Category Archives: School Leadership

Recently, one of our SGI parents posted a question to the “Be Neighborly Springville” Facebook page. This question is about the location of the parent pickup/drop off line for Springville Middle School and the location of parent parking for Springville Elementary School.  Another parent tagged me in a comment asking for me to elaborate.

As a school superintendent, I use social media daily. I would guess I communicate as much as or more than most of my colleagues via this blog and Twitter. These blog posts then go to the SGI webpage and to our SGI Facebook and Twitter feeds too.

However, I didn’t respond to this Facebook thread. Why? Because as much as I like Facebook (to keep in touch with family, former students and colleagues), it felt like a slippery slope to respond to a question that also offered an opinion and then was followed by the opinions of 6-7 other residents. I worry that answering the question on Facebook would lead to our families using that more often to voice an opinion/ask a question AND that they would then expect an answer from me. I already check my voicemail and email incessantly so that I can be responsive, am I also going to check Facebook for questions? 

This was an innocuous discussion and the opinions offered were largely spot on. But I’m not sure that Facebook is the place where I should be problem solving and engaging in a conversation with our parents. Too much can be misunderstood. I think there’s often good reason to pick up the phone and call me or the principal or the teacher. Facebook is the place where we used to go to see pictures of everyone’s kids and to stay in touch. As a professional, that’s all it’s ever going to be for me.

It’s not the place for us to communicate clearly, for me to really listen and understand either the question or the concern. It’s not the place for our families to go when they need answers. Anyone can contact me via email at kmoritz@springvillegi.org OR via phone at 716-592-3230. I’m hyper connected to both of those and I’m committed to responding to people in a timely manner.  Nothing replaces a good old fashioned face to face conversation if our goal is to listen to understand rather than to listen to respond.

Back to that question that generated about 17-18 comments on Facebook.

so we can’t park in the back circle at SES, why is it ok to park in the circle at the middle school? it makes no sense

We have the parent drop off/pick up line for SMS in the District office parking lot to improve safety for our student bus drop off/pick up at SMS. Parents stay in their vehicles and our SMS students should be old enough to safely walk to and from their parents’ cars. I also see parents driving through the District Office lot in the morning at the back of SES for drop off. I’m actually watching the line of cars drive by my window right now!

But for parents parking for pick up/drop off at SES, we can’t have cars parked in this back lot other than in the parking spots. The district office is also our central supply area. We have deliveries here throughout the day, our food supply trucks come through this lot to deliver at the back of the middle school, and cars have to be able to get in and out of parking spots. The fire lane question is a good one–honestly, we shouldn’t have cars parked along the building side walks in what we consider the “fire lane” at any of our school buildings. I will ask our SRO, Ashley Vogl, to review all of our procedures.

Since my source of information for the conversation was a FB post, if I’ve misunderstood and got the question wrong–please CALL ME to talk about it. We’re always going to be better if we work to talk things through.

 

As many within our school community have already learned,  SHS Assistant Principal Kate Werner is our new Director of Special Education. While this was initially announced as an interim position, the SGI BOE did approve Kate Werner as our Director of Special Education at Monday night’s BOE meeting.

Mrs. Werner brings to the position a wealth of experience, strong relationships within our district, and great connections with our families. Kate will maintain her assistant principal position and will take on the additional duties of the special education department. She and SHS Principal James Bialasik have had the opportunity to discuss their roles and responsibilities and I’m grateful for their teamwork in determining how this combination of roles can work well for SGI.

Our special education staff and students are an invaluable part of our school family and I am delighted to have Kate Werner at the helm. Mrs. Werner has already met with her new staff in each of our buildings, sent a letter to our families who work with our special education department, and made connections within the Erie 2 BOCES for resources and support.

Our special education office, currently at the Springville Elementary School, is being relocated to the Springville High School over the holiday break. To reach Mrs. Werner, please either email her at kwerner@springvillegi.org or call her at 592-3256.

 

Thanksgiving was always the one holiday of the year when my husband, our two children and I all traveled to Pittsburgh, where I grew up. It was something we thought of as my mom’s holiday–the one time every year when she knew she’d have us and my brother’s family all at her dining room table.

