Superintendent's Graduation Speech 2009

Almost twenty years ago to the day I sat on the Stage at the Civic Center in attendance at my own high school graduation. I remember thinking to myself at that time it would be a few short years of college then a nice job, nice house, nice car, nice wife, nice kids, cash; success, as I saw it as an 18 year old.

What I didn’t recognize was that there were millions of other 18 year olds out there with the same set of goals. I also didn’t realize how protected I had been by my parents, my teachers, my coaches, and to some degree my friends. As an adult I realize that is the point of high school; to prepare you for “life without a net”, except the net is still there. Reality hit soon enough. Success for me changed into being able to pay the rent on time and getting my clunker to make it to my college job.

There will be times when you will forget the values and training instilled upon you by your parents, relatives, coaches, directors, teachers, and school staff such as integrity, character, honesty, compassion, drive, patience, and how to find the area of a circle. You will be focused on what will feel like survival at the time. That is okay. Your skills will come forward and you will grow to appreciate your days of “survival” as they become visible in your rear view mirror. Please remember to heed the warning “Objects may be closer than they appear.”

So what is my advice to you, 19 years and 51 weeks after I took the plunge mere feet from where we sit today? Remember to love your family. They care more deeply for you than you will probably ever know. Remember to thank the people who got you to where you are today, tomorrow and ten years from now. Those two words are powerful and will cause your mentors to radiate with happiness. Do not put a limit, definition, or number on success. Let success evolve into everything surrounding your life, throughout your life. Lastly, contribute; give back. I am convinced that there is enough character, brain power, and skill in this room to cure cancer, lead the free world, explore other planets, or invent the next generation ShamWow. For the short term, how about helping your parents get the lawn mowed, trash taken out, and rooms cleaned as they prepare for your graduation parties.

Congratulations class of 2009, where-ever life takes you, you will always be Wildcats.

The Year in Review

I completely understand if you do not want to read this whole entry, but I had a moment to write a few paragraphs so I decided to give it a shot. If you want the short version, I think we had a pretty good year. If you want the longer version please read on…

In July I started in this District very proud that I was given the opportunity to return to the neighborhood where I grew up and to be given the reins on the best school District in the area. I spent July and August learning names, structures, policies, and attended my first Superintendent’s retreat.

By the first day of school I felt that we were in very good shape to have a great start to the school year. Through my studies of the District and community I formulated the opinion that I would like to see cafeterias at East Hill and Onondaga Road Schools, as well as full-day Kindergarten at all of our elementary schools. I also felt that we should continue to look at Special Education and transportation to try to find ways to offer more opportunities to students and with transportation in particular, in a more efficient manner.

It did not take long into the school year to learn that the economy was beginning to head in a bad direction. I knew that I could forget about full-day Kindergarten and expanded cafeterias. We did make huge strides in Special Education and transportation however, and I felt good about our progress in each area.

As I began to learn about the District, I realized that the keys to our success really evolve around hiring incredibly well, having solid parent support, and raising the bar for success on each one of us every day. By November I recognized that the sky is going to be the limit. We have the staff, students, and parents to be an absolute powerhouse. This will allow us to expose children to a multitude of opportunities both during school as well as when they head off to college, the military, or the workforce.

The bad economic news dropped right before Christmas. We addressed the problem head on with the help and cooperation of our staff and community members and really had a master plan for the budget before Christmas Day. After the holidays we began planning for our budget presentations for the next year. I felt that our budget plan was fair and still allowed us to offer opportunities to students. It is difficult to keep everyone happy when reducing staff especially when we are the largest employer, but people seemed to rally around the cause and contribute in any way that they could.

While all of this was happening we were nominated as a Blue Ribbon School, we won a Marching Band State Championship and many of our teams were league, section and on their way to competing for State championships.

By the Spring we had passed a budget, recognized our successes, identified our growth areas, and began to plan for next year.

Then came graduation. I am really proud of the students. Their behavior through the end of school and into graduation was superior. This is really a testimony, because the senior class this year had to face some rules that previous classes did not. While they did not really want to follow the new rules and felt as if they were paying a price for past classes’ mistakes, they became role models for future classes.

Graduation was special and I am glad to have been a part of it. I get three more times to “practice” before my first son walks across the stage.

What comes next? Reflection, planning, and execution. We will shine in the face of economic adversity next year thanks to a large group of people who say “We are West Genesee” each and every day.

