By: Julie Omer, MBA, CPA, CFO, MSBO Board Member, Chief Financial Officer, Owosso Public Schools
As I write this, the world is in the midst of the COVID-19 virus crisis. I am not asking this question lightly. I’m also not asking the question in the strict context that is meant by the CDC (Center for Disease Control) though there are some techniques provided by the CDC that can be used in answering the question that I am posing. So here it is…are you contagious in your attitude, thoughts, words, and habits (which I will refer to as our behaviors) whether they are positive or negative?
We have probably all heard this so many times that it is easy to stop reading right now since we know that the answer is “Yes, we are contagious.” However, I would suggest to you that, similar to the COVID-19 virus, we think that we know more than we really do about self-diagnosis. When should we self-quarantine? When are we “not healthy?” Quite frankly, we don’t have all of the answers. And similar to this pandemic, we have to look to others and within for guidance and clues as to the best ways to help ourselves and others deal with the contagious environment.
The MSBO Board and staff are always looking for ways that we can support our membership and work together to come up with solutions to prevent, protect and diagnose the “viruses” that are out there that plague our profession and our attitudes. Although the circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the MSBO Annual Conference being canceled this year, please be assured that alternatives for you to use as “medicine” to combat the professional and mental fatigue that can overwhelm us during the best of times is being examined thoroughly by the staff and Board.
In the meantime, MSBO will continue to provide you with quality communications to keep you updated and staying professionally healthy. Your responsibility is to try to keep a positive attitude that is contagious in a good way. I certainly am not asking you to be a “Pollyanna.” We all have tough jobs that require us to make tough decisions and/or look at all the possible outcomes particularly during these uncertain times. However, similar to the COVID-19 virus, we need to look at the reality, mitigate the effects and look for solutions rather than focusing on the negatives.
Hopefully by the time you read this, we are in a better place than we are now with the COVID-19 virus and that you will always try to be the healthiest you can be, both mentally and physically, and help others to be the same!