Monthly Archives: June 2007

Next Steps

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We’re camping this weekend and that always provides me with lots of time to read, reflect and think. As I’m reading everything from education journals to women’s magazines, I’m thinking a lot about my new role at Gowanda. Officially, I start July 1 and even then, it’ll probably take us the summer to hire my replacement so it’ll be a while before I make the transition completely. But my planning and research are already taking on new meaning. I woke up this morning thinking about the need to form relationships with our K-8 faculty and staff, the best way to go about that, and how to build trust.

I’m also conscious of the fact that it’s a new position which hasn’t yet been defined clearly so we have to go through the growing pains of helping everyone, including me, understand the parameters of my role. The more I think about the possibilities ahead, the more excited I become.

I wonder if everyone goes through the growing pains that I’ve been going through in these past few weeks, making a decision and then wondering if I can do it. My husband says I’ve gone through this and said these same things every time I’ve accepted a new position. He says, “every time Kim, you’re the only one who thinks you can’t do it.”

He’s right and I’m done worrying about whether or not I’ve had enough education, training, or experience to take the next step. I’ll use the same skills that have carried me through every other position I’ve had coupled with the “wisdom” of getting older and the interest to always learn more. I’m moving forward with confidence and excitement about the next step. I imagine that most leaders walk forward exhibiting unfailing confidence in themselves. That’s just not me. Hopefully, my combination of moxie and vulnerability will serve me well. I wasn’t the “stereotypical” principal so I doubt I’ll be the stereotypical superintendent either. I’ve  learned from some incredible leaders like Lucinda Miner, Deb Ormsby, Sandra Craft, and Charles Rinaldi–what better training is there than that?

What Makes A Success Story?

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On July 1, I’ll have to change the header at the top of this blog to say “Kimberly Moritz, Assistant Superintendent, talks about school management, student achievement, and life in G-Town.”

I’ve been advised that the other opportunity (yesterday’s blog post) may have been the smarter move as far as finding professional “success”, that it may have been easier. But I also know that the smart move didn’t feel like the right move.

It seemed like I’d be saying to everyone here that it was just too hard, that I couldn’t be sure we’d improve, so I figured I’d go where the grass was greener. Where would that leave our students, faculty, staff– our community?

I feel responsible for this district, in a way I’ve not felt before in any other administrative position. Who would lead here if I left? I’m sure someone would come, it’s not that I think I’m irreplaceable. I know there are other good administrators, I work with two principals and a superintendent who are as good as it gets. I’m invested in G-Town in a way that I just don’t think others would invest, long term and as a new superintendent.

Our superintendent writes on his new blog about the addition of an assistant superintendent and the rationale behind it. I won’t duplicate the reasons behind this move as they’ve already been outlined by Mr. Rinaldi and the BOE.

I’m happy to have the opportunity to continue to serve Gowanda and I am convinced that our hard work, optimism, research, and instructional improvements will result in the best education for our children. I won’t disappoint those who have placed their confidence and faith in me.

During my decision making process, Lisa, my dear friend and college roommate asked me, “when have you ever shied away from ‘harder’ Kim?” She’s right, I’ve always looked for the more challenging path, it’s what motivates me. So maybe my success will be defined by helping Gowanda become the best district it can be for all of our children. I know that’s not an easy task and that I have much to learn. But this is my community, these are the best teachers, support staff, administrators and BOE I’ve ever known, and I believe we can do it. Make Gowanda a success for every student.

I can’t think of any better success story than that one.

Making the Right Career Move

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Imagine you have a decision to make. You can either stay in your current job as a high school principal, one in which you find yourself happy and successful or you can move to a new job as a superintendent, accepting new challenges and learning an entirely new position.

Now let’s complicate the decision even more. Let’s say you conclude that moving up to a superintendency is the right choice. You’re then faced with the opportunity of a superintendency in a neighboring district or an assistant superintendency in the district in which you are currently employed.

Superintendency in Neighboring District? This is a successful school district in which you’ve worked before, you know the community and the staff and you feel extremely comfortable. You know with as much certainty as anyone can have that you’ll be successful there. Excellent business manager, healthy budget, great tech personnel, good administrators, fantastic kids and community, good BOE support. You receive an overwhelming number of requests to return and it’s a district you loved working in.

Assistant Superintendency in Current District? This is a tougher district in which change is beginning to occur due to numerous initiatives in which you’ve been involved along with others interested in improvement. Still some tough challenges ahead though. Great administrative team, business manager will be a new hire, supportive superintendent who’s willing to teach you as long as he stays (with the opportunity of a superintendency when he moves on or retires), outstanding BOE support, very healthy budget, terrific kids and community–plus their yours because you reside in this community. You’re four miles from home and you came here to make a difference when you believed no one else would come. You came to this district as a high school principal to improve instruction and climate for everyone. You love coming to work here every day.Your son is here and it’s tough on him, you being here. He thinks he could be more “normal” if you go. You worry that his school won’t be as good if you go and you hope that through your loving, strong parenting, along with your husband and family, that you can overcome any difficulties he experiences as the “administrator’s kid”. You find yourself arguing with anyone who advises you to take the other job because it’s the smart career move.  

