Kimberly Moritz BlogPosts

I’m attending the NYSCATE conference in Rochester, arrived yesterday morning and leaving tomorrow afternoon. I’ve been coming to this conference about technology in education off and on for many years, the first of which was as a teacher for Pine Valley. Why do I come? To stretch my thinking, learn something new, talk with others who have similar interests. What am I leaving with? A renewed sense of commitment that we can do more and we can do it better.

I started yesterday as I expected, attending sessions that left me with notes like, “consider Fablevision’s Animation-ish for Mrs. Griffith, it looks better than the software she’s got; Starboard vs. Smartboard–what’s the cost? Any promos on quantity purchase?; check out more about Qwizdom as a flexible student response system; look at the Lumens document cameras, with a 5 yr. warranty, for Science teachers; ask if anyone is using Brainpop’s digital citizenship piece.”

That’s what I signed up for–ideas about smart technology. What I got next ramped this conference up considerably for me. Chris Lehmann. I’ve been reading Chris for at least three years, he’s the principal of Philadelphia’s Science Leadership Academy, a magnet school. When I started blogging in 2006, Chris was also out there writing and along with Christian Long we had some of the best conversations of my early blog learning. To finally meet Chris face to face reminded me why those conversations were so helpful to me.

I want to leave education when my time is done having done something important and meaningful that benefits our kids, our teachers and our community. I don’t think it’s my job to keep everything just as it’s always been–that’s how we will eventually become obsolete and I’m not game for sailing into retirement knowing I did nothing to change, that I didn’t lead our organization. We can do this better. Not that we aren’t doing it well, just that we can do it better. School can have more meaning and purpose for our students than it does now. And here’s why attending Chris Lehmann’s afternoon session and key note last night left my brain spinning early this morning. Chris talked about how they have made the entire learning experience different at Science Leadership Academy and on every point I thought, “why can’t we do that?” It wasn’t that he’s a magnet school and we’re not. It’s that they have a vision and goals and a plan–a system of student learning to which  every member of the organization is committed, focused on, and working.

Too many people in our educational system are comfortable and happy with the way things are to the point that they don’t make anything better happen. As Chris said last night, then it’s all about them not the kids. And what did Chris say that I’m most considering? “It’s not about engagement. A TV show can be engaging. It’s about empowerment and meaningful work.”

From Wikipedia we can learn what the Science Leadership Academy is about and what they are committed to,

The Science Leadership Academy, or SLA, is a magnet high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that opened in September 2006. The school is a partnership between The Franklin Institute and the School District of Philadelphia. SLA is a 1:1 laptop school where all students and teachers use Macintosh laptops as their primary learning tool. This is the first year with a full house of students, grades 9-12, with approximately 500 students in the school. The first class of seniors will graduate from the Science Leadership Academy in June 2010.

The Science Leadership Academy is an understanding-driven, project-based school where the learning is centered around the five core values of inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation and reflection. Students do benchmark projects every quarter to demonstrate the application of their learning.

In Spring 2009, SLA was named an Apple Distinguished School, one of only 33 schools in the nation with that distinction^[1]. In addition, SLA was featured in the April 2007 Edutopia Magazine article, “My School, Meet MySpace” where the school is called “… [John] Dewey for the digital age, old-fashioned progressive education with a technological twist.”^[2]

Inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation and reflection. Exactly what I hope my own kids will  do well as adults. Empower my kid and give him meaningful work. He isn’t going to get anywhere in life by being a good test taker. Better yet, empower our kindergarten students and first graders and let’s give them those experiences all the way through–let’s make their education relevant and a part of their lives that they can’t wait to get to each day. I’m not saying we have to be SLA, but why can’t we be RCS, just better? Why can’t we give our kids meaningful work in our classrooms and empower them? Lots of our teachers are already doing that, from Kindergarten through the Senior year. We need more work as a system to make it happen consistently and with planning and for every child in every classroom. And that’s the same thing just about every other public school needs too. Let’s not wait for them. Let’s make it happen in Randolph.

