Elk Heard

Mobile Ag. Lab

2011-05-26T10:03:00.001-04:00

Thanks to the initiative of Mrs. Raubenstrauch the elementary students were able to experience the mobile lab "Agriculture in the classroom" last week. Mrs. Raubenstrauch, working with the Department of Agriculture, wrote a grant to receive over $2,000 to have the mobile lab come to our elementary school. Every student spent 50 minutes in the lab learning about different aspects of agriculture and agriculture production. The grant covered the cost of the mobile lab and an instructor provided by the Department of Agriculture. I can attest to the quality of learning experience because my oldest daughter constantly tells me about what she learned as she uses the lip balm that the students made from bees wax!

Congratulations to David Klein

2011-05-19T08:08:00.000-04:00

One of our seniors, David Klein, was chosen as a Big 30 Academic Award winner. The Big 30 consists of over 37 school districts in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The Big 30 revolves around an all-star football game, but the organization also hands out academic scholarship money. David was one of four high school seniors from the 37 school district to receive the $1,000.00 scholarship. The scholarship is based on academic performance, community service and school leadership. Congratulations David, this is a big honor!

May Budget Presentation

2011-05-11T10:16:00.000-04:00

At the Board meeting last night the school board received a presentation from the Finance Manager, Mr. Rhoads on the latest school district budget. The school Board approved a preliminary budget in February that included a 1 mill tax increase and about $350,000 in spending cuts. As described in a blog post in March, the Governor’s budget cut about an additional $350,000 from the school district’s funding. When all is said and done, the school district is spending at the same level as the 2005-2006 school year. I am proud to report that while the spending of the school district is going down, our achievement scores are rising. This reflects the commitment of the Board and the teachers to raise the level of effective instruction for the school district’s children. While the budget does not include furloughs of employees or cutting of absolutely essential services for the children, there is one area of concern that the school board must be attentive to.

The district and all community members must realize that the budget takes a significant amount of money from “reserves” (i.e. the savings account) to balance the budget. I believe this is a proper use of the reserve funds, but the projections for the reserve fund show that it will be gone after 4 more years. At that time, there will be very difficult decisions to be made regarding personnel and programming. Of course, being an optimist, I hope that the economy improves enough over that time period that the school district’s revenues will make any further cuts unnecessary.

Please feel free to visit the school district’s web site or stop in the district office to review the budget. The budget reflects a conservative financial approach while maintaining vital educational programs and services.

Thank you to Walmart

2011-05-06T14:32:00.000-04:00

WalMart in St. Marys recently donated $250.00 to the Ridgway High School Yearbook. The Yearbook club used the funds to help support their "Kids Night Out" program that runs throughout the year. Kids Night Out is a fundraiser that the Yearbook Club uses to help offset the price of the yearbooks for students. I want to thank Mrs. Buhite (the Yearbook advisor) and all of the students on the yearbook staff for their help and dedication to make sure the yearbook gets produced.

Show Choir at Disney

2011-05-05T12:29:00.002-04:00

I apologize for my lack of blogging lately...it has been very hectic in the school district as we prepare for the budget, the end of the year, the summer programs we run for teachers and students and planning for the upcoming school year. I will have more information on all of those items in the next few weeks.

I am very proud to tell you that our show choir who had the opportunity to perform in Disney in Florida over the Easter Holiday. Besides the fact the students had the opportunity to get away from the cold rain of northwest Pennsylvania, the students had the opportunity to perform in professional setting and see what life is like for professional entertainers. The following statement is from Mrs. Morley-Palmer, the choir director.
"The Ridgway Show Choir students were Disney cast members for the day on Saturday April 23. They not only performed at Downtown Disney but were lucky enough to spend time with full time Disney cast members for an impromptu Master Class. Students spent about a half hour in a question and answer session and learned the audition process, college credit opportunities, and what a day as a cast member entails."
Congratulations to the students on a great job and thank you to Mrs. Morley-Palmer and all of the adult chaperones.

How I use Twitter

2011-04-26T13:33:00.000-04:00

I have a confession to make…I like (and use) Twitter. I know, I know you are thinking to yourself “who wants to know that Tom Butler is now eating supper” or some sort of similar inane nonsense. Let me tell you, Twitter can be (and is) used for more than to update the social happenings of celebrities or common folk. As a matter of fact, Twitter has been the BEST new way that I have found to learn about the world we live in. Let me explain.

Twitter can (and is) used for inane updates on the minutia of people’s lives. I thought the same things for a few years. Then last year I was reading about the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the article pointed out that Lance Armstrong (the 7 time winner of the Tour de France and cancer survivor) had more Twitter followers then the Wall Street Journal had subscribers. Wow, that got my attention…so I joined Twitter and started to “follow” Lance Armstrong. He posts passionately about the need for preventative measures to reduce the rate of cancer. (I suggest you research his foundation if you are interested in cancer prevention) My education for the positive uses of Twitter started with the realization that good social outcomes could come from passing information through this medium. My “Twitter education” followed four steps.

1. I slowly started to familiarize myself with Twitter and how to control the various features available. I started by “following” Lance Armstrong. I realized that I do not have to “tweet” if I do not want to and I could just “follow” people (which means that when they tweet, I get their update).

2. I then searched for educators on Twitter and found incredible resources available. Since Twitter only allows a person to tweet 140 characters most people that I “follow” simply link to a web site or a blog they find interesting with a very short introduction on their tweet.

3. I then started to notice that many organizations and web sites have a Twitter account. Some of these were interesting to me and I started to follow them. I also found that some of my favorite authors use Twitter quite a bit.

4. Finally, I have used my Twitter account as a repository of information that I glean from the internet. I simply tweet (link) information to myself which allows me to know where this interesting information is (easy access).

I have since stopped following Lance Armstrong because I did not want to have an overload of tweets from the 14 people/organizations that I follow. However, the educators and authors that I follow have helped me gain a deeper understanding of education, society, and how to improve the world we live in. I am a big fan (as if you couldn’t tell) of Twitter as a source for great information. I welcome you to go to my Twitter account (@TomButler10) and see how I use this web 2.0 resource. You will have to get an account to do a search, but the accounts are free.

P.S. Once you have an account, you can "tweet" this blog entry by clicking on the Twitter icon at the end of the blog entry.

In Defense of Teachers

2011-04-18T09:04:00.002-04:00

Today I want to discuss the importance of teachers. Specifically, I will discuss the importance of teachers in a public school setting. If you were to believe most politicians and the majority of the media outlets, you would believe that public school teachers are incredibly selfish individuals who don’t like children, spend all of their “free time’ commiserating with each other about how to spend all of their money they earn and planning for a “fat cat” retirement. (Never mind that teachers earn 14% less as a public employee than they would in the private sector) That is the myth, let’s talk reality. In my 20 years experience in public schools, the vast, vast majority of teachers care deeply about their students and sacrifice mightily to help their “kids” as much as possible. Teachers also make connections with (and act as role models for) students. Let me give you a personal example.

My youngest son went to an Easter egg hunt on Saturday and won a silver dollar. The first words out of his mouth after he told us he had won were “I am going to tell Mrs. Peterson she… will be excited.” Mrs. Peterson is his kindergarten teacher. Mrs. Peterson has made a connection with my son that has helped him academically and socially. She has taken time out her busy day to help him with some coping skills; worked with my wife and I on a plan to have consistency to help him with coping skills; she has taken his academics farther than we thought possible; and most importantly, she has become his greatest “cheerleader” to let him (and his parents) know that he is a wonderful little boy. What more could you want from a teacher? As wonderful as Mrs. Peterson is for our son, most teachers in our school system act in similar ways. My wife was waiting in the elementary hallway for a teacher conference a few weeks ago and she told me that she had a wonderful sense of caring from the staff for all of the children. As she listened to teachers talk to parents about their children she sensed how passionate the teachers were for their jobs and how they wanted to help all children. We feel very lucky that our children are in a system where the adults care deeply about all children.

Now you will not hear these types of stories from politicians and the media because they do not fit the narrative of the greedy teacher. That is too bad because the truth is far different from what they want to portray. I am here to tell you that RASD has teachers that care deeply about kids and will work hard to help your child.

Community Meeting Tonight

2011-04-13T12:53:00.000-04:00

There will be a community meeting tonight in the elementary school cafeteria at 6:00PM. The meeting is part of a series of meetings that will determine alternate "indicators of success" for the school district. Presently, the school district is "judged" largely on how well the students do on the State mandated tests (the PSSA's). Although this is one indicator, I think we all feel that there are other indicators that more accurately reflect how well the school district is educating our youth. Our goal for the meeting will be to develop a list of other indicators of success. I will then present to the Board in May a report of my meetings with teachers, students, and the community and what other indicators of success the school district will use alongside the PSSA test.

Mrs. Francis Dilulio

2011-04-07T14:57:00.001-04:00

Today I will discuss another retirement. Mrs. Dilulio’s last day in the district is today. Mrs. D. grew up in Johnsonburg, the oldest daughter in a family of seven. She feels that her experience helping younger siblings instilled in her a desire to become a teacher. As a matter of fact, she says, “I never thought that there was any other option in my life other than going to college and becoming a teacher”. Mrs. D. graduated from Edinboro University in 1977 and immediately started to work as a long term substitute in Ridgway. Mrs. D. has spent the past 33 years teaching and has taught in every grade from Kindergarten to 8th grade (with the exception of 7th grade). She has spent the last 18 years as a second grade teacher.

I know a little bit more about Mrs. D’s teaching because my oldest daughter was blessed to have her as a teacher two years ago. Mrs. D. cultivated a side of our daughter that is very hard to “get out”. Mrs. D. has the uncanny ability to make every child feel as if every interaction in the classroom is personal to only them. Mrs. D. is simply one of the best teachers that you will experience anywhere. She creates an atmosphere of caring that allows all of her students to thrive and learn. Her expectations for academic excellence and behavior are very high and the kids consistently meet and exceed those standards. Visiting Mrs. D. today was very hard for me personally and professionally. It was difficult personally because of the deepest respect I have for her as a person. It was hard professionally because the school district simply cannot replace a teacher of the quality of Mrs. Dilulio.

I cannot forget to mention that Mrs. D. has had a “partner” in education for the past 27 years. Mrs. D. and Mrs. Mercer have been working alongside each other for the majority of their careers. Mrs. Mercer arrived a few years after Mrs. D. when Mrs. Mercer was hired in the middle school. The two moved to the elementary school together 18 years ago to teach second grade where they have been ever since. While visiting Mrs. D. today I was impressed with how much respect these two educators have for each other. As Mrs. D. told me “We are like sisters”.

I asked Mrs. D. what her biggest reward that she got from teaching she replied, “My biggest reward is seeing my students when they are grown up and succeeding in the real world; how amazing to realize that the high school principal, many of my co-workers, and even my mother’s home nurse were once taught by me”. Mrs. D. continues by saying that “Teaching has truly captivated my life”.

Finally, I have a story that speaks to the power of Mrs. D’s influence on her students. A few years ago one of our middle school students was struggling academically and emotionally. The student was in danger of dropping out. In a last ditch attempt to prevent that from happening our school psychologist asked the student if there was anyone in their life that they could hear from that would help them in her situation. The student immediately said, “Mrs. Dilulio”. Mrs. D. quickly sent a “care” package to the student and started a correspondence with the student that helped them through the tough patch. I can’t think of a better testament to an outstanding teacher.

Board Workshop Meeting Tonight

2011-04-05T11:03:00.000-04:00

There will be a school board workshop meeting tonight at 6:00PM at the F.S.G. Elementary School library. The workshop agenda can be found here. The workshop is a meeting where the Board discusses potential action items for the upcoming Board meeting. Some items make it to the agenda at the regular Board meeting, while others do not. The process the School Board uses for making decisions is to have a workshop meeting one week prior to the regular board meeting. The meeting is open to the public and the public is invited to speak just like at the regular board meeting. There is usually a short executive session where the Board discusses legal or personnel issues. Most workshop agendas are driven by four types of potential actions: those items that must be considered every month, items considered seasonally, items considered yearly, and items that require special, immediate attention because of their uniqueness.

Yearly approvals are appointments for solicitor and other services. For example during this month, the school district is appointing an insurance broker. In addition there are regular agenda items that are discussed at almost every workshop. Examples include approving substitutes, bus drivers, and conferences and field trips. Additionally, there are items that come up seasonally. Approval of coaches, weight room supervisors, policy changes, Act 80 days approval, budget discussions and the long term maintenance fund are examples of this category from this workshop agenda. Finally, there are those items that are unusual or require the immediate attention from the Board. For example, the Board is grappling with the whether or not to have the auditor come and review the audit that had no “findings”. The Board must also review the superintendent’s evaluation in executive session this month.

I wanted to give you an overview of a “typical” workshop agenda and the process the Board uses to make decisions. I welcome you to the meeting tonight if you have the time or inclination to attend.

Press Release from Yale University for Mr. Hofmann

2011-03-31T15:07:00.000-04:00

I am very proud to present to you the press release from Yale University announcing Mr. Hofmann as a recipient for the Distinguished Music Educator. Again, congratulations!

A Worthwhile TV Program

2011-03-28T12:51:00.000-04:00

For the past few Sunday nights I have found myself becoming reinvigorated by a television program. I know it seems odd to say that something on television can be reinvigorating, but I have found the program. The show is “Secret Millionaire” and it is shown on ABC at 8:00 on Sundays. The premise of this “reality” show is that a millionaire must live in a downtrodden neighborhood for a week living off the equivalent of one weeks pay on public assistance. To explain why there are television cameras following the person around, the secret millionaire tells people that he is part of a documentary centered on volunteerism. This cover works well because at the end of their week under cover the millionaire must find worthy organizations to give money to.

What I find invigorating about the show is not the millionaire giving away money…although that is wonderful. What really shows the goodness and kindness of people are the organizations and people that are volunteering their time, money, and resources to help people that are less fortunate than themselves. For example, in last night’s program, a small shopkeeper from Los Angeles gathers used clothes, sleeping bags and gives them to homeless people along with a hygiene kit that he makes. He literally fills a van with clothes and other items and passes them out to those in need on a sidewalk. What a great example of the shining light of the human spirit.

What does this mean for RASD? I believe that our curriculum must include more than just intellectual exercises. We must offer student’s experiences that allow them to give something of themselves while at the same time exploring the world to find goodness in human nature. I am very pleased that the school district requires volunteer hours for all high school students because I hear stories of students being positively changed by their volunteer experiences. The district must expand these efforts for our students. We do not have to send our students half way across the nation to find these experiences. There is enough to do in our local community that will help students experience the goodness of human nature.

"You Can't Make This Stuff Up..."

2011-03-25T13:20:00.000-04:00

Mr. Reichard and Mr. Miklos

Ridgway Area School District will be losing an informal institution due to the retirement of two friends in the Middle School. Mr. Miklos and Mr. Reichard have been teaching special education together for over 30 years with the last 16 in the Middle School. Combined, Mr. Miklos and Mr. Reichard have served the students at Ridgway for 75 years. They have been working across the hall from each other in the middle school for the last 16 years. I had an opportunity to sit down with them to ask them about their careers at Ridgway.

