I always felt that if you were going to have a Blog you had a responsibility to keep it current. That's before I had a Blog.

I am spending my last day in the office attempting to clean off my To-Do list. Tomorrow I start the Great August Tour of 2011: 25 speeches in 16 cities in 29 days. Posting an entry is on my list. So is finishing an article for Education Week. That I have chosen to write this first is testimony to my willingness to procrastinate on the big stuff.

I am pleased to say that the response to my book continues to grow stronger. My son, Aidan, has assumed control of most marketing and fulfillment. We are approaching 8,000 books sold. I may not be a threat to Stephen King, but every sale is very gratifying. The kind words I regularly receive from readers by-pass my intellect and go straight to my heart.

What I find most interesting about the events that have transpired since the publication of Schools Cannot Do It Alone is how the tone of the national debate regarding the future of public schools has changed. I may lack the requisite objectivity, but it strikes me that the constant drumbeat of negativity has made the message more timely.

I am convinced that our elected leaders almost always reflect the consciousness of the people they serve. As a result, much of what has transpired across the country, especially in states like Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, and Idaho would not - could not - have happened if America's educators and their allies were engaged in an ongoing, positive conversation with the people of their communities; a conversation that, first and foremost, highlights the many miracles that occur in our schools everyday.

At the very least, everyone working in our schools can help their cause by adopting the four S's: STOP badmouthing one another and your schools in public; SHIFT your attention from the negative to the positive; SHARE something positive about your schools, your students, your job with the people inside your personal social networks; and SUSTAIN the effort - keep on sharing the story of your successes big and small.

Choosing to take these simple steps adds nothing to the burden that all educators bear, but it brings tangible, personal, powerful benefits. Not only can we improve the school-community relationship and, thereby, increase public understanding, trust, and support, we can inoculate our family, friends and neighbors against the ravages of the viral negativity that surrounds them. This negativity  breeds anger and resentment. And it is this anger, combined with rising levels of fear, that critics are using to destroy the emotional and intellectual ties binding the American people to their public schools, especially the seventy percent who have no children in school.

Over the years, one of the ways I have attempted to engage the public is to help them understand the magnitude of the burden we have heaped upon our schools. I accomplish this by reading a list of all the academic, social, and medical responsibilities that our schools must fulfill. It is a sobering list, and it always draws a passionate audience response. I am pleased to say that I have hired a company to create a fifteen minute, animated video that brings the list to life.

We are hoping to premiere the finished product by the end of September. We will alert everyone we know.