Holidays?

Hello to All-

The past two weeks have been a flurry of activity. This is the week that I purposely try to stay out of buildings (especially elementary) because I have a tendency to get students all riled up and then leave. Students are already riled up, and if I want the continued support of our staff I probably shouldn't add to the excitement!

I won't be sitting around though. I am trying to deal with all of the negative news out of Albany. At last count they have taken about $1,310,000 from our school in promised aid this year, and we could be looking at upwards of $2,000,000 in reduced aid for next year if everything that has been legislatively proposed holds true. This will obviously mean more belt tightening for us when we already clicked our belt a few rungs tighter last year. We will make it happen but it is going to be painful and there is no way around it unless some miracle happens and more money is released to schools next year. I am not holding my breath.

I am also working on regulations for a Board policy regarding recognizing distinguished individuals. At the heart of the policy is whether or not facilities or fields will be named after anyone. This has presented challenges because it is one of the few issues that comes up in a career where everyone is not on the same page, and may not be after the policy is finalized and approved. My job is to write some language to help me manage the policy that the Board enacts. This will be tricky because what ever I write, as comprehensive as it might be, will probably not erase some of the feelings around the base policy. That is why I get paid the "big bucks" I guess.

I want to give thanks to our staff and students. They have given their time, money, and talents to help those who are less fortunate through this holiday season. More importantly they understand that poverty and need don't go away after the holidays and many of the programs that they have started, or are currently working with, will continue on through the rest of the school year. This will certainly come as good news to those who have benefited from their generosity.

The positives in this District still massively outweigh the challenges and many of our neighbors would love to trade challenges any day. Part of our growth and success is being hyper-critical of our own operation so don't take anything that I say as negative. Look at it as an honest reflection of what I think needs to get better or an honest look at the facts surrounding a challenge.

I am looking forward to the holidays, but I am also looking forward to facing the rest of the school year. There are some major challenges that need to be conquered!

Happy Holidays-

Chris

Student Accident

Usually, I use my blog to deliver good news. This time, however, I am sad to report that an 11th grade student was hit by a car on West Genesee Street that then drove away. Thankfully, the student will recover and be "ok", but the police still have not caught the driver of the car. The information that we have at this point regarding the vehicle is that it is a sedan and that it is possibly aqua-green in color. If you have any information that might help break the case, you are asked to contact Sergeant Wise from the Camillus Police Department at 1-315-487-0102. Thank you for your cooperation.

Also, please take this opportunity to remind your high school child (if you have one) of the importance of using crosswalks when crossing West Genesee Street. We stress the importance of this each day to our students and also often have adults outside after-school, but kids are kids. Helping to reinforce from home always helps.

If I receive additional information I will post back to the blog and update everyone.

Chris

Mid-December Tale

Probably the highlight of the day was being asked for my autograph by a 5th grade student. I told the student that I wasn't important enough for an autograph but sign a piece of paper I did! Signing autographs is one of the many fun things that you get to do as a Superintendent, so start your classes today....

A brief review of our Strategic Plan indicates that we are making excellent progress towards our goals. We have several different initiatives K-12 on the table to keep making our District functioning at a high level. One thing that I have mentioned to staff is that through the Strategic Planning process this Winter we will probably have to take another year to nurture our new programs instead of adding more. This doesn't mean that we let our guard down or lessen the vigor. It actually means that we will get more engrossed in our programs such as reading, spelling, CTE, at-risk, diversity, special education, technology, and all of the other new initiatives that began a year and a half ago.

Speaking of technology, we are completing our Promethean Board installation project and hope to be done by the Christmas holiday. This will give us time to re-train and begin a new training cycle for teachers looking to go to the next level. If you haven't asked your children about this new technology, please do. You will be pleasantly surprised to hear what they have been doing. I call it, "learning without even knowing that they are learning". Works for me.

Please take a moment to visit the following link: http://www.westgenesee.org/ for information about the Winter Special Olympics. It is rare that I help advertise, but the Special Olympics have given thousands of children with special needs the opportunity to express themselves through sports. The Winter Special Olympics are being held in Syracuse for the next two years, and they are looking for 500 volunteers. If you are able to help that would be great. I will certainly be there.

Busy rest of the week but will get something out on Friday as we head into the middle of December. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Chris

December Here We Come!

First let me extend my personal thanks to Dr. Morrow, her staff, and all of our student, staff, and parent volunteers for conducting an exceptionally smooth H1N1 Clinic at the high school last evening. I had the opportunity to stand at the exit for most of the evening and did not hear one negative comment. The professionalism, the caring and helpful attitudes, and the precise organization helped the clinic to be conducted without a hitch. From our exit polling, the longest wait from the time someone got out of their car until they saw me at the exit was 28 minutes. Amazing. Over 2,000 children were served. Simply outstanding.

December is full of concerts, sports, holiday celebration, and stresses. I caught myself last night letting it all go by without enjoying the moments (except for the stress of course!). This can really be a cool time of the year if you let it.

