Entering Fall in Very Good Shape

We are entering into Fall in very good shape. Our initiatives are off to the races and our budget has tracked as planned so far. We could use a few more sunny days to transition our outdoor landscaping and equipment for Winter, but those days will come. Right now I spend many afternoons watching my kids play golf and soccer in the rain and wind, but the only one complaining about it is me!

As you begin to read and hear about a vaccination being available for the H1N1 virus, you should know that the last I heard we will be one of the sites for a clinic. I do not have many details yet, except that it will probably be offered during one evening in the middle of November. The county will be in charge of the clinic, and it will most likely be at the high school. As I learn more information I will let you know.

You might also be interested to know that our average daily attendance has been 95% or better throughout this H1N1 season. As I have looked at building attendance, there are certainly more cases of flu than last year, however, there are fewer cases of other illnesses and things seem to be balancing out.

Schools in the south are still closing because of the H1N1 virus but reports indicate that attendance is the same once the schools re-open. This has led doctors to believe that closing schools because of H1N1 has no benefit. Washing hands and staying home when sick are recommended to prevent catching or spreading the virus.

Finally, this week represents our homecoming week. Regardless of records, our students take pride in what they do and so do their coaches (and their boss J). If you can attend one of our homecoming games (you can find the schedule on our web site), the students would really appreciate it. Last year I spoke to an elderly gentleman who attended a homecoming game because one of our players had a part-time job at a local convenience store and he wanted to support her. It made her day when she saw him in the stands. It is all about connections, communication, and support.

Talk soon...

Chris

The Rest of the Year

I always tell administrators that however things are operating by October 1st is how they will be operating for the rest of the school year. With this in mind, I am pleased with the progress that we have made in many different areas.

For starters, all of the Open Houses were very successful as they always are. As I walked about a quarter of a mile to get to the CMS Open House, I had time to reflect. The fact that I had to walk such a distance is living proof that we have tremendous parent support. This is one of the key ingredients to the success of any school. I also scored some great Applebee's discount cards in the parking lot of the high school I am sure because we took up all of their spaces for the High School Open House. I mention this with a sense of humor and a tone of thanks, because if the local businesses wanted to be difficult to us during our evening events by not allowing us to park in their lots, many of us would be shuttling in from pretty far away.

Speaking of parking near the high school, it is really a night and day topic. The local businesses allow us to use their lots for evening events, but they do frown upon students parking in their lots during the day. I think this goes back to before I was born, but we are trying our best to make some new in-roads (no pun intended) for some additional daytime parking which is well within their rights if they do not want to support that. I would categorize student parking as a work-in-progress that is more out of my control than people might think. We were able to create about 60 more spots on campus, however that may not be enough if future class sizes are larger than expected. There is always the bus.

As you also know, there were changes made to the enrichment program formerly known as Apple Corps. In October, there will be several project-based experiences rolling out for all of our elementary students that will include working with our Promethean Boards, participating in a "Green Club", participating in Civil War re-enactment exercises as part of social studies units, participating in Distance Learning field trips as well as some other experiences that are being coordinated at this time. As I watch students learn how to research lessons and enhancements for our Promethean Boards, it is exciting to know that we are enhancing their learning experiences with their insistence. Good stuff!

Probably enough for now. Please don't forget the Race for Respect this Sunday and also don't forget that the new diversity shirts are now available in the high school assistant principal's office for $5. There are a ton of different colors and sizes to choose from.

Have a nice weekend-

Chris

Blue Ribbon School!

Congratulations to the parents, students, faculty, staff, administration, and Board of Education for accomplishing what only a handful of schools have done; to achieve Blue Ribbon School status. The Blue Ribbon School program is a national program that recognizes schools that are performing in the top ten percentile academically and also recognizes schools where every child is successful no matter the background or disability.

Split Rock Elementary School, headed by Principal Theresa Williams, accomplished this task under her building leadership which helped to place the school in the top one-half of one percent of all schools in the United States.

Theresa and a teacher will head to Washington D.C. in November to receive the official award. They will also bring back the Blue Ribbon flag that will be flown each day at Split Rock Elementary School so that we will always remember how their efforts have made us one of the best school districts in the nation. Congratulations!

Random Thoughts from Week 1

The purpose of a blog is for one to post comments and thoughts that are off the cuff and sometimes a little rough around the edges. While the material in a blog post might find its way to The Communicator or other formal forum, once there it will be much more complete and polished.

It is with this preface that I give you some random thoughts from last week. First, it was a great first week. I have had nine school openings as Superintendent and this year was by far the smoothest. One would think that each school year should be easier the more years someone has under their belt, but the field of education is different than others in that respect. Each year presents itself with different challenges that need to be navigated by everyone involved and this year was no different. It takes a team to make things successful here, and I would like to thank the students, parents, faculty, and staff for coming together and helping us to get our school year off on the right foot.

