Lessons in Not So Great Customer Service

For those of you following my travels, we recently moved from St. Louis to Palo Alto, where I will be assuming the headship of the South Peninsula Hebrew Day School.  The transition has kept me busy...and out of the blogging zone.  Tonight, I'm wading back in.  As part of my move, we had to relocated phone and internet providers.  Along the way I received a very illustrative lesson in the do's and don'ts of providing good (or bad) customer service from the service rep who fielded my cable modem application.  Let's just say that I learned a lot about how not to treat customers.  

For a peek at the conversation...which took place via Comcast's online chat window... follow this link for an actual transcript.  I'm going to ask my teachers and administrative faculty to read this, with promises that we'll do exactly the opposite at my new school.

Allen Selis

The Art of Play

Those who have read this blog over the last year will probably wonder where the following post is coming from.  Really, it's not out of the blue.  As I sit with my board talking about the various elements of our school program, we have begun to think seriously about the physical spaces of our school as an attribute that either enhances or takes luster away from the quality of our program.

Luckily, a very generous friend of my school offered me the opportunity to ask:  Just how does the physical landscape of a school create excellence?

For some illustrative first thoughts on the matter, follow this link.