Some Thoughts Before Break

I wanted to send you into the break week with a few deep thoughts and maybe a few shallow ones as well. This post is lengthy, so don't tell my former English Teachers at Westhill or St. Ann's that I can actually write. Thank you.

1. DWI Simulated Crash: On May 14 at 7:30 a.m., we will be holding a DWI simulated crash in the grass stadium at the high school. This will be similar to what we did last year with the seniors, except we are going to add the juniors so that we can do this exercise every other year instead of every year. More details will follow but this important exercise was beneficial last year, and I expect much of the same for this year. Anything we can do to remind our students not to drink and drive is time well spent in my book. We will have a section for parents and community members if you would like to see our community volunteers and school officials at work.

2. Anti-Bullying Task Force: Recently a girl in Massachusetts was "Facebook-ed" to death by her peers. When Channel 3 asked me what we do as far as anti-bullying efforts, I was quite embarrassed to tell them that we have over 30 programs K-12 but yet bullying remains. I have always believed, and still believe, that teaching kids not to bully starts at the dinner table and ends at their school desk. 

When I sat back and looked at all of the programs that we have (many at substantial cost), it got me thinking that we need to assemble a group of people to review what we do have and refocus the message with one strong program and one strong message that we can use K-12 and in the community. I am assembling a "task force" consisting of Board members, administrators, teachers, support staff, students, and parents to help evaluate what we currently have as tools, which tools are best, and how to shape policy to reflect our changing times and our desire to curb bullying. I hope to have something to bring to the Board by the early Fall.

As a kick off to this task force, Stan Davis and recognized name in Anti-Bullying practices will be holding workshops for administrators, staff, students, and the community on May 24-25. I encourage you to participate if you can. More information will follow on our web site http://www.westgenesee.org/.

3. The Big Picture: As many of you know I was able to have a closed door meeting with the Commissioner of Education. This meeting was held with only a small handful other Superintendent's present. Media and photos were not allowed. We spent about an hour and twenty minutes just talking about education. I listened intently, asked a few questions but walked away figuring that much of what was said was going nowhere.

Shortly after the meeting I received a "field-memo" from the Board of Regents explaining proposed changes to the New York State Education system. Most of these changes were things that the Commissioner discussed at the meeting. In my experience if something makes it to a field memo it pretty much is going to happen in some way, shape, or form.

Essentially he told us to prepare to accommodate "nontraditional methods for program completion." These methods include credit recovery (NovaNet), independent study for up to 3 elective credits, credit accrual (no seat time necessary to complete a course but some type of test, etc...), shorter assessments, more computer based assessments, allowing students to graduate as soon as they have completed 22 units of study, virtual schools, and flexibility of certifications (especially in Special Education and Middle Schools). He gave no time line for any of the items but the English 11 Regents exam scheduled for January 2011 will be a day shorter, so I think they mean business.

Should all of these ideas actually be implemented, it is going to change education in New York State in an exciting way. In the hands of irresponsible leaders these changes are dangerous tools to lower standards and push students through the system. I intend to use these tools to help those learners who struggle or who need a different way to complete without sacrificing the high standards that we have for student success.

The high school is experiencing this challenge already with the use of NovaNet. Fortunately they had a good plan when implementation began and they are now making changes as new situations arise. My suggestion to all of us is to be think proactively on the other items that the Commissioner would like to implement, and to create practices, policies, and programs before we are directed to do so. It never hurts to be a PILOT school.

4.  If you are one of the 400,000 million people on Facebook, we have a new Facebook fan page.  It is a pass through for information about the school and events, and it is another great way to stay connected to the school. You can reach the page by going to http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Camillus-NY/West-Genesee-Central-School-District/358918496938?ref=mf .

5.  The fight continues to keep our portion of the sales tax from the county.  Right now the two proposals call for a 75/25 split between the county and city (nothing to the schools) or a three year phase out to schools.  I hope that they choose the phase out if they only have the two choices. Enough said.

Thanks and have a safe and enjoyable break.

Chris

If You Don't Stand for Something, You Stand for Nothing

As we read the papers and watch television lately we are innudated with all of the negative news surrounding school budgets. Each story tells a tale about the philosophy and leadership styles of each of our communities in the county. One theme holds true for us and all of our neighbors, though, and that is the goal of reducing budgets while having the least impact on students. 