Which job do you choose? While the blog was down, I made the choice–I’m just wondering what you would have done. What readers would have advised me to do, had I been able to write about this.

Edublogs Back In Business

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This past week Edublogs, our host site, has been down as they transfer to a new server. What have I learned from this time without the blog? That writing here has definitely become a professional routine, something that I missed. I haven’t been able to write about our commencement ceremony, our Science Regents results, or my new job. Haven’t been able to write about our two teachers who left for other opportunities and how it feels to lose good teachers.

Some posts have rattled around in my head and been lost while others just keep running through. I realized early on that this writing helps me to process my thoughts. It’s not just about informing the readers, influencing thinking, getting my voice in the mix. For me, it’s about my thinking and decision making more than anything. It’s a way to get things out of my head. I know it works because I haven’t been sleeping as well without this professional practice.

So here I am, back on the blog, and happy to see it’s back in business. Thanks James Farmer–see how much more we appreciate you now when previously we just took you for granted?

The Complicated Cohort Story

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I’d like to clarify all of the reporting of data that readers see. There are two ways that we are constantly looking at data–by school year and by cohort.

As a principal, I compare how we did on our Regents exams and graduation rate by school year. That’s what I reported in my earlier post, Winding Down. In addition, we pay attention to the number of student drop outs each school year.

However, the school report card and the Business First rankings look at data by cohort. Data analysis by cohort looks at the students who entered ninth grade together, for example this year’s seniors are largely from the 2003 cohort. What does this mean? That they entered ninth grade together in 2003 and are graduating this year, in four years, in 2007.

How does this get complicated? We pay a lot of attention to our Native American sub-group because we have not had good graduation rate results with this group. Remember that our Native American students add up to about 30% of our population. For example, last year’s cohort, called the 2002 cohort, had only a 48% graduation rate for our Native American students as opposed to 85% for our other students.

That should help readers understand why I pay so much attention to all of our kids. I simply must help more of our students get to a diploma and knowing that half of our Native kids aren’t getting there is unacceptable to me.

This year, I’ve reported to our BOE and written about it here, that we have 32 of our 36 Native American seniors graduating. This just tells you that I have 32 seniors graduating. However, that doesn’t tell the cohort story. Six of those thirty-six students are of the 2002 cohort. This led me to ask, “what about the 2003 cohort?” How many students started in ninth grade in 2003 and should be graduating this year? Is it higher than the 48% of the 2002 cohort?

Short answer, Yes. In 2003, I had 48 students enter the ninth grade (the 2003 cohort). Of those 48 Native American students, six transferred to other schools and six will complete their graduation requirements this August or in 2008. Of the 42 Native American students I should have graduated this year, 27 will graduate Friday night. Eight have officially dropped out, one student has passed away. 64% of our 2003 Native American cohort is graduating, much better than the 48% who graduated in the 2002 cohort. The other piece of that puzzle is that five students from that 2002 cohort are graduating this year, having taken five years and raising the passing rate for their cohort. Unfortunately, any student who takes more than four years, who we keep and compel to return, still counts against a school district as a drop out.

I think sometimes that the different ways of looking at our results can be confusing to our community. Hopefully, this post helps to explain a piece of the reason why.

Winding Down

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We’re winding down now with only one Regents exam left tomorrow, Physics. Our results are pouring in, seniors on the cusp are being notified about graduation, and commencement is the day after tomorrow.

After two-three manic weeks, winding down feels great. Our new hires should be approved at the BOE tonight, our summer school appointments are going up too, and we’re all enjoying the anticipation of summer. Anyone who works in industry and resents the idea of two months off for teachers and students has never seen the exhaustion of our kids at the end of a tough Regents exam. This break is badly needed and allows us to come back refreshed in September.

Personally, I look forward to two months of work without students and staff. Granted, our implementation of a summer school changes that dynamic significantly, but I still get the chance to actually start and finish a project in the same day. I can complete a thought, as simple as that sounds. Summer is truly our time of renewal and is often the source of my own professional growth and the generation of many new ideas.

The very best part about this ending to the school year is the knowledge that G-Town has had a stellar year. Our faculty, staff and students have worked very hard to improve and our Regents results show significant gains. The combined January/June Regents results for this school year, which are in to date, show the following:

  • Comprehensive English   Increases to both the mastery level of 85%+ and to passing at 65% with 83%
  • Math A,Increases to mastery level, showing a 7% gain at 26%, and passing, showing a 15% gain at 94%
  • Math B, Increases to mastery level, showing a 3% gain, and passing, showing an 11% gain
  • Global History, Increases to mastery level, showing a 3% gain at 21%, and passing, showing an 11% gain at 77%
  • Comprehensive Spanish, increases to mastery level, showing a 17% gain at 56%, and 96% passing at 65

I’m not even considering our passing rate at 55% any longer, even though our students can still graduate with 1-3 of the five required Regents exams at 55%, depending on cohort. We’re operating from the standpoint that we need to help all students achieve at least a 65% on the Regents with the goal of mastery level at 85% and above.

We’re getting there G-Town. A great example of how far we’ve come is that our English passing rate of 83% that was just 68% in 2005 and of 77% in Global that was just 59% in 2005.

