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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 1999-06-30, Page 22—THE HURON EXPOSITOR, June 30, 1999 News Superintendent offices smaller than principal's Cramped space leads staff to talk quietly on the phone From Page 1 Space for staff is cramped and offices are only given to the most senior of staff who have to deaf . with confidential material most often. However, even the . offices of superintendents measure about 8 by 10 feet and Rachlis jokes that it's almost a demotion these days to move from principal to superintendent since a principal's office at a school is generally much larger. Everyone else works in cubicles, which Rachlis .is pleased to set -decorated with personal touches since it signals to him that staff,are beginning to feel at home in their new quarters. "Things arc so tight that people have had to get used to speaking more quietly on the phone." he says. The school basement, which now houses half of the board office. is the most dramatic transformations. While it used to be dark, dreary and leaky, it hasbeen brightened up with a row of windows along the back wall. "It was a cave and now it's a reasonable work space," says Rachlis. The board office contains three meeting rooms, each of which is only large enough to hold 12 people so j principals meetings and other larger meetings have to held at a school. There is no boardroom and trustees will continue to meet in the gymnasium of Seaforth's high school. But, the. pictures of previous' boards and directors, which used to hang in the board rooms of both/predecessor hoards will also be stored in the archives. ' "i suppose they could be hung on the Walls of the school hallway but i feel very strongly that we not intrude on the school in any way," says Rachlis. For that reason, Rachlis says board staff has only started this summer to use' the new school library. which was part 'of the addition. along with an adjoining computer room, for meetings. Once school begins again in September. he says hoard staff will again limit its use of the library. However. the school cafeteria -is used by the board staff. something Rachlis sees as a positive contribution towards the school economy. And, hoard staff each had a chance .to acquire onc of the surplus lockers in the high school to store their belongings since the new board office has no space for, coat storage. Touring through the new board office. Rachlis points -out-that very little ofihe furniture is new, Some filing cabinets have been painted white to match others that already Were white and some dividers have been, reupholstered to match others. He says the only new furniture is his chair - he flipped out of his old broken chair and did,a back somersault beformoving from the Water Street office in Stratford - a bookcase in his office and the three tables in the meeting rooms' since the meeting rooms were so much larger at the former board offices that none the tables fit. "We would have had to take a chainsaw to them," he says, adding that all surplus furniture and equipment wcre dispersed to the schools or sold. One of the difficult decisions facing the staff Lorne Rachlis shows how small the superintendents' District School Board offices. while moving into the new board office was weighing quality versus cost. YThe one bookcase I had made will outlast the board office and it would have been the same price if I'd asked him to make it look cheap," says Rachlis. "I was aware of all the money we were spending and always asked, 'Can nve get it cheaper?' We nevergot. the top grade of anything but. we didn't want to'get things so cheap that we'd have to replace them in five years," he says. The rumoured oak panelling that lines the hallway into Rachlis's office is not oak at all but mahogany -colored laminate over particle -board. "This is the corporate headquarters of a $127 million corporation and people deserve to feel proud of it. It doesn't cost all that much more to make it attractive without being extravagant," he says, adding that the laminated particleboard is also cheap to replace if it gets damaged. The rumoured cappuccino machines are two vending machines for coffee. hot' chlacolatel,..and a_cafe mocha blend that combines hot chocolate with coffee, all for 50 cents a cup. The rumoured 56,000 curtains that were made for the director's office is actually a ballpark figure for window dressings for the whole addition, including the blinds, sheers and valances on both floors. "An anonymous fax went out with a whole list of rumours and it was just a hatchet job. None of it was true," says Rachlis. - He says he believes only a handful of people in the district are suspicious about expenditures at the new board office. "Part of why we put the board office here was to save Seaforth District High School and by doing so we've made an infusion into the local economy. We're doing our best to integrate Susan Hundertmark photo offices are in the new Avon Maitland into the community and you'd -think they'd be grateful," he says with frustration edging his voice. He 9dmits the merging of the two boards was very difficult attunes, especially on staff morale. "Absolutely everyone was moving to a new office after being established in onc place for years. Some of the staff had lived in Stratford for 30 years, could walk to work, nip out to the stores or schedule dentist appointments on their lunch breaks and now they're commuting for half an hour each way." "Some of them had never been to Seaforth 'before. Some of them didn't even know where Seaforth was. And, during the winter, when the weather was bad, some were terrified to come to w irk," he says. adding that last waiter was the first time he himself had been unable to make it to work because of stormy weather, However. he-, say that a recent survey of staff shows a "terrific amount of work' has been done towards merging the two hoards and creating a more positive attitude among staff. • ve been told that amalgamation is a four or five year process but it's only. been. a year and a half and we're 95 per •cent there. 