141 Davis Street, Greenfield, MA 01301, 413.772.1300 (voice), 413.774.7940 (fax)

Superintendent's Journal
Year 4: 2011-2012

Week beginning January 1, 2012
(Introduction to the Superintendent Journal)

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Tuesday, January 31, 2012: Cleaning House; Math Night @ GMS; 6th Grade Penpals Needed; Parent Letters; High School News

Cleaning House
You would never know from our offices that we value going paperless. There is so much paper! Boxes and boxes of files from prior years. We are trying to go through things and clear out, but the job is daunting. In every closet there are cases of papers. A box a week is our goal. Today Becky found a 2005 parent survey. I found notes of old negotiations sessions. Someone today noticed that a little bit of desk is showing. Progress.

Math Night @ GMS
Schools are sometimes measured by parent participation. And it's so important to children that their parents come to their school and see their work. Tonight the elementary classes at GMS had a fabulous math night. Several hundred parents and children attended. Associate Principal Melodie Goodwin planned the evening with faculty, our cafeteria personnel, and the Parents Association. They had dinner for all these people. The PTO brought desert. And then it was Math Night.

I heard it was absolutely great and I'm sorry I couldn't attend. Sounds like a great outpouring of parents and students. That says something. It takes a long time for parents to feel that their participation is important. It really is important.

6th Grade Penpals Needed
Rahima Wade had a goal—the best 6th-grade penpal program ever. And we only need 30 more adult community penpals for each student to have someone. I signed up Jay Fidanza at WHAI. Why not? We need to find a few more adults, perhaps people who are not yet connected to our schools. Each person will be assigned a grade 6 penpal. There is one book selected that all the grade 6 children and all the penpal adults will read. Then they will write to each other about the book and their thoughts. It's such an interesting book. Someone older would appreciate reading about the hard times the young main character lived through. Our students will practice writing and thinking. It's going to be just what Rahima has dreamed it could be. So sign up. There's still a few weeks to sign up.

Parent Letters
We have three letters almost ready to go out to parents and I received three parent letters today.

One letter going out to all parents is about our upcoming Film Festival. Forms for submitting a film will be sent with film-making rules so everyone is informed. We have two other informational letters going out to parents.

And I appreciate and have received three letters over two days. We learn from every comment. One parent wrote: "Please, save us a space in the Math & Science Academy." We are starting to accept applications, now. Another parent wrote a request for kindergarten. And a third letter was a concerned parent, saying that when a child doesn't feel well the teacher should send the child to the nurse. I couldn't agree more. We'll send a reminder to all our teachers that if a child mentions not feeling well, let the nurse check it out.

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We talked about the school nurse issue several times today. And we agree with the parent—the nurse is in the school to check out children who say they do not feel well. If one student wants to go see the nurse all the time, then maybe we need to check on what's happening, but otherwise the nurse is there to be a health consultant, in a way. I'm glad the parent wrote in because it gave us a chance to check on our guidelines. Parent feedback is helpful.

High School News
Tonight we had back-to-back meetings with the architects for the new high school. Here is the latest (it probably will be in the news tomorrow). Our architects submitted the final plan to the MSBA in December, and then last Thursday or Friday, they learned that the MSBA was not going to approve any more schools with courtyards. And the MSBA did not want bathrooms inside a group of classrooms—just out in the main hallways. So with 4 days to go to submit Greenfield's plan, architects had to redesign the school making these changes.

At 5:00 p.m., key administrators met with the architect to hear about the plan revisions and see which rooms moved from here to there in the redesign. At 6:30 p.m., the local school building committee met with the press and public present. The new design has a little softer look to me. There is a lot of natural light. After questions and answers, the committee voted to submit this plan to the MSBA.

There is not better time to take care of the high school. The borrowing rates are as low as anyone can remember, and the state is giving as much state aid as any school district can possibly receive. The majority of the local building committee are long-time residents and fairly conservative. It's important to listen to their comments about the unique opportunity Greenfield has now.

During the meeting, a half-dozen community members asked questions about energy efficiency and the track and fields. In answering the questions, we were advised of the many ways the school would address energy efficiency and other "green" attributes. In every plan, we are shown a track and learn different ways a track could be placed on the grounds. It seems that both keen community interests are being addressed. And there will be more to learn on each topic.

