In June, the Delaware Chief School Officers Association elected me Superintendent of the Year for 2011. It's a nice honor, but I'll be honest with you, the main reason I was selected was because I was the Past President of the group. It's sort of automatic.
There are no trophies, cash awards or new cars that go with this recognition. Still, it is an honor.
I didn't even mention it to the Lake Forest Board of Education at the time. No big deal I thought. But, recently they indicated they wanted to start working on my job performance evaluation so I decided it was time to tell them. If we don't toot our own horn once in awhile, who will?
Along with the appointment goes the expectation to complete an application to be considered for National Superintendent of the Year which is awarded by the American Association of School Administrators. Working on that application has caused me to reflect. This is my 37th year as an educator and my 23rd as a school superintendent, so there is a lot upon which to reflect.
I love my job. It's a job that seems uniquely designed for someone with my temperament and skills. I've tried to figure out just why that is. Here're some of the things I like about being a school superintendent:
• Variety – I lose interest in routine things. This job calls for knowledge and confidence in dealing with the weather, construction, teaching, testing, psychology, communications, leadership, motivation, sports, politics, law, finance, nutrition, safety, transportation – seemingly everything.
• Problem solving – Got a problem that needs resolved, bring it to this desk.
• Calm command – I’m naturally laid back and easy going, which comes in handy when I have staff members or parents who are about to explode.
• Humor – If the things kids say and do don’t make you laugh, then you’re in the wrong business. Humor can also be useful in relieving tension in a serious situation.
• Perspective – I find myself explaining things from the perspective of different players, depending on the situation. Can you understand the point of view of the parent? The teacher? The student? The neighbor?
• Diplomacy – Lots of times I don’t solve problems, I just get the right people to sit at the table together and they solve them for themselves.
Of course the best part about being a superintendent right now is that I get to be the Lake Forest Superintendent. There can only be one of those at any one time. The community is supportive. The Board of Education has the best interest of students in mind. And, all of the students are well behaved, good looking and above average. Wait a minute, is this Lake Wobegon?
Friday, September 24, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
Professional Learning Community
I’m going to assume that the average person doesn’t think too much about teachers and what they do when they’re not teaching. All of our teachers have a daily planning time. That is a requirement of the local contract. Teachers need time to plan for the lessons to come. They need time to meet with parents, meet with the principal, prepare materials, make phone calls or send e-mails to parents, grade papers – you get the picture.
You may have heard that Delaware was one of the first 2 states to be awarded funds from the federal government under the Race to the Top (RTTT). Delaware gets about $110 million. This money will be helpful over the next 4 years but it comes with strings attached.
One of the attached strings built into the Delaware RTTT plan is to provide 90 consecutive minutes of weekly collaborative time for teachers. The 90 minutes of time for collaboration with peers – like all Math teachers or all 4th grade teachers – must be in addition to the already scheduled planning . We call this 90 minute time PLC for Professional Learning Communities. PLC time must happen during the regular work day.
You might imagine the challenge this represents.
Don’t get me wrong, the 90 minutes of time to collaborate with peers is well supported by the research. Teaching has for too long been an isolated activity. Teachers have for years planned alone, created exams alone, graded papers alone, studied alone. The research suggests that teachers who plan together are able to develop higher quality lessons; provide greater consistency between teachers; study new teaching practices; and hold their students to higher standards.
Each of our schools has managed to make a schedule giving all core teachers 90 minutes of PLC time within the school day except the high school.
The seven period schedule at the high school makes it difficult to free up an entire department (like all of the math teachers) for 90 minutes at a time one day a week and still allow for an individual planning period. So here’s what we’ll be doing this school year to create weekly PLC time at Lake Forest High School.
Each week that has five school days will have a 2-hour delay on Wednesdays for high school students only. This will give the high school faculty time to meet and plan collaboratively first thing in the morning. We did this last year about a dozen times and felt it worked well. The RTTT requirement to have PLC time each week seems a bit much, but we will make good use of it.
