 It's also the case that teachers are becoming swamped in "administrivia," and often find themselves spending more time pushing papers rather than grading them.  The demands of technology are increasingly diverting attention away from their core mission . and we need to look at ways of empowering them to focus on that mission.

These kinds of discussions need to be done collaboratively with employee organizations, and directly with employees who - let's face it - usually have better ideas about how to do their jobs than those of us sitting on the School Board. 

Here's an example:  Bus drivers are hard to find.  It's a tough job (think about carpooling with 35 of your kid's best friends in the back seat!).  For years, the school system would have hundreds of positions unfilled.

Then someone got the idea of actually asking bus drivers about their compensation - and they discovered that there were benefit programs that were being paid for but mostly weren't being used.  With the money saved by ending the non-used benefit programs, the school system was able to make the bus driver salary more attractive to more people.  And while the driver shortage isn't over, at least it's down to double-digits.

It's the kind of simple thing that can have a powerful impact.