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Friday, January 27th, 2012: Jobs for Seniors, Jobs Available, and Other Friday Thoughts

Jobs for Seniors
Who remembers what costs they had as a senior in high school?  A few decades ago the cost was an optional class ring and the prom. But today there are costs of college testing and applications, costs for traveling to colleges or technical schools for interviews or auditions. There might be the cost of getting a car, for transportation, and a large cost is the deposit on on college or career school tuition. Not every parent pays these tabs. Many students work to earn the funds needed, including to help pay for their college tuition. There can be a lot of costs for seniors. That's why I am concerned when high schools have high charges and senior fees, even though there are senior events and senior trips that have costs to cover. Most classes start raising money in their freshman year. There's still usually a hefty amount in fees for the senior year.

I would like to be sure that cost isn't the reason a student stays away from the senior activities.  Receiving a diploma is a 13-year accomplishment. It deserves a celebration and a cap and gown for the ceremony. I think all the students should celebrate their achievement. The cost shouldn't get in the way, if it does.

New ideas for cutting costs.
In recent years people have donated promwear and schools set up a room at school so students can just go borrow something to wear. That's a good idea.

If you are really clever, you can win a $5,000 scholarship and your school will also win $5,000 if you make your prom gown and tux with duct tape! No kidding. It's a national competition. Search "duct tape tux and gown" and you'll find amazing prom clothing from duct tape. Here is an excerpt about the prom clothing duct tape competition.

COMPETITION SPONSOR
The Contest is sponsored by ShurTech Brands, LLC, 32150 Just Imagine Drive, Avon, Ohio 44011-1355 ("Sponsor").

HOW TO ENTER.
Contest participants must enter as a couple (two individuals) ("Entrant" or "Entrant Couple"). Each couple must attend a high school, home school association or other school-sanctioned prom held in 2012, wearing complete prom attire and/or accessories made using Duck® brand duct tape ("Duct Tape Prom Attire"), and submit their Contest Entry by the contest deadline. Other materials, in addition to duct tape, may be used or incorporated into the design. The prom attire must be an original creation made by the couple, and may not copy, incorporate or be based on the work of a third party – any entry as such is subject to disqualification at the discretion of Sponsor (see section entitled "No Infringement"). Contest Entries must be submitted online by going to www.stuckatprom.com and submitting the following: (1) at least one, but up to five, high-resolution color photographs (professional or amateur) of the couple together in Duct Tape Prom Attire, (2) each Entrant's first name, last name, address, city, state, zip code, phone number, e-mail address, age, high school grade level and the high school where the prom was hosted, and (3) photographer release form if the photo submission is professional (to be obtained from the photographer and uploaded with entry) (collectively "Contest Entry" or "Contest Entries" as applicable herein). Any Entrant who is a minor must notify his/her parent/guardian, have the consent of his or her parent/guardian and provide parent/guardian with the option to opt out their entry from admission in the Contest. Incomplete submissions or submissions uploaded outside of the Contest Entry Period will not be considered. Contest Entries, become the sole property of Sponsor and will not be returned. By submitting Contest Entries, Entrants agree that Contest Entries may be displayed at the Stuck at Prom website, located at www.stuckatprom.com, as provided in these Official Rules. Mail-in entries will not be accepted.

Using the following criteria ("Judging Criteria"), judges will select ten (10) Finalist Couples, who will move on to a period of online public voting:

Workmanship (30%)
Originality (25%)
Use of Color (25%)
Accessories (10%)
Use of Duct Tape (10%)

Judges will select the 10 Finalist Couples at 12:00:00 p.m. ET on June 15, 2012, at ShurTech Brands, LLC, 32150 Just Imagine Drive, Avon, Ohio USA. The decision of the judges is final and binding.

PRIZES.
Overall First Prize: Each individual member of the First Place winning couple will receive a cash scholarship of $5,000.00. The school that hosted the First Place winning couple's prom will receive a cash prize of $5,000.00. Overall Second Prize: Each individual member of the Second Place winning couple will receive a cash scholarship of $3,000.00. The school that hosted the Second Place winning couple's prom will receive a cash prize of $3,000.00. Overall Third Prize: Each individual member of the Third Place winning couple will receive a cash scholarship of $2,000.00. The school that hosted the third place winning couple's prom will receive a cash prize of $2,000.00. Overall Runners Up Prizes: Each individual member of the Runners Up winning couples will receive a cash prize of $500.00. The schools that hosted the runners up winning couples' proms will receive a cash prize of $500.00.

