Print Books
Over the last 19 years, I've published six books on how to utilize customer service concepts to help your school retain and attract students and thus improve your school's culture and success.
In 2024, I published a book on the topic of ADHD, which those of us who work in education may know well, but perhaps not in such depth as my book details.
All books can be found on my Amazon author page.
WHO CARES?: Improving Public Schools Through Relationships and Customer Service // 2007
Who Cares? is a call to arms for all proponents of public schools: administrators, teachers, support staff, and unions. It encourages schools to focus on the most important "R" of all relationships.
Many advocate the importance of relationships in a school, but few articulate how to systematically address it. Who Cares? offers hope with real world customer service examples and practices that have been implemented in one public school district in the battle to win back students. Readers can expect to find a variety of tools and resources, including:
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Customer service ideas for all staff members (secretaries, coaches, bus drivers, custodians, cooks)
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Home visits best practice checklist (K-12)
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29 ways for teachers to WOW parents and administrators
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10 of the best customer service practices borrowed from the business world and applied to public education
An intentional focus on customer service, relationships, and making connections will not only positively impact the culture of your school, but will also result in improved academic achievement.
SIMPLY THE BEST: 29 Things Students Say the Best Teachers Do Around Relationships // 2010
Simply the Best: 29 Things Students Say the Best Teachers Do Around Relationships highlights the importance of listening to students to inform our efforts in schools. Research shows that having an intentional focus on developing relationships in schools results in improved academic performance, reduced achievement gaps, safer schools and productive learning environments. Students should be more than passive participants in the educational process. They can articulate teacher behaviors that make a difference for them.
Simply the Best utilizes research to identify practices schools should consider to build better teacher-student relationships and enlists student voice in the form of student focus groups, and surveys, resulting in the identification of twenty-nine practices that characterize the best teachers.
Eighty ideas geared toward relationship building and the development of a customer service mind-set are shared as suggestions for teachers. Simply the Best serves as a reminder of the power of the teacher - the power of their words and actions in shaping students' educational experience. The teacher and student relationship is the foundation for school improvement efforts.
COMPETING FOR KIDS: 21 Customer Service Concepts Public Schools Can Use to Retain and Attract Students // 2018
When was the last time you reflected on the quality of customer service your school gives to your students? As alternate forms of education become more prominent, public education faces the challenge of losing its best and brightest students to the competition.
Competing For Kids is a full-service manual for giving great customer service throughout your school district. It gives examples of great customer service from top companies including The Walt Disney Company, Google, Apple, Southwest Airlines, Amazon and more. In an educational environment where schools have to fight for each student, learning and implementing customer service concepts from those who do it best can improve a school's appeal for current and prospective students.
Competing for Kids teaches:
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How the best companies use customer service to compete at the highest level
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How these twenty-one business concepts can help public schools better compete with other forms of education
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How to develop a district-wide customer service plan for all staff members working in the public school arena
FEED OUR STUDENTS WELL: 18 Customer Service Concepts for Public School Food Service // 2020
Imagine a school district where the cafeteria is the central hub for staff and students to hang out as a respite from normal daily school activities, where food service managers and directors get students excited about the cafeteria on social media, and where parents and students do not even consider bringing a meal from home because of the quality and choices offered in their school cafeteria.
Feed Our Students Well serves up 18 customer service concepts for school leaders and food service employees to deliver the very best nutrition, food service atmosphere and cafeteria facilities to students. In this book, you'll learn:
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How food, employee attitudes, facilities, school culture, and leadership can be given a customer service boost to improve student satisfaction in the cafeteria
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How public schools can learn from industry best practices to compete with the current competitive educational climate
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How customer service in a school's food service department can play a major role in overall student happiness and school culture.
PUBLIC SCHOOL GATEKEEPERS: The Customer Service-Driven School Office Professional // 2021
School office staff are on the front lines of a public school. They answer calls, greet guests, help students, and relay important information to staff and leadership. So why do so many office professionals go without any customer service training? I've spent over 30 years in public education asking this question!
Chock full of insightful tips, tricks, and stories, this handy quick-reference guide will teach you how to put a customer-service spin on your daily tasks, making your job easier by eliminating problems before they start and ensuring your status as "indispensable" to your school's staff and leadership. In this book you'll learn:
· How to turn a disgruntled visitor into a lifelong fan of you and your school
· Quick, easy tips on answering phones, emails and greeting guests
· How to give great service to your boss so you stand out from the rest of the pack
· How to ensure you give off a professional, knowledgeable vibe while also being approachable and friendly
· . . . And more!
These are tried and true methods, borrowed from the best customer service companies, and we've honed them for decades to fit the specific needs of schools. Our office staff swear by them! Are you ready to take your profession to the next level and help your school stand out in this age of competing for kids?
TRIUMPH IN TURMOIL: How I Embraced My ADHD Superpowers to Game the System // 2024
ADHD is not a disease to be cured, but a gift to be celebrated.
Those of us with ADHD can struggle with school, relationships, work, and social life. But it doesn’t have to be that way. This book shares some of my ADHD life hacks that have allowed me to live life to its fullest. Having lived with ADHD for over sixty years, I have discovered hidden superpowers within my ADHD traits. Harnessing them is not hard, it just takes some thinking outside the box. In this book you’ll learn how to turn ADHD symptoms into strengths, including:
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Hyperactivity —> You’ve got boundless energy to execute tasks and can hop from one to another seamlessly
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Impulsivity —> You can be spontaneous in social or romantic settings, which injects fun and excitement into just about any activity
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Scatterbrained —> Not only are you able to juggle multiple tasks that would overwhelm someone without ADHD, but you also become energized by all the stimuli.
My ADHD superpowers have enabled me to achieve numerous life goals. From personal milestones to meeting my incredible wife, being a hall of fame high school athlete, and earning a two-time academic achievement award, to professional accomplishments like being a top earner for BloomBoard and receiving a lifetime achievement award for my work as an educator.
SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS WHO CARE: 20 Tips to Improve Student-Driver Relationships // 2025
School bus drivers might be the most overlooked department in public education.
Public school bus drivers are the first and last school employees most students see each day. These interactions can have a major impact on how students feel throughout their school day and during their time at home with family. Let's have all our students leave our buses with a smile and a positive attitude, setting them up for success!
School Bus Drivers Who Care offers insight and tips in twenty customer service areas so bus drivers can brighten the days of the students who ride their buses. You'll find stories and ideas that real bus drivers have experienced in their efforts to build strong, lasting relationships with their students.
In this book you'll learn:
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The importance of greeting and learning students' names
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How to inject some fun into your daily ride
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Tips on how to think about your job and make yourself indispensable to your school