Mr. Miklos has been teaching in Ridgway for 38 years. He started at the Walnut Street school for a short while before moving into the “new” middle school. For the first 28 years Mr. Miklos worked for the Intermediate Unit and was assigned to Ridgway. When the school district took over the special education responsibilities ten years ago he officially became a Ridgway employee. A California (Pa) University graduate, Mr. Miklos grew up in McKeesport, Pennsylvania and was a substitute teacher in Pittsburgh for a short while before moving to Ridgway. When he first came to Ridgway he was teaching elementary students, “I was used to substituting in Pittsburgh school district at the high school level and when I came here I had all of these little children and I was afraid I was going to lose one of them!” The transition from an urban area to a rural area was made easier by the people he met here, “I have met a lot of nice people in this area. Everyone has been real nice”.

Mr. Reichard grew up in Milton, Pa and received his special education degree from Lock Haven University. Mr. Reichard taught for one year in Bradford and two years in St. Marys before moving permanently to Ridgway. He too worked for the Intermediate Unit until 10 years ago. He developed and taught the emotional support class in Ridgway for ten years. Mr. Reichard has also been the school district’s point person for our GED program and our incarcerated youth instructor for many years. Of his experiences in his 37 years as a teacher Mr. Reichard says “You can’t make this stuff up!”

The school district will feel a significant loss when Mr. Miklos and Mr. Reichard retire. Their presence at the end of the hall always brightened up the school. They were always ready with a story or a laugh. For example, Mr. Miklos told me, “Do you know I have eaten lunch with Mr. Reichard more than my wife?” I guess that happens when you work so closely with someone over that many years! Mr. Miklos and Mr. Reichard come from a generation of teachers that were passionate about their jobs. The caring and passion for students is still evident in the way these two do business every day. I have an incredible amount of respect for all educators that have spent their career serving the students, but I feel a special admiration for Irv and Al because of the professionalism and passion that they still show for their children. I wish you both a happy retirement…you have earned it!

May You Live in Interesting Times Continued....

2011-03-22T11:08:00.003-04:00

How must education change and what are the opportunities for these changes? I believe there are three areas where education organization must address or risk becoming outdated.

1. Communication. We must come to the realization that communication between people and organizations has fundamentally changed. Instant messaging, Twitter, Facebook and many other platforms exist that allow a rich dialogue to develop between people. The communication that these platforms provide is not the “end”; rather, they are a means to an end. The “end” is easier access to information for everyone. Information can come from websites, blogs, or interaction with experts from around the world. The ramification for education is simple. First, teach students to be smart consumers of information. Second, incorporate these information gathering strategies into every class.

2. Transparency. All organizations, but especially public organizations, must have transparency in the way in which they conduct their business. Public school districts no longer have the luxury to say “just trust us” because there is a perception of mistrust in the public. I believe this perception is false and that the vast majority of public school districts operate under the strictest moral and ethical guidelines. However, in an effort to show everyone that school districts do operate under high ethical standards, then transparency is a must. Oftentimes community members will get upset about decisions the district makes because they are not aware of the information that was considered in making the decision. Other times, there are misconceptions about the information itself. The best way to combat this situation is to be as transparent as the law and confidentiality allows.

3. Flexible Organizations. In today’s fast paced world, organizations must respond to threats and opportunities in a quick, efficient manner. Bureaucracy often prevents organizations from responding efficiently. An entrenched, inflexible bureaucracy is the hallmark of an organization that is dying on the vine. An example for many organizations is the standing committee structure. Although there is a need for some standing committees, there is a tendency to try to “fit” a decision into a one of these committees when it may not belong there. The better way to respond is to have systems within the organizations that allow for efficient use of decision making resources. For example, at RASD the school board has moved away from some of their standing committees and has formed more ad hoc committees that address specific issues. These ad hoc committees are very specific in scope and time and can make good decisions in less time than a general committee.

May You Live in Interesting Times...

2011-03-21T11:14:00.000-04:00

Yes indeed, we are living the age old curse in the education world. The highlights of what makes this time “interesting” are overwhelming in a lot of respects. Perhaps the most overwhelming highlight for public education is the increased “business model” of education reform. These reform ideas (i.e. increased accountability, attempting to calculate “return on investment” in education) lead to an increased skepticism of education institutions and the important work they do. Skepticism of the intensity currently propagated makes it difficult for educational institutions to defend themselves and continue the morally important work required of all of us. Yes, interesting times.

I see a problem and an opportunity resulting from living in these interesting times. The problem is obvious…less financial, political and community support for the work that we do. But why is there less support for education? Is it possible that the ground has moved beneath our feet and we in education have not recognized the movement yet while our communities have made this recognition? Are we holding onto the past in a last gasp effort to keep everything the status quo? These are the types of questions that can (and do) keep me up at night. Without a doubt, there are thousands of educators across the country who are doing marvelous things for the kids in their communities. Overall, our field is filled with people that are truly dedicated to helping students learn; but what if we are working in a system that is outdated and needs to adjust to a new reality. I think society is in a historic, transformation stage and education must seize this opportunity to change. The alternative is to disappear. Tomorrow I will discuss how public schools can adapt to a new reality.

PSSA Testing has Started in the School District

2011-03-15T08:58:00.000-04:00

The annual rite of Spring is underway in the school district. Over the next four weeks students will take PSSA tests in Reading, Math, Science and Writing. These tests are meant to reflect what students have learned during this school year. The tests also serve as a basis for accountability measures as laid out in the No Child Left Behind law. Only two of the tests actually “count” toward these accountability measures, Math and Reading. However, the other tests allow the school to compare how our students perform versus other schools in the area. The tests results usually come back to the school district in a “rough draft” form in early June. This allows the school districts to review the data and find any mistakes that may have occurred in the processing of the tests. The public presentation of the tests scores are released by the Pennsylvania Department of Education in August. RASD has made many improvements in instruction and curriculum during the past few years and we are confident that our students will continue to do well on any test that is given them. After all, good instruction from a good curriculum will allow students to perform well on any test given to them.

Finally, I want to make sure that RASD is known for more than just test scores. The PSSA tests are important because they form the basis for what the school is publically judged so we cannot ignore them. However, a well rounded education for all of our students involves more than just test scores. In the coming month I will form a committee that will discuss alternative ways for the school district to measure success. Yes, tests are one way to measure success, but we need to develop other measures of success that truly reflect an outstanding education. As our school district starts on the road toward becoming the best school district in the State, the community and district must make sure that there are other measures of success for which to judge the school district.

A Great Honor for Mr. Hofmann

2011-03-11T17:15:00.001-05:00

I would like to share some great news about our band director, Mr. Hofmann. Mr. Hofmann has been selected to receive the Yale Distinguished Music Educator Award. Last Fall I nominated Shawn to receive this award and attend the music symposium at Yale University this summer. The symposium was looking for music instructors that use guest conductors to help their students and teachers that teach in different schools. Mr. Hofmann was also required to submit a resume and complete an application. This is a real honor. Mr. Hofmann will also attend ththe symposium at no cost to the district because of the award. I am so excited for Mr. Hofmann, our kids and the school. Our district is well on our way to becoming the best school district in the State!

The Governor's Proposed Education Budget

2011-03-10T10:39:00.000-05:00

The proposed Governor’s budget is a shock to the education community. Funding for public education is not a top priority ( to say the least). Ridgway Area School District is being affected by the resulting lower amount of State aid that is available to the school districts. I will discuss some of the bleak numbers in this blog post, but I will also discuss areas of opportunities that I believe are available to our schools and community.

The school district has been preparing for the day when less money is available for two years. We have watched the State funding for education being supported by Federal stimulus money for the last two budget cycles. Knowing that the federal money was going to go away in two years, we started to prepare for lower State funding in the 2011-2012 school year. As I have mentioned before, the school district has offered an early retirement option for all employees. 10% of our employees took advantage of the incentive with a resulting savings of over 2 million dollars over five years. The preliminary budget for the school district that was passed in January also assumed State Basic Education Funding (BEF) at the 2008-2009 school year. In addition, the budget also included $331,000.00 in budget cuts (2.1% from previous year). In other words, this was a very conservative budget that did not include any “frills”. We were also not under any delusions that the type of funding that education enjoyed in the previous years was going to continue.

Having said all of that, the Governor’s proposed budget cut a little deeper than we anticipated. State funding for education is at the 2007-2008 funding levels (not the 2008-09 level the school district budgeted). The proposal also eliminates various grants and other programs that the school district included in the preliminary budget. The addition of these new cuts created an additional $345,000 that needs to be cut from the budget. The School Board and the administration will work to make these further cuts. When you add the total that was already cut, with the total that must be cut further, then the school district's budget is $676,000 less than in the previous year (a 5% decrease). I am not panicked about these numbers. Cutting more is going to force the school district to make some uncomfortable decisions, but they will not be devastating cuts. There are other school districts and government entities that are worse off than we are. We will strive to keep the public informed of these decisions. Again, the school district is in better shape than most because of the fiscal constraint that the district has operated under for the past 20 years or so. The district also has no debt which allows flexibility in financial matters.

But all is not gloom in the school district. I am so confident in the ability of our school district to thrive in the upcoming years. We have laid a solid foundation that will serve as a starting point for great opportunities for our students. I see no reason that RASD cannot become one of the top 10 school districts in the State (if not the best school district in the State). As results from our recent school district celebration attest, our students have the resources and support needed to accomplish whatever their post secondary goals may include. The school district will have to become more focused over the next few years as support for public education at the state policy level dwindles. However, a continued, laser focus on our core mission will lead the school district to become an elite school district within the next four years. Please join us with your support and encouragement as we continue down the path toward become the best!

Children Living in Poverty

2011-03-07T11:36:00.004-05:00

60 Minutes ran a disturbing story last night about children in poverty. Nationwide, 20% of children live in poverty (14,657,000 children). To be considered living in “poverty” a family of four must be making less than $22,000 a year. So let’s think about this. In the United States of America, arguably the most prosperous nation that has ever existed, we allow 20% (over 14 million) of our children to live in poverty. I think it is even more instructive to look at different levels of poverty, after all, $22,000 for a family of four is a very low threshold. If we were to look at families that make 150% of the poverty level ($32,000 a year for a family of four) then a staggering 31% of children are living in poverty (23 million).

In Pennsylvania, 8% of children live in extreme poverty (extreme poverty is anyone that lives within 50% of the poverty line [household income of $10,800 for a family of two] and in the United States 9% of children live in extreme poverty) 17% live at or below the poverty line, and about 27% live between the poverty limit and 150% of the poverty limit. In Elk County, 12% of our children live below the poverty line while 25% live between the poverty line and 150% of the poverty line. In Pennsylvania the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour which comes out to just over $15,000 a year in earnings. If a couple with two children were working two minimum wage jobs, their combined income would still have them considered "poverty" because they make less than 150% of the poverty limit.

In our school district we aim to provide education and opportunities that will help all children (including those living in poverty) a chance to move ahead in society. This is a daunting task but one that schools must undertake.

High School Award

2011-03-04T11:04:00.000-05:00

Tuesday night at the free senior citizen supper, Larry Persing from Senator Scarnati's office presented a "Keystone Award" to the high school. Mr. Persing presented the award to students who were helping at the senior citizen supper. The Keystone Award is given to high schools in Pennsylvania who have met "adequate yearly progress" (AYP) for two or more years. AYP is determined by meeting the requirements set forth in "No Child Left Behind". Along with the Keystone Award the high school has also been recognized by "school digger.com" as the 6th most improved high school in Pennsylvania last year based on test scores. The improvement places the high school 116 of over 600 high schools in the State. Great job to the students and staff at the high school! The senior supper and presentation were part of the RASD Celebration which is wrapping up this week.

Freshman Podcast

2011-03-02T15:06:00.000-05:00

I want to share with you a "podcast" created by two of our freshman. A podcast is a recording that is saved in digital format. This particular podcast was created as part of the Microsoft Word/PowerPoint class. The topic is "The difference between 8th grade and 9th grade". I think you will find it interesting. The students, Jenni Thomas and Taylor Ross, did a fabulous job. Please be patient as it may take a little while for the audio file to load.

Second Grade Student-Made Videos

2011-02-28T14:15:00.000-05:00

I have included two examples of student-made videos here and here. These videos were created by second grade students with the help of Mrs. Buhite's high school "21st Century Skills" class. Every student had a chance to create a video and the theme was penguins. After the videos were made, all of the second grade watched them on the "big screen" in the high school auditorium. This was a great project and I would like to congratulate all of the second grade students and teachers and Mrs. Buhite and her class on a GREAT JOB!!

Pep Rally at FSG

2011-02-24T12:39:00.000-05:00

Rep. Gabler presents awards to FSG students

Today a Pep Rally was held at FSG to help the students get excited about taking the PSSA tests. Representative Matt Gabler was the featured speaker for the day. Rep. Gabler encouraged the kids to do their best on the upcoming state tests and also led the entire school in cheers! Mr. Gabler also presented some FSG students with “Keystone Award”. The Keystone Award is given to schools in the state that have met adequate yearly progress for two years in a row. Rep. Gabler also had the opportunity to present the students with a “Title I” award recognizing FSG as one of the best Title I elementary schools in the State. The school board and administration want to thank Matt for coming to our school and being such a good sport.

The pep rally was a part of the "RASD Celebration" that is happening over the next two weeks.

The FSG pep rally cheerleaders perform

"Parent in the School Day" at FSG

2011-02-23T13:42:00.000-05:00

Mrs. Herzing and Mrs. Daghir welcoming parents

Today was "Parent in the School Day" at FSG. Today's celebration is part of the RASD Celebration occurring throughout the school district over the next two weeks. Today over 100 parents had the opportunity to spend some time with their children in their classrooms. Parents signed up to come in the morning or afternoon and spend up to an hour and half with their children. The school district is excited to have parents and community involved in the school. We are thrilled about all of the great things that happen in the school district and we are always happy to share these experiences.

A Visit From Congressman Thompson

2011-02-22T13:41:00.001-05:00

Today a group of students from the high school met with Congressman Thompson and discussed agriculture policy with him. The idea of meeting with the Congressman started in December when a group of students watched the movie Food Inc. The movie is an expose about how the food that Americans consumes is produced and the companies that control the production. The goal of this project is to get students involved in the democratic process and learn how to attempt to change the world in which they live. Immediately after the movie, students were debriefed in small groups and given a chance to discuss what they had just watched. Following the movie, a second meeting was arranged for the students to meet with local farmers and discuss how farmers on a “small scale” produce their commodities. Last week the students met with four local farmers and asked them questions about small-scale food production. Since the students have raised many questions about how the Federal government can impact food production, Congressman Thompson was invited to talk to the group. The Congressman graciously accepted.

The Congressman began by giving the students an overview of his work on the Agricultural Committee in the House of Representatives. He discussed the process involved in learning about farm policy and some of the bigger issues facing the government as it relates to farm policy. The Congressman then took questions from the students. The “Q&A” was a great opportunity for the students to interact with someone that will help shape agricultural policy. Finally, the Congressman encouraged the students to become involved in our great democracy. He offered specific suggestions on how students can (and should) become involved in letting their politicians know their view on different subjects.

