Public Schools = Great Nation

I leave myself notes here and there about what the next blog might be about. There are too many now. I seem to have a mini-log jam.

Next week is National 4-H week. I could write about how 4-H is a great program for developing young leaders and how we are fortunate to have a strong 4-H network here. I could point out how I was involved in 4-H for 10 years or more and how I credit the public speaking experience in 4-H to first making me comfortable in front of a crowd.

Next week is National School Lunch week. I could write about how important the school lunch program is to so many of our children. Let’s not forget that is also breakfast. I could write about what great nutritional quality and variety is found in the school lunch program and what a great bargain it is, even for those who pay full price.

October is Parent Involvement Month. I could write about the importance of parent involvement to a child’s success in school. How parents are a child’s first teacher. I could write about the many ways parents can be involved that are helpful. I could also tell some crazy stories about parent involvement gone bad.

But, since NBC put up a tent last week and sponsored a whole series of programs on Education Nation and since all the other news networks seemed to focus on public education last week, it looks like I better stick to the bread and butter.

What launched all of the attention to public education was the release of a new documentary entitled “Waiting for Superman”. I haven’t seen the film but I understand it documents what is viewed as the decline in public schools in the United States and highlights some unique schools that are making a difference.

Horace Mann said, “The public school is the greatest discovery made by man.” Now old Horace grew up at a time when education was made available only to those with the means. Poor children weren’t given opportunities to learn to read and write and understand numbers. Many children wondered what it was that happened in that big building they passed as they walked to work.

The young United States uniquely developed the idea of the public school. It was always deemed the responsibility of the local community, town or borough to provide for their children’s education. There was a time where finishing the 8th grade was good enough to function well in society.

The reach of the public school evolved through the first half of the 1900s. Soon every child had the opportunity to go to high school. There they separated the wheat from the chaff. The really smart ones with resources prepared for college. Of the others, the girls were prepared for home arts – cooking and sewing. The boys were given a strong dose of industrial arts and shop classes.

The history of the public school is a history of America becoming a great nation and it’s too long of a story to finish in one sitting. I’ll write more. Maybe I’ll tell more of the integration of our schools, the impact of the space race and factors that led us to where we are today.

Delaware Superintendent of the Year

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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