And why is Randolph any different, why can we make it happen? Because we already do this better than any other public school district I’ve been in–our kids are learning in meaningful ways in classrooms throughout this district every day. Let’s plan for it to happen as a system.

Learning with Passion, Innovation and Leadership.

Unless you’re brand new to this blog, you know by now that our football team is headed for Rochester Friday, for the last game before STATES on November 28, 2009. It’s something to celebrate, a huge student success and it’s a part of our program. Not a more important part than any other but it is a part of us. We applaud the 110% efforts of our players and coaches and I personally can’t wait to get there on Friday!

Sometimes the smallest things just become ENORMOUS for people. You’ve probably read here how we handled the dismissals, first at 1:00 last week with everyone permitted to leave and then at 11:30 this week with employees allowed to leave to go to the game or work in their rooms if not.

Amazing as it may seem, a lot of conversation and planning goes into something like this. I walked in the door on Monday thinking, “we need to just have school all day on Friday. We can’t give up that instructional time and for many families RCS football doesn’t mean a lot. I worried about child care issues for working parents and as one parent said to me, ‘what message does that send to our kids if we say it’s okay to miss school for a football game’.” All of that was on my mind as I met with our admin team, our AD, and others. I knew from the week before that I had the BOE’s support either way, but that generally most of them said, “This is a big opportunity for our kids and our school, a success to celebrate.”

I do support our kids in every success that they have, on the athletic fields and off. Randolph has much more experience with state championships than I do and part of my job is to understand the community I serve. This is a town that supports its athletes and I’m a part of that as the school superintendent. Together we made the decision to dismiss at 11:30. Why 11:30 and not 1:00? Because last week’s 1:00 departure time left us with 27% of our kids, in addition to the athletes involved, leaving at 11:30 anyway. And can we please remember it’s not like anyone thought “woo hoo! Football game, a chance to dismiss school!” It’s because the game starts at 5:00 on Friday in Rochester–if it started at 7:00 or was on Saturday, we’d have a big send-off here at school at the end of our regular day and otherwise it’d be business as usual.

The final decision (after MUCH discussion) just seemed logical. We’re dismissing early for a semi-final state athletic event. If a teacher or staff member is going to the event, paying his or her own gas and ticket in the door for RCS, then okay—he or she doesn’t have to take personal time. If they’re not going to the game for which we’re dismissing, then they can enjoy having time to work alone in the classroom catching up on something, planning, working on the website, communicating with parents. Or if someone wants to leave for a doctor or personal reason, he or she can use personal or sick time given. Seems simple enough to me, but I’m learning that no matter what, every-one’s got an opinion and I’m not even going to try to make everyone happy.

There’s a bit of an uproar about “fair” and a sense of entitlement that employees should all just have the afternoon off or that everyone should have to use their own time, going to the game or not. Don’t get me wrong, there are LOTS of employees who quietly said, “Cool. Time to work in my room? I’ll take it.” or who can’t wait to get to the game. Others aren’t interested in going or have other commitments that evening, and that’s okay too.

But how about “fair” for the taxpayers who expect us to work for the wage we’re given? How about “fair” for all of the parents and community members who want to go but work at jobs where they can’t get out early or who can’t afford to drive to Rochester? This issue of fair is a bit ridiculous and when is anything completely “fair” to every possible party? My mom would say, “Life’s not fair, get used to it.”

It’s a football game. Not a huge life or death injustice that’s been dealt to anyone. It’s a positive event, something to celebrate. We will work hard to make sure we honor all of our student successes. This is one of them.

A reader known as “randolphparent” posted a comment on my previous post about Facebook and our RCS Facebook page that warrants further thought and discussion. “randolphparent” says,

Having a school facebook page is a great idea.
However, is it necessary to unlock it for the children at school? Should children be on facebook during school from their phones/schools computers? It happens, the proof is out there.
How about the teachers that have students as ‘friends’ on their personal pages? Is that professional behavior? I could see a ‘class’ page to be checked from HOME.