Today’s event is part of the “RASD Celebration” that is occurring over the next two weeks. The school district thanks the Congressman for coming to the school to talk with the students. I would also like to thank the adults in the school that have been instrumental in providing this opportunity for our students. Rena Urmann, Mrs. Vargas, Ms. Schaut and Amy Goode have spearheaded this project and have done a wonderful job. Great job!

Awards and Honors in the School District

2011-02-16T12:20:00.000-05:00

As the school district enters into "RASD Celebration" I thought you might be interested in some of the awards that our high school students have won in the last few days. (This is a copy from the high school web site)

Congratulations to Logan Feronti for placing at District Chorus and moving on to Regional Chorus in Blairsville, where she will compete for a position in the State Chorus Competition! Way to sing it Logan!

Congratulations to Danielle Carlson who earned 1st Chair for percussion in last weeks District Band competition. Way to "beat" out your competition Danielle! Good Luck at Regionals in March!
Congratulations to the Ridgway High School Mock Trial Team and their advisors, Mrs. Viglione and Mrs. Cortina. RHS's prosecution and defense team both took first place at Friday's District Competition! Way to go RHS Mock Trial!

Members of the Mock Trial Team include: Katie Oknefski, Jenni Thomas, Bryanna Harvey, Katie Fields, Claire Grazioli, Sam Kovalyak, Ellie Woodford, Mike Knarr, Sarah McClain, Kaitlin Johnson, Ben Thompson and Veronica Colson.

The wrestling team won the District IX team championships two weeks ago. Great job!

Repurposing in Education

2011-02-15T07:52:00.000-05:00

I have written recently about how the state of Pennsylvania will be 1 billion dollars short in education funding in the upcoming school year. The ramifications of this shortfall are immense, but today I am not going to dwell on all of the possible negatives; today I want to discuss the possibilities that will open up in school districts across the State. Granted, the changes in schools that will result in a lack of funding will be extremely difficult to contemplate but our duty as educators and taxpayers is to move forward and continue to make sure that our children are receiving the best education possible. Today I will discuss repurposing in education.

Repurposing (according to Howard Bloom) is a word to describe the “radical change in the use of something”. For example, using a dictionary as a doorstop is a radical change from the original intended use of a dictionary. I believe that public education organizations will have to use repurposing in their relationship with the funds they receive from the State. Currently, the relationship (or purpose) of the money is to provide much the same education as has been in existence for close to 100 years. Academic programs “A,B, and C” are continued along with extracurricular programs “X,Y, and Z”. Over the years there have been minor changes and adjustments to the academic and extracurricular offerings, but there has never been a seismic jolt to this system. After all, the State provides money for “A, B, C and X, Y, Z”. In other words, the purpose of the money from the State is to keep the status quo and not change too much. I propose that public schools repurpose their relationship with State funds and view the money as a transformational tool. In Pennsylvania, the basic funding a school district receives from the State is called the “basic education funding” (which accounts for about 56% of funding for RASD). A repurposing look at school funding would call this “basic transformational education funding”. Let’s look at funding and all decisions that schools make as a chance to change the way schools provide education; where schools will provide education; to what purpose are they providing education; and how will the school organization change to meet these new needs. In a nutshell, this is the repurposing of school’s relationship with education funding.

At RASD the process of repurposing has started. Repurposing is grounded in the non-negotiable goals for student’s achievement and instruction set by the School Board one year ago. The school district has started to address the what, how, and where of education for the students of Ridgway. The Ridgway Virtual Academy is an example of how the school district will transform how students will be able to access the school district’s curriculum. The school district is also adjusting the curriculum and instruction to match the skills that students will need to become effective citizens in the 21st Century. Although I am worried about the ramifications of the 1 billion dollar shortfall in educational funding, I believe that our duty as educators is to attempt to change the framework from one of “deficit” into one of “surplus”.

Literacy Training

2011-02-10T14:28:00.000-05:00

Today I want to discuss literacy. When I use the word “literacy” I mean the ability to read and to understand what you read. Every school district must assure that its students can read well and understand what they have read. Reading is a “gatekeeper” skill that affects every curricular area “life skill” of students. Literacy curriculum and instruction can be conceptualized in the following framework.

In K-3, schools must make sure that students have the foundation to be able to read. Foundational skills include letter and word recognition and lots of practice reading in the curriculum. At RASD, teachers at this level make sure that students are receiving rigorous reading instruction, but that the students are also receiving all of the help they need if they are struggling. Teacher teams pour over data to identify students that may need help and then design interventions that will assist the students in improving their reading skill.

In grades 4-8 (now that a solid foundation is in place) students must have the ability to “immerse themselves in the text” and be able to interpret text. In other words, they need to be able to understand what the text is saying at a deeper level. The students must also start to develop critical thinking skills at this time. School districts must make sure that children are “thinking for themselves” and not looking for the answers to problems that they think the adults in the room want them to say. I believe that schools must encourage writing at this level because putting words and ideas to paper is one skill that can help students become better critical thinkers. The RASD middle school is starting to make sure that all curricular areas are focusing on reading and understanding text.

In Grades 9-12 students must deepen their critical thinking ability and start to have action based on what they read. If society wants the United States to become a vibrant democracy then citizens must have the ability to read, reflect and act. At the very least, society should not want citizens to become easily hoodwinked by multi-national marketing ploys or government. This is an ideal framework that I hope will help you understand literacy training better.

What does a Billion Dollars Buy? Pennsylvania School Districts Will Soon Find Out

2011-02-08T12:10:00.000-05:00

The Harrisburg Patriot-News has an article that all parents and community members of the Ridgway Area School District should read. The Corbett administration is telling school districts that there will be a 1 billion dollar “hole” in education funding for the next school year. Yes folks, that a billion with a capital B! In other words, the money that the Commonwealth gives the school districts as part of the “basic education funding” will be 1 billion dollars less. The ramifications for education across the state, and in Elk County, are enormous. Basically, the Commonwealth will be funding school districts at the 2006-2007 school year level. The reason for the enormous shortfall is explained in detail in the article, but can be summed up easily.

1. The Commonwealth has been using “stimulus” funds for the past two years to supplant State aid in education funding. That stimulus funding is now gone and is not being replaced.

2. The mismanagement of the pension fund by the State government is now impacting the school districts with school district contributions to the fund increasing from approximately 5% to over 20% in the upcoming years. For my blog about the pension “crisis”, please follow this link.

3. State revenues are down because of the poor economy. (As an aside, it is repugnant to me that the current lawmakers in Harrisburg will not consider a tax on natural gas extraction but would rather cut services to citizens of the State. Oh by the way, Pennsylvania is the only state without an extraction tax.)

The school district has been preparing for the day when the stimulus funds “go away”. What does this mean for RASD? The numbers are interesting. The school district gets about 56% of its total budget from the State. Our budget for the current year included $5,176,702 of basic education funding. The basic education funding for 2006-2007 was $4,599,000 and that is what we are being told to expect for the upcoming budget year. That difference, my friends, is large. The district has prepared for this day in the following ways:

1. The district has no debt service and is not planning any building projects in the future.

2. The district has been using a 5 year budget projection model to guide financial decisions for the past two budget cycles. By following the budget projections, the school district has

a. Reduced teaching staff by five positions in the last year.

b. Offered an early retirement incentive that is saving the school district over 2.2 million dollars over the course of five years.

3. The school district budget is 4% smaller than it was two years ago.

4. The school district has reduced spending across all levels of the budget including professional development, supplies, and many other areas.

What does the future hold? “Sacred cows” will have to be on the table for consideration during budget talks. Although Ridgway is not to this level of concern yet, many school districts in Pennsylvania will be forced to consider the following items or they will not be able to stay open. These items include:

1. Class size policies limiting the number of children in the classroom will have to be reconsidered

2. The role of athletics in the school system (“pay to play” or deleting them all together).

3. Art, music, technology or any other class work that is not required for graduation must be looked at.

4. Limit or eliminate all A.P. classes

5. Library services reconsidered

6. World language offerings reconsidered

7. Transportation requirements reconsidered

Again, RASD is NOT to this level of concern yet, but rest assured, there will be school districts in Pennsylvania forced into these types of decisions in the upcoming months. Ridgway Area School District is not in debt and has been planning for this event for two years which puts us in a better situation than most schools in the State. RASD and the school Board never believed that there would be some magical "fix" for the funding crisis after the stimulus money was gone. So the district is in better shape then most. However, the school district is heading into some uncharted territory over the next few years. The political climate in Harrisburg is one that is not sympathetic toward helping public service organizations (large multi-national corporations are another matter). I am confident that RASD will weather the storm, but I anticipate that our educational program will look considerably different at “the other end” of this trying period.

RASD Celebration

2011-02-04T08:23:00.003-05:00

The Ridgway Area School District will have a district celebration during the weeks of February 21st and 28th. The celebration is an opportunity for the school district to share with the community all of the positive programs and initiatives that are taking place in the school district. RASD has always had a focus on students and “what is best for the children”. This focus has been the driving force behind the school district’s new mission statement (RASD: Where students will discover their purpose for today and their passion for tomorrow) and the school board’s five year non-negotiable goals for instruction and achievement. The celebration involves various events welcoming the community into the schools. So far the following events are planned:

1. February 22nd Congressman Thompson will meet with a group of 60 high school students who have questions about his work on the agricultural committee

2. February 24th representative Gabler will be at the elementary school to present students with the “Keystone” award for making “Adequate Yearly Progress” for two years in a row. (AYP is based on the requirements of No Child Left Behind) Representative Gabler will then spend some time talking to the students about doing well in school. The public is invited to this event. Please check out the elementary web site for specific details pertaining to the event.

3. February 28th will be a school board reception. Individual school board members will invite people for a private tour of the schools and enjoy a light lunch.

4. March 1st (my favorite) the school district will sponsor a free senior citizen dinner at the high school cafeteria from 4-6:30. Students will wait on tables and the senior citizens will have an opportunity to ask teachers, administrators and students questions about the schools. Immediately following the dinner the school board will conduct their March workshop meeting in the high school library.

There are more events that will take place at the schools so please check out the school web sites for information about those events! I am very excited about the prospect of showing off our school district. RASD is focused on providing the education our children need to thrive in the 21st century!

Teacher Evaluations and Camera Use

2011-02-01T13:31:00.000-05:00

I read with some interest a proposal by some Wyoming lawmakers to place cameras in classrooms as a way to evaluate teachers. Sponsors of the Bill believe that it will make it easier to evaluate teachers in this fashion (a principal can just watch some tapes) and will lead to better teaching. Although I have some grave concerns about this proposal on privacy grounds, I have a greater concern because of what it says about how teachers are currently evaluated in Wyoming. According to the article, teachers in Wyoming are only observed by their principal or supervisor once a year. If this is true, then this is a big problem. However, the problem does not need to be fixed by expensive cameras in the classroom and “Big Brother” watching over a classroom. The solution is deceptively simple: have principals observe teachers more often. I will explain RASD’s evaluation plan which will help you understand a good teacher evaluation system. This system is based on the work of Charlotte Danielson.

In RASD, the teacher evaluation plan is called the “Differentiated Supervision Plan”. The goal of the supervision plan is give teachers the resources and professional development they need to improve student achievement. This is accomplished in the evaluation system by having three “tiers” of teachers. The first tier is called the “Differentiated Professional Development”. This tier is only for teachers who are excellent at their craft. The teacher and principal meet at the beginning of the year to set goals for the upcoming year. The teacher is the most important person in this scenario since they know what they need to work on to become better and their goals will reflect action steps and resources needed to reach the goals. The district’s job is to provide a culture where the teachers can access the resources to improve in areas they identify. In this tier, teachers are informally observed twice a year. There are three meetings (at the start of the year, the mid-point of the year, and the end of the year) to review and update progress on the goals. There are rubrics and self assessments used throughout this process and you can access them in the plan.

The next tier is called the “General” level. In this level teachers are observed twice a year and they are working toward goals that are set at the start of the year. This is a more traditional evaluation tool as it requires two observations and pre and post observation meetings between the principal and teacher. At RASD, every teacher “cycles” through this level at least once a year. This level is also meant for teachers that may have had difficulty in the top tier, or have improved from the bottom tier.

The last tier is called “Structured”. This tier has two parts to it. The first is meant for new teacher and the second is meant for “at-risk” teachers. I will not go into too much detail about this plan but I will highlight a few things. First, everyone in this tier is observed four times a year. The observations are meant to monitor progress toward goals set at the beginning of the school year with the principal. There are numerous pre and post observation meetings and use of rubrics all meant to closely monitor the teacher. The purpose of this tier is to make sure that new teachers have the ability to perform well and that at-risk teachers have the resources they need to improve. There is a very detailed procedure for at-risk teachers that involve committees and improvement plans crafted with the teacher and the principal. If these plans are not followed then the teacher is will not work for the school district. I cannot stress enough how important it is that the school district administration realize that it is the duty of the school district to help teachers improve. Once the district has provided the training and resources that the teacher has identified as necessary to improve, and they do not improve, then the duty now shifts to the teacher’s union to help the district weed these poor teachers out of the system.

As you can see the goal of the evaluation system at RASD is to help teachers reach goals and improve. Even our best teachers know that they can always improve in some area. Instead of putting cameras in the classroom, put principals in the classrooms, they should be there anyway.

Sir Ken Robinson

2011-01-28T15:04:00.000-05:00

This is a fabulous talk about the current state of education in our society. The way the lecture is presented is equally fascinating. For anyone that is interested in education, creativity and improving the school experience for all children, this video is a must watch. What he says about the decline of divergent tihnking in kids as they move through the school system is very disheartening.

Article on Education in Finland

2011-01-28T10:52:00.001-05:00

I have just read a very good article given to me by Mr. Jared Kuleck, one of our fifth grade teachers. I appreciate (and enjoy) the professional conversations that result from sharing articles and books with colleagues. This particular article discusses the educational system in Finland. For those of you who have a life and don’t read about educational issues all of the time, Finland is every educational policy maker’s “darling” right now. Regardless of where one comes from the political field, it seems that all agree about what a great job Finland is doing educating it’s kids. This particular article attempts to understand the “why” of Finland’s success.

The article is written by a famous educator, Professor Linda Darling-Hammond from Stanford University. In the article she posits that two areas of reform within the educational system created the Finnish success. The first area was that the government decentralized education. Finland went from a highly centralized system where a national curriculum must be followed to a system where the national curriculum is simply a guide for the local areas to follow. In a related policy change, Finland also deemphasized mass testing of students (you do not need the testing if you do not have to “check” on the curriculum). These two policy changes were implemented to give more local control of education to communities. The second area of change was to create a teaching cadre that is well trained. The government encouraged college graduates to go into teaching by paying for graduate school and giving the teachers a stipend while they continued their education. Educators also have much more say in their continued professional development. In other words, the teachers help decide what they will learn from year to year to help students achieve. The end result of this professionalization of teaching was that decentralization was more effective. The government trusted the local schools to make good educational decisions and the government did not have to monitor the system. This is a refreshing idea which is NOT the way in which the United States operates its school system.

