Talk to Teen Court

October 4th, 2011

I am Thomas Kennedy and I am the newest School Board Member. I had the honor of being sworn in as School Board Member about 10 months ago.
School Board Members are elected State Constitutional officers that represent the community for our public schools.  I am one of five elected members of the school board in Citrus County Schools.  School Board Members and the Superintendent of Schools have very different roles.  The School Board decides what needs to be done in the schools and the Superintendent decides how it will be done.

What types of responsibilities do we have as a school board? As a school board we make the policies/rules for our school district. We are responsible for the school properties and buildings. We approve the curriculum taught and we approve who is hired and fired.  We are responsible for student’s welfare, discipline, and transportation. We make the financial and budget decisions for the schools.  We also decided what new schools are needed, what type and where a new school is built.

Each elected board member brings different experiences to his or her position.   Some are former teachers and some of us are business people.  Before being elected to office I was a local business owner and investor.  I developed and built homes that were sold in the Pine Ridge and Central Ridge part of Citrus County.   Before owning my own business I spent many years working for other companies learning the construction and real estate business.  While I have owned my own company the last 10 years, I have worked in many different aspects of real estate and construction.  I have been involved in the development and building of storage centers, churches, pharmacies like CVS and Publix and luxury homes for over 20 years.

Okay, Mr. Kennedy, so you are on the school board and you owned a company, so what!!  And you might be right… What makes what I did a little unique is that I did it as a person with a severe learning disability.  I am a severe dyslexic, which means among the many things I struggle with is reading, spelling, math, and tests.

In first grade I was diagnosed with severe dyslexia.  To say I found reading and spelling quite difficult is an understatement.  I HATED TO READ, I HATED TO WRITE, so of course what do I spend much of my life doing? Reading to learn about issues I may be voting on, and writing letters, speeches, emails, blogs and more.  I am a terrible speller. When I write something I sometimes need a computer spell checker and, sometimes, two different people to check what I wrote just to makes sure people understand what I wrote.  Just because it makes sense to me doesn’t always mean it will make sense to others.

You see I understand what it’s like for people to not understand who you really are and to perhaps think less of you. I have had to deal with people who would read what I wrote and jump to the conclusion that I was not smart and didn’t know anything.  But in truth I often was the person that not only knew the information but I was the person who had the “gifted” I.Q. to fix the problem. So this made it important for me to learn more and communicate better so that people would have trust in me until I was able to prove to them through my actions that I was just as intelligent as they were.

While dyslexia has made traditional learning challenging for me, I have compensated by becoming a hands-on learner and using technology to aid in the acquisition of knowledge.  Technology and computers became a great tool in helping me overcome my reading disabilities.  Today technology plays a bigger part of my life. I use my iPod to listen to audiobooks, I use my Android phone to dictate and change my voice to texts and I use my laptop to do my spell checking. I use the internet to read my emails back to me before I send them. You know those gigantic Harry Potter books in the library?  Yea, well they scare me to death and not because of the stories inside but because of the number of words in those books. I get frustrated.  But I will tell you I have read cover to cover every one of them! How? Using my iPod and listening to them as audiobooks.  I am constantly reading up on the newest in technology which I will tell you all a little secret, earned me the terrible nickname of, “Techno Thom”.

Communication skills became really important to me.  See, if you can’t get information the “normal” (or traditional) way, then you had better be able to talk with someone who can share that information with you.  If you’re a jerk, they are not going to share with you as quickly, but if you say, “Yes Ma’am and Yes Sir” they are like putty in your hands.  When I was a little older than many of you a dyslexic friend of mine, who is a successful voiceover artist in Chicago, once shared with me a powerful secret tool that she used to make other people realize how smart she was.   Do you want to know what it was?  I swear to you it is true and works!  Ask someone about themselves and then listen to them.  They will share loads of great information and, through all of the information they are sharing with you, you will, one, learn something, and two, when you leave they will often say, wow that guy (or gal) is pretty smart.

In business you are often selling something:  yourself, your idea, your product or maybe just your position on something.  As a school board member I am having to share my beliefs, ideas and often try to get people to understand why I believe the way I do. In other words, I sell them on my ideas.  I loved performing while in school and I was involved in drama and music activities.  Believe it or not for a short time I was a professional actor and was on a local TV show in Boston and did a movie that was on the Bravo channel.  Those skills have helped me every day of my life as they help me to feel comfortable in front of an audience while I am speaking to them.

Due to my dyslexia school was NOT easy for me.  Do any of you have trouble in some of your classes?  Even in the subjects that you like?  I know how hard it is to get through reading class, social studies, language arts and more because of difficulty with reading or other challenges.  Today many of you have unique advantages that you may not be aware of yet. These advantages may be at this school or others in Citrus County and they were not all available when I was in middle and high school.

1. First your teachers. I know you may have had some that you thought were bad ones, but you may also have had some good ones.  Your teachers today are much better trained at knowing how to either help you learn better and/or help you advance farther and faster.  These may include extra help and special classes. How many of you are in AVID?  AVID is an excellent place to advance further than you thought you could, or if you wanted to get into AVID, but are not as yet, it can be a goal to get the extra help you need.  I had some bad teachers too, but I know it was my GOOD teachers that helped me to learn and helped to make me who I am today.  I love teachers, heck!  I love them so much I married a teacher, which is another tool I suggest you use.  ALWAYS be friends, date and marry (in that order) someone who is smarter than you!  My wife is one of my best helpers and learning tools.

 

1. Second, Virtual schools and classes and working at your own pace as you continue to take class towards college or vocational schools after high school are also things for you to consider.  You will find that you have options of taking some, or all, of your classes through virtual schools (internet classes).  These can be great ways for you to work at your pace whether that is faster or slower than others, and no one has to know but you.  Wish I had had that option available when I was in school!

 

1. NEVER GIVE UP! It is going to be hard. You are going to fail at times. You are going to make mistakes!  When you do, get up, dust yourself off and get back in the game.

Each of you has or will have, a dream and you can achieve that dream.  No matter what that dream is, you will need to obtain knowledge and skills from what you are learning right now, in high school and then in college. The trick is to always keep learning and finding a way to use those skills because you never know when they will come in handy again. Like me, you will probably hold many different positions as an adult in the work world and never know when something you learned in a previous career will give you the edge in your next job.

Nothing is insurmountable!  Meaning, no matter how challenging it can be, you can overcome it to be successful.

An intelligent person once said, “Start working to fulfill your dreams today… because if not, someone will put you to work fulfilling their dream.”