Let’s take the two points raised separately. First, there’s the question about unlocking Facebook at school. I have written here often about my own belief that filtering and blocking is not the solution for our kids, but rather teaching them to use the web effectively and appropriately. I don’t know how we do that, how we have the necessary discussions that help them to understand any potential problems they can encounter on the web, if we block and filter. I also know that teachers are absolutely responsible, first and foremost, to engage students in learning. If a teacher creates a classroom where kids have an opportunity to sit on their phones or on-line on Facebook or any other website–instead of focusing on learning–then we’ve got a bigger problem than filtering, don’t we?

Having said that, I have wrestled with the idea of, “what purpose could it serve for a kid to have access to Facebook during the day?” I’m not sure I can answer that with any concrete examples, yet. I just know that our effectiveness as teachers depends largely on our ability to connect with our students. That was true when I started teaching in 1989 and it’s true today. If Facebook is one of the primary ways our students are connecting then I want in on that, I want to learn more about them,  and I want a chance to influence their thinking.

Which brings us to “randolphparent’s” second point, what about teachers “friending” students on Facebook? And using it professionally? Adults are using Facebook in many different ways and our teachers and staff have to understand the appropriateness of the content they put out there on Facebook if they are “friending” students and their parents.

Just like I wouldn’t want our teachers to swear or drink a beer in front of our students, I don’t want them portraying all the parts of their personal life to them on Facebook. The line between personal and professional life is blurring and it’s up to every individual to think about that when they post content on Facebook or anywhere else.

Personally, the RCS Facebook Page makes this all easier for me as an educator.  I don’t “friend” RCS students, staff and community members. Why not? Frankly, I’m already here 9-12 hours per day and what I do the other 12 hours of the day is my business. If I’m at a Sabres game with friends and someone posts a comment or a picture about our time there, I just don’t think anyone needs to know where I am and what I’m doing 24/7. I like having a personal life when I can just be Kim with my friends and family. A time when I’m not the superintendent of schools, I’m just Kim, helps me to return to RCS refreshed and ready to face whatever work brings.

If teachers are using Facebook to connect with students and to post in a professional way, I think that’s terrific. But “randolphparent” is right, it needs to be done professionally and with reason or it shouldn’t be done at all.

But hey, that’s just what I think Readers, what do you think?

Big news for our athletes this week, as Rhiannon Carnahan joined Travis Nagle in qualifying for STATES for Cross Country–WOO HOO!  Congrats to Rhiannon, Travis and Coach Lauren Carnahan who travel on to the STATE competition this Saturday. We’ll have a send off from the school this Thursday before they board the bus to STATES–do it up Cross Country!

As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, our boys football team beat Maple Grove at Ralph Wilson stadium to become the Section VI champions—another WOOT! A huge congratulations to our team and our coaches–I think half the town was at that game. It was a night when I got to feel very proud to be the RCS superintendent. Our boys advance to play the Section V champion in Rochester this Friday night at 5:00. Let’s do it again!

In order to allow everyone (this town sent over 500 people to Friday night’s game!) to safely travel to the game on Friday in time, we will dismiss all students, faculty and staff at 1:00 pm. That gives everyone plenty of time to drive safely and also allows time for our spectator bus to arrive for the 5:00 start time.

Spectator bus tickets are available in the HS main office for $5.00. No pre-sale tickets are available for this game, we have to buy them when we arrive. The spectator bus will leave at 1:00 pm and will be chaperoned.

Something else to think about. . . we have parent teacher conferences scheduled for Thursday and Friday. Elementary teachers who want to travel to the game may ask parents scheduled for a few late Friday conferences to reschedule. This is not to say your conference isn’t important! Your child’s academic progress comes first–always, without a doubt. Your child’s teacher will work with you to find a time that works for you if it is rescheduled. If YOU want to reschedule because you’re headed to the game, please let your child’s teacher know as soon as possible.