There is a lot that all of us can learn from good examples. Finland does many things right. Here at RASD the school district has spent a lot of energy to align professional development with needs expressed by teachers. These needs are focused on improving student achievement. Although the school system must operate in a educational system that is increasingly centralized and “top down”, the district attempts to create a local imprint everything that we are required to do by the state and national educational policy makers.

Mr. Connelly and Mrs. Hanes

2011-01-27T14:22:00.001-05:00

The school district offered a retirement incentive this year as part of the 5 year budget plan. Fifteen employees took advantage of the incentive. I will spend the next month or so profiling the people that took advantage of the incentive and have served the students and community of the Ridgway Area School District.

The first two people have spent a combined 76 years working for the school district. Sandi Hanes and Bill Connelly have been an integral part of the school community for many years. Mr. Connelly started teaching English at the high school in 1971 with Mr. Jim Donavan his first principal. Throughout his 28 years in the classroom he taught everything from English Literature to Stage Design. Mr. Connelly also directed many student plays and musicals at Ridgway with his most memorable being “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”. After 28 years in the classroom, Mr. Connelly moved into the principal’s chair where he served as a high school and middle school principal for 12 years. It is difficult for anyone to condense a 40 year career, but I asked Mr. Connelly what was his fondest memory of his time at Ridgway. Although there are many, he told me about one time in particular:

“One of my fondest memories was when I was high school principal and I had the opportunity to present a World War II veteran with his diploma. He had enlisted before graduation and never received his diploma. The veteran’s family contacted me and requested that he receive his diploma. Dr. Grandinetti authorized the diploma. Signatures were obtained, and I presented him with his diploma on stage during graduation. The expression on his face as he received his diploma was priceless.”

Mrs. Hanes started working for the school district in 1975 as a substitute and a teacher aid. In 1976 she was hired as a Spanish language teacher. Throughout the years Mrs. Hanes has been very active as a sponsor for clubs and sports. She has served as the cheerleading advisor for 35 years and student council advisor for 33 years. During her time as a teacher at Ridgway Mrs. Hanes has also served as a ski club advisor and assistant National Honor Society advisor. In 1979 Mrs. Hanes started taking the Spanish Club to Mexico every year. Starting in 2002 these trips were changed to yearly trips to Spain. Both Mrs. Hanes and Mr. Connelly have become woven into the fabric of Ridgway Area school District. I wish them well next year and they will be missed. I am also confident that both Mr. Connelly and Mrs. Hanes will give over 100% to the school district and the students right up until the last day they are here!

"Play and Challenge"

2011-01-25T15:36:00.000-05:00

What does the word “challenging” mean for students and education? I recently read an article in The School Administrator that discusses the change in the philosophy behind the way schools teach Kindergarten kids. For those of you unfamiliar with Kindergarten today, let’s just say “it is not your grandma’s kindergarten”. Kids are reading small booklets and many schools have entrance requirements to kindergarten that can prevent students from enrolling. (Ridgway does not prevent students from enrolling no matter how poorly students may perform on the enrollment screening) The authors are concerned that the strategies being used to “drill” reading strategies into children in all early grades simply do not work. In fact, the authors claim, the schools are doing harm to children when you consider what is taken out of the school day to make room for these strategies----namely play. Play is important for cognitive, social and emotional development. Play is also the first casualty of increased “drill” in schools. On the other hand, supporters of a more drill oriented curriculum like to talk about the fact that “their way” is more “challenging”. The word “challenging” is what I would like to discuss.

First of all, making sure that all students have the foundation for reading proficiency in kindergarten through third grade is paramount. The biggest disservice a school system can do to a child is NOT to prepare them at this critical time to be able to read. The false dichotomy is that a school must choose between a “drill and kill” approach that is “challenging” and a total “play” approach that is not “challenging”. Here is what I would like to see in a reading curriculum at the primary grades

1. I want to see a curriculum at this age level that is challenging for students to be creative.

2. I want to see a curriculum where students are challenged to think critically. Does “drilling” reading strategies promote critical thinking and creativity?

3. I want a curriculum that challenges the schools to make reading instruction relevant to students in kindergarten and the primary grades.

4. I want a curriculum that challenges teachers to use research based approach to instruction and curriculum that is holistic and addresses the entire child’s needs.

I do not think that the preceding wish list is unattainable. The word “challenging” should apply to everything that a school district uses to help children learn regardless of whether it is “drill” or “play”. In other words, the words “play” and “challenging” can (and should) be used to describe a good, well thought out reading curriculum. I know that is what the Ridgway Area School District is striving for.

Sled Riding

2011-01-21T11:50:00.001-05:00

I usually try to write blogs that relate either to the school district specifically or education generally. Today I am not going to follow that script. Today I want to talk about the unadulterated fun that is involved in sled riding through the woods with your children. We have a nice steep hill behind our house and there is a path that winds its way through it. In the summer we use the path for walking and in the winter for sled riding. Yesterday the path was a sheet of ice and it was great fun. We built a “ramp” and we took turns flying off the ramp either by ourselves or with partners. My youngest child and I went down the hill together quite a few times. On the last trip we hit the ramp and flew at least three feet in the air and landed ten feet down the trail before crashing. (Okay, we got about an inch of “air” and landed about a foot past the ramp, but it felt like a lot more!) I recommend that everyone invite a neighborhood elementary student to go sled riding. You will find your inner child and have a blast. One caution if you do this: you will be sore the next day!

Professional Learning Communities “Think Tanks”

2011-01-19T10:54:00.000-05:00

Today I am going to discuss “think tanks”. In the elementary school, think tanks are grade level teams of teachers who meet every six weeks. Think tanks are a time when a group of teachers come together for a day to accomplish three things: 1. Set goals for their classrooms 2. Set goals for themselves 3. Discuss students who may need help and develop a plan to address these needs. Think tanks are a form of a “professional learning community” (PLC). PLC’s are a powerful tool in education because it allows for collaboration among colleagues. PLC’s are a form of adult professional development that builds the skills and learning capital of the teachers. This in turn benefits the students as the focus of teacher attention becomes specific students and specific learning outcomes. All schools within RASD have some form of a PLC operating. PLC's are another example of how the school district has incorporated cutting edge initiatives to benefit students.

When I listen to politicians bash public education and public educators, I wish they would come and spend some time in one of RASD’s think tanks. Teachers spend their time in think tanks intensely focused on students and student achievement outcomes. The teachers will focus on individual students and what their needs as well as what the group of students collectively need. The passion to help kids is evident during these meetings and politicians and other public education naysayers need to see this.

Curriculum Maps

2011-01-18T13:09:00.001-05:00

Today I would like to take some time and discuss curriculum mapping. Curriculum “maps” are documents that detail what the children are learning for different subjects throughout the year. School districts develop curriculum maps to fit the needs of their district. If you compare Ridgway’s curriculum map with another school district it may look different. Usually all curriculum maps have content standards and essential questions but they may have even more information. Teachers create the curriculum maps to assist them in planning instruction and developing common assessments. Ridgway Area School District and the Ridgway School Board believe that curriculum maps that are made available to the public will lead to more transparency in school district operations.

At RASD curriculum mapping is part of the two year curriculum action plan that the school board has adopted. Teachers and staff are creating curriculum maps this school year to help build a final curriculum this summer. The school district will start posting curriculum maps next week on the district’s web site. Although some maps will not be complete because the school year is only half over, I want to make sure that the public has the opportunity to view the documents as soon as possible. The first grade team has created a very good curriculum map for math. Please review it and keep on the lookout for the rest of them on our web site.

2011-2012 Preliminary Budget Part I

2011-01-13T13:43:00.000-05:00

The preliminary Budget for the 2011-2012 school year is now available for public inspection. The preliminary budget calls for a 1 mill tax increase. This is the second year in a row for a tax increase but there had been no tax increase the previous 11 years. I will discuss the particulars of the budget in tomorrow’s post, but for now I want to discuss the timelines and procedures that district must follow to adopt a budget.

The budget is currently open for public inspection. You can find the budget here, at the school district’s web site, or you can come to the superintendent’s office to review it. The school board will vote on the preliminary budget at the February Board meeting. The word “preliminary” is very important. The Board is approving the budget in preliminary form this early in the year so the school district can apply for Act 1 exceptions. Act 1 does not allow school districts to raise property taxes above an “index” that the State determines. This year RASD’s index is .6 mills. However, Act 1 does allow for the school district to apply for exceptions that (if approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Education) allow the school district to raise taxes above the index. This year the school district will ask for an exception because of the increase in retirement costs. I have discussed the pension “crisis” in a previous post. If PDE approves the exception then the school district can raise property taxes to the 1 mill level that is reflected in the preliminary budget. PDE will inform the district by March 23th whether or not the exception has been granted. Finally, in May the final budget will be available for public inspection and the board will approve a final budget in June. There is a lot of opportunity for public feedback during the budget process. Additionally, there can be changes made to the budget between now and June.

Board Meeting Tomorrow Night

2011-01-10T18:52:00.002-05:00

The school Board meeting tomorrow night at the elementary cafeteria will be the opening round of building the 2011-2012 budget. At this meeting, the Board will decide whether or not to build a “preliminary budget” What this means is that the board can make a preliminary decision to raise taxes more than the State allows (which is 1.7 mills). If they make that decision, then the meeting for the preliminary budget will be publically announced and the budget scrutinized. The school board will then work throughout the Spring to create a budget that will meet the long term goals of the school district while at the same time preserving its financial sustainability. The final budget will be approved in June. I know that this Board is very dedicated to both the providing the best for the children while also keeping a close eye on the tax burden for the community members. I will blog about the specifics of the budget and the budget process in the next few blogs. I hope that these blogs will allow the community to understand the budget (and the process), and to increase the transparency of the budgeting process. As always, please contact me through this blog or through our web site with any questions.

The Adjacent Possible in Education

2011-01-06T15:56:00.000-05:00

I would like to talk today about something that has been percolating in mind since I read Steven Johnson’s latest book, Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation. The idea is called “the adjacent possible”. This is basically the “space” that exists as a “next step’ in an innovation. In other words, what are the possibilities in the future for a particular innovation or good idea? As Johnson himself has written in an essay in the Wall Street Journal:

The scientist Stuart Kauffman has a suggestive name for the set of all those first-order combinations: "the adjacent possible." The phrase captures both the limits and the creative potential of change and innovation. ….The adjacent possible is a kind of shadow future, hovering on the edges of the present state of things, a map of all the ways in which the present can reinvent itself…The strange and beautiful truth about the adjacent possible is that its boundaries grow as you explore them. Each new combination opens up the possibility of other new combinations.

What does this mean for education and Ridgway Area School District? First, I want to state that public education can be a place of innovation. I would further state that public education (and our society) must have innovation in public education if democracy is to survive. Second, I am using innovation as a term that means more than the politicized mumbo-jumbo that Federal programs like Race to the Top have turned the term into. True innovation can only come from a grass roots development of ideas that meet the needs of a local community and school.

The nature of innovation indicates that it must develop slowly and that it builds momentum as good ideas emerge and develop into the “adjacent possible”. Public school systems must start the process of building momentum by developing innovative ideas that address local needs. The first step is to ground decisions in a school district based on local values and needs. This will assure that the decisions reflect local “flavor” (something that Race to the Top failed to take into account). Once this is done, a list of issues that are threatening the values of the school district or community must be made. Solutions to address these threats are then developed. This is somewhat simplistic, but I believe that you must start at a basic, grassroots level. Action is important. You cannot move close to the adjacent possible if there is no action.

At the Ridgway Area School District the district has moved closer to an adjacent possible in a few areas and I will use one area for an example. The Ridgway Virtual Academy provides an alternative educational setting for students so they can access classes for enrichment, credit recovery for seniors, alternative placement, and use for classroom teachers. The adjacent possible for the RVA involves a “school without walls” that can complement the “brick and mortar” schools that we currently occupy. As the district continues to innovate more “doors” open to more possibilities to help the school district serve our community and students.

Kindergarten Registration

2011-01-05T07:21:00.001-05:00

Kindergarten registration is being held this Thursday and Friday at the elementary school. The school district is having registration a little earlier so we can get a firm handle on how many students will be in kindergarten next year. By having registration this early, the administration and school board will be able to have better data to make decisions when creating a budget. If you or someone you know has a student that is eligible for kindergarten please register at the elementary school.

Welcome Back!

2011-01-04T10:25:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone has enjoyed the Christmas holidays with their friends and family. The Ridgway Area School District is starting the New Year running. Tonight at 6:00PM in the elementary school library the school board will meet and discuss the budget for the 2011-2012 school year. Tonight the board will have to decide whether or not to pass a resolution stating that the school district will not raise taxes above the index provided by the State. If the board decides that raising taxes above the index is a possibility, then a preliminary budget must be adopted at next week's regular school board meeting. If the board decides not to raise taxes above the index, then the regular budget process ensues which culminates in a first reading of a budget in May. For perspective, the index for Ridgway this year is 1.7 mills. In other words, the school district cannot raise taxes above this level without going to a voter referendum.

For some background about the previous budget please search for the blogs from last April.

A Dad and a Gingerbread House

2010-12-22T14:06:00.001-05:00

Dad and Daughter

Yesterday I had the pleasure of helping in my daughter's second grade class as the students built gingerbread houses. What a blast. Mrs. O'Hara and the entire second grade team had their students build gingerbread houses using graham crackers. It was wonderful to watch the students create something and put their own mark on a creation. It was messy, a little noisy and a GREAT TIME! Mrs. O'Hara managed to use the lesson as a way to reinforce some thinking skills. When the students were ready to "accessorize" their creation she asked them to stop, think and make a plan just like they do when approaching some math problems. I also liked the day because I was "dad", not the superintendent.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

2010 District Report Card

2010-12-18T08:11:00.000-05:00

Pennsylvania compiles a "report card" for every school district in the Commenwealth. The report card is based on the results of the PSSA test scores. The report card allows anyone to "dig deep" into the PSSA data. RASD has a lot to be proud of regarding the improvement in PSSA scores over the past few years; although there is still work to be done. The link to the report card is on the district web site as well as here.

Congratulations to the Chorus students

2010-12-14T12:40:00.000-05:00

I took my family to the Middle School/High School Christmas Chorus Concert last week and we really enjoyed the music. I have asked Mrs. Morley-Palmer to "guest blog" and share with you all of the good things that our chorus students are participating in.

The choir students have been very busy for the past 5 years. They have performed in Florida, Bermuda, Virginia, New Jersey, and New York. The students have participated in a Pirate Dinner Theater, cruised the Atlantic, taken a class on Sports in Theater on Broadway, seen both Young Frankenstein and Addams Family on Broadway, and toured the Jamestown Colony in Williamsburg, Virginia, along with spending a day at both Busch Gardens, VA and Six Flags in New Jersey.
On November 12th, 2010 the show choir held a dance-a-thon to raise money for the trip to Florida. During this dance-a-thon the students made a dvd to submit to Disney for consideration to perform on a Disney stage during the choir's upcoming trip in April 2011. The songs performed for the audition were Don't Mean a Thing if It Ain't Got That Swing, Swing, Swing arranged by Tom Anderson and "Boy from New York City" arragned by Kirby Shaw. The choir has been chosen to perform at Disney. Three weeks prior to the performance the choir will be notified of the time and location of their performance. The only information given so far is that the choir will be performing on Saturday April 23, 2011.

