1:1 Laptop Research and Analysis

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We’re thinking a lot about a 1:1 student laptop initiative for our district. In the research and analysis part of a major implementation like this one, we’re looking at every possible angle BEFORE we even think about actually moving forward.  We’re already past the “WHY?” and “IS IT WORTH IT?” parts of the analysis. I know first hand what’s happening with technology, our instructional methods and learning at RCS and we have definite pockets that are ready for it, while many of our other classrooms are right on the cusp. As we push forward, we know that putting the technology into the hands of our students on a 24/7 basis is necessary. The costs are  relatively low, with a device available at $99—(that’s the cost of one textbook), so it’s not hard to imagine how we’ll cover the costs.  Making this happen without impacting our community taxpayer will obviously be a must in this economic climate.

We’re looking at various options and considering the most cost effective and useful devices and options, including purchases through BOCES and eRate, of course. After researching it, we will put the information into the hands of our Tech Committee, which includes parent and student input.

We’re considering some questions now that I’m thinking may or may not be significant hurdles to a possible implementation.  I’m sure others of you have already been there.  The purpose of this post is to see what solutions may be out there to a couple of problems. Here’s what I’m wondering about:

1. What’s the most cost effective way to get kids in our rural community connected? Not every home has Internet access. Are we close enough with pilot projects to imagine the school becoming the Internet provider for every household that contains a student? Or do we look at an option like Verizon and the same kind of connection I use now at my own home (where we don’t even have cable available to us)?

2. How do we handle the inequity? Some of our kids already have what they need at home. In fact, they have better devices and access than we’ll put into the hands of our students. How do we say to one student, “here’s a device and an Internet connection because we know you don’t have it at home.” and to another student, “you’ve already got what you need, right?” That sounds reasonable but will we have families who say, “why does she get that when we don’t?” Yet it seems ridiculous to give every child a device and a connection just to be “fair” when we know many are already set. Or is that what we need to do?

3. What happens when a student damages or loses his device? What do we do if a family refuses to accept the responsibility of their child receiving a device?

We are in the very beginning planning stages, all advice is welcome!

Doctoral Degree?

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I am completely undecided about something. Indecision isn’t common for me. If you’ve got a thought on this one, could you please consider helping me out with a comment or two?  Here’s the decision:

I’ve been seriously considering starting my doctoral work for almost a year. Where to do the work? I’ve researched a couple of options nearby and a few on-line opportunities. What? I’ve done some extensive research on the difference between PhD programs and the EdD programs. I think I’ve narrowed down the where, when and what of the decision. What I’m stuck on is the why and to what end?

The cost of the doctoral degree is significant. I’m looking at $38,000 to $70,000, depending upon the detail of the decision. Even given the lower number of $38,000, I won’t recoup that in career advancement. I’m in exactly the career and the district that I want to be in so I’m not looking to do this as a way to improve my employability and I don’t need it for certification or licensure.

Why am I considering it? A couple of reasons. It’s the next goal for me, the next thing to achieve and as a life long “climber”, I’m always looking for my next challenge. I also think that starting my doctoral degree will help me to remain in Randolph–that it will give me that challenge that I always seem to need, without moving to a larger, tougher, different district to get it. I love the idea of completing my degree via an on-line university so that I could experience on line learning first hand and better understand it. I also wonder if it will afford me a structure for my thinking as I work to accomplish another goal of writing that first book. I’m excited by the idea of the coursework, I love researching, analyzing and writing.

Why do I hesitate? That’s a huge chunk of change for something that’s not really going to take me anywhere in my career. I know, I know, it might some day, you never know where life will take you–but it might not. I’ve worked hard every step of the way, on my own, to accomplish what I have–and education has been one key component that opened those doors. But now I’m here, can’t I just be satisfied with where I am? What return will I get on this investment? Is it worth it?

Accepting Feedback

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Did you listen to your mother when you were growing up? Did you do what she told you to do? If your father even looked at you sideways, did you straighten up? Or how about your grandparents or a teacher? If someone gave me feedback, either constructive or when I had a “smart mouth” to my mother and that feedback was a smack in that same mouth—I paid attention. I listened and learned. I didn’t necessarily like it, but I did whatever it was that I was supposed to do. And I got a LOT of feedback, no one in our family held back. If I had a serious mis-step, someone pointed it out to me. Thank goodness.

