FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TETON VILLAGE, Wyoming – Everyone recognizes the essential role that parents play in their children’s education, yet there is no prevailing guide for families…until now. Jim Baumann attended public schools, as did his wife and their three kids. He has been a teacher, led a billion dollar business and a national nonprofit organization, served as a local school board member and a member of a state board of education. But to Baumann, his most important role is being a thoughtful, engaged, supportive and loving parent. Now, Baumann is using the knowledge he’s accumulated as a result of his unique blend of experiences over the past three decades to share his wise perspective in “Common Sense For Our Common Good: A Parent Guide to Good Schools.”
Releasing on Sept. 15, 2017, “Common Sense For Our Common Good” puts power, through knowledge, into the hands of parents, providing them with a compelling resource and useful tool to support their children and their children’s school.
Every parent wants their children to realize their full learning and human potential, and they recognize that education and schools are central to fulfilling that aspiration. Baumann’s welcoming and credible approach provides answers to two crucial questions – what makes a good school good and what can parents do to help make their child’s school better? Baumann has a passion for bringing clarity and simplicity to the education conversation and believes in the brilliance in every human being – especially in the potential of every child.
Jim Baumann also brings the magic of “Common Sense For Our Common Good” to life in a 60-minute multimedia presentation and 30-minute Q&A session that is compelling, informative and has interactive elements. Baumann takes his audience through his unique methodology that brings clarity to what makes a good school good and what parents can do to help make their child’s school better. Any organization that is education, parent, child or family focused or is committed to the wellness of their employees and their families, will benefit from Baumann’s incredibly engaging and informative conversation… And this topic is one of the most important to discuss of our time. For more information, visit www.cscg.education.
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About the book
“Common Sense For Our Common Good: A Parent Guide To Good Schools” is about how you, as a parent, can most effectively support your child and your child’s school. That takes both individual passion and collective commitment. But it also takes some basic knowledge about what a good school, public or private, looks and feels like. Supporting your child and your child’s school is not just the right thing to do but also the most sensible and productive thing to do. Education is a thoughtful and prudent investment in the brilliance and potential in your child and all children… and will reap human and societal benefits both today and into the future.
“Common Sense For Our Common Good: A Parent Guide To Good Schools”
Jim Baumann | Sept. 15, 2017
Paperback | 9780692439128 | $14.95
E-book | 9780692439241 | $9.99
Nonfiction | Education
An Interview with Jim Baumann
You started your career in education more than 30 years ago. Was there a specific experience with the school system that made you want to write this book?
Yes, a three plus decade experience of being a parent and having had the privilege of being a teacher, coach, business leader, nonprofit leader, local school board member and state school board member. All of my experiences have reinforced my belief that every child is brilliant, and providing a good education and good schools is central to us fulfilling our obligation to make certain that every child has the opportunity to realize their full learning and human potential. “Common Sense For Our Common Good: A Parent Guide To Good Schools” partners with parents so that they understand what makes a good school good and also provides them with the knowledge to know what they can do to help make their child’s school better.
What’s helpful about the perspective you bring to this book, having experience in so many leadership roles and as a father to three children?
I believe my blend of experiences is unique. I have been in the classroom as a teacher and in a boardroom as a CEO, I have been on the playing field as a soccer coach and been engaged in nonprofits as a CEO and a board chair. I am a parent of three public schooled kids and have served on my local school board and my state school board. All of these experiences have informed me in powerful ways about the education of our children, the condition of our schools and that working together we can ensure that every child learns, grows and lives a purposeful and meaningful life.
Why is “Common Sense For Our Common Good” a must-read for parents?
Because it is a valuable, welcoming and unique education resource for parents that helps them champion and support their child’s education. “Common Sense For Our Common Good” recognizes that many of the aspirations that parents hold for their children are shaped by how education and schools impact their children. At the same time “Common Sense For Our Common Good” understands that parents have the closest involvement with and the most passionate opinions about schools and that greater knowledge about what actually makes a good school good is in everyone’s best interest. “Common Sense For Our Common Good” provides useful information and tools that underscore the critical role that parents play in helping to make their children’s school the best it can be. And, importantly, whatever the current curriculum direction may be and/or whatever the current education policies may be, the answer provided to the crucial question put forward in “Common Sense For Our Common Good” – what makes a good school good – is a foundational requirement that must be in place for any curriculum or education policy to be implemented effectively.
What’s the most valuable lesson you can give a parent entering the school system?
That it is best that parents speak from a solid base of information rather than from their emotions or frustration. Emotions and frustrations are real and valued, but let’s remember that schools are at their best and opportunities for children are at their greatest when parents, educators and the community work together and are focused on and committed to every child realizing their full learning and human potential.
You, your wife and your kids all attended public school. Did you enjoy your own school experience?
My wife and I and our three kids all benefited from being in very good public schools. I was an engaged student and athlete and had positive and productive relationships with many teachers and coaches. I enjoyed my schooling tremendously and was always learning and growing, and that experience helped me to obtain my college degree. My teachers and coaches had such a positive influence on me that I spent the first ten years out of college being a coach, teacher and school administrator. Once I entered the business world my engagement with education continued. I chaired a foundation that recognizes and celebrates highly effective teachers and also recruits and prepares future teachers to serve in schools of need. I was a member of my local school board and also was a member of our state board of education and chaired our finance and audit committee. I remain in awe and admire effective educators and I am forever grateful for the public education that I was given.
What do you think are some of the biggest challenges parents face today?
Making sense of all there is to know about education and schools is a challenge for us all. Schools are buffeted by demands from every corner of society. Everyone has strong opinions on what schools should do. Issues around too few graduates prepared for employment demands and college, inequitably distributed resources, low graduation rates and minority achievement gaps, to list just a few, are regularly cited as examples of why American education needs to improve. There are demands for school enhancements and innovations: greater access to quality early childhood education, technology use and training, teaching world languages, education/workforce development, proactive data use, implementation of learning standards… and technology and a global economy have created learning competition that is no longer measured at just state or national levels but through worldwide comparisons. And teaching is a profession requiring specialized training and skills sets, with a language all its own – one that is too often hard to understand for most non-educators, parents included. The challenges are many, and that is why “Common Sense For Our Common Good” is a must-read for our nation’s 100 million parents so that parents know when a school is operating to its full potential around maximizing the learning and human potential for their child and every child.
What’s next for you?
Because I believe that “Common Sense For Our Common Good: A Parent Guide To Good Schools” can significantly assist our nation’s parents in helping their children to realize their full learning and human potential, I am going to continue to spread the word about my book and make myself available to all. I am mission driven, and there is nothing more important than to care about and prepare our children for a purposeful, productive and fulfilling life. Education and schools are central to fulfilling that obligation. I am also hoping to have the opportunity to share my thoughts with audiences nationwide through my “Common Sense For Our Common Good” multimedia presentation that features compelling, informative and interactive elements and engages audiences in one of the most important conversations of our time. And I will also continue to try to be the very best grandparent to our four very young and adorable grandchildren. My wife and I love our three grown children with all our hearts, but we may love our grandchildren just a little bit more…they are truly pure joy.
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A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.
Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.