We appreciate the community’s past cooperation with these scheduled delays at the high school and thank you in advance for your cooperation this year. Now we owe you some good results.
You may have heard that Delaware was one of the first 2 states to be awarded funds from the federal government under the Race to the Top (RTTT). Delaware gets about $110 million. This money will be helpful over the next 4 years but it comes with strings attached.
One of the attached strings built into the Delaware RTTT plan is to provide 90 consecutive minutes of weekly collaborative time for teachers. The 90 minutes of time for collaboration with peers – like all Math teachers or all 4th grade teachers – must be in addition to the already scheduled planning . We call this 90 minute time PLC for Professional Learning Communities. PLC time must happen during the regular work day.
You might imagine the challenge this represents.
Don’t get me wrong, the 90 minutes of time to collaborate with peers is well supported by the research. Teaching has for too long been an isolated activity. Teachers have for years planned alone, created exams alone, graded papers alone, studied alone. The research suggests that teachers who plan together are able to develop higher quality lessons; provide greater consistency between teachers; study new teaching practices; and hold their students to higher standards.
Each of our schools has managed to make a schedule giving all core teachers 90 minutes of PLC time within the school day except the high school.
The seven period schedule at the high school makes it difficult to free up an entire department (like all of the math teachers) for 90 minutes at a time one day a week and still allow for an individual planning period. So here’s what we’ll be doing this school year to create weekly PLC time at Lake Forest High School.
Each week that has five school days will have a 2-hour delay on Wednesdays for high school students only. This will give the high school faculty time to meet and plan collaboratively first thing in the morning. We did this last year about a dozen times and felt it worked well. The RTTT requirement to have PLC time each week seems a bit much, but we will make good use of it.
We appreciate the community’s past cooperation with these scheduled delays at the high school and thank you in advance for your cooperation this year. Now we owe you some good results.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Back to School
We’re back. Thanks for waiting patiently.
This is a much later start than usual for us. Many other districts started school a week or so ago. We delayed this year because of the major remodeling going on at the middle and high school. The work was all scheduled to be done by mid-August, but as they say, “This isn’t our first rodeo.” We know lots of things get in the way of construction staying on schedule.
So, when creating our school calendar the Lake Forest Board of Education agreed to wait until after Labor Day. All in all, I have to say it was a very wise decision.
The teachers have been in this week. We always spend a few days learning how to be a good Spartan teacher. They’ve studied the latest teaching strategies that we’ll use in Lake Forest. They’ve met and heard from all the school leadership. They’ve learned how their work will be evaluated and what they need to do to be successful. They’ve spent time on plans for next week and getting their rooms ready.
There has been little turn over at our elementary schools this year. There will be just a few new teachers and all the buildings are the same as we left them. There is one new principal at East Elementary. Mrs. Piavis comes to us from Maryland with a world of great experience.
W.T.Chipman Middle school has had little change as well, but the school has received a major interior facelift that the kids are going to love - new lockers, new paint, newly remodeled library and a beautiful new mural in the entry way.
Lake Forest High School has just too many changes to mention. The new additions for fine arts and physical fitness are open and beautifully equipped. Ten classrooms have been totally rebuilt. Technology, Consumer Science and Art rooms are getting total make-overs and won’t be ready for the first day. There’s a new assistant principal, Theodora Morris; a new dean of students, D.J. Lopez; and a bunch of new teachers in the Math and Science Departments.
We look forward to the new year in the Lake Forest School District where we have just one focus – student success. See you soon.
This is a much later start than usual for us. Many other districts started school a week or so ago. We delayed this year because of the major remodeling going on at the middle and high school. The work was all scheduled to be done by mid-August, but as they say, “This isn’t our first rodeo.” We know lots of things get in the way of construction staying on schedule.
So, when creating our school calendar the Lake Forest Board of Education agreed to wait until after Labor Day. All in all, I have to say it was a very wise decision.