Thank you to every student, teacher, and staff member who helped make it happen. Thank you to the superintendent and BOE for supporting our ideas for instructional improvement. Thank you to our parents and community for pushing our kids and for supporting our budgets.

Regrets

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I saw one of our senior “pranksters” today. He came in to take a test and apologized to me. We talked for a while. He was defeated and beaten. He’s endured county jail, the loss of friends, suspension from school and the loss of the commencement ceremony.

The day before the smoke bomb  he was a carefree senior enjoying his last few days of high school. His decision to be remembered backfired significantly. He called Friday the worst day of his life.

He made a mistake. He is suffering significant consequences. He shows remorse. He’s learning from his mistake. He’s figuring out who his real friends are, who forgives and understands, and who judges harshly. He is spending what would have been two fun weeks, the last of this time in his life, feeling as bad about himself as it gets.

But he’ll survive. He’ll pick himself up and move on. He’ll be strong and he’ll think harder and longer before making a decision. He’s still our kid. He still graduates with a diploma. He still has a future with hopes and dreams and potential. He’s just mixed in some significant regret. Most people I know have some of that mixed in.

I hope G-Town remembers that not one of us should be defined by just one day in our lives. We’re much more complex than one event. This young man must not be defined by one day.  I still see the whole kid and I still like what I see.

Teaching to Leading

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My husband and I attended a retirement party this weekend. Two teachers from Randolph, a neighboring district where I was previously high school principal, were honored at a dinner.As is typical at a retirement party, colleagues, family and friends came forward to speak for each of our retirees. Their comments were heart felt, touching and funny. Pat and Carol, the retirees, also spoke with great affection about their careers and their friends.

I attended the dinner because Carol drove to my school and then to my house to be sure I would be there. Why? Because Carol’s all about the people in her life and so is Pat, an extremely successful teacher and coach.

Attending the dinner and listening to the comments about Carol and Pat got me to thinking about this job that I do now. As an administrator, there are many tasks and responsibilities that I have. Many days, they are too numerous to complete. But the primary responsibility that I have as an administrator is not unlike that of a teacher.

When I was teaching, I spent 99% of my time thinking about my students. Their unique needs and personalities, their learning styles and abilities. I thought about what I could do in my lessons to reach each of them. I built relationships. I asked them questions. I got to know each of them, as much as each would let me in.

Last night I was thinking a lot about what makes a principal or superintendent successful. I thought about all of the specific knowledge that our superintendents possess about finance, capital projects, the political scene in Albany, and school law. I thought about all of the superintendents I’ve worked for and known.

And that’s when I realized that the best superintendents are the same as the best teachers. There are teachers who have incredible depth of content knowledge but don’t ever stop teaching the content and start teaching the students. Likewise there are administrators who don’t ever figure out the leading the faculty and staff piece, they just keep managing their work.

When I am a superintendent some day, I will spend 99% of my time thinking about my BOE members, faculty and staff. Their unique needs and personalities, their learning styles and abilities. I will think about what I can do in my interactions to reach each of them. I will build relationships. I will ask them questions. And I will get to know each of them, as much as each will let me in.

Senior Pranks, Part 3

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Amazing as it may sound, there are some things about this week’s senior pranks that made me very happy.

Partially because we have good relationships with our students and partially because the seniors really want to have a picnic on Monday, we know who pulled the pranks and they are receiving consequences. How do we know?

Students told me. In the case of the gunk on the lockers, seniors gave me the student’s name. I saw her and said, “There was a prank that caused two good, hard working women two extra hours of work this week. It ticks me off and I’m cancelling the picnic unless the student who did it comes forward, admits what she did wrong, and takes responsibility for it.” After she thought about it for a couple of periods, she and her friend came in to tell me what they did. These two seniors will not attend Monday’s picnic and better yet, they’ll be meeting our cleaners at 6:00 am on Monday to clean for them for two hours. I hope Carol and Maggie give them whatever cleaning job they most hate.

With the smoke bomb that went off twenty minutes before the end of the day, students approached me and gave me a name before they got on the bus. Mr. Cassidy interviewed that student and had another name before all the buses were gone.

I called that student at home and told him it was in his best interest to get back to the school immediately. Mr. Cassidy did the same with another student. Finally, the third student was revealed and he answered my call at a friend’s house to get back to school immediately. All three students came back to school and admitted what they’d done wrong. The matter was resolved with the police. In this type of incident, school consequences include five days OSS with loss of participation in commencement exercises. Monday’s picnic is the least of their worries.

Because of the relationships we’ve built with students, those who reported what they knew and those who’d made a mistake, we had the whole thing resolved within two hours. I’m proud of that fact. I’m also happy about  the teamwork our faculty and staff exhibited.

I know there are schools where no one would tell the administration anything. I’m really proud that we’re not one of them. I’m also proud that ultimately our kids know the difference between right and wrong and they step up to answer for their mistakes.

And while I love our students and will fight to do what’s right for them, I will also support strong consequences when they mess up, especially when the action endangers the health and safety of others in the building.That’s good parenting and it’s also good administration.