Summary: *“As go the schools, so goes the nation.” – Larry Ausmus* ##Dear Valued Stakeholders, Parents running their children around as they get ready for the start of the new school year is a familiar ritual for most of us in towns across America. It’s as if there is a natural order in the world for a little while as we prepare for another year of education and activity to get underway. One of my own favorite back-to-school rituals was one I learned from a terrific motivational speaker, Hilary “Zig” Ziglar, many years ago. In one of his speeches to a family audience one evening he revealed a little secret about how he talked with his daughter’s teacher on back-to- school-night. He said he would take the teacher aside and quietly let her know that his daughter had had a really amazing summer. She had grown and matured in so many ways and he was convinced that this was going to be her best year ever. He just wanted the teacher to know that he was going to be her partner and together they would be a team and share the work and the excitement of helping her have that really great year. Zig Ziglar let the teacher know he was going to share her responsibility for his daughter’s education that year. He was a stakeholder, just as the teacher was a stakeholder, in her education and future success. I like this story because it does precisely what we talk about every week on this program. It points to an alignment around shared vision of success, shared responsibility, and shared language for equal accountability. I did exactly the same thing every year with my daughters and their teachers and I can attest to its value in setting expectations early. On this program, we invite you to listen to education stakeholder Larry Ausmus, an exciting motivational speaker with 38 years of experience in education administration, teaching and human resource management. Our conversation is lively, rich with specifics, and just the right tone for anyone who wants to understand who the OTHER stakeholders in your children’s education are (such as the administration, school board members, and community leaders, local businesses, and parent groups). Educating a child is a team effort, just like playing a ball game, or drill team, or being in a theater production. Larry’s stories from real world experiences will delight and energize you about finding your own “one story” and give you confidence to let the other education stakeholders know you are there to be part of your child’s education team. 