We lost my mom in March, 2014. She was the very best person I’ve ever known and the loss was devastating for me. As she struggled through about ten years of a debilitating illness, my daughter and I would travel to Pittsburgh and help her to make Thanksgiving dinner. I learned how to make that meal in exactly the same way that my mom, and my grandma and my great grandmother made it. 

For the last two Thanksgivings, we’ve struggled to find our way as a family. The Thanksgiving after my mom passed, my dear friend Rachel had us over for dinner with her family. It was generous of her and delicious and just weird. This was her family, not mine! And while the meal was definitely better than any my mom and I had made (let’s face it, my mom and I were never good cooks and the turkey was lousy most years), it didn’t taste like ours.

Then last year we traveled back to Pittsburgh where we met my dad and my brother and his wife for a Thanksgiving dinner at the local Italian restaurant. Good gracious that was awful!

This year brings a new tradition and I think we’ll finally get it right. We’re having dinner tomorrow at my in-laws. It’ll just be the four of us because our son lives in Florida and our daughter will be at her in-laws. But on Saturday, my beautiful daughter Bryna–who’s as much like my mother as a person can be–will come over and help me prepare Thanksgiving dinner in exactly the same way the three women before us did it.

I think that’s what traditions and family holidays must be about, right? Remembering all of the people we’ve loved and who have loved us while treasuring the family we have at the table.

The turkey may suck, but it’ll be a great reminder of all of the Thanksgivings before this one. I can imagine my mum shrugging her shoulders and saying, “I never really liked turkey anyway Kimberly.”

I sincerely hope that the next four days bring everyone lots of time with those you love the most. Happy Thanksgiving!

The best educators are continually analyzing what we do and how it can be better. Every teacher who’s had several sections of the same class knows that the lesson gets better and better as the day goes on. We “course correct” as we study how our students respond to the lesson. The minimalists, Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus, write:

To err is human; therefore, one of the most important skills we can develop is course correction. It’s crucial to recognize when a mistake is a mistake . . . and then to change course and move forward a better person.

Or to move forward a better school system. As school leaders this is often a place where we fall down. We purchase and implement a program or textbook series or we create and hire a new position to solve a problem and then we walk away. That seldom works.

Once we implement, we have to continue to listen, to pay attention, to follow through and to course correct where needed. The hardest part is finding a balance between where to set non-negotiables (systemic expectations) and where to allow for course correction.

Here’s an example of  the course correction needed here at SGI with the implementation and convergence of two different plans with two different, but similar, technology solutions.

First we have our Response to Intervention (RTI) Plan. The purpose of this plan is to use a valid, reliable diagnostic tool for early identification and then support of students potentially in need of intervention in grades K-5.  A dedicated team of teachers and administrators worked with our Director of Special Education, Shelly Sarikey and Dr. Lisa Kilanowski, an associate professor of psychology at Niagara University to develop our RTI Plan. They outlined the goals, identified a benchmark assessment and detailed the progress monitoring and program specifics of each tier of intervention.

Second we have our Academic Intervention Services (AIS) Plan. The purpose of this plan is to combine a valid and reliable growth measure and individualized instruction for every student grades K-6.  Implemented during the Intervention Block (IB) that all K-6 students have every day, this personalized learning path is developed for all learners. The adaptive testing and diagnostic instruction helps us meet the unique needs of each individual student. Coupled with the fluid ability groups designed in our AIS Plan, teachers are able to focus on the needs of a smaller group during IB, also challenging our most advanced students.

As we implemented both of these plans, we assumed they would run concurrently and we would be sure to meet the needs of all of our students. What we found was a complicated set of circumstances including a diagnostic tool for the RTI plan that was new and just didn’t work well. I’m forever grateful for the ways in which our Administrative Team has continued to pay attention, listen to our teachers and parents and then to course correct. 

What does course correction look like in this case? Lots of listening to everyone involved and plenty of face to face discussions that led us to say, “why can’t we use this one valid and reliable diagnostic tool to satisfy the goals of both plans?” It requires changes to the RTI Plan, but not in the area of intent or goals, just in the area of the assessment tool and progress monitoring.

