Page 12 - The EDGE Spring 2020

By Failing to Prepare, You Are Preparing to Fail

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schools that occupy the same campus. Yes, that was fun! School Emergency Preparedness page on the Arizona Department
of Education’s website at https://www.azed.gov/shs/sep/,
One of our superintendent’s favorite quotes is, “By failing to
contact the Arizona School Risk and Retention Trust, Inc.
prepare, we are preparing to fail.” The concept was that by
(the Trust), or get in touch with your local law enforcement.
our school district serving only 44 square miles, many of our
Each of these entities wants to ensure that you and your school
schools are near another campus. Appropriately planning for an
district are successful in the implementation of an emergency
incident that may affect multiple campuses was a priority for
operations plan.
us, but included the opportunity to test our plan and make the
necessary refinements for improvement. One of the greatest strengths about AASBO is its dedication to
providing networking opportunities for its membership. Take
Full disclosure – it did not go totally as “planned.” However,
advantage of this by reaching out to others in the area of risk
we learned quite a lot about what we needed to do to correct
management at school districts for some lesson learned or help
the issue, and the incident commanders (a shared, unified
with plan development. You do not want to get into a position
command structure) did a fantastic job of making the necessary
where you failed to plan and therefore planned to fail.
adjustments toward improvement. Our staff and parents were
understanding and relieved that we were exercising our plan
– in a time in which they knew their child was safe – to better
prepare all stakeholders in the event of an actual occurrence. Dale Ponder serves as Treasurer on the AASBO Board of Directors
and is the Chief of Finance & Operations for Crane Elementary
If you aren’t sure where to start, I’d encourage you to visit the School District in Yuma.

Having trouble understanding

your state retirement benefits?

You’re not alone!

Horace Mann representatives have extensive knowledge of the Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS).
This expertise helps provide you and your staff with a "big picture" view of how state retirement benefits and
supplemental retirement plans can work together.
Many experts say about 80% of your pre-retirement income is needed to maintain your standard of living
when you stop working. While most educators receive a pension, it may not completely replace their
pre-retirement income. Your local Horace Mann representative may be able to help you and your employees
fill any financial gaps.
Contact your local Horace Mann representative to request no-cost workshop in your school.
Or visit http:// www.horacemann.com/teacher-lounge/workshops

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12 THE EDGE SPRING 2020