Thank you Mrs. Morley-Palmer!

Unsung Heroes of the School District

2010-12-13T13:42:00.002-05:00

I would like to write about all of the people in the school district that keeps things running in the background. Truly, if it was not for the custodians, secretaries, aids, kitchen staff, maintenance men and contracted bus drivers this district would not be able to function. I was told by a wise professor when I graduated from Penn State in 1991 that there are two people that I must get to know when I started my first job. I expected him to say that I should get to know the principal and superintendent. However, he told me that the two most important people in most schools is the head custodian and the office secretary because they know what is really going on in the schools. I know that I learn an incredible amount of important things about the buildings and the students through conversations with all of the support staff. I have also experienced how my own children react when they see a custodian or someone else outside of school…they go running to them and want to give them a hug! We have great people that work for this district and I am proud of the job that our support staff does for our children.

Budget Talk Already?

2010-12-09T12:24:00.000-05:00

Yes, it is time to start thinking about the school district budgeting process. According to Act 1, Pennsylvania school districts must decide in January whether or not they will raise taxes above the Act 1 index. This index is provided by the State to every school district. The school district cannot raise taxes above that index without going to a voter referendum. I do not believe that the school district will ask for a tax increase that will be above the Act 1 minimum (about 1 mill). With that being said, I want to share with you some of the factors that will be part of the decision making process as the school district works through the budgeting process.

1. The school district is basing much of our budgeting information on the five year budget model that has been used for almost one year. The model allows the district to input various amounts of information to predict where the budget will be in five years. The biggest impact that the model has had so far is the decision this Fall to offer an early retirement incentive to try to decrease our payroll liability.

2. The new political environment in Harrisburg. The amount of State funding available for public education has increased almost every year since Governor Rendell took office. A new Governor and a Legislature dominated by republicans will probably mean less money available for public education.

3. The five year non-negotiable goals for student achievement and instruction will focus the school board on priorities in the school budget.

4. The impact of the pension “solution” put forth by the legislature to respond to the issues that are occurring in the pension.

5. Finally, the retirement incentive will play a large part in the budgeting process as the school district decides on who will be replaced and what positions do not get replaced.

There are some tough decisions that will need to be made in the upcoming months. I am confident that the school district will continue to focus on what is best for the children.

Blogging for Education Reform

2010-12-08T09:34:00.000-05:00

November 22nd was “blog for education reform” day. The goal was to have many people blog about education reform to allow many different views and opinions to be heard across the country. I just found out about this effort so I am now going to contribute my two cents to the national discussion.

I have stated earlier in this blog that education must move away from reform and move toward transformation. Transformation must be a local decision based on local needs considering local sensibilities. Public education is too important for community sustainability for educators not to consider “radical” ideas within the system. I think right now the most radical idea would seem to be that local control is not only important, but essential. The educational policy landscape is overwhelmed with national and state initiatives that are being force-fed to local communities; a good exemple is a national curriculum. NCLB, Race to the Top, data collection schemes all tear control of the schools away from the local communities. I understand that there is a role for the Federal and State governments in education. After all, basic civil right must be protected and local communities (at least in the past) at times may not want to honor those rights. However, I am concerned that our children are being cheated from an enriching curriculum when schools are forced to implement a curriculum produced and created for a national audience. Where is the local relevance for students? Just some thoughts of mine.

Christmas Chorus Concert

2010-12-07T09:34:00.003-05:00

The Middle School/High School Chorus concert will take place this Thursday, December 9th at 7:00PM in the high school auditorium. Please come and enjoy the great sounds of the seasons!

Middle School Play

2010-11-23T15:02:00.001-05:00

I have asked Mr. Bill Connelly to be a "guest blogger" today to talk about the middle school play.

"Middle school students presented the musical “Metaphasia” on November 18^th , 19^th , & 20^th. The hours spent learning lines, songs, and dance routines paid off as the combined efforts of the 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade students involved in the musical turned this contemporary version of the Brothers Grimm tale “Twelve Dancing Princesses” into a hit. The talent displayed by the cast of 22 students was evident as they sang and danced their way into the hearts of everyone in attendance. Congratulations to Mrs. Palmer, the students, the parents, and everyone else involved in the musical. Well done!!!!"

The play was a resounding success thanks to the students and the work of Mrs. Palmer.

Book Recommendation

2010-11-12T10:07:00.000-05:00

I try not to make this blog too “personal”. In other words, I believe that people read this blog to learn more about the school and what is happening with the school district. However, I am going to make an exception today. I have been reading The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William Kamkwamba. The story is about how a 14 year old boy living in Malawi made a windmill for his village from spare bicycle parts and old pvc pipes. The story is much more detailed then just the story of the windmill. The author describes in detail how his family and village survived a famine in 2001. Reading the story of how the family and village survived the famine lets the reader be inspired by the power of hope, community, and faith (especially faith). No matter how bad the situation was (and it was bad for political reasons more than environmental reasons) William’s family and friends never stopped believing in each other. I was also struck by the importance that the family and community placed on education. Although the schools are not anything that we would recognize in the United States, the students are expected to perform at high levels and the students recognize that education can improve their lives. This book is a must read. It is hard to read at times because of the graphic descriptions of suffering during the famine, but in the end you will walk away with the resiliency of the human spirit.

Alice in Wonderland

2010-11-04T13:49:00.000-04:00

Last night and tonight (at 7:00PM) students of F.S.G. performed "Alice in Wonderland". I attended the performance last night and I was very impressed by the performances of the students. I am also impressed by the hard work that Mr. Phipps and the parent volunteers put into creating the custumes and the stage. the highlight was the "black light" that made characters glow in the dark. These pictures only catch a small portion of the visual effect. Very well done!

NHLA Lumber Grading "Short Course"

2010-10-28T13:50:00.000-04:00

This week, the school district sponsored a lumber grading "short course" for students of Ridgway and Johnsonburg along with adults from the community. Overall, 23 people participated in the course. The "short course" is a four day course that helps prepare students to take the longer, full-fledged lumber grading course. Students spend the first day reviewing basic math skills. Things like adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions are stressed. The students then move on to actually learning how to grade lumber. Barry Kibbe from the National Hardwoods Lumber Association teaches the class. This is the third year the school district has run the class. I am very excited about this class and I believe it gives our students real life experiences that can help them as they look for employment in our community.

From My Favorite Philosopher

2010-10-19T14:54:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, my favorite philosopher (my 6 year old son) came up with another saying that really made me think. Last night as we were preparing supper my son looked at me and said “Dad, I don’t like it when you have that look on your face. You look unhappy”. Generally I don’t mind fixing supper, but I must have had an “unhappy” look at that time. My son went on to say, “When you look like that it makes me ‘wild up’”. I asked him what “wild up” meant. He then told me that the unhappy look on my face made him want to act bad and yell. Can you imagine how a simple facial expression has such a powerful affect on a young child? Better yet, imagine being a teacher who is constantly on stage with little ones always looking at you for guidance and hints on how to act. This is a powerful lesson for educators. Students are constantly taking their cues from us. More than the content that we teach, the way in which we act and interact with students and other adults will have an everlasting effect on the students. I probably tend to make too much of these little occurrences with my son, but I can’t help but think that little kids are more profound than some of us adults!

Enrichment Field Trip

2010-10-15T15:16:00.000-04:00

I have posted a letter from Mrs. Harris and Mrs. Cortina discussing the field trip that the high school and middle school gifted students took last month. There is also a picture collage of the trip. Enjoy!

2010 PSSA Results

2010-10-13T10:23:00.000-04:00

The 2010 PSSA results are in and they show that the school district is making progress toward meeting the NCLB goal of 100% proficiency. Students at RASD are achieving at all time high levels. In Math, 83% of the students are proficient. In Reading 70% of the students are proficient. The district leadership team and teachers have analyzed the data further and have identified area of concentration. First, the school district is focusing efforts on Literacy Training at all grade levels. Literacy is a “gatekeeper” skill and the district must assure that students have the highest literacy capabilities. Second, the school district is focusing on making sure special education students are exposed to the same rigorous curriculum as the rest of the students. Finally, the school district is pleased with the progress in math scores. The increase can be attributed to a focus on researched based instructional strategies, formative assessment, and a collaborative culture utilizing professional learning communities. These activities will be further expanded to continue RASD’s rise in test scores. You can view a presentation that I gave to the school board about the PSSA results here. The presentation gives much more detail about the PSSA scores and shows comparisons to other schools in the region.

Walking Backward

2010-10-07T14:49:00.000-04:00

Yesterday my favorite philosopher (my 6 year old son) helped me realize something very profound. Now, he does not mean to be a philosopher, but readers of the blog know that he has had at least one very profound statement about education and “learning”. Yesterday, I watched him get off the bus and start walking backward down the street. I wondered why he would want to walk backward all of that way. I thought about it for a little bit and I finally realized the answer. He was walking backward because it was fun and he just wanted to do it. When is the last time you walked down the street backward just because it was fun? Better yet, when was the last time you did something just because it was fun and was going to make you happy?

Lately, as I think about the direction of education and all of the “speed bumps” school district must maneuver around, I am afraid that all of us in education may forget to "walk backward". We forget that we are dealing with kids that just want to “walk backward” sometime. Let’s keep education simple. Teach the kids things that are useful to them in life in a way that is interesting and engaging. Period…and then we can all go outside and walk backward!!

RASD Receives $5,000 Grant

2010-10-05T12:46:00.000-04:00

Mr. Oknefski researched grant opportunities to restart the robotics program at Ridgway. He was fortunate to find funding from the Elk County Community Foundation. The following is a statement from Mr. Oknefski.

Ridgway Area School District needed an alternative way to teach robotics which is becoming a huge field not only in the surrounding area but around the country. Robotics has proven itself not only fun but extremely educational because robotics has the ability to integrate science, technology, engineering, and math seamlessly all while keeping students engaged. Robotics is also not a cookie cutter curriculum because it allows each student to creatively think of solutions to problems and then build a robot to solve the problem. When the robot is built, students have the option to manually operate the robot using a remote control, or they can program it using software to repeat steps over and over just like a robot in production.

Last year, Mr. Oknefski wrote a grant explaining all the benefits that robotics can have on education and explained how Ridgway could be a model program. Excitement and publicity in the program could cause other schools in the area to peruse education using robots enhancing an entire community as well as the counties educational experience. It does just stop in the school. After school, students who have been taught using robots will be able to take their knowledge into the workforce, college, or the military and succeed and expand from there.

The Elk County Community Foundation graciously agreed to give our school district a $5,000 grant towards the purchase of the robots. With that money, plus some given by our school, we will be able to purchase four Vex robots and two computers that will have the appropriate curriculum and software downloaded onto it. The robots will be used in the pre-engineering II class to accommodate 8 students (working in pairs) this year and could possibly be expanded into a class of its own in the future. We also anticipate students competing in events using vex robots. I hope to see an excitement and knowledge gained from the use of these robots. If it is as big as a success as I anticipate, I hope others will see its importance and choose to push the program further. It would be a real accomplishment to see the education in this field to continue with a large amount of students using their brains to find creative solutions to problems they are faced with.

RASD Receives Grant for a Mobile Agriculture Lab

2010-09-27T14:05:00.000-04:00

Through the hard work of Mrs. Raubenstrauch, the students at the elementary school will be able to enjoy a different learning experience. The "mobile ag. lab" is a mobile science lab designed for students in grades K-8. The lab will allow the school district to offer an enriched learning experience for our students. The mobile lab will blend in well with the work that the school district is doing to raise awareness of the importance of agriculture to our society. In addition, both the Middle School and the Elementary School had student run gardens this year. This is a great opportunity for our students. Mrs. Raubenstrauch received a grant for $2,000 which will cover the cost (except for $300.00) for having the lab here for one week. To learn more about the mobile lab, please click here. Be patient while the link loads, it may take awhile.

Farmer's Market Day

2010-09-17T14:32:00.000-04:00

Today the elementary school celebrated the second annual farmer’s market day. This is a day when students learn about local foods and discuss farming with local farmers. The food that children ate came from local sources, with some of the food originating in the school garden. The school district was happy to have three local farmers (Cliff and Jeanetter Stump and Ron McMinn) come to the school to talk about different vegetables and other farming related activities. In addition, the farmers stayed and helped serve the children. The students ate hamburgers cooked on the grill by Cliff Stump and me. It was fun cooking over 400 hamburgers! The school district hopes to raise awareness in the students on the importance of healthy, locally grown food. Everyone seemed to enjoy the day. A special thanks goes out to Mrs. Urmann for organizing the day for the students.

Communication System

2010-09-10T13:43:00.000-04:00

The school district will be using a new communication tool this year. In an effort to meet one of the school board's non-negotiable goals, the school district is using a company called Global Connect to increase the quality of our communication with parents. This system will be used to help the schools and the district office "get the message out" to parents on issues and concerns of the school district. The one use that immediately comes to mind for this system is for late starts and school closings in the winter. One call from me can be sent within seconds to everyone that is signed up in the system. Beyond this obvious use, each school can send reminders and important announcements to parents of children in their school. For example, if a principal wants to remind parents that a school play will take place, a message can be sent reminding parents to attend the event. You may have seen the signup sheets for this system come home from school within the past week. Please return the required information so the school can help you stay informed!

A Fascinating Discussion about Education

2010-09-07T14:12:00.000-04:00

I recently came across this talk about the power of facilitating children's interest and education. The video is about 17 minutes long but it is well worth the time spent to watch it. My "takeaway" from this video is that educators, parents and communities cannot underestimate the intellect and drive of children. Teachers will always be necessary, but, as the speaker says, "If the children have interest, education happens". I hope you enjoy the video.

School Gardens

2010-09-02T14:27:00.000-04:00

Today you are viewing the results of the two school gardens in the school district. This year the school gardens received a big boost from Natalie Aiello from PSU Cooperative extension and the Master Gardener program. In the schools, Mrs. Peterson in the high school/middle school and Mrs. Raubenstrauch in the elementary school spearheaded the efforts for the students. The experience for the students was very good. According to Mrs. Raubenstrauch, “this was a great learning opportunity for the children. They were involved from the beginning and we incorporated many different lessons into the garden. The children even got to eat a purple carrot!” I am a firm believer in the power of “hands on” learning and any time a student is getting their hands dirty working in dirt (I feel) is a good thing. Natalie Aiello has been an outstanding proponent of the gardens and has helped the teachers and students immeasurably. In the elementary school some of the extra vegetables will be given to the cafeteria and will be used in student lunches. Enjoy the pictures!

FSG Garden

Student Internet Access at Home

2010-08-30T13:56:00.000-04:00

RASD is in the beginning stages of attempting to increase the ease and amount of community and parent involvement in the school. The foundation for this effort is a new school web site. The web site will allow easy access for parents to have conversations with teachers and administrators while at the same time monitoring their children’s class. One question that must be answered is this: how many students/parents are without internet access? In an attempt to get a ballpark figure of internet access of our community, the district conducted a survey of students asking, “Do you have internet access at home?” Granted this is unscientific, but it will show a ballpark figure of internet access. The overall figures show that about 12% of our student/parents do not have internet access at home (125 students in grades 1 through 12). The highest percentage of students WITHOUT internet access at home is in the elementary school, while the high school has the largest percentage of students WITH internet access. This raises some interesting points.

