A Day in the Life of an Ed Director
Fight traffic, find a less congested short cut and arrive at the office by 8:30am, craving coffee. Wonderful...Someone made coffee and it’s ready. Oh joy.
Stop by my assistant’s desk to see the day’s calendar. We have a great facility with three formal classrooms that run 9:00am to 10:00pm, good only 4 classes today. One in the morning, one in the evening and one all day. With about 100 students in the building this morning, I better make sure to be available during the breaks and at lunch. With luck, most concerns will be general and I’ll escape the angry member who’s license is expiring next week and we don’t have enough courses for her to complete her requirements. Thank heaven I took the REEA break out session “Dealing With Difficult People” at one of the conferences. The session is repeated occasionally and I really need a refresher SOON.
8:45am - Direct traffic to the two classrooms; make sure the instructors have all that they need. Uh, oh, one of the instructors isn’t here yet. Keeping finger’s crossed that all the students and the instructor get here on time. I ask my assistant to check the traffic report to see if there are any trouble spots causing delays. Nothing beyond the ordinary rush hour traffic. Clock is ticking and I’m missing one instructor and the other class has lots of unsigned signatures on the attendance sheet.
9:00am - Still no instructor. I go into the class and tell them the instructor is delayed and let’s discuss programs they hate, loved and new topics they would like to hear about. Soon the instructor arrives – a fender-bender in front and it took a bit before the cars were moved out of traffic area. Thank heavens, since I cannot sub for this instructor - no expertise in his topic. Now I can get a desperately needed second cup of coffee.
9:20am - I go back into each class, waive the attendance sheet and declare anyone coming in after I leave, cannot get CE credit! Once I had a student come into my office an hour late demanding that I give her CE credit. Told her I can’t without permission from the real estate commission. She said I could. I said “So you want me to give you three hours credit for a class you attended for less than two hours?” She answered “yes”. My response was “You want me to lie?” Again, she said “Yes”. I bit back wanting to say you need an ethics class. I told her she could attend the class without credit, but she would need a written statement from the Commission allowing her three hours CE for two hours attendance. She left in a huff. That class on difficult people always comes in handy. Looks like everyone came in just under the wire and I will not have an attendance skirmish this morning.
9:30am - Coffee in hand, back to my desk to check on emails for the next hour or so. I answer a lot of calls in between answering emails, usually about a licensing problem, or credits needed. Good thing REEA includes state regulators. Years ago when New York State sent regulators to the conference, it was a great place to get to know them, find out what their issues were and share Ed Directors issues. New York no longer participates in REEA but what I learned from them and other state regulators serves me well. NEVER YELL AT THEM. I found yelling or calling them stupid will end any friendly relationship.
10:00am - And I’m still dealing with email in-between phone calls. Uh, oh, just got an email from a student who found her on line course expired and she really needs the proctored exam. NYS allows only one year, including extensions to complete any on-line course. She registered in 2016! Need to do some research on this, but not now.
11:30am - Time flies and it’s time to check course applications and approvals from the State. Then check on out of state instructor arrangements - hotels, promotions etc. Done - now it’s time to get to the classroom to get testimonials as they exit. I do try to see the ending of the class to see the comments and body language from the class. Fortunately, it looks like a great success-time to get out the cell phone. Thank you Craig Grant for your promotional tips from last year’s conference. Filmed testimonials really do work.
12:00 noon - The day class breaks and I wait in the lobby to see if they have any problems or comments. Must have been a good morning for them. No one accosts me. Good, I can go back to my desk and cover for my assistant during lunch.
1:00pm - Notice from ARELLO. I’m not great with forms, but I find the ARELLO new course application daunting. This is about the 3rd time ARELLO staff contacted me with something missing or incorrect. I admire their patience. And again, I’m sure meeting many of the ARELLO members at REEA functions have helped. I think I got the application right this time and can get it reviewed.
3:00pm - Already and I get a call from reception; several students are angry about something the instructor said. I hear “he said agents should disclose nothing and YOU (meaning me) say we have to disclose everything.” In addition to licensing compliance, I answer agent problems and harp on lack of disclosure. So I charge into the classroom ready to do battle with the instructor over a patently incorrect statement. I ask the instructor what happened and he said; “Yes I told them they should never be the source of disclosures. They are resources not sources.” Oh, very different spin on what the students told me. So the instructor and I roll played the difference between source vs. resource (a classroom technique learned at a REEA session). Worked out well and I learned something very new. I sat in the class for a while and looks like everyone is happy.
4:00pm - Back to the phone and help some fellow who didn’t understand the difference between mandatory courses and the NAR ethics requirement, a problem many Ed Directors have, compounded by the requirement confusion is the perception that the Association is the licensing body. T’s deep breath time, and a silent prayer the censor between brain and mouth doesn’t go off. I’m so glad thought bubbles are invisible.
5:00pm - And it looks like working on the last half of the year’s schedule will be tabled till…tomorrow?? Maybe. I also have to prepare for NAR’s midyear meetings in less than 6 weeks as well as the next Education Council meeting where we will go over procedures for course development; when I develop, when faculty does, buying or exchanging courses from other Associations. I’ll worry about faculty assignments next week. In the meantime, I cannot go home until I go into the 6:00pm class to make a few announcements.
6:30pm - I was a captive audience for many class questions but I am leaving NOW- Oh sigh, tomorrow is another day.
By Eileen Taus, Director of Education
Hudson Gateway Association of REALTORS®