Ten Years

Last week I had the pleasure of handing out diplomas and shaking hands with my 10^th graduating class from Lake Forest High School.  The class of 2013 is a remarkable group which earned more than $2 million in scholarship dollars for post high school education.  We are very proud of them.

As the honor students made their graduation speeches that night and reminisced with classmates about their journey, my mind wandered back as well to consider all the things that are today Lake Forest that didn’t exist ten years ago when I arrived in 2003.

This is now our logo, our brand –

In the last 10 years we’ve done more than $30 million in new construction and remodeling school buildings.  We built a new South Elementary and got rid of all those rotten modular classrooms.  WTChipman has had a significant make-over both inside and out.  Central Elementary got 4 new classrooms.  Lake Forest High School built new space for fine arts, health and fitness, upgraded the exterior and remodeled most every lab and classroom.  North and East got some upgrades and new parking lots.

Of the 13 principals/assistant principals in Lake Forest only 3 were principals in 2003 and all of the central office administrators but one have been hired since that time.

School uniforms.

Student achievement in Lake Forest is at an all time high.  Most notable - our 8^th and 9^th grade math test results are significantly higher than the state average.  Our third grade math and reading scores far exceed the state average as well.

School board leadership has remained stable and focused upon district goals.  John Schulties has served for 13 years and Chris Baker for 11 years.

Consistent leadership over time both with school board and administration pays off.  I believe I’ll stick around for another 10 years.

New Teacher Report Card

For the first time in Delaware, all teachers will be evaluated this year in part by the performance of their students.  It is a process that has created some anxiety for teachers because it is still under development and results are hard to predict.

Teachers are evaluated on 4 components for which they are determined satisfactory or not:

                1. Planning and Preparation

                2. Classroom Environment

                3.  Instruction

                4. Professional Responsibilities

Component 5 is student performance.   Everybody has some measure of student performance for which they are responsible and which will have an impact on their work evaluation.  If you teach a subject that is tested by the state test (DCAS), then you are partly evaluated on what percentage of your students hit their target score at the end of the year.  If you teach a non-DCAS tested subject, then you use an evaluation approved by the state and developed by state teachers.  Generally a pre- and post- test on that particularly subject.  Other measures may be included and counted toward the final score.

Because the state was slow in developing and finalizing procedures, many teachers are being rated based upon a pre-test that was administered in November or December.  If student growth is in question I’m sure most would have rather given their pre-test in September.  Never-the-less, everybody from the school nurse to the superintendent will have a student performance measure included in his end of year evaluation this May or June.

Finally, and perhaps what makes many teachers nervous, is that the Component 5 measure out-weighs the first four components.  One could be rated satisfactory in the first four components based upon the principal observation and evaluation of the teacher’s performance throughout the school year.  But, the teacher may not hit the targets on student performance, which could result in an overall “needs improvement” rating.

The past 2 weeks I’ve been sitting in on some conferences between principals and teachers as they discuss the results.   For the most part, the result is a very a valuable conversation with regard to expectations both for students and for teachers.  The vast majority of our teachers are meeting and exceeding student growth targets which results in a final rating of effective or highly effective.

I can’t help but think, that after a few years to modify and become accustomed to the process,  that student performance will benefit.   I believe teachers will become more confident in their abilities to move students forward and challenge them with more rigorous content. 

Desirable District

In the March edition of Delaware Today, in an article entitled Great Places to Live, the writer takes a shot at the Lake Forest School District that is unwarranted, unsubstantiated and insulting to those who love Lake Forest.  "Pinehurst is in the less-desirable Lake Forest distrrict", it says.


Here are a few facts that would suggest that observation is in error.

In the past 14 years the voters of the Lake Forest School District have approved 5 referendums and defeated none. That is hardly a sign of a less than desirable school district.

In 2012 100% of the schools in Lake Forest met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for the State of Delaware. Not many K-12 districts can make that claim.

This year the folks of Vision 2015 released a list of the 24 schools that, in their words, are "beating the odds". By that they mean these schools have a higher than state average level of low income students, yet they also have a higher than state average student performance on the state test. Of those 24 schools listed, 4 of them were Lake Forest Schools.

In recent years, all of our Title I schools have been recognized and two are National Distinguished Title I Schools due to high student performance.