1. Most of our students have internet access at home.

2. The student body is well positioned for online learning opportunities.

3. How can the school district help make facilities available after school for those students that do not have internet access?

I thought that these figures would be interesting for you. Let me know what you think.

Student Enrollment at RASD

2010-08-27T07:42:00.000-04:00

The student enrollment for RASD now stands at 1002. This figure is up from the 984 students that the district ended the year with in June and also an increase compared to the 989 that the district started with last school year. I hope that the trend toward higher enrollment continues. RASD has several initiatives that will improve education and hopefully increase enrollment. First, the district has started our own virtual academy to make our curriculum and teachers more accessible. The school district also sent seven teachers to be retrained in Advanced Placement classes in an effort to increase the rigor in those classes. Finally, RASD is "mapping" its curriculum this year. What this means is that at the end of the year the teachers and administrators will be able to sit down and see a map of all areas taught in every class. We can then look for redundancies and "holes" in the curriculum. This will assure that the students are getting the best curriculum possible. RASD is moving forward!

Teachers Are Back!

2010-08-24T10:00:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was the day that I always look forward to every summer…the first day of school for teachers. I look forward to this day because the teachers come into the new school year with enthusiasm for the upcoming school year. The teachers have three days of school before the first students arrive. The district’s professional development committee builds the professional learning for the entire school year including the first three days. My opening day power point is here. The first day (August 23rd) was dedicated to a guest speaker. Dr. James Manley (The 2009 Pennsylvania Superintendent of The Year) spoke to the staff about his experiences as a superintendent for 27 years. Dr. Manley also worked with the teachers to start to form a vision of what education will look like in the future for RASD. I will have more about the results in a later blog post.

Today, the teachers are in training all day. They will be learning about data analysis, team teaching techniques, questioning strategies in the classroom, and they will learn how to set up their personal profile and classroom pages on Echalk (the school district’s new web site). Tomorrow the teachers will be in their respective schools doing any last minute preparation for the return of the students.

Cost Savings at RASD

2010-08-12T08:42:00.000-04:00

Today I would like to discuss some of the cost cutting measures the school district has taken this summer and the consequences of those cost cutting measures. If you have followed this blog for awhile, you may remember a discussion about the school district’s five year budget model. Based on the budget model (which includes less governmental funding and increased pension costs), even if the district raises property taxes one mill a year the district would still be over two million dollars in debt in five years. Obviously cost savings is in order. The administration will present a rough draft of a cost savings plan to the board in September. In the meantime, the district has not replaced three teachers that have resigned this summer. The savings to the school district is close to $150,000. This has resulted in increased class sizes in the elementary school. Even though class sizes are larger than in the past, the Kindergarten and First grade class sizes are still below twenty per class, and the largest class sizes are only 24 students per class. The district will provide added supports in these classes and I am confident that there will be no detrimental effect on education.

You may also hear some talk in the national news about how the federal government is providing funds to the States to “save teacher jobs”. This sounds very good in theory but the devil is in the details. I anticipate that the school district will receive no new funds to “save” teachers jobs. Rather, I suspect that the State will simply substitute this money with funds the school district is already going to receive. In other words, the State will simply use the “new” money to replace money that is already budgeted for education. I could be wrong about this, but based on past practice this is what I anticipate occurring. I will keep you updated on any changes.

Summer Reading Program

2010-08-09T10:15:00.000-04:00

The Ridgway Area School District conducted a summer reading program this year. The district received "stimulus" finds to operate the program so there were no "local dollars" used in the operation of the program. The program consisted of three separate weeks of instruction for students of Ridgway Area School District. The ability to read is so important in a global society. Reading is a "gatekeeper" skill that can either open up doors for advancement for students who can read well or keep the door closed to new opportunities if you cannot read well. Ridgway Area School District wants to make sure our student’s will be able to read well. The school board at Ridgway has made a commitment to literacy training for our students by making literacy instruction a nonnegotiable goal. The program has had an attendance of approximately 130 students during the three weeks with about 80 students being served (some students attended multiple weeks). I am proud of the work that the elementary staff has done to make sure the summer reading program was a huge success. The school district will be able to continue the reading program one more year with the stimulus funding available. In the future, the school board will have to make a decision about how to fund the program with local dollars.

The Final Numbers for the Summer Food Program

2010-08-03T07:51:00.000-04:00

I apologize for not updating this blog recently. I have been away from a computer and I still have not figured out "mobile blogging". The school district completed the first summer of offering hot lunches to the summer parks program. It was a successful endeavor. During the last week the school district served 150 lunches on each of the three days the summer parks program ran. Overall, the school district served 1,542 lunches over 18 days. I want to thank the cafeteria staff for working very hard to make this program a success....good job!

Rough Draft of the School District's New Web Page

2010-07-19T13:33:00.000-04:00

I am very excited about some of the initiatives that the school district will have in place for the upcoming school year. The one I will discuss today revolves around the school district's efforts to better communicate with the community. To step back a little bit, one of the five year non-negotiable goals that the school Board created during the last school year was to "better communicate achievement progress with all stakeholders". In an effort to meet this goal, the school district has identified its web page as one area of needed improvement. There are many times when the school district has received feedback that the web page needs to be more robust and have more information. With that in mind, I am pleased to give you a "sneak peak" into a very rough draft of what the new web site will look like. This web page will not be active for another month (until then the old web site will be used), but I wanted to share with you the new look of the web page. The rough draft of the page does not have some of the parts the final product will have; for instance, the final page will have a scrolling banner and many more links for information. However, I thought that you may like to see the general overview of the new page.

An Interesting talk

2010-07-12T21:23:00.000-04:00

I suggest you follow this link and listen to a talk about education by Roger Schank. I am on the road this week and will not be able to elaborate too much. I will spend some time at Vanderbilt University where I hope to learn from superintendents from all over the United States. I also hope that I will be able to learn a little bit more about the "Southern Agrarians" while at Vanderbilt...an interesting group indeed.

Summer Parks Program Update

2010-07-08T11:58:00.000-04:00

On the June 17th blog I discussed how the school district is offering hot lunches for the kids that participate in the summer parks program. I want to let you know that the program (and the food) has been a big hit. The school district is serving between 85 and 100 lunches three times a week to students in the parks program. This is a great opportunity for the kids!

I am attending a superintendent's institute at Vanderbilt University next week. I will try to mobile blog while I am there.

Blendedschools Continued...

2010-07-05T13:05:00.000-04:00

I have included a comment from the last blog posting for your perusal. A friend of mine (and the school district) commented about the tension that can easily exist when you use technology to "open the world" to your students while at the same time helping students appreciate where they live. I have literally lost sleep over this question. We must provide the students in the school district the education that will allow them to thrive in the 21st century. I believe this includes the ability to sort and make sense of an incredible amount of information AND learn the culture, mores, and significance of their local community. In other words, how does the school district foster global citizenship while at the same time teaching the importance of the local community? One simple way to accomplish this task is to encourage the students to become involved in, and learn about, their heritage. This involves more than just their American heritage, but the heritage of their ancestors. Just a thought. I love this comment because it strikes at the heart of the matter.

Tom,

Great stuff here. It's good to see RASD on the cutting edge. I have two observations.

This first regards the "amount of information." I wonder about the implications. Even back in the encyclopedia days, when the amount of information was limited, most students didn't really engage with it. The best students, sure. But the struggling students? Even then, the "amount" of info seemed to exceed their grasp. I wonder if the more important development is the "variety" of information. That is, it seems like it might be a lot easier for a student to hook into a topic or a field that he or she finds worthwhile. So the kid who hated the textbook version of the Civil War might fall in love with the Shelby Foote version, or the Michael Shaara version. Or might come at it through the world of art or antiques or soldier memoirs. So it's not that we are going to cram more material into the kids' heads, but we might be able to make them more willing to cram it in there themselves.

On the (potential) downside... what does this mean for the concept of place-based learning? I have a strong affinity for the local, in terms of culture and heritage. And I think it's great to expose students to as much culture and heritage as possible. But when everyone has access to everything, does anybody truly own or occupy anything? I have to be careful about this argument, as it can easily cascade into a plea for holding people back, or limiting options. But think in terms of something seemingly simple like cuisine. We love that that there are regional versions of certain dishes in Italy, and that Memphis has a different way of doing BBQ than does Kansas City. One way to perpetuate these interesting variations is to pass them along to the kids. And one way to do that is to raise them with that cuisine, do develop in them a bias.

Is there a way to continue passing this bias along, but still giving kids access to the whole world? Can we convey preferences AND options?

I'm not at all sure.

Blendedschools

2010-07-01T10:35:00.000-04:00

Today I want to discuss an initiative that the school district has started. I believe that the school district must position itself to “have a seat at the table” in the virtual learning environment. A virtual learning environment is one where the benefits of being “online” will impact our students and staff. The benefits for education (in my opinion) are twofold. First, the amount of information available for our students and staff on the internet is amazing. Think about when many of us were children. I can remember the encyclopedia salesman coming to our house and my parents purchasing an encyclopedia. My family used this encyclopedia for years to help with school work and to look up information; people now have the ability to “Google” their question and receive thousands of options to look for information not from just one encyclopedia. RASD must allow our students a chance to learn in this type of environment and teach them the skills so they can effectively find information on the internet. Second, a virtual environment allows students and teachers an opportunity to collaborate more effectively. Deeper collaboration occurs when students can communicate with each other in an online format and teachers can monitor and contribute to discussions among students online. I do not believe that a computer can replace the benefits of having a teacher in a classroom. However, a “virtual presence” will allow our teachers to enrich and expand the curriculum and instruction for our students.

With that in mind, Ridgway Area School District has joined Blendedschools (“blended” comes from the fact that education will become a blending of traditional “brick and mortar” environment with a virtual environment). Blendedschools allows RASD to place our curriculum in a virtual format so it can be accessed online. RASD will use the virtual format that Blendedschools provides to meet short term and long term goals. The school district’s short term goals for Blendedschools are:

1. Provide resources for our teachers to enrich their curricular and instructional repertoire.

2. RASD will use Blendedschools to teach the school district’s alternative education students

3. RASD will offer “credit recovery” for seniors who did not graduate because they failed a class their senior year. This option will start the week of July 5th.

4. Teachers will be able to place their curriculum on Blendedschools enrich the learning experiences for their students.

In the long term, I believe that Blendedschools will allow RASD to position itself to meet the future of education. The importance of an online presence is important for two reasons:

1. Parents are increasingly “shopping” for the best educational opportunities for their children. The impact on public schools is enormous. Public schools must offer educational opportunities that will expand and enrich the student’s educational experiences. In years to come, I believe that location will not be the determining factor about where students will attend school. Rather, parents will place their students in learning environments that they believe will benefit their students the most. A virtual presence puts RASD in that position.

2. RASD wants to provide the best 21st century learning opportunities for students. To me, a 21st century learning environment is one in which the students and teachers are taking advantage of the information available on the internet and the enhanced collaboration opportunities available in a virtual environment.

I hope this makes sense to you. I am really excited about the future of education and what it means for RASD.

A great Video On What The Future of Education Could Be

2010-06-29T12:30:00.000-04:00

A friend forwarded this link to me. Sir Ken Robinson travels around the United States and the world discussing the importance of Arts and creativity for young minds. He believes that children are getting short changed in the current educational system because many schools are starting to cut the Arts and other opportunities for creativity. He believes that the opportunity to create something is an absolute must for children. I happen to agree. As we look into the future, workers that thrive will be those that are creating something. It may be a piece of artwork, a business, an organization, a school...anything; but the creative process will be used. There are school systems in the United States today that are so stressed about meeting the requirements from a high-stake test that they are limiting the curriculum that children receive to only those subjects that are tested on these tests. What a shame. Schools must help students thrive in a democratic society and teaching students to take a test and limiting their learning opportunities to match a test will not accomplish that goal. Click on the link and listen to the video. It is 50 minutes well spent.

The Future of Learning…What Does It Mean?

2010-06-24T12:08:00.000-04:00

I have given a lot of thought recently about how schools educate students. I believe that there needs to be a significant change in the United States about how we educate students. This blog post from the Knowledge Works Foundation starts the conversation:

A world of learning

The vision emerging from our study of the future doesn’t much resemble the industrial-era world of schooling most of us know. Instead, we foresee a world of learning where:

• Education centers on the needs of learners, not those of institutions. Teaching is tailored to an individual student’s needs and abilities.

• Learners take charge of their education. Students and families seek out information and experiences from an array of sources rather than depending on schools to direct their learning.

• Children gain 21st-century knowledge and skills – how to make decisions, solve problems and create solutions – through hands-on experiences that cross subject areas and are connected to the real world.

• Success is judged through a wide array of measures that account for different learning styles and assess capabilities and progress, not simply acquisition of knowledge.

• All learners have easy access to technology and other tools that open doors to information and knowledge.

• Learners are supported in all parts of their lives, with physical, emotional and social health being nurtured alongside intellectual growth.

• Teachers are more than content specialists. The teaching profession diversifies to include such roles as learning coaches, classroom coordinators, cognitive specialists, resource managers and community liaisons.

• Learning isn’t limited to a physical place or time of day, but is mobile and constant, with wireless technologies allowing learning anywhere and anytime.

This envisoning for education is a radical departure from what we have today in K-12 education. However, a radical departure is what public education needs. I am haunted by the students that are "lost" in the current schooling system because there is no meaning in school for them. Systemically public education must change. I will write more in later blogs about this subject.

Lance Corporal Michael G. Plank

2010-06-21T10:04:00.000-04:00

Please allow me to stray a little bit from the usual blog topics to talk about one of my students that I had as a guidance counselor at Elkland high school. Michael plank came into the school his senior year. Think about coming into a new school during your senior year and “starting all over again”. Mike handled the situation very well. He did well in school, worked hard and was always respectful. In other words, he was a “good kid”. He graduated from school in 2004. After graduation he got a job and became a “good man”. He joined the United States Marine Corps in February 2009. He shipped out to Afghanistan in March of 2010. He was killed in action on June 9th, 2010. My wife (who taught him in class) and I went to the funeral yesterday. What a sad event. The funereal was simply heartbreaking for a lot of reasons. I was impressed with the outpouring of support from the community. People lined the streets as the funeral ended and the funeral procession made its way to the cemetery. It is the least we could do to show our appreciation. I often hear the word “hero” bantered around quite a bit. I am particularly upset when I hear the word used to describe athletes. I have never really tried to devise my own definition of “hero”, but I am going to try now in an attempt to describe the late Lance Corporal Michael G. Plank. A hero is someone that is willing to sacrifice their comfort (or their life) for the betterment of others in their society or community. By that definition, Mike is hero. Rest in Peace Mike.

