Microphone Check...

There were two indicators between the last blog and this one that really let me know that I am getting old. Well, two, if you don't include the current status of my lower back.

First, on Thursday I went out back of the high school to check in on Marching Band practice. Like always, I climbed the thing the drum majors stand on to direct the band so I could get a good picture. I got to the top of the platform looked out at the kids and immediately felt unsteady on my feet; awesome! I made it back down, but that was probably Mother Nature's way of telling me that I should be taking pictures from the ground from now on.

The second came yesterday. I was playing golf with some friends, and I hit a good four iron (for once) about 190 yards. It was a downhill hole so the people behind me couldn't see me. I hit my shot, walked toward the hole another thirty or so yards more, and a gold ball missed my face in the air by less than a foot. No harm no foul, so I continued on to the green and putted out. A golf cart came up and it was the kid who had hit the shot. It was one of our golfers from the golf team, and he apologized profusely and told me that he had hit a FIVE iron, 220 yards. It was right then and there that I reaffirmed that Father Time is undefeated!

Welcoming New Boys Lacrosse Coach: It was fun to have a full house on hand last week to introduce Shaun Smith as our new Boys Varsity Lacrosse coach. After a couple of quick words to introduce him, I retreated to the back of the room where I could really feel a new chapter of our history beginning. He and his coaching staff have a great plan in place to respect the past and represent our future in boys lacrosse. There was a lot of excitement in the room, and I am looking forward to seeing what they put together.

A Few Educational Topics: I want to thank you for reading this blog. I thought some of you would take the summer off, but the stats indicate that many of you are reading as frequently as you do during the school year. That is great! Since you are reading, I want to hit on a couple of educational topics that you are going to hear more about in each building as the school year unfolds.

The first topic is called the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and is the replacement of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). To "measure" student and school district progress, NCLB used test scores predominantly. ESSA uses test scores (some are the same and some are different than NCLB) as well, but there will be a few more markers that will be featured more predominantly.

Two of them that will directly impact you as parents are absenteeism (for sure) and civic readiness (I think). Students who are chronically tardy and absent (without proper excuses) will significantly count against us in terms of our overall performance. We will be ratcheting up the importance of getting your children to school so you may sense that a bit if you have children who were late or absent (without proper excuses) last year.

New York State has not totally defined what civic readiness is going to look like, but I would guess that there will be some extended volunteerism in the community. Completion rate is also thrown in there and we are crushing that right now so I am actually looking forward to challenging ESSA this year. Once ESSA comes more into focus, the principals will keep you up to speed; I just wanted you to hear about it as we finish the summer.

Next week I will start getting you familiar with the new Mental Health Literacy guidelines.

Other Updates: By the end of the today we should also be able to make the Onondaga County Safety Task Force Report available. It was a very humbling experience to be able to represent not only West Genesee but educators around the county, and I am very proud of the work the committee completed.

If you are looking for something to do next Saturday, our High School Executive Principal Shannon Coholan is going to be rappelling (yes, you read that right) over the side of a building downtown to help raise money for one of our community partners, the McMahon Ryan Child Advocacy Center. She is scheduled to rappel at 9:00 a.m. and more details can be found by clicking here. Good luck to her!

Thanks and enjoy the week!

Chris