When I started working at fifteen, I listened to my boss. I followed instructions. I did what they wanted me to do as their employee and I tried my best. Every day. Every job. From sweeping the parking lots at 7/11 to unloading the truck at CVS to following the NYS learning standards and teaching my best lessons to completing assignments on time as an administrator–I did what was expected of me and then some. After all, that’s what my parents taught me to do in the world.

There’s got to be a direct correlation, and I know I’m generalizing, between how we’re parented and what kind of employees we become. If you have expectations for your children and you teach them how to act in the world and if you teach them responsibility and accountability, they will also make good employees one day—at every level of an organization.

If you teach them that they’re so special they don’t have to follow the same ‘rules’ as everyone else, if you fight every battle for them, if you give them a sense of entitlement, if you NEVER correct them—they will make for spoiled, entitled employees who don’t see that they have to meet the same expectations as everyone else. And I doubt they’ll make for good spouses or friends or parents either. And they’ll not even hear any constructive criticism or feedback or plan for how they can improve–because you’ve already taught them that they’re perfect so why should they have to change a thing about their privileged selves. Your children need you to parent them.

My mom always said, “no one is perfect and no one belongs on a pedestal”.  It’s a long way to fall when your kid eventually learns those lessons.

I am so grateful for our many, many employees who listen and who want to improve, who value the input of others, who are responsible and accountable. I’m grateful for all of you who work so hard, who already self reflect and research and analyze your practice. I’m grateful every time you listen to the feedback you’re given and then genuinely work to do what we’ve asked. And I’m most assuredly grateful to your parents for teaching you how to live successfully in the world!

Education and Evaluation

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Here’s my opinion, for what it’s worth. We truly do NOT dedicate enough time, energy and resources to good evaluation in education. Unlike many other businesses and institutions who devote serious time, money and attention to performance evaluations, we fall short. We just do. We always have. I’ve said countless times that tenure isn’t the reason we keep bad teachers around for years, a failure to do the hard work of evaluation and documentation by administrators is the reason.

This post isn’t going to be about the WHY of this problem. As a school administrator of eleven years, I’m pointing the finger at myself as much as anyone else. Especially as a building principal, there are 100+ reasons/other responsibilities to explain why good performance evaluation gets short shrift. Let’s suffice it to say there’s a general lack of training, time, attention, experience, resources,  and priority. Managing the needs of 600 children and adults in one building + the parents and community members and their questions/concerns=more than a full time job with problems pulling at the principal from every direction.

So here’s where this subject hit me like a ton of bricks today.

We have new regulations coming from the New York State Education Department for principal and teacher evaluation–the draft regulations are out this week and so, as a school superintendent, I’ve been studying the regs, taking notes, forming questions. They’re pretty daunting at first glance. Not insurmountable, of course, but let’s just say, there’s a lot to it. Just the regs for the district plan and the requirements for the training course are a lot to take in, not to mention the timeline. A district plan has to be adopted by September 10, 2011.

So I took a break from studying the new regs to read the news in my Google Reader. My college roommate, Lisa, is an HR Leader who works for a VA Hospital in Minnesota and she writes about leadership, growth and human resources over at Simply Lisa. She’s one of the few resources that I read regularly who isn’t in the field of education. Here’s what her post contained today that struck me:

Minding the details is what I’ll be doing this week as I:

  • Prepare for midterm reviews with my staff,
  • Offer advice on the Intuit Small Business Blog,
  • Welcome an HR Consultative Review team for a 3 day review,
  • Talk with supervisors and about performance management, and
  • Noodle employee relations, administrative investigations, objectivity and HR influence.

It’s not flashy, it’s not sexy, and it’s not Oscar worthy . . . but it is necessary.

Those are all responsibilities designed to give people feedback and training and skills in employee relations. When do we do that in education? At my bi-monthly admin meetings when we talk about how many evals the principals have completed or how our new faculty are doing OR at the four new teacher mentoring sessions we hold per year? We all take a little piece of the HR puzzle and no one person is dedicated to getting this crucial job done right–yet it’s the chance we have to really influence the central purpose of our existence.

We’re where we are in education–with pressures from EVERYWHERE from the federal government with RTTT requirements tied to all of that money, to the state with implementing the requirements, to competition from alternative ways of learning to our public school system, to scrutiny in the press about our results, to parent complaints–because we’ve historically paid too little attention to the performance of our teachers and administrators. The very core of what we do in this little institution with 200+ employees and 1000+ students. We haven’t dedicated enough human or capital resources to all of the responsibilities that Lisa’s HR department (a whole department!) manages every day. Instead, we have ONE building administrator in each of two buildings who’s on his or her own to get the job done. And training in how to do that well, or support then feedback–HA! Where has that been? It’s sporadic in the best of circumstances.