'Once in a while people are still nostalgic four the way it used to be. but this September there's a new school ycar coming and principals andlcachcrs arc crossing county fines and it's okay: We've conic a very long way." he says. J/anI ou. The organizers and participants of Sci=Tech Encounters 1999 wish to extend a sincere thank -you to the following sponsors who made. this wonderful learning experience possible: The Beacon Harold of Stratford Ltd. Ktpfer's Garage Limited (Milverton) McLean Taylor Construction Ltd. Garratt & Marktevitz, Architects Rio Agri Mix Ltd., Mitchell Optimist Club of Ellice Archibald Grey & McKay Graham Energy Culliton Bros, Goderkh Kinettes Kinsmen Club of Stratford Mitchell & District Credit Union St. Marys Medical Clinic Goderlch Rotary Club Kinsmen Club of St. Marys Holman Plumbing & Heating Ltd. Perth County Regional Science Fair Trust Huron Perth Cathotk District School Board Foundation for Enriching Education Firth lluron Stedman Seaforth University, of Western Ontario Mundt Bros. Construction Ltd. Dingo, Materials Ltd Staffen's Food Market, Mitchell Listowel Holdings Novatronlcs Inc. Steekraft Mihrerton Kinsmen Cadbury Beverages Town of Clinton Mitchell & Area Environment Group Staffen's Food Market (St. Marys) • Royal Canadian Legion Branch #109 Lighthouse Tools Ltd. Stratford Royal Canadian Legion Zehrs Food Plus Markets Avon Maitland District School Board Calling all Combines .11111 Mb NI UN 11111111111.111111 Get your Case IH combine inspected and serviced before August 31, 1999 and you'll receive a double benefit: 10% off any replacement part we recommend, plus 90 days of interest-free financing when you purchase more than $1,500.00 utilizing your Case Credit Account. CaII for details. twaeuzi-f SEAFORTH 527-0120 FARM EOUIPMENT LIMITED ©1Ca CASE CORPORATION CASE „' Visitt Case http://www.casecorp.com Web Site at http:lhv.casecorp.com Case IH and Case Credit are registered trademarks of Case Corporation. NOTICE For the convenience of our clients SEAFORTH VETERINARY CLINIC will now be open Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 8:00,P.M. starting July 8th Please call for appointments 519-527-1760 Straight Talk From THE BUSINES S DocToP Don't Shoot the Messenger i went: to the post office the other day and delivered a pile of direct mail flyers. The fly- ers were delivered on Monday. No one came in to buy. In fact i didn't sell one of the advertised items during that entire week! I•went back to the post office and com- plained. They hadn't sold a single ittm for me. I screamed and yelled about their incompetence. 1 indicat- ed that I would never . use their service again and I stomped out. There. 1 guess i told them! Obviously that is a ridiculous scenario. The post office is not in the. business of selling • anything except stamps. They probably couldn't sell my products even if they tried. They have no . under- standing of my customer base. They have no product knowledge. They don't understand my competition. They simply are not equipped to do the job. Newspapers don't sell prod- ucts. Newspapers are a com- munication delivery system. They can and will deliver your message to thousands of potential customers at a very reasonable price. If you place an advertisement in the news- paper and no one shows up to buy the product don't shoot the messenger. They did what they were supposed to do. They delivered your message. The success of any business depends on its ability to com- municate effectively with the customer. it is the message, not the .medium that attracts customers Instead of getting : upset I would have been better off to Start asking myself a number of key questions. Why didn't my ad work'' What.were my expectations? if 1 werethc customer reading the paper would the ad have caught my attention? Would it have spo- ken directly to me? Would it make sense to me? Would it ring true? Would it have told me anything interesting to hold my attention? Was. the offer -made. exclusive. to -my store or could and would the customer go somewhere else to get it? Did the ad explain the benefits thc customer would gain from buying the product? Did thc ad ask me the customer to take a partic- ular action? Communicating effectively is a learned skill. We can only develop it by analyzing the feedback from our 'failures'. Analyzing feedback in is part of the learning process. What we learn will let us hone and polish the next message. Eventually we might even get good at this communicating stuff and that would be advantageous. Communication is after all the essential business skill. The Business Doctor is avail- able for annual meetings & sales conventions.