One of the best things about working with young people is that I never stop learning. Today at lunch with six of our stellar sophomores, I mentioned our school climate survey and how much I’m looking forward to the results. I quickly realized that school climate means something different to our students than what I mean when Austin replied, “what? I think it’s fine. Well, the Spanish room is always cold.”

Families are all receiving more information about the survey via a phone call home today, paper surveys are being sent home in bookbags or in the mail, and we have links to the survey on our webpage and in PowerSchool.

This survey begins today, October 1 and continues through October 15. The idea to survey all of our school community members developed at a Board of Education (BOE) Retreat in the summer of 2013. It grew from a genuine desire on the part of the BOE members to know what everyone in our school community thinks and to identify our strengths and weaknesses. Along with the BOE members, I’m looking forward to learning what we can do better together in our efforts to continually improve our school system. We sincerely want to hear from every member of the school community and our hope is that everyone will be involved in the process.

School climate refers to the subjective experience of being in a school. It exists at the intersection of individual perceptions and the structure of the school environment. Research has confirmed that the way students feel about being in school shapes their learning and development, and school personnel are also better able to do their jobs in a healthy and supportive school climate. After researching the options, we chose the Comprehensive School Climate Inventory (CSCI) survey which was developed by the National School Climate Center (NSCC) over the past four years. The dimensions of school climate measured (safety, relationships, teaching & learning, and environment) and the individual survey items are built on several decades’ worth of research on school climate.

The Comprehensive School Climate Survey (CSCI) is unique in that it is designed to help a school collect responses from the entire school community—all students, parents, teachers, and staff members at the school are asked to fill out surveys, and the report shows how the three groups differ in their perceptions of the school climate. The CSCI is designed to be a needs assessment for schools, helping us to evaluate the school’s strengths and weaknesses, and provides a platform on which to build an action plan for improving school climate. By incorporating the perceptions of the entire community, we can create a more effective and accurate plan that addresses core strengths and weaknesses.

We know there is a key factor that will affect the validity of the survey results and therefore we chose CSCI because they manage the data, not RCS. The survey results are completely anonymous—no names are recorded and no identifying information will ever be attached to specific responses. Results are reported only in terms of the way groups of people have responded. [The report does include information on sub-groups (by race, gender, grade, etc), but in an effort to maintain anonymity, these results are suppressed or combined for sub-groups with fewer than ten people. Respondents should answer as many questions as possible (although no one is required to answer questions that make them uncomfortable). The more responses we get, the better the data. [Note: on the electronic version of the survey, respondents have the option of selecting a “don’t know” or “not applicable” answer, but survey items may not be left entirely blank.]

Diane Graham, Kristie Ling, and Maureen Pitts are leading this effort for us. They will be the “point” people in each building to answer questions and to help with general information. Please know that you can ask any of us, and our building leaders, if you have any questions. Contact the school at 716-358-6161 with any questions.

My younger brother, named Ziggy (that’s a story for another time), is technically smarter than me. I know this because I contacted our school upon my graduation and obtained my school records, which included my IQ score. Then I did the same thing, as if I was Ziggy, and obtained HIS school records and his IQ score. His score was one point higher than mine. Can you tell that we grew up in a somewhat dysfunctional home in which our father was constantly comparing us and baiting us (well, me) about who was “smarter”?

We were very different students. I was the student who joined (and often led) every possible school club and activity. Why? My parents were very strict and the only things that I was allowed to participate in were school events. Ziggy is seven years younger and because of the turmoil in our parents’ lives. . . well. . . let’s just say he was parented a bit differently. He was the student who did as little as possible to get by, died his hair purple, skipped school up to the maximum days allowable and appeared on the Pittsburgh evening news because he was lobbying for a smoking lounge for students because the teachers had one (it was 1988) and so the students should have one provided too.

I went to college (to spite my dad who said he wouldn’t pay for it and that I wasn’t smart enough anyway) and Ziggy joined the Marine Corps. He worked in Marine intelligence for two decades and now has a successful career as the associate director of industrial security for a federal contractor in Washington DC. We earn about the same amount of money annually.