2011 Grand Prize Winner
(57 rolls of tape-95 hours)

7900 pictures of duct tape prom gowns!

Jobs for Seniors in Greenfield to Cover Graduation Costs
This year, I suggested we offer students the option of working off their $200 senior activity costs. Seven or eight students have said they'd like the work-it-off option. Angie Ruggeri, senior class advisor, and I are working together to link jobs to pay $200 (approx. 35 hours) to seniors who would appreciate this option. A few businesses have said they'd help provide a short-term job for a GPS senior to earn $200 and cover senior costs.

It's not easy for senior to locate jobs, so anyone who has 30-35 hours of work to support a senior—let senior class advisor Angie (angrug1@gpsk12.org) or me know.  Thanks in advance.

Jobs Available in Our Schools
We have a few jobs now—

1. tennis coach
2. custodian
3. custodian substitutes
4. teacher substitutes
5. job coaches (help students needing help on a new job for work study and even help students find jobs)
6. tutors (we have need for tutors for a few hours per day, 3 or 4 days/week.)—a good position for a retired teachers.  
7. webmaster, part-time.  We are setting up a new website for the high school building project and we need someone to connect to the meetings and post items so the process is easily available to everyone.
8. Film Camp instructors.  Three days—February 21, 22, and 23.  We are planning a 3-day minicourse for students to learn how to make a film for the film festival. We need three people for three days to offer workshops in writing a short story, speaking into a microphone, planning the movie, learning about music for mood, shooting movies, camerawork, editing. We think we could manage 20-30 students singly or in teams, working on a film design for this year's festival.
9. Personnel and Grant Administrator

Other Friday Thoughts
Liz, Kathi, and I had a long budget meeting today, going over our budget for special education. It's the best possible working condition when you can collaborate with co-workers. We talked about so many issues until we were in agreement about next year's budget.

Two roofs were leaking today—GHS and GMS. We have a quick responding team, which is very good.

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012: K-5 Planning; Remembering James "Bear" Craig

K-5 Planning & Safe Routes for Walking to School
Our K-5 elementary administrative team met today. People may not think of our grade 4 and grade 5 program in the middle school building as "elementary" because the building is big. The grade 4 and 5 program is a GEM, though—and it is definitely designed and administered as a stimulating, nurturing upper elementary school. This year we were fortunate to have Associate Principal Melodie Goodwin join our team. So our grade 4/5 program now has its own principal.

We have growth in K-5 enrollment, so today all the K-5 administrators met and talked about new ways to improve our schools and where our specialty/choice programs should be housed. Each school has a specialty program, but we are not sure each school has the right program for the space available in each school. A program that needs two rooms, for example, is in a school that has one room. And a program that needs one level is in a school that has three levels. Our specialty program with more than 6 staff is in the school with the least parking. Our basic K-5 program locations are not changing, but we may tune a little bit.

Two new ideas that surfaced are 1) recommending a feeder program for the Math & Science Academy for grades 4 and 5. There would be no requirement to continue on to the grade 6 & 7 math & science academy in our thinking. We are mulling this over. And 2) we talked about the national Safe Routes Program that creates safe walking and biking routes to school, supervised by adults. Nationally, fewer and fewer children walk to school because parents do not feel it is safe enough. So there is less and less healthy exercise each day and more and more health problems for children The Safe Routes nationally-sponsored program has "walking school buses" where adults pick up children as they walk to school on planned routes, have the signs to stop traffic for road crossing, and...maybe the adults have breakfast at the school when everyone arrives.

We talked about the awkwardness of having students enter the grade 4 & 5 program in grade 5, after staying at Federal Street for grade 4. As always, the administrators are talking about the pulse and interests of parents at each school and the best way to plan for a great education for our children, building on what is working well in Greenfield.

Remembering James "Bear" Craig
Federal Street School faculty and staff created a warm and lovely reception this evening for James "Bear" Craig who died unexpectedly on January 12th. Everyone knew that Bear or Mr. Bear, as he was called, was a favorite with children but I wasn't prepared for what may have been 300+ people who came to the reception.