Our specialized RTI teachers can still do what they’ve always done–use a multitude of strategies and materials to work with small groups of students to intervene and differentiate instruction for every student. At the same time, the tool they’ll use to progress monitor their students is aligned with what the classroom teachers are using and they have access to the same individualized diagnostic instruction. 

It’s one thing to have a great plan on paper. It’s another thing to implement a plan successfully. It’s critical to “administer” the plan and to make changes as needed. It may be messy while we figure it out, but it’s worth it. Thank you to our entire SGI team for working through the implementation of two new plans intended to help our students succeed in our schools.

By now, you may have seen reports of water testing for lead in schools on the local news and wondered, “what’s happening at SGI?” We’ve been complying with the regulations and today, a letter will be mailed home to all of our families. In addition, the results of our testing are in from SES and CES and those are being posted to the district website today. We are expecting to receive the results of our testing at SMS, SHS, the Fieldhouse and the Concession Stand, within the next two weeks. Upon receipt of those results, we will post the reports on the District website and immediately begin the steps outlined in my letter to our families as follows:

Dear SGI Families:

To protect public health, New York State recently enacted a new law requiring that every school test their drinking water for lead.  If lead is found at any water outlet at levels above 15 parts per billion (ppb), New York State requires action to be taken to reduce the lead.  It is vital for schools to conduct these tests, as high levels of lead in drinking water can cause health problems.

The Springville-Griffith Institute Central School District tested all four of our school buildings, the concession stand, and the field house prior to the established deadlines in the new legislation.  We received our results back from the laboratory testing company for Springville Elementary and Colden Elementary. You can find the full reports on our District website at http://www.springvillegi.org/. We expect the results of all of our testing within the next few weeks and will post the full reports for every building immediately on the website with the SES and CES reports. If you would like to read a copy of the report(s) in print, please let me know.

Our response actions are in place.  First and foremost, the water sources found to be higher than allowable are marked “Do Not Drink” and use of that source is prohibited.Second, we have ensured that there is an adequate supply of potable water for drinking and cooking until remediation is performed. Third, we have reported the test results to the local health department and fourth, we are notifying families via this letter home.  It is important to note that none of the sources will be put back into service and available for drinking and/or cooking, until the sources are fully mitigated and meet the New York State Department of Health Standards.

According to the New York State Education Department FAQ for School Buildings and Grounds Personnel – Lead in NYS Drinking Water, September 16, 2016, if an outlet has tested above the acceptable 15ppb the water can still be used for hand washing and cleaning.  Lead is NOT absorbed through the skin only through ingesting. (http://www.p12.nysed.gov/facplan/LeadTestinginSchoolDrinkingWater.html) Remember that testing is of all water sources including bathroom sinks, outdoor hoses, and classroom sinks.

If you should have any questions or concerns, please feel free to call me at 716-592-3230.

Please know that the safety of our students and employees is always our #1 priority and concern. If you have any questions or concerns, please know that you can contact me, or any of our administrative team members.

 

Please join us on Tuesday, October 11, 2016 at 6:00 pm in the HS Auditorium for an informational session on how we are using iReady computer based diagnostic instruction to personalize learning in math and reading for all students Grades 1-6. Our kindergarten students will join in by mid-year and our Grades 7-8 students who have academic intervention are using it too.  We are excited about the potential for learning for all students and hope parents will come to hear more! For more information, contact your building principal, our Principal for Special Programs Kathy Townsend at 592-3227 or me at 592-3230.

PUBLIC HEARING AND INFORMATION MEETING:
Tuesday, September 20, 7 pm
Springville-GI High School, Library Media Center

VOTER REGISTRATION:
Thursday September 22, 12pm – 8pm
Polling District #1: Collins Center Fire Hall
Polling District #2: Colden Elementary School
Polling District #3: Springville-GI High School, Main Lobby

CAPITAL PROJECT REFERENDUM VOTE:
Tuesday, September 27, 10am – 9pm
Polling District #1: Collins Center Fire Hall
Polling District #2: Colden Elementary School
Polling District #3: Springville-GI High School, Main Lobby

Additional Information Sources:

• District Clerk

Phone: (716) 592-3230

Email: ktucker@springvillegi.org

On the Web:

• District Web Site
Visit www.springvillegi.org and click “Capital Project”

• Superintendent’s Message
Visit www.springvillegi.org and click “Superintendent Message”
or visit www.kimberlymoritz.com

• Twitter
Visit www.twitter.com/kimberlymoritz and click “Follow”

Voter Information
For additional assistance or information on voter eligibility, voter registration, or absentee ballots, contact the District Clerk at 592-3230 or via email at ktucker@springvillegi.org.

