Monthly Archives: July 2009

I’m replicating Lisa Rosendahl’s idea from her blog post, “Hey There, How’s it Going?” Lisa is in human resources so it’s no surprise that she is deeply interested in people. In this case, she’s looking to learn more about her readers than what the stats counters tell her.

I’m also curious about who’s reading this blog now. I know the audience has changed as the blog has transformed into a means of communication for Randolph Central. We’re starting to have more conversation here and so I’m hoping people are becoming more comfortable with this format. Blogging includes some amount of planning on my part and thinking about what it is that readers most want to know should make it more beneficial for all of us.

If you would be so kind, please leave a comment and tell me who you are. Your name, of course, if you’re comfortable or if not, tell me what your connection to the school or to this blog might be.  Any future topics you’d like me to cover but also something unusual or interesting about you.

And as Lisa offered,

Here are a few ideas to get you going:

• Where are you from?
• What are you most proud of? Link to it if you can!
• Some little tidbit about yourself.
• Do you blog? If so, include your website address so we can check you out!

Can’t wait to learn more about you–plus it will be fun for readers to see who else is reading and from where they hail.

What’s it mean to be literate today? David Warlick was the keynote speaker at this year’s HSNF and this idea really hit home for me. You think of reading, writing and arithmetic, right? Or you may have thought of speaking, reading and writing effectively. Warlick delivered his keynote in a way that made every participant really think about what literacy means today. If our students are going to be literate NOW, then we have to consider what it is that they’re reading and where.

David talked about reading on-line and redefining literacy. I don’t know about you, but my first stop in looking for additional information when I’m researching is either google or the NYSED website. My main sources of news are the RSS feeds in my bloglines account and have been for about three years now. As we teach our students to ask questions, we’ve got to teach them to consider the source, to dig deeper and to investigate everything.  Warlick says it takes the following.

Exposing What’s True,

Employing the Information

Expressing Ideas Compellingly

I guess it depends upon what you do for a living, but I can say those are three of the skills I most need to be successful every day in my work as the superintendent. They’re definitely skills that every effective teacher must employ and if we want our students to be successful, are we teaching them these literacy skills through the work that we ask them to do each day in our classrooms?

Warlick’s keynote alone was worth the price of admission. Have to also give a shout out to our very own Randolph teachers, Chad Skudlarek, Jessie Perison and Lauren Carnahan who took a risk and shared their own skills by teaching at High School’s New Face. This is the kind of collaboration we need to see within our own district–like we’ll be doing in our Thoughtful Classroom learning clubs next year. Which got me to thinking. . . what about a learning club where teachers meet after school to share the use of 21st century skills with student based projects to teach our content? Mr. Skudlarek, Mr. Perison and Mr. Carls as teacher leaders and participants sharing ideas. . . hmmm. Stay tuned, much more to follow.

And last, I have to say that the Leadership session offered by Neil Rochelle, Sushma Sztorc, and Bonnie Smith also provided some great ideas. We took NYS learning standards from all of the content areas and easily matched 21st century skills to the standards. So if you read the last paragraph and thought “I don’t have time! I have to teach my content and that means standing in front of the room and telling them all that they need to know” then you absolutely should be the first in line to learn more about 21st century skills and learning today. If we don’t change while everything around us is, we’ll be obsolete and irrelevant. What’s the use in that?

In about 30 minutes, I’ll be leaving for the BOE retreat that we’ve scheduled for tonight from 5:00-9:00. We are meeting off campus to provide us with a clean slate, relaxed chance to meet and talk about our governance. We’ve invited in Lynda Quick, Assistant Superintendent from Catt/Alle BOCES to facilitate. This gives us an opportunity for our own professional development. How often do BOE members get a chance to stop and learn/self-assess when they aren’t also conducting business for three-five hours? In my experience, seldom, if ever.

I’m excited about tonight’s session for several reasons. It’s the start of a new school year and that always provides a fresh start for everyone. Teachers return renewed, students get to start with 100% in all of their classes, and energy is high. Why not for the BOE and me too? We have a new BOE member, Janet Huntington, and a new BOE president, David Adams. Tonight’s retreat allows us to talk about how we function as a team, the Board members and the superintendent–followed by how we interact with all of our other constituencies–taxpayers, parents, administration, faculty, staff and students. I’m hoping to gain insight into what’s working well from their perspective and what could be better.  I’m also excited because this is our first step toward goal setting and strategic planning. We’ll have the chance to talk about how our committees function and how we can improve. We’ll be able to analyze, reflect and plan for the future.