In some schools such as ours, the reductions will not impact student programs and services to a great extent next year.  In other districts this is just not possible. It should be understood that as school leaders we do not wake up in the morning and think of ways to reduce programs and staff. As school leaders we are charged with guiding our schools through good times and bad, and this is one of those bad times. 

While you as a reader may not care what toll these decisions are taking on the people making them, I can assure you that the stress caused is incredibly significant.  Whatever opinion one might have about a school leader in any given community, we are still human beings. My hope is that as things begin to turn around, the stress level will decrease. 

Many of you have also read about contracts being re-opened or contracts being negotiated with staff to try and save money. The same will hold for me as well. I intend to walk-the-walk, and I promised my groups that I would not accept a percentage raise greater than what any of our groups are getting. At the end of the day, it is the Board of Education that decides my compensation, but they understand my feelings. 

I was taught long ago that leading by example is more powerful than anything I could say.  I will continue to lead by example.

I will be attending another meeting regarding sales tax, and I will make sure to update you as soon as I return. This issue is significant and will affect us in a very negative way if we cannot retain some portion of what we have been receiving from the county. Your calls and e-mails to legislators about this issue are helpful and have had an impact.  Thank you.

Chris

Up to Date

Another busy stretch will hopefully be rewarded by a long weekend. This week we dealt with county Sales Tax meetings, withholdings in State Aid until June (hopefully) and another late State budget. All things we are equipped to deal with, but did you see the word student mentioned anywhere? Didn't think so.

On the positive side we enjoyed a great Art Show, Parade of Champions, National Honor Society induction, and hosted a cool technology forum attended by many schools from around the area. Not bad for a week's work

I am going to charge the batteries this weekend, and I hope that you are able to do the same. Talk to you on the flip side.

Chris

Celebrating our Successes and Our Diversity

This week I had the privilege to help induct 141 members into the National Honor Society. This is not something that the students win but rather something that the students are selected for. Academics are part of the equation, but more importantly are service and leadership. I always challenge students to reach out in the community and find ways to lead and serve in a volunteer capacity. When I write college recommendations for students, it is always a pleasure to write them for students who are well rounded and have the "whole package". Congratulations inductees.

This weekend will also be special because it is time for our Second Annual Culture Fair at the high school. If you attend the event on Saturday from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., you will see the members of our community celebrating their culture throughout the large gathering areas in the building. We anticipate over 40 different cultures to be represented, and this event is something that we are very proud of and hope to continue into the future.

On Monday we will be celebrating the successes of our athletes by holding what we call the Parade of Champions. We will be honoring athletes from Boys Hockey, Boys Swimming, Indoor Track, Cheerleading, and Boys Golf. More information is available from our home page, and we are excited to be able to honor the achievements of our athletes.

We are still moving forward with our budget. We feel that we have planned accordingly for the economic year that lies ahead. You may read about money being restored by the Assembly or other officials, but I would not get too excited. Their efforts are appreciated, but we should all recognize that there is not enough money available for us to restore anything. Any money that they are able to secure for the schools will prevent us from having to make deeper cuts for next year.

I have been asked by elected officials, students, and community members to weigh in on the "Wastebed 13" issue that could affect approximately 144 parcels in our District. I think by now, from the what seems like hundreds of times that I am on TV or in the paper giving opinions or statements, that you know I will give an opinion when I can. I am collecting information from all parties on the "Wastebed 13" issue, and for what it is worth (because I really don't think my opinion matters much on this issue) the best statement I could make at this time is that if it were ever to be proved that chemicals encapsulated in "Wastebed 13" harm living things or negatively affect property values, I would not be in support of the project. Like many other community issues, I will stay plugged in.

At this point we are beginning to shape the rest of the school year. There is a lot going on and if you blink you will miss something. If you want to stay connected and up-to-date, the best way would be to follow me on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/cbrownwgcsd), this blog, or our monthly newsletter.

See you around.

Chris

Budget and Other Updates

I have been off the grid for about a week trying to finish the budget and deal with some things happening around the school. Since I last posted we experienced the tragic loss of a first-grade student, Sarah Peek. She was a wonderful little girl and shared her short life with us which made an impact on us that will be with us forever.