I am particularly excited for this year because along with maintaining the outstanding academic achievement we have grown to expect, we are also going to focus in a couple of areas that have needed some additional attention. First, is in the area of Special Education. Last year we made huge strides in identifying what services we offer our children with disabilities and how those services are delivered. We also began a strong partnership with parents who formed a Special Education Parent Teacher Student Association (SEPTSA) which will open a line of communication with all regarding students with disabilities.

This year I plan on visiting and observing all of our out of District placements, as well as schools who have begun initiatives to provide “fully” inclusive special education programs. The goal by the end of the year will be to understand if we are providing the least restrictive environment for our children and if not what programming changes would need to be made to accomplish the task. My guess is that what I am hearing and what I will see will be different, so I will hold judgment of other programs until I have a chance to see everything with my own two eyes.

Second, we will be taking a closer look at how to help students who are at-risk of not completing school. At-risk, by my definition, is a child who has had significant changes in their grades, attendance, or behavior. These changes usually mean that something either at home, school, or work is causing them stress. This stress can turn into grade, attendance, and behavior issues that when left unchecked can cause a child to give up. This is unacceptable, and you would be surprised how many children at one point or another are “at-risk”; even in our community.

The fix to this challenge is to provide more counseling support K-12, and also to provide ways for children to earn course credit outside of the traditional classroom setting. The question to ask yourself is to imagine how you would feel if you finished your ninth grade year knowing that you do not have enough credits to graduate High School even if you packed your schedule the next three years and passed everything. You would feel stress. Some keep that stress inside. Others fight, or do drugs, or stop attending school, or become class clowns and take time away from those who are not in the same predicament.

Through the Federal Stimulus Funding we are adding counseling support at the K-5, 6-8, and 9-12 levels and are also launching a credit accrual program called NovaNet so that students can try to get caught up while being counseled back to the right path to success.

To me and especially in our community where we are afforded the resources that are necessary, completing school is an expectation that should be available to all. My challenge is to renew a sense of wonder and dreaming. Ask your children, no matter how old, what they want to do when they grow up. Get them thinking beyond graduating. Get them thinking at as young an age as possible about how they will some day impact all of us by displaying their talents and skills to the world.

Have a great week and I promise a shorter post soon!

Chris

...And They're Off!

Wednesday marked the beginning of the school year as all of the staff reported for breakfast, an opening celebration, and then meetings in their buildings and departments. Thursday was full of training and meetings as staff prepare to use new technology and instructional practices on September 8 when the students return.

One of the things that I find remarkable each year is how prepared each building is for the start of school. Summer school and summer recreation make it difficult for our custodial and maintenance staff to get into buildings to have them ready, but they find a way somehow to bring things together for the start of school and for that I am very thankful.

You might have heard that President Obama is delivering a live back-to-school message to students on Tuesday, September 8 at 12:00PM via the Internet. We carefully evaluated our internal Internet capacities, as well as the capacity of our Internet provider, to see if it is realistic to flawlessly deliver President Obama’s message to each student on our first day of school. We are not confident that we can broadcast the event live without a significant chance of error or failure. Therefore, we have instructed our staff to download the address from our internal servers beginning Wednesday, September 9. Our teachers will then determine if and when the material presented by President Obama best fits into their scheduled lessons.

Speaking of live Internet broadcasts, we now have the ability to push material out to the Internet through a partnership with Live Sports Nation. We intend to broadcast sporting events, concerts, and some awards ceremonies live over the Internet beginning with the first football game of the year as our Wildcats take on Baldwinsville in Baldwinsville at 6:30PM Friday, September 4. You can find the broadcast on http://www.livesportsvideo.com/.

Please enjoy the long weekend, and the next time I post the schools will be full of students once again and we will be on our way to another great school year.

Chris

Counting Down...

Freshman orientation, new teacher orientation, locker nights, marching band preview, athletic try-outs, and schedule changes; all indicators that our new school year is upon us. September 8 is a late start (thanks Labor Day!) and my brain is programmed to have students start school next week, but I guess I am going to have to wait another week.

This summer was pretty special. For starters, we did not have to move into a new house. Second, we actually got to enjoy a lot of activities in and around Syracuse, and I had a chance to get my family acclimated to the area. Third, I got the opportunity to sit in and play with a band, play on a softball team, and watch my sister skate on her Roller Derby team. Fourth, I had the opportunity to teach a graduate course at LeMoyne College. Fifth, of course, would be that I get to enjoy the State Fair with my family.

