Superintendents Network and Learn: Last week I had an opportunity to attend a conference with
superintendents from across the country. The conference is "invite only", and the purpose is to network, learn from
each other, meet with developers of curriculum and technology, and find out
just exactly what is happening on the “ground” in all fifty states. This conference plays a large part in our
ability at West Genesee to stay ahead of the curve in just about every area
because I have the unique opportunity to see initiatives succeed and fail long
before they reach New York State.
This year I learned that we are at least a few years ahead
of total state school budget failure much in part due to our state officials
placing a higher value on education than their counterparts in other areas of
the country. We have had some state aid
reductions in New York that have forced us to make some challenging decisions
over the past few years, but I spoke to more than a handful of school leaders
who are completely out of money THIS year. Their states have no plans on how to handle these situations, so these
school leaders borrowed millions of dollars this fall just to get through THIS
school year knowing that they have no money to pay the loans back. They intend
to do the same again next year unless they are given some relief, or the states
step in and force them to do something.
The number of regional schools is growing at a
much faster pace around the country than in New York in direct response to poor economic conditions. While West
Genesee has around 5,000 students, I spoke to many other school leaders who were
operating districts with populations between 18,000 and 400,000 students. In these larger districts, class sizes were in
excess of 30 students in most cases. Certainly
interesting.
I also learned that Charter Schools, specifically online
virtual Charter Schools, were causing substantial problems in states where they
are allowed. In some of the states where
a complete online school is an option for the student, the state is paying up to
$26,000 for each student in “attendance” versus about $13,000 for the
traditional “brick and mortar” equivalent; and the states have only one “pot” of
money for schools. I will be keeping a very close eye on this as our
Commissioner explores the feasibility of complete online programs in New York
State.
On the positive side, it appears that New York State is well
ahead of others when it comes to the professional performance review
process. Local schools have clearly been
given more flexibility than counterparts from other states. Most states
officially begin the performance review process next year, while our schools
will be going into year two. The take
away for me was to try and keep as much local control over this process as
possible and not let the state totally dictate how we are going to evaluate our
faculty and administrators in the future.
I would also say that schools in New York are doing a much
better job implementing the new Common Core Learning Standards. The biggest
advancements in this area will be better access to aligned curriculum from
publishers, much better digital content, and less expensive pricing structures
for moving to a more digital environment for our students. My opinion is for us to continue to build
up our wireless capabilities and work with vendors to try to find attractive
leasing or purchasing options for equipment for our students to use in
classrooms and at home. A day is coming
in the not too distant future where the student will have one learning device
that will contain everything they need for every class, and I saw some
interesting prototypes.
Lastly, I had an opportunity to speak with the former
Governor of Massachusetts, Jane Swift. She is actually the CEO of a software development company now, and we spent about two hours talking about how budgeting for
schools REALLY works from the state level. Needless to say, I received an awesome education and can use the
information as I quietly lobby and leverage for West Genesee.
It Happened Last Week... While I was gone, I did miss a few things. For starters, I missed the opening rounds of
the Optimists Speech contest. Our
winners at the middle school level were Mark Kopp and Helene Ferner from WGMS; Jesse Elmer and Hannah Gavin from CMS. I am looking forward to hearing them, the runner-ups from those competitions, and the representatives from the high school (John Buttner, Alyssa Power, and Ayla Yagan) as they
advance to compete at the next level this week.
I also missed the Mr. and Miss
West Genesee event, but I am really pleased that Kevin Schoeneck and Emily Barriere were successful. I was also very happy to hear that they
extended their congratulations to the other candidates, as they were great
choices as well. Having so many Twitter
followers came in handy though because I was kept up to speed in real time as
both events unfolded, so it felt like I was there.
The Week Ahead... Very busy week ahead, but looking forward to it. Our first budget presentation is on March 6
and the presentation will be on the District website on March 7. Long story short, is that we will have all of
the resources necessary for redistricting and full-day kindergarten, will not
need to cut any positions due to the economy, will use fewer reserves than we
did last year, will make some restorations to fine arts and modified athletics,
and will have a tax levy that is well below the tax cap for West Genesee. Our resulting tax rate will also be the
lowest in the county. Through planning and working together, these past few
years we have become very fortunate. Thank you.
Have a great week!
Chris