The teachers have been in this week. We always spend a few days learning how to be a good Spartan teacher. They’ve studied the latest teaching strategies that we’ll use in Lake Forest. They’ve met and heard from all the school leadership. They’ve learned how their work will be evaluated and what they need to do to be successful. They’ve spent time on plans for next week and getting their rooms ready.
There has been little turn over at our elementary schools this year. There will be just a few new teachers and all the buildings are the same as we left them. There is one new principal at East Elementary. Mrs. Piavis comes to us from Maryland with a world of great experience.
W.T.Chipman Middle school has had little change as well, but the school has received a major interior facelift that the kids are going to love - new lockers, new paint, newly remodeled library and a beautiful new mural in the entry way.
Lake Forest High School has just too many changes to mention. The new additions for fine arts and physical fitness are open and beautifully equipped. Ten classrooms have been totally rebuilt. Technology, Consumer Science and Art rooms are getting total make-overs and won’t be ready for the first day. There’s a new assistant principal, Theodora Morris; a new dean of students, D.J. Lopez; and a bunch of new teachers in the Math and Science Departments.
We look forward to the new year in the Lake Forest School District where we have just one focus – student success. See you soon.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
High School Building Transformation
Ready for use in this new school year are new additions for chorus and band, weight room, auxiliary gym, two classrooms, athletic trainer area and remodeled locker rooms. The fitness equipment for the weight room and cardio equipment will be arriving this week and it is our hope, in a month or so, to announce a plan for the public to pay a fee to have access to that equipment.
This spring, a new contract was let for renovations at the high school. That work began soon after the faculty was out of the building in June. These renovations will extend into the school year and won’t be completely done until next summer. They represent a significant change in the look of Lake Forest High.
Forty years ago, school designers built in flexible grouping options. We have ten classroms that were separated from each other by accordion-style partitions. The idea was the walls could be opened, joining 2 or 4 rooms for large group instruction. Teachers rarely, if ever, opened them and these partitions allowed a lot of sound to transfer between classrooms. So, all of the old folding partitions have been removed and replaced with conventional stud and drywall separations.
The art room, technology education rooms and family/consumer science rooms have all been gutted and are being remodeled. It is very likely that all of those spaces will not be finished when school starts, but our teachers are ready to make adjustments to hold class in alternative locations.
That ugly grey/white stucco and gravel combination that has been the exterior of the school all these years is being torn away as I write this. It will be replaced with brick. Yes, brick to match the newer sections of the school. All the windows will be replaced as well. The old ones were single pane and inefficient.
Finally, the interior courtyard will be roofed over with a blue, barrel roof to match our new additions. When that is complete, the interior walls that formed the hallways around the courtyard will be removed and a wonderful, naturally lighted atrium will appear. There will be a new entrance into the library from the atrium.
There are a few other small items in the works, but those are the biggies. We’ll be holding school around some construction crews for one more year, but when it’s done, it will be beautiful.
This spring, a new contract was let for renovations at the high school. That work began soon after the faculty was out of the building in June. These renovations will extend into the school year and won’t be completely done until next summer. They represent a significant change in the look of Lake Forest High.
Forty years ago, school designers built in flexible grouping options. We have ten classroms that were separated from each other by accordion-style partitions. The idea was the walls could be opened, joining 2 or 4 rooms for large group instruction. Teachers rarely, if ever, opened them and these partitions allowed a lot of sound to transfer between classrooms. So, all of the old folding partitions have been removed and replaced with conventional stud and drywall separations.
The art room, technology education rooms and family/consumer science rooms have all been gutted and are being remodeled. It is very likely that all of those spaces will not be finished when school starts, but our teachers are ready to make adjustments to hold class in alternative locations.
That ugly grey/white stucco and gravel combination that has been the exterior of the school all these years is being torn away as I write this. It will be replaced with brick. Yes, brick to match the newer sections of the school. All the windows will be replaced as well. The old ones were single pane and inefficient.