As a district, I hope we continually focus on the idea of “yes, this is good but how can it be better?” This is a great first step as our BOE members and I step forward to ask that about ourselves. I hope every teacher asks that same question about the classes that she teaches or the way he interacts with students. I also hope that every staff member here at RCS thinks about it and that no one accepts “it’s just the way we’ve always done it” as a reason to continue a practice. And most of all, I hope every student returns asking “how can this year be better than the last and what can I do to make it happen?”

The latest on our DOT inspections for the buses? We’re headed to Cattaraugus/Little Valley. Thanks to Superintendent Peterson and his BOE for allowing his transportation director to host us for our inspections. And thanks to Superintendent Rinaldi and his BOE at Gowanda for considering the same as a back up for us. After traveling to Falconer for about two years for our inspections, they’ve decided that enough is enough. That led me to ask our neighbor with an excellent DOT passing rate and a brand new facility to allow us to bring our buses to his garage–starting July 20 and agreed to for one year at which time they’ll review the pros and cons.

Readers will remember that the Department of Transportation inspects our buses and have been unwilling to inspect here at Randolph due to our unsafe lift and inadequate space to get around the bus. That leaves me asking neighboring superintendents for help like the poor orphaned child no one wants who travels from relative to relative. I especially dislike this position because I was raised by a father who said things like, “don’t ask people for favors Kimberly because then you owe them.”

We’ll be paying a pretty price too, $250 per day to use the lift/bay 20 miles away. On July 20, we transport seven of our buses back and forth for the inspections. That will be a full day with my mechanics tied up, the cost of gas, and the cost to use their space. In addition, we’ve been servicing our vehicles at other garages when it’s anything we can’t do ourselves so there’s that expense.

So we continue to contemplate the problem, consider any and all alternatives, and plan for the future. And every time I think about it (daily) and we discuss it as a BOE/superintendent, we circle back to the same best solution. The project we put up in May that went down by one vote. A $1.4 million project that would replace the roof on the entire storage facility, build two mechanics bays with a new lift, handicapped bathroom (required by SED with the construction) and gain two more storage bays by repurposing the current mechanics bays. At no cost to the taxpayer with 83% building aid and the money the BOE already designated from our reserves.

The real kicker? Word is that SED is likely to stop providing state aid on storage facilities. Makes me wonder if we wait much longer if they’ll even aid the roof since it’s on a storage facility (the bus garage). Everything we have to do now actually costs our taxpayers more. How do I not put our best solution up for another vote? Especially when it’s at no cost to our taxpayers and we only lost it by one vote? And how long do we want to be in this position instead of taking care of our own problems? The Randolph community has always shown so much pride in this facility and who we are as a district—how did we end up looking to our neighbors for handouts?

Imagine if all of the money and attention that we spent on this nonsense were instead spent to give Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, U.S. commander in Afghanistan, the troops and resources he needs to get the job over there done right. I’ve seen stories claiming that this Michael Jackson tribute cost the cash strapped state of California between $2.5 and $5 million. If you’re wondering why it would cost them anything read what Leslie Gornstein on E Online says,

And just what kind of city effort are we talking here?

At least 1,400 police officers to keep the peace

Workers from the Department of Transportation to arrange and enforce street closures

Still more workers from the Department of Public Works to keep the area clean and operating

Fire and rescue specialists, just in case too many rabid fans moonwalk into one another out in the streets

I taught at Pine Valley Central for ten years from 1990-2000. During that time I had the privilege of teaching 1000+ fantastic students, most of whom now have families of their own. As is always the case, different students connect with different teachers. It is a distinct pleasure for me when I hear from one of those students.

I’m hoping you’ll take the time to check out Here we go again, a blog by Jason Reynolds. Jason is a PVCS graduate who I was particularly fond of who happened to marry Geri Maynard, another PVCS grad who I thought was pretty terrific. They’re living in Colorado with three kids of their own now. Jason is currently stationed in Afghanistan for the US Army and he blogs about his experiences and his faith.

I am intrigued by his blog for many reasons but most of all because I remember the boy who he was at Pine Valley. To have the opportunity to see into his thinking and his faith through his blog posts from the war zone is remarkable and inspiring to me. Thought you might enjoy reading him too. He’s a Pine Valley boy, but in more ways than one the only difference between a Pine Valley boy and a Randolph boy is purple or red. I hope you’ll consider leaving him a comment too as the contact will probably be much appreciated.