No, I don't get summers off. I just like to keep busy. I think it is important for everyone to have things to do that do not involve work. It is okay to leave the office every now and then and do something with your family or for yourself. It will all be there when you get back!

Speaking of work, we spent a lot of time this summer making sure that all of our budget adjustments were in place for the start of the school year. We were fortunate that our planning actually worked in our favor and a few of the items that had been slated to be cut were actually able to be restored. Most notably, the hours for our Early Literacy Teaching Assistants, field trips, and some limited equipment were returned to the budget.

Patty Davern is putting together a very nice program and continuum for enrichment for all of our students and our distance learning equipment is almost here. The interactive boards that we installed this summer in classrooms are already being used by teachers arriving early, and I am looking forward to seeing how they are used in classrooms with our children.

We are also going to be able to provide better services to a segment of our student population that has not been reached adequately in the past, thanks in part to the federal stimulus package. Federal monies can only be used for new programming or to avoid layoffs, so we are going to use a portion of our allocation to begin a new program for students who are at-risk. My definition of students who are at-risk is: those who have had sudden changes in attendance, behavior, and grades. I think in our neighborhoods, churches, and schools we can identify those children who are at-risk. These children, when left unchecked, get into the habit of making poor choices which can lead to drug use, pregnancy, truancy, fighting, bullying, and dropping out of school. The time spent trying to react to the actions of at-risk students is a waste of time in my opinion and that time is taken away from students who are not at-risk. Everyone loses.

Our plan is to provide a K-12 integrated system involving guidance, programming, and counseling so that all children receive opportunities to advance, complete, and be enriched by their school experiences. To do this, we are expanding our high school pro-school program, we are exploring credit recovery and accrual options via technology, and we are looking at providing better at-risk counseling K-12. I think you will see immediate improvements even if you do not have a child who is considered to be at-risk. I expect the number of discipline referrals to drop, time on task in classrooms to increase, and student morale to improve as all students recognize that they have a chance to be successful.

We are also re-evaluating our Special Education programs as well as our guidance structure. We need to make sure that we have top to bottom accountability in both areas so that we can more efficiently transfer children from elementary, to middle school, to high school. I hope to have these structures changed by mid-Fall and will make sure that our new organizational charts and service charts are made available to you on our website.

Thanks to our maintenance and custodial workers. We take their work for granted, but you would recognize them if one thing was out of place, which never happens.

All for now. I will be posting at least once a week from now on as we get ready for school. Make sure to sign up for a Twitter account (http://www.twitter.com/cbrownwgcsd). You will get posts more regularly so that you can always be in the loop. I will also use Twitter to announce snow days and delays before I contact the media.

See you soon.

Chris

Mid-Summer Review

Greetings from August 6, 2009. Things here are going well. Recently, we held a very productive Board of Education retreat. We were able to establish that while we are incredibly proud of the success of our students, we can and will do more for our "at-risk" students as well as for our students with disabilities. In order to be true to myself, making sure that as a District we are always reaching ALL of our students is a top priority.

As a result, we may be adjusting some programming and philosophies to better accommodate children who need something beyond the traditional instructional methods. Stay tuned to future Board meetings and blog updates as we begin this exciting new chapter.

On another exciting front, we are beginning to partner with a company called LiveSportsVideo.com. This partnership will allow us to broadcast our athletic, fine arts, and award assemblies live on the Internet. As a neat twist, we are going to partner with a local university (details and official announcement forthcoming) and begin to offer broadcasting to students who want to become commentators for our live broadcasts. How cool is that?

Operationally, we are still trying to find ways to make traffic flow and parking at the high school as efficient as possible. We have found a way to possibly add about 50 parking spots which should help, and we have also changed the way that our buses line up and that should provide for a better flow as well. The main problem is space and changing that at this point is out of our hands. I do think that people will be happier with the whole setup when school starts.

We are also completing installation of our interactive boards. By the second half of the school year, every classroom will have the capability to deliver instruction with the newest techniques available. I think the students will be excited, and I am looking forward to visiting the classrooms.

Personally, things are going pretty well. Aside from work, I have been able to find some time to play with my kids, enjoy time with my wife, and start my diet plan. I will say that eating well and trying to lose weight makes me cranky, but I should be in tip-top shape for the Race for Respect!

I will be taking a short break from posting and will begin weekly posts again by mid-August. In the meantime, you should consider creating an account on twitter.com and following me at cbrownwgcsd. Twitter allows me to give you frequent updates about happenings in our school and elsewhere. I also intend to use Twitter to communicate snow days and closings in conjunction with the media being contacted, so if you are signed up you will know right after my own kids do!

Take care and talk to you soon.
Chris