Chris

Closure

We are days away from the end of another successful school year, but you would not know that if you walked the halls of our buildings. Staff and students are busy preparing portfolios, conducting exams, and organizing events. Our support staff are keeping our facilities clean and attractive, and they are working through an energy performance contract to help continue some of our green initiatives. We seem to be a busy as ever. In a few weeks, though, the hallways will be empty and those who remain will be working to prepare us for another exciting school year.

Since my last post in May, I have been able to attend and participate in many different events. Children's Day was held at Split Rock Elementary School and highlighted the legislation that was written and pushed by Tina Norton, a long time school teacher. She worked with her classes and elected officials for over 10 years to finally have legislation pass to establish a Children's Day. She and many elected officials spent a couple of hours at Split Rock talking about the creation of the day and celebrating education and children. It was a great time.

It was then on to the High School Academic Awards. From my spot on the auditorium stage I was able to look out at almost 180 seniors who received awards and accolades. I was incredibly impressed with the entire event. I am also very proud of the hard work of our students and staff, along with the generosity of the community. Well done.

Then there is of course, "The Mayor", Andrew Bowman, who received the New York State Excelsior Award for Excellence. This award was given to Andrew by Governor David Patterson after being selected by Assemblyman William Barclay because Andrew consistently demonstrates success despite his disabilities. I can personally tell you that my heart feels warm each time I get a chance to talk to Andrew, and he takes time out to speak to me whenever I am at the West Genesee Middle School. Great job Andrew!

Next came the good news regarding our Grades 3-8 Mathematics Assessments results. We achieved our highest scores to date. We are not completely satisfied with these results, however, because we feel that the state lowered the bar on passing standards and we would prefer to compete against the highest scale possible. I can tell you that when we combine the Mathematics scores with the equally high English Language Arts scores, we are consistently successful. I will take that any day.

Sports are winding down as well but not without a fight. Boys and Girls Lacrosse teams as well as Outdoor Track are moving into state-wide competition and play after winning Sectional Titles. I am looking forward to their upcoming games and events and I would love to have a Marching Band title and a couple of State Championships during my first year!

Next was Kaleidoscope. Awesome. Only way to describe it. It was a very proud moment to be part of something that special. It is rare that I am moved to tears, but the strength of Jess Pardee's voice and her range made the packed Civic Center emotional. My congratulations to all of the participants and especially to Bill Davern, our Fine Arts Director, and all of his staff on such a successful event.

I have also really enjoyed reading all of the yearbooks from each building. They are all student centered and packed with photos and momentos. People can now watch my hairline receed from year to year!

Lastly, we finally experienced our first case of Swine Flu. In an organization of over 6,000 (larger than some cities) we were bound to have someone contract the illness. Good old fashioned hand washing and staying out of school when sick seem to be the best tools to combat this illness.

I will probably post one additional message before the summer vacation as I am experimenting with Twitter and will let you know how to connect to that if I can find a way to make my "Tweets" meaningful to you.

Thanks-
Chris

The Diplomas are Coming!

Each year our Board of Education President, Building Principal, and I get to sign each diploma. I had the privilege of signing the diplomas last week and that means that we are very close to the big day. I am very excited to be involved in my first ceremony as Superintendent of our school District. Watching parents, staff, and students come together before we release our children into the larger world is a very powerful experience, and I have the distinct honor of having a front row seat.

Last week we held a simulated DWI crash at the high school. I had done this type of exercise in my previous District about every two years and involved the juniors and seniors. I would like to continue that practice here. Having the Fire Department, Police, and Ambulance, all of whom are our parents and volunteers in the community working with our children about the dangers of drinking and driving is a very positive experience and one the students will not forget. I would like to personally thank all of those who helped to coordinate the exercise last Friday. (Click here to access pictures of the event from our District web site.)

The past few weeks have been a blur, but I can share with you that I have had a wonderful time attending honors’ dinners and breakfasts’, various concerts, games with national implications on the line (also win number 700 for our Boys Lacrosse Coach and win number 200 for our Girls Lacrosse Coach), the Senior Ball, and today the Special Olympics. I wish I could do a video blog of all of the wonderful things I get to see every day.

With the budget behind us, we now prepare for the end of the school year. There will be more awards, more games, and hopefully more warm weather. It is my hope that as we close out this school year and begin another, that we do so happy with what has happened since September. On paper we can celebrate our New York State School Report card, but in real life we should celebrate each of the days we have had together as successes, and I am looking forward to many more.