For young parents this is a great time of the year to start traditions that will carry on. Maybe lights on the lake or a football game in the snow (if it ever does). For parents of teenagers (like me) refocusing on what is important which is time with the kids while we still have them around the house. For more seasoned parents, they are preparing to spoil grandchildren or preparing to host sons and daughters home from school (with five or six of their closest friends most of the time!). Whatever it is that you will be doing...do it. Take the time. Enjoy our school events and your kids but also enjoy two seconds to yourself and keep focusing on the bigger picture!

Off to a Spelling Bee and then to observe a student teacher, which is a very enjoyable part of my job for sure! I will be back to post some operational updates later this week.

Chris

Happy Thanksgiving and Other Adventures

Before I shut down the blog and Twitter account for the Thanksgiving Holiday I wanted to thank all of you for your continued support. We are doing some wonderful things for our children and it shows. You have every right to be proud of where you live. From a statistical (and quite boring, frankly) view we tax the least, yet produce the best academic results around. From a real life, and I think better way to look at things, we have students who are well rounded. They give for the sake of giving and at the same time they achieve. I know that I am thankful for the opportunities that this school is providing my own children and I also recognize and thank the community for the support to make it all possible.

Later today we will have a Blue Ribbon School celebration for Split Rock (a larger celebration for the community Will be in the Spring) and we will raise the Blue Ribbon Flag for the first time. Thanks to Bonnie Russell we have figured out how to post pictures so expect some pictures of the event later today to be here and on our main website.

We will be holding our mid-year National Honor Society induction on November 30th and our H1N1 vaccination clinic appears to still be on schedule for December 2nd.

As I mentioned at the top of this post I am shutting down Twitter and my blog until next week so I can try to enjoy some time with my family. I hope that you are able to do the same.

Please accept my best wishes for a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving. Please do not forget to thank those who are in our armed services and will not be able to enjoy time with their family and friends.

Take care-

Chris

Hello Alaska!

I had one of my more enjoyable Board of Education meetings last evening when we demonstrated the possibilities of our new video conferencing equipment by taking a virtual field trip to Alaska.

We were greeted (in real-time) by a wonderful young lady who described what Alaska was like, and how her sled dog organization could teach children about science, math, and health. She then switched to an outdoor camera where our whole group (audience included) met an Alaskan Huskie named "Creamer" and his musher.

His musher was very friendly and talked to us about his dog and about how the dogs are cared for, etc... At the end of our demonstration, he placed the dog back into his pen and asked us to say goodbye to the dogs by howling and barking. I could feel the tension in the crowd because adults "aren't supposed to have fun", but howl and bark we did and to our amazement the dogs on the other end heard us and stood up and began howling themselves!

I am very thankful that we have a video-conferencing unit in each building and the learning and enrichment opportunities are endless. Thanks to Bill Roberge, our Director of Technology, for arranging everything for us on our end.

Before the Board meeting the Board was given a "tour" and a hands on demonstration of our Promethean Boards as well. The Board got to use the "boards" and Laura Cantone and Jen McArthur (East Hill Elementary School) created some wonderful flip-charts for them to use. They also filmed their students who taught the Board members how to use each of the major items on the toolbar for the Promethean Boards. It was great to see people being actively engaged in a Board setting just as I see students engaged every day in classrooms. Nicely done!

Prior to all of this good news, I attended probably the most depressing meeting that I have EVER attended in my entire life. The meeting centered around the State budget and the impact any changes to the budget will have on our students and programs. As I mentioned in a previous post, we are okay for this year because we planned for a mid-year cut in funding from the State but no one knows what is going to happen moving forward. I was very frustrated because it is difficult to create budget scenarios moving forward until the State makes the first move. We have the brain power and desire in our District to make things work even if the outlook is bleak, we just need our top governing body to make some decisions so we can move forward.

Tonight is going to be nice. First is my youngest son's modified basketball game followed by C.O.D.E. graduation at Stonehedge Elementary School followed by my oldest son's concert at the high school. Life is a blur right now.

Chris

Another Good Week

Another good week! I was very proud of our students and high school photography teacher Mrs. Cross who created the Veteran tribute film, "On Common Ground". It was shown at the Palace Theater this past Wednesday evening, and there was a very good turn-out. Talks are now in the works to show the film through the USO and get it out world-wide to the troops.

We continue to work through our at-risk and technology initiatives. The next phase of Promethean Board installations is about to begin, and as soon as we are in receipt of replacement servers, memory, and computers, we will finish our technology initiative for the year. Also, our efforts in technology will be featured in March when BOCES hosts a series called TALKS at the high school. People from all over the county will attend, and they will get to see what we are offering our students.

Our at-risk program is beginning to take a strong hold in each building, and you would wonder at this point what we ever did without the extra assistance we have been able to provide students. As we are now able to make some additional interventions with students, in many cases we have helped to prevent bad situations from becoming worse. In some cases we have been able to help provide some students with food and shelter. Our requests for free/reduced lunch are on the rise as well. Without the interventions we have been using, many of those students who we have been able to serve would go through the day hungry, or forced to make poor choices without appropriate guidance.

We are rolling out our credit recovery program at the high school as well, and I will report when our first student has completed a course through our NovaNet program.

A dance at Camillus Middle School and the musical Willy Wonka at West Genesee Middle School will kick-off what will hopefully be a nice weekend. Thanks again for your support and have a great weekend.