He was NEVER CHALLENGED in his entire school experience. When the standardized test results came back to the high school he attended, the guidance counselors were somewhat astonished that my lackadaisical, pain in the neck brother, had achieved the highest scores in his class.

Fast forward 25-30 years. Meet my beautiful six year old niece Kaylee. Kaylee attends first grade and she doesn’t like it. Why? In Kaylee’s own words, “It’s not as much fun. There’s homework. They don’t have a play kitchen. And the teacher talks too much.” My brother’s words, “the usual.” My sister in law’s words, “they’re doing simple spelling words like a, up, and, we and go. She’s bored.”

Now here’s the thing about her first grade teacher. She’s likely an incredible educator with such a HUGE variety of students in her class that the challenges may be enormous. If Kaylee behaves well enough, the teacher will be happy to have one less kid to worry about. In other words, Kaylee (like my brother), will likely turn out okay no matter the quality of her education. But I say, “that’s not good enough.” We need to challenge all of our students, including the best and the brightest. We need them to solve the problems of our world and to make it a better place.

We cannot afford to teach to the most needy student in the class for another generation. We have to learn to differentiate learning and to challenge every child.  And it’s most critical with our youngest students. Students like Kaylee. As our kids get older, they become accustomed to praise for good grades earned for not much effort and challenging them later in the system becomes problematic. We have to challenge them all along the way. If students are given rigorous work with high expectations, they rise to the challenge and they enjoy school more. This problem in our schools is clearly and thoroughly covered in the September 2014 publication of Educational Leadership. It’s definitely worth spending some time studying this topic and incorporating the ideas of motivation, particularly through our expectations, into our classrooms. I’ve watched our own Randolph teachers do this over the past four years and the comments from veteran teachers who say, “I never thought my students could do this” are the most hopeful we can hear.

On this Wednesday, August 13, 2014, we have just three short weeks until our students return to us! This summer has been even busier than most as we plan for a possible capital project to present to the voters sometime before Winter Break. A committee of teachers, students, administrators, parents and community members worked throughout the Spring to identify needs for consideration by our School Board. With a project architect and construction manager, we looked at needs within the buildings, educational needs, dreams (a pool!) and athletic fields, among other things.

And so my summer has been filled with the analysis of the financial end of the project including the scope of work possible within the confines of our public school district budget. We’ve focused on what do we need now, what can wait another five years, and what will make us a better facility for our students. And just like projects that we do at home, it comes down to what can we afford to spend.

Our job now is to present the work of the committee, fine tuned by the BOE facilities committee, to the full Board of Education. We will then return to the larger facility committee to review the items that “made the cut” and why. Explaining the project to our entire school community follows in preparation for a vote. We have worked hard to keep the taxpayers in mind balancing the maintenance of our facilities and grounds for the future with our needs to improve programs for students. That balance means that many of the items that would be nice to have but not necessary won’t advance at this time. Talk of building condition surveys, easements, shared services with the Town of Randolph (Hamlet?), reserve funds, gap elimination adjustments, general municipal laws, condemned bus lifts, inadequate parking and traffic flow have filled my work days.

And so I cannot wait for our students and teachers to return! On any given day I would much rather talk about curriculum, instruction, data analysis, scheduling, the needs of individual students and families, program enhancements, heck—just about anything to do with our students and teachers—than parking lots and boilers and room configurations. As with any job, there are parts to love and parts that are work–looking forward to the return of the parts I love most.  

Could there be a better way to spend my life than in the presence of our students? If there is, it’s for someone besides me. We said goodbye to the class of 2014 on Friday night at graduation, a goodbye I’ve been saying since the Pine Valley Class of 1992 graduated. I gain so much from working with our students—a sense of hope and optimism and fun–and their joy keeps me young. And when I’m very lucky, they keep in touch in some way.  As with every class who’s gone before them, I wish each faith, hope and love.