Finally, the interior courtyard will be roofed over with a blue, barrel roof to match our new additions. When that is complete, the interior walls that formed the hallways around the courtyard will be removed and a wonderful, naturally lighted atrium will appear. There will be a new entrance into the library from the atrium.
There are a few other small items in the works, but those are the biggies. We’ll be holding school around some construction crews for one more year, but when it’s done, it will be beautiful.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
A New Look for W.T.Chipman
One of our readers asked for a little more information on remodeling taking place in the schools this summer. I promised to provide that information in this space. Here’s what’s happening at W.T.Chipman Middle School.
As soon as the children and teachers were out of the building in June, a specially trained crew moved in to remove asbestos tiles in selected areas of the school. Many of our old buildings have asbestos floor tiles. They present no danger to staff or students as they are, but we’ve made it a policy to systematically remove those old tiles when we are remodeling sections of the building. These spaces, which include the cafeteria, are getting new floor tiles in a bright, clean blue and white pattern.
Old cabinets and storage units have been removed from the consumer science room, art room and band room. Those rooms will get new cabinets and countertops and in most cases new tile and paint. The consumer science room will get new appliances.
The library will get a face lift with new paint, carpet and furniture.
All hallway walls will have a new, textured, damage-resistant panel installed in two-lovely shades of blue along the lower half of the wall. The rest of the wall gets fresh paint and a contrasting blue stripe.
Old lockers have been torn out and are being replaced with new lockers – also in two shades of blue. They will have built-in locks and there will be more than enough lockers for each student to have his or her own private storage. The lockers should be big enough to hold a student backpack and winter coat.
The cafeteria will get a new exterior finish to match much of the metal siding that has been used in other remodeling of late. The parking lots have had a few inches of ancient black-top milled off. They will be paved and painted. The old tennis courts by the gym, that have been used for parking over the years, have been torn out and that area will be repaved as well.
A canopy will be installed at the main entrance to provide shelter for students who may arrive before the building is open or who may need to wait for a ride after a school activity.
We still await bids on a green house – with planned use by students from both Chipman at South; as well as an outdoor seating area next to the cafeteria.
All of this work, which was funded by a voter supported referendum in 2006, is expected to be complete within the next few weeks - just in time for the teachers to arrive. These are going to be some beautiful improvements on an old school that has always looked a little thread-bare. We think when you see it you’ll agree.
As soon as the children and teachers were out of the building in June, a specially trained crew moved in to remove asbestos tiles in selected areas of the school. Many of our old buildings have asbestos floor tiles. They present no danger to staff or students as they are, but we’ve made it a policy to systematically remove those old tiles when we are remodeling sections of the building. These spaces, which include the cafeteria, are getting new floor tiles in a bright, clean blue and white pattern.
Old cabinets and storage units have been removed from the consumer science room, art room and band room. Those rooms will get new cabinets and countertops and in most cases new tile and paint. The consumer science room will get new appliances.
The library will get a face lift with new paint, carpet and furniture.
All hallway walls will have a new, textured, damage-resistant panel installed in two-lovely shades of blue along the lower half of the wall. The rest of the wall gets fresh paint and a contrasting blue stripe.
Old lockers have been torn out and are being replaced with new lockers – also in two shades of blue. They will have built-in locks and there will be more than enough lockers for each student to have his or her own private storage. The lockers should be big enough to hold a student backpack and winter coat.
The cafeteria will get a new exterior finish to match much of the metal siding that has been used in other remodeling of late. The parking lots have had a few inches of ancient black-top milled off. They will be paved and painted. The old tennis courts by the gym, that have been used for parking over the years, have been torn out and that area will be repaved as well.
A canopy will be installed at the main entrance to provide shelter for students who may arrive before the building is open or who may need to wait for a ride after a school activity.
We still await bids on a green house – with planned use by students from both Chipman at South; as well as an outdoor seating area next to the cafeteria.
All of this work, which was funded by a voter supported referendum in 2006, is expected to be complete within the next few weeks - just in time for the teachers to arrive. These are going to be some beautiful improvements on an old school that has always looked a little thread-bare. We think when you see it you’ll agree.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Summer Work
The other day, while getting a haircut, I was asked if I worked in the summer. I used to get a little annoyed when people would ask me that.