Hopefully we’ve covered all of the details. If I haven’t answered a question here, as always, give us a call!

And you can follow the conversation on Facebook at our RCS Facebook page for more up to the minute information. We’re up to 241 members!

You may think it’s Autumn but at Randolph the season is Sectional! Thanks to the regular season success of our student athletes and coaches, our teams are going strong. Read about our teams and plan a night out to watch our kids.

Check out the #1 RCS Girls Volleyball team this week– tonight as they play Pine Valley here at 6:00 and when they secure a win tonight, on to play this Friday night at 6:00. This team is on fire and hoping for another big win this year!

RCS Cross Country will be tearing it up in the CCAA League Championships at Long Point this Friday at 3:30.

Friday night brings our RCS Football Team(7-1) to our field to battle Portville (7-1) at 7:30 pm. Next game? Friday, November 6, 6:00 pm at the Ralph. If you want to see excellent football played with enthusiasm, Randolph’s field is always the place to be.

#3 Randolph Boys Soccer should dominate #6 Chautauqua Lake at home this Friday at 3:30, with Semifinals around the corner on November 3 at Southwestern. Friday is clearly the day to see lots of sports action for the Red & White here at home.

And don’t forget #5 Randolph Girls Soccer taking to the field today at 3:30 against #12 Silver Creek then advancing to the Quarterfinals on Saturday at 2:00 pm against #4 Holland. Soccer has come a long way over the past several years and spectators can expect to see some great play from our girls!

And if sports isn’t your only thing–join us for a High School Halloween Howl of a concert tonight at 7:30 being performed at the Elementary School for the benefit of all of our little ghouls and goblins who are attending our Halloween Fun Night from 6:30-8:00.

We are pleased to announce that Cattaraugus County will be offering an H1N1 Clinic here on Saturday, November 7, 2009 from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. Vaccines will be available on a first come, first served basis to any RCS enrolled school children. There is no cost to the family and the child must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.

Unfortunately, the vaccine is not available to younger or older siblings who are NOT enrolled at RCS. We will have school personnel on hand to help the County and to help comfort our children.

I can’t help but remember my own trip as a small child to a vaccine clinic in the late sixties for small pox. I remember gripping my mother’s hand and standing in a long line. Let’s work together to make this a manageable experience for our children. If you have any questions, please call me or either of our school nurses, Sharon O’Neill and Lottie Abers.

I can’t stop thinking about this post by Chris Lehmann, Principal at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia. Chris is talking about charter schools like KIPP and Mastery Charter and the Ted Ginn Academy. While we don’t have charter schools in our immediate area, I’m intrigued by the conversation. I can anticipate that we will be working with virtual charter schools in the next couple of years and so I continue to pay attention to the discussion.

We know that kids need different opportunities to succeed and some need different pathways. That’s why we need to switch things up in the classroom and teach using a variety of instructional strategies, integrate technology, offer lots of different extra-curricular programs, provide electives that reach every kid, participate in BOCES programs and offer AP/College level courses.

As a school team of administrators, counselors, and teachers we also become preoccupied with reaching every student in a way that keeps them in school and helps them to succeed. This can be a challenge for any number of reasons, some within the school and many from beyond our walls. It is truly heartbreaking every time we lose a child to a decision to “drop out”. So reading about alternative routes like those found in some charter schools is compelling.

That’s where Chris makes a poignant point that cannot be ignored,

… because if we could only believe that we could solve all the problems of educating students in poverty with charismatic school leaders and hard working teachers… and that all the kids who don’t get the education they need are simply being underserved by those lazy teachers… that would absolve our society for not being more just, more equitable, more fair. We could point to those schools that succeed against all odds and say, “See… if they do it, every school should be able to do it.” It is a myth that keeps us from really understanding what is necessary to solve the problems for the children of our cities. It is the myth of the schools that have solved the problems.

Read Chris’ entire post. Think about the students who don’t stay in the Charter Schools either. Our public schools work for the vast majority of our students, but not for all. Charter schools don’t seem that different.  And we all continue to ponder and to plan, to connect and serve, to try to reach every student. 

