Dee Sapp Speaks

10/15/2026

When did special education become a conversation that only concerns families of students with disabilities?

We have one public education system, and special education is an essential part of it. The decisions made about how we educate, support, and prepare students with disabilities affect far more than the students receiving those services.

They influence our schools, our communities, and ultimately, our collective future.

Tonight, I’ll be co-moderating the Charles County SECAC Board of Education Candidate Forum, where we’ll hear directly from candidates about their priorities for students with disabilities.

This conversation deserves the attention of the entire community, not simply those with a personal connection to special education.

How we serve one part of our educational system says a great deal about how we lead the whole.

📍 CCPS Starkey Building, La Plata
🕕 6 PM tonight

All are welcome. Registration is required.

10/14/2026

We spend a lot of time discussing what students need from our schools. We should spend just as much time asking the people seeking to lead those schools how they plan to deliver what has been asked of them. When we're talking about students with disabilities, those conversations deserve more than broad promises and familiar talking points.

Tomorrow evening, I'll be co-moderating the Charles County SECAC Board of Education Candidate Forum, an opportunity to hear directly from candidates about their perspectives and priorities for students with disabilities enrolled in the Charles County Public School System.

My work in advocacy and leadership has always centered on asking meaningful questions, examining systems, and making sure the people affected by decisions aren't overlooked in the process.

I'm looking forward to a thoughtful, substantive, and nonpartisan conversation.

Registration has been extended past the posted 10/8 deadline, and the forum is open to everyone. Registration is required, so please use the QR code on the flyer.

📅 Thursday, October 15 | 6:00–7:30 PM
📍 CCPS Starkey Building | La Plata, MD

The questions we ask today matter to the students whose futures are being shaped by the answers, or avoidance, we get today.

10/09/2026

I believe there's value in looking at things from a different perspective, even if it makes us a little uncomfortable.

I came across this skit and laughed harder than I probably should have, but beyond the humor, there's actually a solid point being made.

We have a tendency to accept a version of events because it's the version we've always heard. Rarely do we stop to consider how differently the same situation might look from the other side.

That applies to far more than Dr. Seuss. Think about how often this happens in leadership, relationships, business, and life in general.

Sometimes the perspective we've never considered is the one that makes the most sense.

Forgive the colorful language and perhaps the delivery, but I certainly appreciate the candor (And I can't say the argument is entirely wrong😂).

Who knew Green Eggs and Ham and The Cat in The Hat could make such a compelling case for reconsidering the narrative?

"Green Eggs & Ham" is a Groundlings Original sketch written, produc...

10/09/2026

Experience teaches you what to do. Maturity teaches you that sometimes what worked before isn’t what this moment needs. You're going to need to learn to read the room.

There’s a point where experience can become a liability if it is repetitive. We know what worked with the last team, the last client, the last problem, the last season.

Different people require different leadership. A growing business may need different systems, a new season may demand a different pace, and a strength can become a limitation if you continue using it after the circumstances have changed.

Experience gives us a reference point and it should never become a script.
The real test of leadership isn’t if you remember what worked before.
It’s whether you’re wise enough to recognize when it no longer applies.

10/08/2026

Not everything, and not everyone, that helped you build your business is supposed to come with you while you grow it. This can be hard to accept when loyalty is involved.

The system that once kept things moving may now be slowing you down. A client who once felt like a win may no longer be a good fit for your organization. An employee who was right for one season may not be right for the next. Even your own habits can outlive their usefulness.

Growth has a way of exposing what used to work. Your mistake may be confusing gratitude with obligation. You can appreciate what helped you get here without giving it a permanent place in where you’re going.

One of the hardest parts of leadership is knowing when to honor the past without allowing it to limit the future.

Be grateful for what helped build it and be honest about what will help grow it.

10/07/2026

If everyone leaves your meeting with a different understanding of what was decided, you didn’t create alignment. You created interpretation, and interpretation is expensive!

Misalignment shows up in duplicated work, missed deadlines, unnecessary follow-up meetings, frustration, and people doing exactly what they thought they were supposed to do.

A productive meeting should end with more than people saying, “great discussion.”
People should know:
✅What was decided.
✅Who owns what.
✅What happens next.

If you need three more meetings to clarify the first one, the problem may not be ex*****on.

It may be your leadership.

10/06/2026

One of the first things I notice inside an organization is where decisions get stuck, because that tells me a lot.

Sometimes the issue is unclear authority, too many people have to weigh in, and sometimes everyone is waiting for the person above them to make the call. Your organization says it wants initiative but has created a culture where people are afraid to use it.

That hesitation has a cost. Projects slow down, opportunities pass, good people get frustrated and leaders get pulled into decisions they should not have to make.
I pay attention to where the work stops moving, and why, because sometimes an organization doesn’t need another strategy, it needs fewer places where good decisions to die.

If your organization is busy but still struggling to move important work forward, keep following. This is the kind of work I talk about and the kind of work I help leaders fix.

If it’s costing you time, money or momentum, let’s talk.

10/05/2026

Everyone wants transparency until the answer is no. This is usually when complaints about communication begin.

Transparency was never a promise that you would like the decision. It was a promise that you wouldn’t have to guess what the decision was, why it was made, or where you stand.

Good leaders should listen, explain their reasoning, and be willing to reconsider when new information warrants it. Sometimes, after all of that, the answer is still no.

Leadership isn’t explaining yourself until everyone agrees with you. Sometimes it’s having enough respect for people to give them a clear answer you know they may not like.

If transparency only feels like transparency when the answer is yes, people didn’t want transparency, they wanted agreement or favor.

10/02/2026

Customers or clients don’t expect businesses to be perfect. They understand that people make mistakes, systems fail, orders get mixed up, and things happen.

What they pay attention to most, is how easy, or difficult, you make it for them to get the problem resolved.

Do they have to convince you there’s a problem? Chase someone for an answer? Repeat the story to three different people? Fight for a reasonable solution?

At this point, the original mistake is no longer the issue. The way you are handling it is.

A sincere apology matters, but so does ownership, communication, and ultimately making the situation right without turning the customer into the project manager for your mistake.

10/01/2026

Many people treat January like it is the only month we're allowed to plan and strategize, but for the federal government, it’s the start of a new fiscal year and for the rest of us, it’s the beginning of the final quarter of the calendar year.

This is a great time to check in on your goals for this year.

Don't make new goals or change your goals because the year got busy. Keep that same January energy! Go back to what you said mattered in January.

What did you say you wanted to finish, change, build, fix or finally make happen this year? Are you still on course?

If the answer is no, you still have time to make an adjustment.

Change the strategy. Have the conversation. Make the decision. Stop working around the problem. Three months may not be enough time to tie all loose ends, but three months can absolutely change how your year ends!

Q4 Assignment:
Choose the one thing that matters most between now and December 31st, and decide what has to happen in October to keep it on course.