The funeral offered my wife and me a chance to see and talk to some of the students that we taught in Elkland. Many of our ex-students that we saw at the funeral were the students that easily slip through cracks in school. They did not get into too much trouble, but they do not thrive in the school system either. These are good “kids” who just did not see a benefit to schooling the way it was offered to them. I feel sad that our school system in the United States does not meet the needs of a lot of our students. Michael Plank was one of those students that the school system could have done a better job to try to reach. Many of his friends were also in the same category. I think of the book Hallowing Out the Middle where the authors point out that rural school systems in the United States often put a majority of their resources into programs for students who will not end up living in the community. In other words, a school’s resources are spent on students who will go away to college and never come back. The authors argue that a rural school system should spend their resources on the students (like Mike) who will stay in the area and contribute to the local community. It is an interesting concept and one that I think needs to be explored further. If we do not start this conversation then there will continue to be those students who simply do not thrive in our school systems.

Food Insecurity

2010-06-17T08:55:00.000-04:00

This summer RASD is providing a "hot" lunch for all of the participants in the summer parks program. The summer parks program meets three days a week at the three different parks in the borough. The program is operated by teachers and aids and the students spend the day doing different crafts and other fun activities. The program is a huge success and there can be close to 100 children participate on any given day. This year our food service director, Rena Urmann, discovered that the school district qualified for funding from the Federal government to provide a hot lunch during the summer parks program. The school district qualified for the program because our elementary school climbed over the threshold of 50% of our students who qualified for a free or reduced lunch. The government will reimburse close to $3.00 a meal for every meal that we serve. At this rate, the school district plans on serving up to 100 lunches a day that will be free to all the children. The district will have to hire two people to cook and serve the lunches. This cost will be reimbursed by the government.

I am very grateful that Rena discovered this program and that the government recognizes the importance of providing food for children during the summer. Making sure the children and their families have a certain amount of "security" knowing that good, nutritious food will be served is reassuring for me. The opportunity to provide a nutritious lunch for students during the summer is something I believe is an appropriate service for the school district.

Interesting conversation

2010-06-15T12:42:00.000-04:00

On Sunday I was purchasing tires for our vehicle when I had an interesting conversation with one of the managers of the tire store. As he was ringing up my sale a mechanic from the garage came in and asked him a question about a car. Without seeing the car, the manager asked two simple questions; what year is the vehicle and what sound did it make when the brakes were applied when he took it for a test run. Based on that information, the manager was able to limit the possible problems, and offer solutions for the problems. I was amazed. The amount of knowledge and information in the manager's brain was spectacular. I asked him how long he had been working as a mechanic and he told me 20 years. He then went on to say that he wished he would have paid attention in school so he would not have to do his job. He said that statement in such a way that it took me by surprise. I told him that most people who paid attention in school would not be able to diagnose a problem like he had just done. He just kind of looked at me.

My point in telling the story is that formal schooling often just reflects what the dominant culture views as "smart" or "good". This man has an amazing amount of knoweldge and he can apply that knowledge to unique situations. A worthy goal for all educators. It is too bad that all of the people out there that have all of this wonderful information feel that they are failures because schooling did not engage them. Our goal at RASD is to try to engage all students. This is a big goal, and we are not there yet. However, we have an obligation to keep trying!

By the way, I am at the beach having a great time!

Preliminary PSSA Scores

2010-06-10T15:30:00.000-04:00

I have the very raw numbers from the PSSA tests…I am very pleased. I will offer you a brief review. I have spent about four hours looking through the data today, but I need another four or five to really get a deep understanding of the data.

For a recap: The PSSA tests are a required test under the No Child Left Behind law (all public schools must take them). Students can score in one of four categories: Advanced, Proficient, Basic and Below Basic. Schools must have 63% of the students in the upper two categories in Reading, and 56% of the students in those categories in Math. Those percentages will increase next year.

Overall, 83% of our students (students in grades 3,4,5,6,7,8, and 11) on the Math test scored advanced or proficient (an increase of 9% compared to last year). 70% of our students scored advanced and proficient in Reading (an increase of 1% compared to last year).

The largest increase in scores occurred in 11th grade. Last year 43% of the students scored proficient or advanced on the test, while this year 75% scored that high. In 7th grdade, 93% of the students were advanced or proficient in math...a really good number!

The staff and the students worked very hard this year to achieve these results. I am very proud of them. I also believe that the focus the school board has placed on student achievement and instruction has helped
immensely.

RASD Graduation

2010-06-07T15:10:00.000-04:00

The Ridgway Area School District held graduation on Friday night June 4th. There were 59 graduates. The ceromony went very well and lasted for just over an hour. The graduating class will now enter the "real world". I believe that Ridgway has done a good job preparing our graduates for the 21st Century. Time will tell how well the school district did in this endevour. Some vital statistics about the graduating class: 53% of the class will attend a 4 year college; 22% will attend a 2 year college; 5% will go into the military; and 20% are undecided. The school district has some work to do to make sure the percentage of "undecided" students is not quite so high in the future.

Since it is summertime, I will only be updating the blog on Monday and Thursday. There may be times when I update more often if there is something important to add. Speaking of which, the school district hopes that the preliminary PSSA results will be available to the district on Thursday. I will have those numbers for you when they arrive.

Grace and Responsibility

2010-06-03T07:58:00.000-04:00

Last night a baseball pitcher for the Detroit Tigers came within one out of a “perfect game”. A perfect game is when the pitcher faces the minimum number of batters in a game. In other words, the pitcher faces 27 batters and all 27 do not reach first base for any reason. To pitch a perfect game is very difficult. As a matter of fact, there have only been 20 perfect games thrown in the history of baseball (over 100 years). There is a great honor for a pitcher to throw a perfect game and will often be the highlight of that pitchers entire career. Why am I talking about baseball and perfect games?

The pitcher last night, Armando Galarraga, was one out away from throwing a perfect game. On the last (27th) out of the game there was a close play at first base. Replays showed that the runner was out. However, the umpire called the runner safe. Thus, Galarraga lost his attempt at a perfect game through a bad call by the umpire. Galarraga got the next batter out ending the game. His teammates and manager accosted the umpire as he was leaving the field because they had seen the replays in the clubhouse that showed the batter was out. Galarraga, said nothing.

This is where I believe the story gets interesting.

In an interview after the game, Galarraga simply said “He (the umpire) probably felt more bad than me," Galarraga said. Smiling, he added, “Nobody’s perfect.” A blown call had just cost him a chance at baseball immortality. His name would be included with the greats of baseball and it was taken away from him. But he did not complain; he did not trash the umpire; he did not throw a fit; he simply responded with grace and dignity. That tells me more about the man than a baseball game. To show grace in that situation is a wonderful example for all of our children (and adults) within the school system. On the other side of the coin, the umpire responded with incredible forthrightness. After the game, once he saw the replay he immediately went and personally apologized to Galarraga and his manager. He then faced the national media and admitted his mistake; “I just cost that kid a perfect game,” Joyce told reporters in Detroit. “I thought he beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw, until I saw the replay. It was the biggest call of my career.” He took responsibility for the call and admitted his mistake. His reaction tells me more about the man than one bad call. By taking responsibility and admitting a mistake the umpire set an example for kids to follow. How the pitcher and the umpire handled this situation isa model for behavior that all of should follow. I hope that RASD will teach students grace and responsibility through actions by the adults in the system and not merely in a theoretical sense.

Five Year Budget Projection

2010-06-02T09:30:00.000-04:00

The school board directors will have a final vote on the school district budget next Tuesday. I have written quite a bit about some of the outside forces that impact the school budget. You can find those here, here, and here. Today, in a very brief blog, I will discuss what the school district's budget will look like in five years if the school district keeps the status quo. The school district purchased a budget planning model so the board would be able to see how different scenarios impact the budget over the next five years. The budget planning model was provided by Education Financial Decisions. The model allows the school district to input different budget scenarios by controlling inputs in different areas of the budget. For example, the school district can input what we anticipate the insurance increase will be over a few years and then evaluate how that affects the budget. There are many areas of the budget that we can control. The problem is the areas that the school district does not control. The two biggest are the increase in the pension fund and the anticipated decrease in state funding. I am sharing with you the scenario that just keeps the district at the status quo. Keeping the status quo means not raising taxes and maintaining the present staffing level. As you can see when you open up the file, the school district will have a deficit of almost 7 million dollars if the school district does nothing different. That number reflects using the school districts entire fund balance of over 2 million dollars. Obviously, there will have to be changes in the way the school operates and how the community funds the school if RASD will stay viable. The school district will meet this financial challenge while increasing student achievement over the next five years.

Chicken Tractor

2010-06-01T07:56:00.000-04:00

I had the pleasure to listen to a band that was in Ridgway on Saturday night. The band was called Chicken Tractor and they played traditional Americana music. They were invited to Ridgway because of Ridgway’s burgeoning reputation as a place for artistic creativity. In other words, someone believes that different kinds of bands playing different kinds of music would be well received in Ridgway. I have discussed in a previous blog posts how I think Ridgway is becoming an artistic community. Being known as an artistic community is a very positive thing. Being artistic implies creating something. Whether it is a piece of art or music, when someone can start with nothing and end with something they have created that is almost magical. The creative process should be used in everything that we do every day. Practicing the creative process in the schools, or in the community at large, will benefit the schools and communities. And besides, the band was great!

RASD Cafeteria Information

2010-05-28T10:15:00.000-04:00

I want to discuss a “hidden gem” in our school system. Our cafeteria serves breakfast and lunch to our students that exceed the current nutritional guidelines for school breakfast/lunch. The school district has a very high participation rate for lunches with almost 85% of our students purchasing lunches from the cafeteria. Approximately 250 students buy breakfast from the cafeteria and around 850 students buy lunch every day. The cafeteria offers a wide variety of choices to our students every day including fresh fruit and vegetables. 51% of our students qualify for a free/reduced rate based on the income of their parents.

The cafeteria employs 11 employees with 6 full-time and 5 part-time. The school district gets reimbursed from the federal government for every student that qualifies for a free meal. The school district is reimbursed $2.78 for every lunch served to a student that qualifies for a free lunch and $1.56 for a breakfast. The price of a breakfast for a student is $1.00 in the high school and .90 in the elementary school while lunch is $1.60 in the high school and $1.35 in the elementary school. You will notice that the school district is reimbursed more from the Federal government than what we charge our students. There is a proposal in Congress to force all schools to charge all lunches at the reimbursement rate for a free student. If that passes, that would force the school district to increase lunch prices for all students. I am very proud of our cafeteria. The food is nutritionally sound and tastes good. There is a variety of foods for students to choose from and the cafeteria exceeds the State nutritional guidelines.

Student "Growth" this year

2010-05-26T08:30:00.000-04:00

I want to share some data that the school district has gathered concerning student growth through the school year. There are many forms of data that a school system can use to judge how well they are doing. Benchmark assessment data is one of these forms of data. Other forms of data that a school can use are alumni surveys, student surveys, SAT scores, college admittance information, and analysis of budgetary expenses relating to student instruction. I have included a presentation that I shared with the school board last night that shows the growth that students have made according to benchmark data the school has collected. The data helps inform decisions teachers make when considering instruction and curriculum. Overall, the district has shown remarkable growth of its students. This is a reflection of the hard work of the staff, the focus the district has placed on curriculum and research-based instructional strategies, and a Board focus on student achievement. I am hopeful that this kind of benchmark data will continue to show dramatic growth over the next few years. Although this data analysis in not too in-depth, it does show that the district's concentration on student achievement is starting to pay off.

School Transformation

2010-05-25T08:24:00.000-04:00

Today I will finish the topic of transformation in the school system. Transformation of the system means that public education will “look” fundamentally different then it does today. The basic assumptions that we hold for how students are taught should change. Deep transformation will take some time, but I will briefly explain how Ridgway Area School District will position itself to start the transformation process.

How will Ridgway Area School District start the transformation process?

1. Organizations must become more open and transparent and that includes public education. People demand to know how public institutions are operated and demand to have more input then in the past. With that in mind, the elementary school will institute a parent academy next year which will offer a space for parents to interact more informally with the school. The elementary principal, Mrs. Herzing, is also exploring “parent liaison committees” which will be another way for parents to have more input into what goes on in the school. At the high school Mrs. Vargas has started a student advisory group which has been very influential in making suggestions concerning the governance of the school. The student’s suggestions can be found in my blog on May 12th.

2. There must be a focus on student achievement. It goes without saying that a focus on student achievement is also a focus on student learning and teacher instruction. The school district has focused on instruction this year through intense training of the teaching staff on research-based instructional strategies that improve student achievement. The school district is also asking all teachers to create “benchmark assessments”. Benchmark assessments are a fancy name for creating a local test that truly measures what was taught in the classroom. Benchmark assessments are created by grade level or subject area teams of teachers working together so each student will be judged on the same criteria regardless of what teacher they may have had. In the best of all possible worlds, benchmark assessments are used to adjust instruction throughout the year. In other words, if too many students do not do well on the assessment, then the teacher will need to re-teach the concept using different instructional strategies.

3. Fostering student creativity and problem solving must be a focus for Ridgway Area School District. I hear from community members as well as teachers about the lack of problem solving capabilities of students. The school must start to adjust the way we think about being creative and solving problems. Creativity is not something that must be confined to music or art classes. All curriculum areas in all grade levels must offer opportunities for students to show their creative side. The school district shows off our music and art students’ creativity through concerts and exhibitions. The schools must now do the same for the student who finds a creative solution to a problem in math, social studies, foreign language and all curricular areas. Stanford University has a great model in their K-12 lab. The students and teachers all follow “design thinking” which centers on identifying and solving real world problems. That model would be great for Ridgway Area School District. The school district currently uses community resources to try to help students become more creative (Appalachian Arts Studio) but expanding the school’s reach into other community venues is a must.

Transformation vs. Reform

2010-05-24T09:33:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago I was discussing the difference between school reform and school transformation with someone from the Knowledge Works Foundation . I have thought about this difference a lot in the past few weeks and I want to share with you my ideas of school transformation and what I think it means for Ridgway Area School District. I will discuss the specifics of why I think a transformative period in public education is occurring in a later blog; this blog will be concerned about the difference between reform and transformation.

Reform has become a “tired” word in education. Books have been written explaining why reform efforts in public education have not worked. The best of these, in my opionion, is Tinkering Toward Utopia by David Tyack and Larry Cuban . In the past, reforms have been created and developed in a “cookie cutter” model. Usually a well meaning researcher or organization creates programs that works well in one locality then “scale-up” the reform and offer it to the rest of the country. Oftentimes the reforms are forced on school districts through either the state or national departments of education. The result is that there is not a “buy-in” from the local school districts and the reform (no matter how viable it is) is not implemented with fidelity. The end result is a muddled process of reform that does not really change anything within the school district.

The contrast to reform that is forced on a school district is transformation of a school district created by the stakeholders of the school district. It seems obvious that if one wants a system like public education to actually change, then there must be input from the people in the local school district. A community and school district must have leadership that believes that a radical transformation can take place and then nurture the change to make sure it occurs. With transformation there is no “cookie cutter”, one size fits all solutions. Rather, there are thousands of permutations of what change can look like in the school district. I believe that all change must be focused on the question “what is in the best interest of the student”. Transformation cannot occur for the benefit of administrators, teachers or well meaning reformist. The students in the schools must be the focus of transformation. Tomorrow I will discuss transformation more deeply. I hope this blog helped delineate the difference between reform and transformation. I hope that we are positioning Ridgway to move forward and start the process of true transformation. Our initiatives that have been implemented will assist in this process.