Voter Eligibility:
You may vote on September 27, 2016 without pre-registration if you are a registered voter with the school district. You are a registered voter with the school district if you have voted in at least one school vote since January 1, 2012. You are also eligible to vote if you are a registered voter with the Erie or Cattaraugus counties Boards of Election and meet the residency requirements. You must vote at the polling location you are assigned to, which is based upon the location of your residence and which voting district your residence is part of. A map of voting districts is available on the district website.

Voter Registration:
If you are currently not eligible to vote on September 27, you must register on September 22 at the polling location you are assigned to, which is based upon the location of your residence and which voting district your residence is a part of. In order to register to vote, a person must be:
• A citizen of the United States
• Eighteen (18) years of age or older; and
• a resident within the District for a period of thirty (30) days prior to the meeting at which he/she offers to vote.

Please bring photo I.D. that verifies your age and residence (i.e. driver’s license).

Absentee Ballots:
If you are unable to appear to vote in person on the day of the school district capital project vote, you may request an Application for Absentee Ballot from the District Clerk or download a copy from the District web site. Once your completed and signed application is received by the District Clerk and veri-fied that the claimant is entitled to vote, ballots will be mailed to the applicant(s).

Please note that Applications for Absentee Ballots must be received by the District Clerk at least 7 days before the vote (by Tuesday, September 20) if the ballot is to be mailed to the voter, or the day be-fore the vote (September 26) if the ballot is to be delivered personally to the voter.

Here are some Frequently Asked Questions and Answers on the Capital Project.

Q. Why do we need this Capital Project?
A. Last year, an engineering and architectural evaluation was conducted on the condition of the school facilities. This evaluation identified and prioritized several issues primarily related to health and safety, preservation of buildings, energy efficiency and site improvements. The Board is now proposing to address those facilities necessities identified in the most cost efficient manner — a Capital Project — where the District can take advantage of obtaining State Building Aid to offset construction costs that would otherwise be funded by the local taxpayers.

Q. What has changed from the last project vote that was held in December 2015?
A. In December 2015, a $38.7 million project was defeated by the community. Since that time, the District has solicited feedback from voters and community representatives to gather the public’s opinions on the scope of the project and where the District could improve. That input was very seriously considered and has caused the District to re-evaluate its needs vs. wants. Now, the Board of Education has approved a narrowed scope of work and a project based primarily on #1 priorities and critical needs. The new Capital Project has been reduced to $27,795,000.

Q. Why come back to the voters so soon?
A. Much of the project’s scope includes critical items that have reached the end of their useful life, such as roofs, heating/ventilating units, pavement, flooring, etc. The District couldn’t afford to wait. We have to address these items in the most cost-effective way possible — through a capital project — where the State will support the District with 70% of the construction in Building Aid.

Q. What if the vote doesn’t pass?
A. A capital project assures that the District will receive their share of State Building Aid for capital improvements. If the vote does not pass, the critical work would then have to be paid for through the school district’s general fund, with 100% of the associated costs passed on to local taxpayers. Payment of the construction would also have to be made immediately instead of spreading the costs out over a number of years.

Q. When will the work take place?
A. After final design and the State Education Department’s approvals, it is anticipated that construction would start in 2018 with substantial completion in late 2019.

Q. Where can I get more information regarding the project?
A. The District has scheduled a public hearing for Tuesday, September 20. There will be a capital project presentation and an open forum for questions. The district newsletter, The Bulletin, included pages 9-12 on the capital project. In addition, information can be found on the District’s website (www.springvillegi.org) and social media outlets. Please also feel free to visit Superintendent Kimberly Moritz’ blog at www.kimberlymoritz.com.