I’m embracing the new regs. As cloudy as they seem right now, we’ve simply got to get better at this evaluation piece. And that’s going to take some serious work and resources. Even for those of us who are already doing this work fairly well, who have the critical conversations with employees and recognize those who are doing excellent work, who see this as the most important feedback we can give—much more training and development of a fair and meaningful system has to happen. Let’s get to it. Those draft regs at least draw attention to the entire evaluation system–something which will help us improve, if we can figure out how to do it well.

Fifty And A Lifetime

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I’m scarcely able to complete a thought lately, what with budget season at school and our only daughter getting married in eight days. Add to that my husband’s birthday tomorrow–and it’s a BIG ONE–and I’m about at my limit of events and details to consider.

In the few hours between school and the Chorus Concert the other night, I ran to the local pharmacy to pick up his birthday card. I stood in the card department at Inkley’s Pharmacy, looking at the “age” cards.

What I felt is hard  to describe. I stared at the cards with the big number 50 emblazoned on the front and I thought, “how is this possible that I’m buying this card for my husband?” Seriously, how did this happen? Didn’t we just have my mom’s surprise fiftieth birthday party last week? I know all of the cliches about time flying and gone in the blink of an eye and best time of your life–but REALLY? FIFTY?!

When I look at my husband, I don’t see fifty. I see the boy who took me to 10 Minute Oil Change or through the car lots and then to dinner on a date. I see the man I’ve traveled and camped and boated with for almost thirty years. I see the man who held our beautiful babies and raced to the ER with me every time one of them (Tallon!) injured something  and I see the man who was a better parent than me from day #1. I see the man who has absolutely, unconditionally loved me every moment of our marriage.  I see the man who patiently answers every off the wall question I throw at him and who, maybe second only to my mom, sees the very best in me despite my numerous faults and mistakes. I see a guy who is fiercely loyal to his family and friends and who never backs down from a fight. I see the partner who encouraged me to try a million different things including skiing and water skiing, wake boarding, snowmobiling and roller blading and all the time saying, “you’re not that uncoordinated”. And inside I still feel like the same girl he met when I was 18 and he was 21 and we were just two kids at college.

I know I’m not the first person to feel or write about these things. I know what I’m feeling is normal and inevitable. I’m not regretting getting older. Heck, life has just gotten better and better with every year so how could I regret all that’s brought us to where we are now? I just can’t help remarking on it all–this incredible, wonderful, big, beautiful life we’ve had together. I want it to go on and on.

FIFTY?! Never been better Derek. In my head and heart, I  see the same man, the one I’ve loved for a thousand years. Happy Birthday!

Geraldine Ferraro

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When I was at Gannon University in the early eighties, our country had it’s first female vice-presidential candidate running, Geraldine Ferraro. For reasons I can’t imagine or remember, Ms. Ferraro came to Erie, Pennsylvania to speak during the campaign. I was a Junior at Gannon and I remember walking to Perry Square to give a listen.

She was running mate to Walter Mondale, I was twenty years old, a Republican and naive to just about everything that was politics. My only concerns at that point in my life were my boyfriend and circle of friends, my job and my college classes–probably in that order. But I was also a young woman, learning how to think about the world, independent and strong minded. Geraldine Ferraro was intriguing to me and as the first female candidate running at this level, I wanted to hear what she had to say.

There was  a small group of young men who were chanting and carrying signs, young Republicans who were opposed to something. Ferraro as candidate? Anything from the Democrats? Mondale/Ferraro politics? I can’t remember the detail but I do remember looking at them and then looking at Ferraro and thinking, “those young men are all anyone leading this country has ever looked like and here stands before me someone like me.” She was the strongest representation of POSSIBILITY I’d ever seen.

She was more than the first female vice-presidential candidate, for me she represented something much more personal. She was the opening up of the future for me and women like me, she was a mirror and a passport and a possibility. Seeing her gave me concrete proof that  I could achieve and be all that I wanted to be. For a young woman with ambition and hope and strength, it was all I needed to make me believe that anything was possible in my own life. I’m sorry to hear of her passing and grateful for what she did while she was here.

“It’s a beautiful thing, the tree. . .”