We also experienced some great athletic successes. First, our cheerleaders won a national tournament in Ohio. Second, our hockey team not only who the New York State Championship, they also won the New York State Scholar Athlete Award; a very challenging award to receive (the entire team has to have a grade point average greater than 90%; they had a grade point average of 95+%).

We also recognized several of our students as National Merit Scholar finalists as well, which we were very proud of.

Building the budget has been quite a challenge. I am sure that by now you have seen that our faculty and staff have been incredibly cooperative in trying to help us bridge the budget gap. Because of their efforts in negotiations, we had to lay off 16 people for next year instead of 40-50. This being said, I completely understand that unemployment in our community is nearing 10% and that we need to deliver a tax levy that is manageable in these challenging times.

As a result, we are also looking at cost cutting measures through sharing transportation services, regionalization of transportation, maximizing what state aid is left, and considering other programs.

As we watch situations in other District's unfold, we can count our blessings that we were in a position to get out ahead on the budget, we made our tough choices, and we can now move forward with a reasonably normal rest of the school year.

An item that could be problematic in the 2011-2012 budget revolves around sales tax. The County has proposed to no longer give school District's a percentage of the sales tax revenues that we receive. If this actually happens, our loss will be about $1.2M for the 2011-2012 school year. I was recently misquoted in the news regarding this. I was quoted as saying that we would pass this increase along to taxpayers. This is not true.

If we were to lose $1.2M in sales tax, we are down to a few options; one of them being to pass it through to the taxpayers. The other options, since was have already renegotiated contracts at a lower percentage, increased class size, and cut staff, are to take a look at reducing offerings in athletics, fine arts, extra-curricular activities, and Advanced Placement courses. Again, these decisions will have to be made next year as we look forward to the 2011-2012 budget if we do not receive sales tax revenue as we have in the past. My guess is that the solution will incorporate a combination of everything that I listed above. They will all be tough but necessary decisions.

The entire budget presentation is on our web site from the home page and a video recording of the budget will be available shortly.

Good times!

-Chris

Making the Most of It

I know that we always say that a community is only as strong as its school. However, you cannot really appreciate all that we have until you live through an experience like we did recently with the loss of a student and we watch in awe as hundreds of students, community members, staff, and emergency personnel come together to help a family in need. Sarah Peek touched all of our lives and will be missed. At the service, the pastor mentioned that while she may not be here with us, "the show must go on" and memories of her will always be in our hearts. True. Rest in Peace.

I am in a job that requires the constant switching of mental gears. Along with the sorrow that we are feeling we are also feeling excitement and growth. As I am sure you have read, our teachers have worked closely with the District to find a way to save as many jobs as possible as we move through some tough times. Other District bargaining groups are following in their foot-steps and we are most thankful for their efforts as well. Our budget is coming together. We are still watching our Kindergarten numbers closely, however. Our registrations are a bit lower than planned and this may cause some additional adjustments to staffing.

If you are reading the paper or watching the news you are also probably wondering about what is happening with the County Sales Tax and with the possible elimination of some Regents Exams. If this was my first or second year I would be stressed to the max. Experience tells me that both are posturing moves and pure old-fashioned negotiations. I am studying both issues closely and will be able to comment more in the upcoming weeks on how they will really affect our District and our children.

Congratulations to our Cheerleaders. They won a National competition over the weekend in Ohio. Congratulations also to the Indoor Track team. Several runners placed very well in State competition. Probably the best source for specific information would be http://www.wgrunners.com.

Lastly, not only is our Hockey team playing for a possible State title this weekend, but we just learned that the team received the 2010 Scholar Team Athletic Award (entire team has an academic average of 90% or higher). The last West Genesee team to win this amazing award was the Bowling team in 2001. Much more will be made of this after the team tries to bring us the State title this weekend in Utica. Good luck!

Chris

Sad News

It is with great sadness that I have to inform you that Sarah Peek, a first grader at East Hill Elementary School, passed away this afternoon from a medical condition. I will always remember Sarah as a courageous youngster with a heart of pure gold. Her pink backpack and big smile will never leave my mind.

We will have counselors at East Hill tomorrow beginning at 8:15 a.m. to help our faculty, students, parents, and emergency personnel try to work through this tragic loss.

It is times like these when we need each other more than ever.

Thank you,
Chris