Feb

27

Drug Dogs

February 27, 2009 | 3 Comments

Before I write this post, I have to say from the get-go that I have a strong opinion on this subject. I’ve seen drugs destroy the lives of way too many people. I’ve helped kids bury kids because of drugs. I don’t take their use lightly, don’t condone any use whatsoever, don’t find marijuana use [...]

Feb

26

Bus Garage Addition

February 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment

A group of sixteen residents joined me for a Bus Garage Committee meeting last night, including three BOE members, our head bus mechanic and our director of transportation. What was our purpose? I wanted to know what they think about a possible capital project for an addition of mechanics bays to our bus garage.
We talked about [...]

Feb

20

Kids Generating Ideas and Creating Content

February 20, 2009 | 6 Comments

I’ve been reading, thinking and writing about the use of technology tools in schools for as long as I’ve been writing this blog–since July, 2006. Seldom have I seen first hand a teacher who uses the technology tools to allow students to create content.
Do you know what I mean by this? Students creating content means they [...]

Feb

18

Who’s Learning at RCS?

February 18, 2009 | 2 Comments

Today, teachers are learning at RCS. We have a staff development day and our teachers and their learning are as much on my mind this morning as my students were in my head when I was teaching. I’m thinking about the 7-12 teachers who will be in a Tech Work Session from 8-11 and about [...]

Feb

12

Welcome Guest Blogger, Ms. Swan

February 12, 2009 | 1 Comment

I loved attending the Mock Trial as staged by our students in Ms. Swan’s class! They were all well prepared, attentive and in some cases, passionate about the case. Great job RCS Students–thank you Mrs. Hoene for your continued support.
Consider this our first guest blog post by our esteemed colleague and social studies teacher, Ms. [...]

Feb

10

RCS Impact Group Impacts ME

February 10, 2009 | 4 Comments

Part of my professional growth as an administrator has included shifting from my focus on building positive relationships with students to building positive relationships with faculty and staff. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still about the kids but I realized about two years ago that I did a much better job of getting to know [...]

Feb

9

Safety Trumps Convenience

February 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Something that’s sometimes hard to balance is the security of the facilities/safety of our staff and students with our procedures that allow open access to our community.
District residents and students may notice that we’re locking down our second and third floors after six o’clock each day. I realize this may inconvenience some of our students who forget [...]

Feb

6

Is Everyone in the Same Boat?

February 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment

In the past twenty four hours I’ve read articles about Orchard Park, Brocton, Olean, and Allegany-Limestone school districts and their reactions to the Governor’s proposal for education funding in the 2009-2010 school year.
As I’ve written about on this blog, planned for in meetings at the administrative and BOE levels over the past two months, and thought [...]

Feb

5

Resident and Current Tuition Students Only

February 5, 2009 | Leave a Comment

At last night’s BOE meeting, we decided to stop accepting new tuition students while we review our policy and consider increasing our tuition significantly or disallowing non-resident students all together. If your child already attends as a tuition student, we will work hard to maintain that relationship. We will also continue to honor a Board action [...]

Feb

2

GED: Influence My Thinking

February 2, 2009 | 9 Comments

We have GED in-house this year for Randolph students and I’m wrestling with the subject. I understand how valuable GED is for adults who, for whatever reason, didn’t make it to a diploma. I saw Kimberly Mansfield deliver a wonderful program as part of Gowanda’s Adult Education program. It was one night per week, free [...]