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I have two projects from Elementary School that I most remember. The first was a poem entitled, “The Tree”. I remember it because I received some positive accolade or other from the teacher and then it was mounted and displayed publicly at some event. The second was a speech I was chosen to give, along with three other students, to the parents at 6th grade graduation. We stood on the playground in front of the rows of chairs and I gave a speech in which I took the position to defend euthanasia. I was ten years old and I remember it to this day. Most likely because I thought, “huh, maybe this is one thing I can be good at“. You know what? Today I’m as comfortable speaking to a large group of people as I am talking at the dinner table.

What’s significant about remembering those two things  is that it demonstrates what matters to our kids. When they get to create and produce something of their own that then receives some public recognition, it has more meaning for them. It’s why social media and sites that allow our kids to create and post publicly are so wildly popular. The student thinks, “The class we’re skyping with is going to see this, or all of the people who come to the Academic Fair will, or anyone who reads our class website/blog/wiki/glogster page/google doc.” That has more value for most kids than when only the teacher sees the project and gives feedback.

The second memory, about the 6th grade speech, is significant because it taught me something about myself.  Helping our kids figure out what they’re good at and encouraging them is one of the most valuable life lessons our school can support. Especially if we can teach our children that not everyone has to be an athlete or a dancer to be successful and valuable.  Even as young as ten, I knew I wasn’t the smartest kid in the class or the prettiest or skinniest or the most athletic or _____________ (whatever, fill in the blank). Here was something the teacher thought I could do well, better than all but three other students in the sixth grade! It always came as a bit of surprise to me when I made it for something or came out on top—AND those are the moments when I began to figure out who I was, at what I could excel, and most important, who I could be in my future. That’s what mattered most from my Grades 1-12 experience, not that I knew I wanted to be a teacher (I didn’t) but that I had a strong sense of who I was, what I did well and what was best left to those who did it better.

Stopping the Onslaught

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I lost my balance. As a leader. The past few weeks, since I returned from Albany where we met as superintendents from across NYS, I have not been myself. With one meeting/email/news article right after the next that’s focused on the new governor’s budget, the cuts to education funding, the projected dismal future for education funding, and the inequity across the districts—-I’m bombarded with it all. And I began to think of little else.

That’s not so good. As the leader of a public school system, we handle a multitude of diverse issues every day. I may be talking to the Head Custodian about our cleaning procedures one minute, to a teacher about a class project the next and to the business official about the budget presentation the next. That diversity of thought and problem solving requires that I approach each with a “fresh screen” ready to give it my full attention. Careful listening, clarity of thought and decisiveness are fundamental requirements of the job.

Instead I’ve found myself reacting more strongly to different problems than I normally would–this hasn’t done anyone any good.

I’ve been a bit crippled by fear these last few weeks. What am I afraid of? That I’m missing something. Despite the 9000 times we’ve gone over our entire financial picture and our budget projections (it’s budget season here, if you haven’t guessed) and evaluated every program and expenditure, I’m still second guessing our planning. We are planning not just next year but several years out. Randolph is in solid financial health and I take it as ultimately my responsibility to make sure we stay there.

I’m done obsessing and worrying. We’ve done a solid job of preparing the budget and there is the rest of the organization to attend to. I’ve let the  noise of the media and the doom and gloom leaders suck me in. That’s not what solid leadership is about, is it? It’s definitely about listening, careful consideration and decisiveness. And that needs to be applied to filtering the incoming noise of panic from outside of our doors too. I know it’s bad and that the State needs to balance it’s budget. I know that education is a significant portion of that budget. I know that there are numerous political games being played. I know I’ve done my due diligence in lobbying in Albany and meeting with faculty and staff about the state of the State. I know local and state activism is a part of our responsibility. But it’s a part, not all and I won’t be stopped in my tracks by it. We’ve got too much good going on at RCS in the way of learning with passion, innovation and leadership to miss.

Anti-Teacher/Administrator Sentiment

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Here are some of the headlines in my Google Reader this morning.

From CNN:

  • Shots, clashes reported in Cairo
  • Pirates target the Maersk Alabama again
  • 7.2 earthquake hits off coast of Japan
  • Seven kids die in farmhouse fire
  • Outgunned rebels stand up to Gadhafi forces

And from the Buffalo News:

  • National Guard Unit leaving this morning for Iraq
  • Full courtroom for Hassan sentencing
  • How well did your school do in social studies?

