NEW YORK (Fortune) -- It's noon in New Haven, and Yale economist Robert Shiller and I are leaving his office to walk down the block for pizza. It was a damp morning, but now the sun is breaking through the clouds. "Do we need an umbrella?" he asks. I say I don't think so. But a few steps outside his office, he turns around to get one. "It's better to be safe," he says.
That's Bob Shiller for you. He's a worrier. Well, more than that. He's obsessed with taming risk. And that means all kinds of risk -- from the chance of stray showers to a danger that's on everyone's mind these days: falling home prices. Shiller's name will forever be linked with the worst housing bust since the Great Depression and the economic slump it caused. He first warned of a housing bubble back in 2003 when bankers were merrily minting mortgage-backed securities. And it is the widely cited gauge he helped create -- the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index -- that has heralded, in grim monthly installments, the devastating collapse of the residential real estate market.
Two years into the housing bust, Shiller finally sees some faint rays of sunshine (that's just light, not green shoots yet). When the June Case-Shiller figures were released, he said they showed "striking improvement in the rate of decline." Asked to look ahead, he says, "My guess is that prices will continue to fall for a while, but at a slower pace, and then stabilize. We've become very speculative in our attitude toward real estate, so there could be another boom. But if so, it likely won't happen for another five to 10 years."
Source
Monday, September 28, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Dodson reflects on her work in county schools:
Reflecting on her eight years as head of the Henry County Schools, Superintendent Sharon Dodson said a “culture of expectation” enabled the division to come a long way in spite of continued economic challenges.
“The legacy of my time here would be that together we created a culture of expectation,” Dodson said. “We expect students to learn, we expect teachers to teach, we expect administrators to be responsible and efficiently and fairly run the schools, and we expect the support staff to support the efforts of the teachers in the classroom.”
During her tenure, the schools were consolidated, numerous improvements were made to school buildings, and all 15 schools achieved full accreditation for the first time.
Then, during a school board meeting in October 2008, Dodson announced she would not seek to renew her current contract, which will expire Tuesday.
Dodson, 57, said she made the decision to step down because “I’m done. You just come to a point where you realize you’ve accomplished what brought you here.”
Also, she said, “since my own kids are through college and on their own now ... there’s no compelling reason to continue at this time. It’s just time.”
Dodson took the helm of Henry County Schools in the 2001-02 school year. Before that, she was superintendent of King William County public schools starting in 1996.
Dodson holds a doctorate in education administration and special education from Virginia Tech, as well as a certificate of advanced graduate studies in education administration and business. She also holds a master’s degree from Auburn University and a bachelor’s from the University of Kentucky, the state where she spent most of her childhood.
She has held many positions in education during her career, having worked as a teacher, school psychologist, director of student services, director of instruction and principal.
“I don’t look back much, not a whole lot,” Dodson said of her time as superintendent.
“I’m kind of the philosophy that ... sometimes circumstances require you to make a decision and make it right,” she said. That is “not to say there aren’t things we could’ve done better, but I think we just learn those lessons and apply what we’ve learned to decisions in the future.”
With the end of her contract just days away, Dodson said she is “not at liberty to discuss” what her next move will be.
“I’m excited about some of the opportunities that I’m looking at right now,” she said, adding she has “a number of options I’m not able to discuss in detail yet.”
Whether she remains in Henry County “depends on which way I decide to go,” she said.
Dodson’s husband, veterinarian Scott Noe, works in Bedford. The two have residences in both Bedford and Henry County, but Henry County is “our primary residence,” she said.
Regardless of her job plans, she said, “I’m going to immediately take some down time” and “take some time to sleep.”
Dodson said she will miss “the opportunity to interact with tomorrow’s future — the youngsters we have in our schools — and to see the hope for the future in what they’re learning. I really will miss that.”
However, she said, “I won’t miss the 24/7 nature of the position” and “some of the intractable problems presented every day.”
Dodson used the analogy of baking a cake to describe what challenges await her successor, Anthony DeWayne Jackson, who will start as Henry County superintendent in July.
“We’ve worked hard in Henry County the last eight years gathering up the ingredients. ... Everything’s assembled now,” she said. The challenge will be “baking the perfect cake.”
Source
“The legacy of my time here would be that together we created a culture of expectation,” Dodson said. “We expect students to learn, we expect teachers to teach, we expect administrators to be responsible and efficiently and fairly run the schools, and we expect the support staff to support the efforts of the teachers in the classroom.”
During her tenure, the schools were consolidated, numerous improvements were made to school buildings, and all 15 schools achieved full accreditation for the first time.
Then, during a school board meeting in October 2008, Dodson announced she would not seek to renew her current contract, which will expire Tuesday.
Dodson, 57, said she made the decision to step down because “I’m done. You just come to a point where you realize you’ve accomplished what brought you here.”
Also, she said, “since my own kids are through college and on their own now ... there’s no compelling reason to continue at this time. It’s just time.”
Dodson took the helm of Henry County Schools in the 2001-02 school year. Before that, she was superintendent of King William County public schools starting in 1996.