What do you think: Can we truly reach every student?

If you’ve noticed most of our buses parked outside the bus garage in the past two weeks, that’s because we have a large number of items inside the bus garage for our Silent Auction. With the snow ready to fly, we need to get those buses back inside so please consider participating in the District’s Silent Auction.

As we change and improve our materials and facilities, we sometimes end up with items that are outdated or obsolete. We are offering those items to the public in our Silent Auction and we’re hoping that the sale of these items can both benefit other individuals or organizations and generate some money for the district.

How does it work? Items may be seen between the hours of 9:00 am and 2:00 pm starting today and continuing through until Friday, October 16, 2009 at 2:00 pm. Bids will be accepted until 10:00 am on Monday, October 19, 2009, when they will be publicly opened.

How do I bid on an item? Every item or “lot” is numbered. Bids must be submitted to the District Business Office on District Bid Forms with a signed non-collusive bidding certificate in a sealed envelope marked “Silent Auction Bid ‘09″.

Payment must be made by cash or certified check within one week of notification of a bid award. The Randolph Central School Board reserves the right to reject any and all bids.

Special thanks to Dave Chambers, Business Manager, for coordinating this event. Thanks also to Brian Hinman and our entire Transportation Department for your tolerance and patience as we commandeered your space for the Auction items.

Reason #4 for Administrators to Blog

In many ways, the best reason to blog is the personal side of it. I can write ten posts about the business of running a school and receive two comments total. But if I write one post as a parent or a friend, I’ll receive ten comments on those two posts. Why? I think it’s because readers relate best to the human interest story, the personal side of life.

When I share what I really think about those topics most important to me, readers come to have a sense of who I am as a person. I’m not just some suit sitting in an office. I’m real to them and that makes me more approachable. They feel as if they know me and can talk to me about their own kids or the problems they’re facing or their complaints about our district. I need to know all of that to make things better. And I care enough to want to know.

Parents don’t want some suit they can’t talk to, they want a real person who will listen and understand and help them to problem solve. Putting yourself out there on the blog helps them see who you really are.

I’ve blogged about my son’s accident, my daughter’s student teaching, a dear friend’s son’s motorcycle accident, and 357 other posts in the last three years.

I can share my thinking about the huge moments in life and get it out of my head. And we even used the blog to share daily updates and pictures of their kids on a blog log of a student tour of Europe. What parent could resist that?

I won’t say much about it now, but also consider the blogging legacy you can leave behind. We don’t have to be published authors to do leave that “legacy” any more. It can happen right here, on your blog.

Reason #3 for Administrators to Blog

Okay, here’s the tricky part. It’s risky to put yourself out here each and every day. You’ve got to have some chutzpah to do it. But if you haven’t got the moxie, what are you doing in administration in the first place? It’s our job to lead, not just lead the status quo, but to INSPIRE and MOTIVATE and MAKE EXCELLENT DECISIONS and SUPPORT and ENCOURAGE, to create with our teachers and our students  the best possible education.

You can’t do that quietly in your office. You can’t do it by yourself. If you’re really in this job to make a difference and to change the world, then we’ve got to step up and stand up for what we know is right. Being transparent and allowing our entire school community to know what we’re thinking in person and on the blog is one means to that end. Listening to those around us and considering their thinking is another important means to that same end. And it happens here on the blog as much as it happens in the hallways and at the school events.

Does it ever come back to bite you? Every now and then, someone will quote something I’ve said on the blog in a way that I never intended. And you know what it makes me do? It makes me reflect on that thinking, to re-read the post, and to realize that I must be mindful with my words. I know I have to carefully think about what I say here, to consider my audience, to share appropriate topics–it’s a responsibility to say what I mean and mean what I say.

That’s my responsibility every day when I come to work, so how much harder can it be on the blog? It’s not. The more you write, the better you’ll get at it. Be sincere and tell the truth, always.