W. T. Chipman Middle School will be recognized this year in the Superstars in Education program and has hosted visiting teams of teachers from schools throughout the Vision network.

We are an Early College school district. Our goal is for 90% of the class of 2016 to have earned some college credit prior to graduation. In November of 2012, 90% of our seniors made application to the college of their choice.

Year in and year out, more students choice into Lake Forest School district than choice out.

Less desirable? The evidence suggests highly desirable. That’s why Lake Forest is the best choice for so many.

Breast Feeding at School

Due to privacy regulations we cannot comment on the specifics of a 15 year old student that has received a lot of media attention. But, should a student ask to pump breast milk at school, this is what our response would be.

Lake Forest High School has many female staff members who have personal experience with breast feeding their own children and managing that goal after returning to work. They are wonderful resources for teen moms wishing to do the same. We encourage any teen mom to seek their advice.

We have no specially designed room for that purpose but we would do our best to accommodate that student’s request. The student would be responsible for providing her own cooler for storage. Any refrigerators in school are in use for other purposes. To use them to also store a student’s pumped breast milk would risk contamination.

Our teen moms have access to the DAPI program in Camden which is specifically designed to support pregnant teens. There they can take their classes, take their baby with them, breast feed and pump whenever necessary. A student who chooses to leave that environment and return to regular school also chooses to leave behind a certain level of support.

2012 in Review

Everybody has their version of the year in review. Although our school years always straddle two calendar years, I thought it would be interesting to review 2012 in Lake Forest. We'll not go month by month but lay out some of the seasonal events. I’m going by memory here so this is not a comprehensive list - just those things that I remember. It was a very good year.


Winter:

• It was a very mild winter with no snow days and little accumulated snow due to the fact that I bought a new snow blower. Weather was great but snow blower would’ve been fun.

Spring:

• We launched the Spartan Sprouts – a home visiting program where parents of new born babies would get some coaching and assistance in the development of their children in order to help them be prepared for school when the time comes.

• Spring testing in DCAS yielded some of the best scores ever seen in Lake Forest. In grades 3-10, Lake Forest Students exceeded state averages in reading and math in all but two categories. In those they tied the state average. All schools met AYP (adequate yearly progress).

Summer:

• Early College School District. At Lake Forest High School Graduation it is announced that 90% of the class of 2016 will graduate from high school with college credit in hand.

• All incoming high school freshmen get a home visit by one or more of the teachers at Lake Forest High School. The goal is to get all freshmen off to a good start.

• Lake Forest Board of Education decides to ask voter for approval of 2 referendums – one for operating funds and one for capital expenditures.

• Vision 2015 identifies 24 schools in Delaware that are beating the odds. These are schools with higher than average poverty levels and much higher than average student performance. Four on the list are Lake Forest Schools. W.T.Chipman Middle would be on the list because it has consistently been among the highest achieving middle schools. The poverty level is average so that's why it's not included.

Fall:

• Spartan Strength and Conditioning Center is open to the public and announced to all district households by an accidental 5a.m. Saturday morning phone call.

• Lake Forest is one of only two districts to pilot “College Application Week” which leads to 90% of our seniors having successfully submitted applications to college by late November.

• Expected partial approval from the state causes the Lake Forest Board of Education to postpone plans for a capital referendum.

• Operating referendum passes on December 4.

2012 was a very good year in Lake Forest.

Talk With Your Kids about School Shootings

Principals and counselors in the Lake Forest School District have a wealth of resources and advice for parents who ask how to talk to their children about the most recent tragedy in Newton, Connecticut. 

What they would say if you asked is, "Talk with your child, not to your child."  When you talk with your child you ask them questions.  You can't know what to say until you know what they know, what they've heard, what they think of that and what questions they have.  Listening to your child is included when talking with your child.

The story unfolded on Friday, so we don't know what parents may have decided to share through the weekend.  We don't know if some children sat and watched TV news coverage.  We don't know if some parents made it a point to not discuss it at all.  We don't know, child by child, if they have been personally affected.

At the school level what we do offer is assurances that children are safe. We provide counselors and other caring adults for those who have questions or want to talk about what they've seen and heard.  We tell them that we know that such incidences are extremely rare.  We know that we have good, solid safety practices.

Such events as this compel each school to get out their safety plans, review with faculty and discuss what, if any, drills and practices need to be implemented.  We were safe on Friday. 

We will be safer tomorrow.