Dodson holds a doctorate in education administration and special education from Virginia Tech, as well as a certificate of advanced graduate studies in education administration and business. She also holds a master’s degree from Auburn University and a bachelor’s from the University of Kentucky, the state where she spent most of her childhood.
She has held many positions in education during her career, having worked as a teacher, school psychologist, director of student services, director of instruction and principal.
“I don’t look back much, not a whole lot,” Dodson said of her time as superintendent.
“I’m kind of the philosophy that ... sometimes circumstances require you to make a decision and make it right,” she said. That is “not to say there aren’t things we could’ve done better, but I think we just learn those lessons and apply what we’ve learned to decisions in the future.”
With the end of her contract just days away, Dodson said she is “not at liberty to discuss” what her next move will be.
“I’m excited about some of the opportunities that I’m looking at right now,” she said, adding she has “a number of options I’m not able to discuss in detail yet.”
Whether she remains in Henry County “depends on which way I decide to go,” she said.
Dodson’s husband, veterinarian Scott Noe, works in Bedford. The two have residences in both Bedford and Henry County, but Henry County is “our primary residence,” she said.
Regardless of her job plans, she said, “I’m going to immediately take some down time” and “take some time to sleep.”
Dodson said she will miss “the opportunity to interact with tomorrow’s future — the youngsters we have in our schools — and to see the hope for the future in what they’re learning. I really will miss that.”
However, she said, “I won’t miss the 24/7 nature of the position” and “some of the intractable problems presented every day.”
Dodson used the analogy of baking a cake to describe what challenges await her successor, Anthony DeWayne Jackson, who will start as Henry County superintendent in July.
“We’ve worked hard in Henry County the last eight years gathering up the ingredients. ... Everything’s assembled now,” she said. The challenge will be “baking the perfect cake.”
Source
Will the revisionist history ever stop?
Shortly after John Calipari went to Kentucky, former Memphis assistant John Robic went on the radio in Memphis and talked about how Calipari had "more help" at his new school and "everything you need to win a national title."
Those comments, of course, upset a number of people in Memphis since they came just days after some of the most influential people in this city had offered Calipari $5 million a year, practically unlimited private plane time, stock options, a seat on the board of directors of a major company and essentially whatever else he might have wanted to get him to stay.
More help? Seriously? To the people who had poured significant money into the Memphis program over the years and were prepared to do even more, the "more help" comment seemed like revisionist history at best.
Now, Robic has seemingly done it again. He told Jody Demling of the Courier-Journal that Kentucky's No. 1-ranked recruiting class is a tribute to the allure of Kentucky.
"What we have seen here already is that it's a different deal; its Kentucky," Robic said. "It's a match between a talented coach and a place like this. Coach (Rick) Pitino was that and coach (Tubby) Smith was that; it's what Kentucky should be.
"At UMass we had to offer 50 guys and hope a few of them took it. We even had to do some of that early on at Memphis. But here if you offer 20 then 21 will accept because you might offer one by mistake. We have to be careful and now we know better what style fits the system best."
Let's be very, very clear. The recruiting class John Calipari got to Kentucky this year is essentially the same recruiting class that would have been at Memphis had he stayed. In fact, Memphis' recruiting class would have actually been better because it would have included Xavier Henry, who is now at Kansas.
If Calipari had gone to Arizona, that recruiting class would have gone to Arizona. If Calipari had gone to Virginia Commonwealth, that recruiting class would have gone to Virginia Commonwealth.
Kentucky just happened to be the school that got it. There was nothing inherent about Kentucky - besides the fact that it hired John Calipari - to make it happen.
Source
Those comments, of course, upset a number of people in Memphis since they came just days after some of the most influential people in this city had offered Calipari $5 million a year, practically unlimited private plane time, stock options, a seat on the board of directors of a major company and essentially whatever else he might have wanted to get him to stay.
More help? Seriously? To the people who had poured significant money into the Memphis program over the years and were prepared to do even more, the "more help" comment seemed like revisionist history at best.
Now, Robic has seemingly done it again. He told Jody Demling of the Courier-Journal that Kentucky's No. 1-ranked recruiting class is a tribute to the allure of Kentucky.
"What we have seen here already is that it's a different deal; its Kentucky," Robic said. "It's a match between a talented coach and a place like this. Coach (Rick) Pitino was that and coach (Tubby) Smith was that; it's what Kentucky should be.
"At UMass we had to offer 50 guys and hope a few of them took it. We even had to do some of that early on at Memphis. But here if you offer 20 then 21 will accept because you might offer one by mistake. We have to be careful and now we know better what style fits the system best."
Let's be very, very clear. The recruiting class John Calipari got to Kentucky this year is essentially the same recruiting class that would have been at Memphis had he stayed. In fact, Memphis' recruiting class would have actually been better because it would have included Xavier Henry, who is now at Kansas.
If Calipari had gone to Arizona, that recruiting class would have gone to Arizona. If Calipari had gone to Virginia Commonwealth, that recruiting class would have gone to Virginia Commonwealth.
Kentucky just happened to be the school that got it. There was nothing inherent about Kentucky - besides the fact that it hired John Calipari - to make it happen.
Source
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)