Chris

Music in the Air

Since my last post I had the pleasure of attending the Junior Prom. It was a real treat for a couple of reasons. First, I enjoyed watching our students have a great time with each other. All to often we take our children for granted and Prom night is a great time to see that they indeed do have feelings, expression, and joy. Second, my wife and I have not missed a Prom or Ball in 15 years and we are looking forward to the Senior Ball next week.

Speaking of next week, please do not be alarmed next Friday morning if you are passing the high school and see emergency vehicles. We are working with local emergency officials to simulate a car crash to demonstrate to students the importance of making good decisions.

At this point we are celebrating our success on the New York State Assessments, wrapping up budget presentations, attending awards ceremonies and concerts, and planning for the end of this year and next year. While these are busy times, they are memorable times as well as we watch our children grow another year.

Finally, it is officially okay to not be alarmed by the "Swine Flu" or H1N1 as it is technically called. We received correspondence from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and they are NOT recommending the closing of schools for confirmed cases of this type of flu. They still and always do recommend staying home if ill and washing hands as much as possible.

Those are the updates for now. Thanks and see you soon.

Chris

A Pretty Busy Week

Well, last week was pretty busy. First there was a fire in one of the bathrooms at the high school. We are fortunate that there is a good safety plan with good people to follow it, or the situation could have been more dangerous than it was. We do have some opportunities to improve our attendance record-keeping and communication and those improvements are being made as a result of a debriefing meeting that was held last week. Let us all hope that this type of situation does not happen again. The student responsible for setting the fire was apprehended and when you include all of the items from clean-up, materials, labor, etc… the total damage will weigh in just over $20,000. In my opinion, $1.00 in damage is too much. We will not be sensationalizing this situation as it has been addressed and we are moving on.

The Board has allowed us to try to obtain some grant money to comprehensively outfit all buildings with security cameras. This has been in the works since September and became a focus area during the Strategic Planning process in January. You have my personal word that these cameras will not be used to create a police state; they will be used to help deter and provide us with successful investigations when students choose to make poor choices. We will continue to breed and foster an environment of respect and responsibility, but we are also going to take advantage of what is available to make our schools as safe as possible.

You might have also heard that we have decided to slightly change the times of the school day. This is being done to help deliver students to our schools in a more efficient and timely manner. This is also being done to maximize student time on tasks and to keep room for extracurricular activities, sports, jobs, babysitting, etc… I think once these new times below are in practice, that the 5 or 10 minutes difference from what we are currently doing will feel like no changes were made at all. In many cases the bus run times will not change. Stay tuned for letters from your child’s principal concerning the new times and new bus runs if applicable.

School Start and End Times

High School-(now) 7:30AM-2:26PM; (next year) 7:20AM-2:16PM
WGMS-(now) 8:00AM-3:00PM; (next year) 7:50AM-2:50PM
CMS-(now) 8:00AM-3:00PM; (next year) 7:50AM-2:50PM
East Hill-(now) 9:00AM-3:20PM; (next year) 9:00AM-3:20PM
Onondaga Road-(now) 9:00AM-3:20PM; (next year) 9:00AM-3:20PM
Split Rock-(now) 8:45AM-3:00PM; (next year) 9:00AM-3:20PM
Stonehedge-(now) 9:00AM-3:20PM; (next year) 9:00AM-3:20PM

Finally, we were able to lower the tax rate predictions from 2.15% to 1.4%. The updated presentation is on this web site, and the change was made due to some additional BOCES aid that we now know that we will be able to receive. No other changes were made to the budget as we head toward the May 19th vote date.

We are continuing to move in a very positive direction, and I am looking forward to our continued success.

Chris

Don't Get Too Excited

We have been tracking the latest budget news coming out of both Washington and Albany and the bottom line is that we will be making few, if any any, changes to our existing budget package. We are not confident that the monies that we are being promised (approximately $1.5M) will actually be delivered, and if they are delivered, for how long.

We believe that the global economic crisis will last two to three years minimum so the correct approach is to see what additional money actually arrives and then "feather" that money out to avoid having to make deeper cuts than we had to this year. I also believe that we will be able to restore in some fashion at least field trips, and some equipment, materials, and supplies. For the record, we have reduced our workforce by 11.4 positions but were able to retain our teaching staff due to other retirements, resignations, and terminations.

It has been fun watching classes launch rockets, perform plays and concerts, and prepare for Open Houses. I am really looking forward to the Diversity Fair being held this Saturday at the high school as well as being able to check out a few lacrosse and softball/baseball games while it is still light out!

My next post will be made soon and will include information about some directions that we will be heading into this Summer as we prepare for next school year.

Take care.
Chris