The Invention of Air

2010-05-21T07:51:00.000-04:00

Today I want to talk about a book that I read over Christmas called The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson. The book is about Joseph Priestley and the origins of modern chemistry (basically, Priestley started modern chemistry). What I find fascinating about the story is the interconnectedness between what Priestley accomplished and the people he associated with and the times in which he lived. I don’t know if he would have been able to accomplish what he did if those two factors were not in play. I will blog about connections and networks on Monday and Priestley’s life story is a testament to the power of interconnectedness. One of the ideas that comes from the book is how to use “conversations with self” to allow ideas to form and change over time. Writing ideas down on paper is a great way to remember them so you can go back and change them and adjust them to new frameworks and information. We spend so little time today as a society allowing ourselves to just sit and think. We believe that we always have to be entertained or working and we do not allow our own genius to develop. Einstein “Any man that reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking”. Now, I may disagree with the reading too much part of this quote, but not using our brains enough is an interesting point. Priestley and his colleagues would meet at a coffee house (Ben Franklin was part of this group while he lived in London) and discuss topics and debate ideas. The end result was a revolution in science. This is a fascinating book and I highly recommend it. I wrote a summary of the book and framed it for rural education leaders. One last interesting note, Priestley moved to the United States and is buried in Northumberland, PA.

Dr. Butler Goes to Washington

2010-05-20T10:03:00.000-04:00

I apologize for not blogging over the last two days. I was in Washington DC and I forgot how to mobile blog. Today I want to talk about my testimony in front of the House Committee on Education and Labor. You can find the link to the testimony here. You can view the testimony by clicking on "Archived webcast". My written testimony was more detailed than my verbal testimony. Each witness only has five minutes to speak so you have to cut your official written testimony down to a five minute mark. I will have my verbal remarks for you later. I was asked to offer a small, rural school district perspective about the reauthorization of ESEA (No Child Left Behind). Please read my written testimony to better if you want to better understand my point of view. I will provide a short overview of the testimony below.

The major theme of my testimony was that collaboration and teacher professional learning is a key component to any successful school reform. I feel that Ridgway Area School District has had a long history of stakeholders working together to improve student learning. I also stressed the importance of teacher professional learning and that school districts should encourage professional learning on the part of the teachers. I believe that the school district’s teacher supervision plan is a good example of something that was created to encourage collaboration and teacher professional learning. I also recommended to the committee that broadband service is a must for rural school districts. Beyond broadband access, school districts also need the technology infrastructure within the schools to take advantage of the high quality broadband service. Broadband service begins to level the playing field for rural school districts as we can provide better learning opportunities for our students and high quality professional learning for our teachers. I will have more pictures from the trip after I download them from the camera. The picture today was taken from my smartphone. My goal for the trip was that people in Washington would know about Ridgway Area School District and about the great community that we live in, I feel comfortable that I accomplished this task.

One final note, the hospitality and assistance that Congressman Thompson’s office gave to my family and me during the trip was impressive and appreciated. The Congressman spent time talking with me about education and the reauthorization of ESEA, but more importantly took his time and talked with my kids. He now has a new (younger) fan base! I also want to thank the staff from the Congressman’s office (Deborah Pontzer, Darrell, and Matt) for helping me through the testimony process and making sure that I only had to concentrate on my testimony.

Tree Cutting and a Physics Lesson

2010-05-17T08:10:00.000-04:00

Okay, yesterday my family (and other interested by-standers) was entertained by watching a huge red oak tree near my house being cut down. Normally, this may not seem to be such an educational lesson, but this picture will probably help you see how physics and other physical sciences came into play in this event. I was fascinated by the amount of calculation required to determine where to place the ropes to assure that when a big limb was cut, it would hang harmlessly above the ground. My wife was explaining to our children how pulleys work. One man could lower a limb that weighed over one thousand pounds and place it on the ground without leaving a mark. I encouraged my children and any other kids that were around to watch because they were witnessing a perfect physics experiment in “real life”. Other than the fact that this work is very demanding physically, one has to be sharp intellectually to do well. I am happy to report that there was no major damage to anything as a result of taking the tree down.

On another note, I will attempt to “mobile blog” again over the next two days. I am going to Washington DC to testify before the House Committee on education and Labor. I will be offering a “rural perspective” on turnaround schools and the proposed reform models from the US Department of Education. I am looking forward to the opportunity to have a voice for rural school systems across the nation.

Transparency and "Beta" status

2010-05-14T08:00:00.000-04:00

I have been thinking a lot about transparency in our educational system. I have mentioned before that I believe society (and by default the educational system) has started to change in ways that has not been seen for hundreds of years. We are on the forefront of a foundational shift in how people interact with each other, how we learn, what we do for a living, and what are relationships will be to large governmental agencies and multinational corporations. The linchpin for this change (at least for our school district) is a sense of transparency. There must be transparency at every level of the organization and transparency is a two way street. To effectively provide a quality 21st Century education for our students the administration, teachers, parents, and students must feel as if we all acting on the same information. For this reason, I will be conducting open, honest budget conversations with the staff of the school. This will allow the staff to act within the same framework of knowledge that the administration does.
Students are also an important part of this equation. The reason the school is here at all (and that w ein the system have jobs) is because of the students. They should be aware and have some say in what the educational system looks like. As a matter of fact, for our schools to thrive in the 21st century the participation by the students will be a must. This transparency goes deeper than just a public relations stunt. Transparency allows everyone to have a stake in the health of the organization and lets an organization experiment with different leadership and organizational models. This “beta” status will help Ridgway Area School District thrive as we navigate the seismic shifts in education and society at large.

Communication

2010-05-12T11:17:00.000-04:00

One of the school board non-negotiable goals for instruction and achievement concentrated on communication. At the high school that goal was used to start a conversation with students about their experience in the school. Mrs. Vargas also started the conversation with the faculty and coaches so the school district can start to become more open and transparent for everyone. A brochure that Mrs. Vargas created highlights what was learned from these conversations and some of the actions that have been taken because of the knowledge. I hope you learn something from the brochure and appreciate the efforts the school district is starting to undertake to allow all stakeholders to have a "voice" in their school.

Middle School Science Fair

2010-05-11T07:24:00.000-04:00

The Ridgway Area Middle School held its annual 7th grade Science Fair on May 5, 2010. Approximately fifty science projects were on display in the middle school main hallway. The students in the photo were awarded first place ribbons by the judges. (L to R: Beth Renaud, Allie Oknefski, and KiKi Jacobs). Renaud and Oknefski received a ribbon for their project “How Scary Movies Affect Your Heart Rate and Blood Pressure.” Jacobs received a ribbon for her project “Translucent Egg.” Congratulations to all of the participants , Mr. Martino, and Ms. Glass on a successful Science Fair.

Congratulations to all participants!

School Board Meeting Tomorrow

2010-05-10T11:01:00.000-04:00

The next meeting for the Ridgway Area School District Board of Directors is tomorrow at 6:30 in the elementary school cafeteria. Here is the tentative agenda for the meeting. The May meeting is always busy because the board votes on items for the following year. Positions such as solicitor, treasurer and substitute teachers are voted on at the meeting. I am also very pleased to let everyone know that we will be honoring some of our outstanding high school students at the meeting. Every month we honor a "student of the month" for each school, but this month we will also honor students who have won honors academically and athletically. It should be a great time.

Finally, the school district's budget will not be voted on at this meeting. The board and administration continue to work on the budget and there will be a final approval at the June Board meeting. The preliminary budget still includes a one mill tax increase to serve as an insurance policy in case the school district loses the lawsuit concerning occupational taxes that one of the board members has filed.

Skyping

2010-05-07T08:20:00.000-04:00

Yesterday our Yearbook staff (under the direction of Mrs. Buhite) had an opportunity to learn how to write from a professional sports writer. The Yearbook staff used the communication tool Skype to talk with Frank Isola from the New York Daily News. Mr. Isola covers the New York Knicks for the newspaper. The students wanted to learn tips about how they could improve their writing since they are writing so much for the yearbook. By using Skype, the students were able to hear and see Mr. Isola and they could interact with him in real time. Mrs. Buhite was very happy with what the students learned and believes that it was a very valuable educational experience for the students. The students reflected on their experience as well. It is interesting that one bit of advice that Mr. Isola gives is that the best way to improve your writing is by simply writing more. That advice makes me think about an earlier blog where I discussed how anyone can improve in anything by simply practicing. The blog talked about how it takes 10,000 hoyurs of purposeful practice to become an "expert" in something.
Good job Mrs. Buhite and the Yearbook staff!!

The Mighty Elker Band

2010-05-06T07:40:00.001-04:00

The school district's band director, Mr. Hoffman, has created a wonderful web site that I want to share with you. On the web site you will find all sorts of information about the Elker band. You can even listen to recordings of their band concerts under the "rehearsals" tab...how neat is that? I hope you enjoy the music! It is wonderful to experience something that students have created.

The Coming Financial Storm Part 2

2010-05-05T09:48:00.000-04:00

I have heard a lot in the news lately about how the “teacher” pension fund will bankrupt school districts across the nation. The simple fact is that there is a crisis in Pennsylvania with the pension fund, but I think it is important to understand how the pension fund got into such a dire situation. I think it is important to know some simple facts about what employees are included in the pension fund (at least as I understand it). The pension fund (the Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System), includes teachers, all support staff, state employees (and interestingly enough) Pennsylvania law makers. There are over 600,000 members (both active and inactive) currently in the pension system. For educators, the benefits include a “multiplier” of 2.5%. What this means is that once a retiree reaches full retirement age (62 years old or 35 years of service) they will receive a pension payment based on the following formula: number of years in service X 2.5, this number is then changed to a percentage. The next calculation is the average salary of the last three years of work for a retiree. Once that number is calculated, the percentage from the first calculation is applied and that is what the retiree will receive. So, for example, if a retiree is at full retirement, you multiply 35 (years of service) X 2.5 which equals 87.5. If the average salary over the last three years of service was $60,000, then calculation is 87.5% of $60,000, which is $52,500. This is what the retiree would receive in benefits. I will not get into more of the rules and penalties that are involved if someone does not reach full retirement, but suffice to say that there are penalties if one does not reach full retirement age. I believe the multiplier for state lawmakers is 3.0. So now that you understand a little bit more about what the benefits are, how did the state get into the current crisis?

The pension is funded in two ways: employee contributions and employer contributions. The employee contributes a percentage of their income to the fund and the employer contributes a percentage of the employee’s income to the fund also. The State then reimburses the local school district for half of their contributed amount. For employees within the school system, the rate of their contribution is 7.5% if you were employed after 1983 and 6.25% if you were employed before 1983. Employees have actually contributed more to the fund since 1999. The percentage that the employers contribute has fluctuated greatly over the past ten years. This fluctuation is where (I believe) the crisis has its start. State lawmakers determine what the percentage will be that the employers will contribute. This chart provides historical data showing that in 1997-1998 a drastic decrease in employer contributions started to occur. Again, this was a policy change made at the State level. It is also obvious to anyone who has tried to balance a checkbook, that if you put less money into your account eventually you will run out of money or you will have to start putting more money into the account. For awhile, PSERS investments were doing so well that those earnings masked the fact that the contribution rate was decreased. However, with the economic downturn, those investments are not doing as well. This is the risk one takes when you rely on the “magic” of the market for your income. To make up for the years when policy makers felt that the employers did not have to contribute much money to the system, school districts are now going to have to make up for that lack of contributions. The percentage rates that the school districts will have to contribute (remember half of that is reimbursed by the State) will increase dramatically over the next few years. This increase will have a distressing effect on school budgets across the State. For Ridgway, the district anticipates a $500,000 dollar increase in our share of the pension contribution.

I hear policymakers want to blame the school districts for “giving up the store” as far as benefits for their employees. However, as you can see from this blog, policy making at the state level (as determined by employer contribution rates that school district are required to follow) has played a big part in the pension crisis that will occur over the next few years. The pension crisis is another piece to the puzzle that will impact how education is provided to our communities. I am excited to work through these problems and look forward to improving the educational services for our students and community.

The Coming Financial Storm

2010-05-04T12:55:00.000-04:00

Today I will start to discuss a topic that is important for the school district and the community. That topic is the state of the school district’s finances. The folowing comments are my reflections on what has happened and does not reflect any official position. First of all, Ridgway Area School District is positioned very well for the financial storm that Pennsylvania school districts will face in the coming years. RASD will have no debt service after the next budget year. In personal finance terms, the school district will have no outstanding loans. This is obviously a good thing. The school district also has a healthy fund balance. State law prevents school districts from putting too much money in the fund balance; however, the school district has designated parts of the fund balance for projects and budgetary items that will increase over the next few years. With all of that being said, as I stated in an earlier blog, there are signs of stress in the budget. Namely, the school district has had to use money from the fund balance to balance the budget. You can equate this to using your savings account at home to pay your monthly bills; eventually the money will not be available. While I am proud about the state of our local financial situation, I have concerns about the state and national financial situation. Today I will focus my comments on how Pennsylvania used federal stimulus funds to balance the state educational budget.

When the financial crisis hit in the Fall of 2008 all areas of the economy were impacted. Almost immediately, state revenues began to drop sharply. The result was the states were not going to be able to balance a budget for the 2009-2010 budget year. In response, the federal government enacted what is commonly referred to as the “stimulus plan”. Although the stimulus money went to various entities, I will limit my comments to how the state used the money in the education budget. As a historical note, in the past, Pennsylvania usually increased educational spending between 2%-3% a year. This would translate into a 2-3% increase (generally speaking) in the money that school districts would receive in basic educational funding (BEF). Because of the economy, Pennsylvania could not continue that level of funding for education without using the stimulus money. In the 2009-2010 budget year, Pennsylvania increased educational spending by 300 million dollars, but decreased the state’s share of the budget by 300 million dollars. In other words, Pennsylvania used 600 million dollars of stimulus finds. This was an admirable thing to do for education. However, it created a “cliff” where Pennsylvania would have to double their contribution to educational funding in the next budget year ($600 million)) just to stay “level”. The Governor’s proposed budget for 2010-2011 for education includes a state increase of 300 million while still using $600 million of stimulus money. What this means is that in the following budget year (2011-2012) the state would still have to come up with $600 million “new” dollars to “level fund” the educational budget. I am skeptical about the possibilities of that occurring.
What do these numbers mean for RASD? If the state does not include a level funding formula in the 2001-2012 budget, RASD will have $600,000 less in our basic educational funding. This is a significant decrease in funding for the school district. While the school district contemplates this loss of revenue, there will also be a financial burden caused by the employee pension crisis. I will explain this crisis in tomorrow’s blog, but the school district may realize an additional $500,000 in expenditures in three years as a result of the pension crisis. If you add the $165,000 that we used from the fund balance to use in our budget, you will see that the district may have to find over a million dollars in program cuts and different sources of revenue. This will be a challenge, but a challenge that the district will be able to endure. There will be tough decisions to make concerning the budget but I firmly believe that the school district will be able to increase the capacity to help students in the future.