Eventually I came to understand that although everyone has gone to school, their experiences generally have been limited to those that fall roughly between Labor Day and Memorial Day. Seems like they all assume that we all go home for the summer like the students and the teachers.
Not so. There is much to be done in the summer that compels school offices and district offices to remain open year round.
At the school level there is summer school; registering new students; organizing special summer learning experiences; interviewing new teachers; ordering supplies; breaking down end of year test results for planning purposes; scheduling; training and all sorts of planning for the coming year.
At the district level there is summer school; busing for some summer students; construction to manage; summer maintenance; vacancies to be posted and applications collected; closing out last year’s budget; opening this year’s budget; training programs; textbooks to order; vendors to be selected; and planning of all kinds for the coming year.
This summer in particular, we have some major remodeling going on at Lake Forest High School and W.T.Chipman Middle. Those places are torn up and the contractors are committed to a deadline to get out of the buildings before Labor Day.
This summer in particular, we have had some major administrator positions to fill. We’ve hired a new Supervisor for Child Nutrition who will manage the breakfast and lunch program. We’ve hired a new assistant principal for Lake Forest High School. We’re in the process of interviewing for a new Principal for East Elementary and a new Supervisor of Transportation.
This summer we had the additional burden of preparing a district plan for Race to the Top a multi-million dollar federal grant won by Delaware that will bring another $1.6 million into Lake Forest over the next four years. As you might imagine, we don’t get that money without a lot of planning, budgeting and paperwork.
So, there is much to do in any school district during the summer. We don’t all go home as soon as the last bus pulls out of the lot. Sure, it is the better time for year round employees to take some vacation. But we are spending each day getting ready for the first full day of school, which this year will be September 7. We are always open for business
Eventually I came to understand that although everyone has gone to school, their experiences generally have been limited to those that fall roughly between Labor Day and Memorial Day. Seems like they all assume that we all go home for the summer like the students and the teachers.
Not so. There is much to be done in the summer that compels school offices and district offices to remain open year round.
At the school level there is summer school; registering new students; organizing special summer learning experiences; interviewing new teachers; ordering supplies; breaking down end of year test results for planning purposes; scheduling; training and all sorts of planning for the coming year.
At the district level there is summer school; busing for some summer students; construction to manage; summer maintenance; vacancies to be posted and applications collected; closing out last year’s budget; opening this year’s budget; training programs; textbooks to order; vendors to be selected; and planning of all kinds for the coming year.
This summer in particular, we have some major remodeling going on at Lake Forest High School and W.T.Chipman Middle. Those places are torn up and the contractors are committed to a deadline to get out of the buildings before Labor Day.
This summer in particular, we have had some major administrator positions to fill. We’ve hired a new Supervisor for Child Nutrition who will manage the breakfast and lunch program. We’ve hired a new assistant principal for Lake Forest High School. We’re in the process of interviewing for a new Principal for East Elementary and a new Supervisor of Transportation.
This summer we had the additional burden of preparing a district plan for Race to the Top a multi-million dollar federal grant won by Delaware that will bring another $1.6 million into Lake Forest over the next four years. As you might imagine, we don’t get that money without a lot of planning, budgeting and paperwork.
So, there is much to do in any school district during the summer. We don’t all go home as soon as the last bus pulls out of the lot. Sure, it is the better time for year round employees to take some vacation. But we are spending each day getting ready for the first full day of school, which this year will be September 7. We are always open for business
Friday, June 18, 2010
Race to the Top - R2T
You may have heard something about Delaware’s Race to the Top which is sometimes coded as R2T. Delaware was one of only 2 states to be funded under this new competitive federal grant. Delaware has won more than $100 million to make some radical changes in public education.
There are 12 separate initiatives in the state’s plan and each district and charter school has agreed to participate. The Delaware State Education Association – the teachers union – is on board as well, which is one of the critical pieces that led to our funding.
