Since being reassigned over the summer months to be the principal at Sunburst Elementary School, Ellen Fleming has encountered one problem after another. Renovations to the building had begun with completion dates before the students arrived in August. As that date approached, Ms. Fleming realized that students and teachers would be coexisting with construction workers, noise, dust, and dirt. She knew it wouldn't be long before parents realized that their children, along with the school staff, were working in an unsafe situation. Parents protested at the school, many attended school board meetings to confront the school board and superintendent, and some even withdrew their children from the school. Corrections and improvements were made to the school site, and everything seemed to be under control. About two weeks after the December holiday break, Ms. Fleming arrived at school to find asbestos hazard signs and tape posted around part of the construction site. When parents arrived to drop off their children, they saw the newly posted signs. Word spread rapidly, and more than 125 students were withdrawn from the school. Bob Blumberg, the school district's director of environmental services, said, "Principal Fleming knew in general what was happening at the school." However, he admitted that she had not been notified about the signs by the time parents began dropping off children at the school. Mr. Blumberg added, "From now on, we will try to notify Ms. Fleming by seven in the morning if there is anything done on asbestos abatement at the school the night before. We need to improve our communicationthat's where the problem is."

Molly Merritt, a five-year member of Sunburst's school improvement committee, responded, "Ninety percent of these problems could be avoided if the county office would let the people know what is going on. They don't put children number onethey put the budget as number one. If that were not true, they would not have children on a construction sitethis is an absolute disaster area! I have a real serious lack of trust."

Later that morning, Ms. Fleming received a telephone call from the newly hired school superintendent. She was being summoned to an afternoon strategy session. She was told to bring suggestions about how the school district should confront the new problem at Sunburst. What suggestions would you take to the meeting if you were Ms. Fleming?