We all have them in our organizations. The broken windows. The little niggling things that need to be addressed....but haven't.

Maybe it's the drinking fountain with the handles that get stuck and don't regularly work that you learn have been like that...for years.

Maybe it's the attendance policy that needs to be updated because it doesn't match practice and isn't consistent with law, but feels like one more battle for which you simply don't have the energy.

Maybe it's the recording of employee absences that hasn't properly been monitored and is putting students and co-workers at a significant disadvantage for learning and functional district operations.

Broken windows.

In the world of law enforcement and city leadership, the broken windows are often synonymous with lack of attention, antisocial behavior, apathy, disorder, and an obvious lack of prioritization. When you drive through an area of a city you're visiting and see broken windows, you have to wonder where the priorities are in that area, as they likely don't seem to be on repair or safety.

What broken windows do you need to address in your school? In your district? Painful and exhausting as it might be, can you really not address those broken windows?

And what do those broken windows, those unaddressed issues, do for morale? What message do they send to your constituents, be it parents or students, or the greater community? What do they do to coworkers or subordinates who know that the issues have been long neglected and need time and attention. Could they are possibly send a message that you don't care, or that the little things aren't important, if you allow them to be ignored?

Here we are...it's the end of November. We're approaching Thanksgiving with Christmas and New Year's is a stone's throw away.

The new year. A time of new starts, resolutions, changes.

What broken windows can you repair?