Lake Forest is in line to get more than $1.5 million out of this grant over the next 4 years. But there are strings attached – there always are strings.
I won’t go into detail about the multi-page plan we’ve just submitted. (Working on this plan at the same time that we’re closing out school may be the reason I haven’t posted on this blog for awhile.) I would like to tell you about a couple of things.
First is this new idea that the state expects all districts to do. We must find a time for all teachers to have 90 minutes each week to collaborate with each other. The research is clear – student achievement goes up when teachers are given time to write curriculum together, develop lesson plans together, write tests together and confer on what to do to help struggling students. We must devise a way for High School English teachers to meet with High School English teachers; for 1st grade teachers to meet with other 1st grade teachers; for math teachers at Chipman to meet, etc. Of course we can’t ask folks to do this on their own time and expect them to participate. It will have to be during the work day, which is a major scheduling challenge.
We’ll get it done, but the high school schedule will be a problem. So, here’s how we’ll do it at the high school next year. One day each week, students will come to school late. We did this about 13 times last year and it worked out OK, but R2T expects it weekly. We’ll pick a day, maybe Wednesday, and throughout the school year, as long as it is a five day week, students will come to school late on Wednesday. All other schools will be able to get it done without affecting the student schedule.
Here’re a couple of other plans that may be unique to Lake Forest. We hope they’ll truly make a difference in student success:
• Summer home visits for many 6th and 9th grade students and their families to go over what is expected and to talk about college and career planning.
• Home visits with families of new borns in the district to share information about how children develop, the importance of reading to children, language development and creative play. This is expected to help children be better ready for kindergarten.
• Training teachers on the new national curriculum.
• Writing lesson plans for first year teachers to use. The good lesson plan can make a difference in both teacher and student success. Why not give new teachers some proven plans?
It’s going to be an interesting experience. Stay tuned for more on R2T.
There are 12 separate initiatives in the state’s plan and each district and charter school has agreed to participate. The Delaware State Education Association – the teachers union – is on board as well, which is one of the critical pieces that led to our funding.
Lake Forest is in line to get more than $1.5 million out of this grant over the next 4 years. But there are strings attached – there always are strings.
I won’t go into detail about the multi-page plan we’ve just submitted. (Working on this plan at the same time that we’re closing out school may be the reason I haven’t posted on this blog for awhile.) I would like to tell you about a couple of things.
First is this new idea that the state expects all districts to do. We must find a time for all teachers to have 90 minutes each week to collaborate with each other. The research is clear – student achievement goes up when teachers are given time to write curriculum together, develop lesson plans together, write tests together and confer on what to do to help struggling students. We must devise a way for High School English teachers to meet with High School English teachers; for 1st grade teachers to meet with other 1st grade teachers; for math teachers at Chipman to meet, etc. Of course we can’t ask folks to do this on their own time and expect them to participate. It will have to be during the work day, which is a major scheduling challenge.
We’ll get it done, but the high school schedule will be a problem. So, here’s how we’ll do it at the high school next year. One day each week, students will come to school late. We did this about 13 times last year and it worked out OK, but R2T expects it weekly. We’ll pick a day, maybe Wednesday, and throughout the school year, as long as it is a five day week, students will come to school late on Wednesday. All other schools will be able to get it done without affecting the student schedule.
Here’re a couple of other plans that may be unique to Lake Forest. We hope they’ll truly make a difference in student success:
• Summer home visits for many 6th and 9th grade students and their families to go over what is expected and to talk about college and career planning.
• Home visits with families of new borns in the district to share information about how children develop, the importance of reading to children, language development and creative play. This is expected to help children be better ready for kindergarten.
• Training teachers on the new national curriculum.
• Writing lesson plans for first year teachers to use. The good lesson plan can make a difference in both teacher and student success. Why not give new teachers some proven plans?
It’s going to be an interesting experience. Stay tuned for more on R2T.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