Some of our politicians and the media have elevated education to the level of concern that we normally find in only the significant, tragic events in the headlines above. I can assure you that every single day at Randolph Central School, 1000+ students are learning and 200 adults are working within the system to transport, feed, and educate those 1000+ students safely. At the same time, we have significant oversight with four different auditing requirements and an involved Board of Education, a leadership team that takes accountability and excellence seriously and an entire institution dedicated to improving learning in every way possible.

We are accountable to our employees, our students, our parents, our BOE members and our taxpayers on a daily basis. We respond to every member of our school community in a timely and responsible manner. We have kept taxes at bay for three years in a row, with the fourth budget at a 0% increase to our taxpayers on deck.

We are not the enemy. We are dedicated to our children and our taxpayers. We are earning our wages. We are cognizant of the hardships of our community and also of the rich support and collaboration we enjoy from those who live here. We treasure that relationship and will do everything we can to honor it. We are not the enemy.

Don’t believe everything you hear or read. Come see for yourself.


Labor Unions/Management

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I grew up in a small coal mining town in Pennsylvania. We had the coal mine at the bottom of the hill, a cross road where the company store sat and then the road at the top of my little town where sat the Elementary school and the Fire Hall. In between were all of our houses, most of which were divided in two with one family on one side and another family on the other side. It was a colorful place. Literally. We were primarily Polish and Italian, Czechoslovakian and German. One half of the house might be sided yellow and the other half blue. It wasn’t an easy life for the men who worked there, but it was better money than most could make elsewhere. My father lost his right leg at the age of 30 in that coal mine (and went right back to it as soon as he was able) and my grandfather died of black lung after a life time in the mines.

I grew up there in the sixties and seventies, so you can imagine that I definitely understood what the union was about and what a strike looked like. My father, who didn’t go far in formal public school, was the hardest worker I knew (still is to this day) and a voracious reader. He made it to management and so I learned that side of the labor/management debate too.

As a business student in college, I was taught that unions were the result of poor management. I believe that’s true. If you study the history of unions to the Industrial Revolution, there were deplorable working conditions in most places.

As a retail manager, I was taught what to do to help prevent unions from organizing in the workplace and that included treating our employees so well that they didn’t see the need for a union organizing in our stores.

And then I became a teacher. I walked into my job with the same thoughts. I’m a hard worker, I do what’s right, why would I need to join the union? These aren’t the sixties in the coal mines, this is a public school!

That’s when I met Tom Waag, a veteran teacher at Pine Valley who sat me down and said, “let me explain this to you, young lady.” From Tom, I learned of the working conditions and pay that he encountered when he started as a teacher and how hard they’d worked to improve their contract so that I, in turn, could enjoy a fair starting salary. I have to add here that Tom Waag was the best union person I’ve ever known. Why? Not only would he fight for you if you were being treated unfairly but he’d be the first person to tell you so if he thought your claim was unjustified and a load of bunk. Solid man. A hard worker, straight shooter and great guy.

As a teacher, I learned early that no one was asking the questions I had when presented with a contract settlement that I thought was unfair to those of us on the bottom of the pay scale. As a young teacher, I was about to pay  18% for my health insurance and there was not even close to enough raise to make up for that–this was the settlement my union got for me? That’s how I ended up on the negotiating team, the veterans probably figured they’d better teach me how it worked. That’s when I learned how hard it is to negotiate and just how long it takes. I also lobbied for NYSUT as a Committee of 100 member, fighting not for worker’s rights in Albany, but for our public schools and the issues we faced.

And just like my father, I went from the union side to the management side. Now I negotiate contracts for the district, approaching every negotiation fully aware that my colleagues on the other side of the table are working to keep what they’ve got and gain some while I work just as hard to contain our costs. It’s no easy job.

With everything that’s happening in Wisconsin and across the country, I’m drawing on a lifetime of varied experiences with unions and wondering about their future. I think we’ve developed a good level of trust here at RCS–that giving a realistic view of our budget future and telling the truth, that being transparent and straight-forward about what we can and cannot do, that working together to keep our district financially stable–will see us through all of the significant changes with our new governor. Time will tell.

At the end of the day, I’m not sure where we’re headed over the next ten years as public school districts. I do know for sure that unions or not, we’ve all got to work as hard as my dad in that coal mine to improve and collaborate and change or we’ll be as obsolete as that little coal mine is today. I’m here for the long haul to keep RCS moving forward, growing and changing and improving. We need everyone to give all they’ve got so we’re standing at the top as an outstanding school district that serves our community well—and I’m counting on the unions to help us get there.