Every child at Federal Street had created a sign, a picture, or a little writing which were taped to and which covered the gymnasium walls. Over and over the children wrote: "Mr. Bear was my friend." "Mr. Bear was always nice to me." "Mr. Bear encouraged me." "Mr. Bear was a hard worker." "Mr. Bear ate pickles." "Mr. Bear was friendly; I will miss him." "Mr. Bear was such a nice man."

It was not possible to walk around the room and read the little heart-felt messages from children without being very touched. He was a kind man who was like a father figure to the children in his schools. High school students showed up who remembered Mr. Bear from when they were in elementary school. Bear had worked for Greenfield as a custodian for 19 years.

Bear's family attended as did friends, neighbors, and, of course, his colleagues. One woman I met said she was in Bear's wedding. Friends of a lifetime were there. It was really a special remembrance. The artwork and messages of schoolchildren will stay up tomorrow.

Most of us do not grasp the special role of school building day custodians who interact with students all during their work hours. Yes, custodians keep the schools clean, but  they also keep our schools safe and warm in the broadest definition of the terms. At the moment all of our custodial/maintenance staff are male, and they are the father figures in elementary schools where most personnel are females. If a child stops to talk, the custodian has to have a kind, encouraging answer.

Schools refer to themselves as learning communities, and tonight you could see the community. And if Bear is somewhere watching, he must be really touched by how many people valued his life and will remember him.

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Monday, January 23, 2012:  Making Music, Seriously; Virtual School Update

Making Music, Seriously
This morning I met with three women affiliated with ArtSpace of Greenfield: the director, the president of the board, and an accomplished violinist who teaches in our Strings4Kids program.

People who have tried violin or have had children take violin know those first beginner squeaks are spine-chilling. The beginner's first sounds are a test of patience. And then… resonating tones as the player progresses. Violin. Viola. Cello. It takes time to learn a string instrument.

This is Greenfield's 4th year with a string program. We have approximately 70 students, all taught by ArtSpace and their professional musicians. With instruments, instrument repair, teachers, travel, and summer camp, the whole program for 70 to 100 students costs $30-35,000.

The program is running smoothly—free and full of children. Today we talked about the goal, and the vision for the future. ArtSpace has a clear idea. They would like to see an annual music festival one weekend where student string players from all over came together. The Student String Festival. And students from area schools, public and private, could register to have a group perform. The vision is that at least two pieces would be composed so that maybe 100 youth string players from all schools could play together, beginners and advanced.

Then, the following year (the year of the 75th Anniversary of the Pioneer Valley Symphony), perhaps a student orchestra could be launched. So the three years of lessons to start the program have gone by, now. And the 4th year (2011-2012) would launch the first Student String Festival for the county. And then in the 5th year the effort launches the area's first student orchestra.

It seemed clear from the discussion that a student orchestra should be connected to the local symphony orchestra. I had the idea that we might approach a university with a large music program or a conservatory to adopt and help launch a student orchestra.

Arts programs often survive because of a philanthropist. In earlier centuries, wealthier people, usually nobility, had paid court musicians. There was a resident composer and concert master.  And what do we need to keep this program going? After pouring over budget considerations, we calculated $15,000/year needed to keep the Strings program going.  

Spring will be fun in Greenfield. First the film festival the last week of April. Then the Student String Festival the first week in May.

Virtual School Update
School Admissions—8 students today. Why did they apply?
2 practice gymnastics 3-4 hours/day and the school schedule doesn't work
1 has migraine headaches
1 has Asperger Syndrome with high anxiety has resulted in pulling out hair
1 reported being bullied and staying all day in the principal's office, due to fear
2 seek an advanced program
1 had difficulty with attention in a large-class group

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Friday, January 20, 2012: Update: School & SOIs, Autism, & Budget

Journal
I just checked the journal counter and soon someone will be hit #200,000. I will offer to take #200,000 out to breakfast (or #200,001 if #200,000 does not emerge). Here's what I've learned about the journal:

1. The readers are forgiving and by now must know that I edit. I write late in the evenings, post early in the morning, and then read and edit for clarity and grammar the next day. I still receive helpful notes about details that need adjusting from readers. I appreciate this. It's easy to make writing errors when you are tired, particularly on the tiny laptop I use with a small screen.
2. Some people read the journal who aren't from Greenfield. I was on a plane a few months ago and in talking, mentioned working for the Greenfield Schools. The person next to me said: "Oh, I read the journal." Really? It was someone from Holyoke. I even had someone write to me about the journal from California once—an alumnus of GHS and from Seattle, an alumna of my GHS class (Galena High).
3. The readers do not complain about my sometimes dry explanations. I try to explain about schools or learning or budgeting. It takes years to understand all the details. Some day I might pull all the descriptions out and make a school admin book based on Greenfield.
4. The journal takes time and is one more thing to do. It never is really quick, even when the entry is something short. In its own way, though, writing is relaxing and can help someone unwind after a long day. You cannot think about other things when you write so the day's stress sort of slips out of your psyche while musing over the best way to word an explanation of SOIs to the MSBA.

And with that I'll get on with today's musings about SOIs to the MSBA.

Update: Schools
It's probably no surprise that recent snowfall and frigid temps require us to suspend roof work. If we have to wait a little longer for roof work completion, it is still fine. The important detail is that all the roofs are getting fixed. When you let a building roof leak, it begins a ruinous cycle of interior building and mechanical system deterioration. Catch roof damage and leaks immediately and the cost of repair is the least it is going to be. A stitch in time saves nine. Spend $3000 to fix the roof the first time you see a leak, and you could save a $100,000 repair 5 years later (if only the roof repairs were as little as $100,000 five years later).

So every roof of every school will eventually be fixed. And while expensive, it will save on repairs and renovations and more extensive roof work if not fixed.

Statements Of Interest (otherwise known as SOIs).
What are they? An SOI is a written filing that states you or your organization would like to be considered for something. Example: someone is going to be chosen for a free car and people wanting to be chosen are asked to write a Statement of Interest. In the free-car SOI you are asked to explain why you should be chosen over all the other people who want the free car.

School districts have to file Statements Of Interest (SOIs) to be considered for school building aid (if selected, the prize is a large sum of tax-payer relief for repairing or building public schools). The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) is the public body that doles out financial aid for school buildings in this state. And if you ever want the MSBA to choose your city or town for cost-share building renovations, repairs, or construction, you have to have a Statement Of Interest (SOI) on file (an SOI for each building you want considered for cost-sharing). These SOIs are not short letters—"Dear MSBA, We have an old building that needs a roof and windows. Please add our ABC school to your long list." No, MSBA SOIs are essays with all types of topics to address in detail. And it takes quite a while to write an SOI for the MSBA with all the facts and figures they require. I've been advised there are currently 1100 or so SOIs on file with the MSBA. It's quite competitive to be chosen.

Greenfield had an SOI on record for a long time regarding the high school. The high school has expensive problems to fix that would cost taxpayers a small fortune so being chosen from our SOI is important for taxpayers. We also have an approved SOI for Four Corners School—to update it for energy conservation. Right now we are beginning the approved roof, window, insulation, and boiler replacement work at Four Corners. In the last two years two Greenfield SOIs have been chosen by the MSBA.

We also have an SOI filed for North Parish, Newton, and Federal Street. We want to file an SOI for Green River School but cannot until the school is again in use. Each year you have to update your SOI for each building.At this Thursday's school committee meeting, the school committee voted for the superintendent to resubmit the updated SOI for each school—North Parish, Federal Street, and Newton. I likened resubmitting the Statement Of Interest to keeping your place in line at the MSBA door.

It's important to keep current SOIs filed with the MSBA. Sometimes the MSBA has available funding to use quickly and districts that can move quickly are approved. In this regard, Greenfield being a "city" (not a town) is helpful. The city council can vote fairly quickly if a vote is needed to move a project forward. A 'town' cannot move as quickly as a city—a town referendum generally requires resident voting which is a time-consuming production. That's why it's important this small city make sure state agencies with grant money know Greenfield is a city and can react quickly to use important grant funds.

What is Autism?
In the same way that every hospital visit does not have the same cost, every child's program does not have the same cost. We have a responsibility to every child and family, and there is no question about this. So without wanting to make anyone uncomfortable, I do want to talk about autism which is the most complex of child handicapping conditions, one of the least understood, and one of the most difficult to address for parents, schools, and the medical profession.

When people talk about autism these days they talk about a "spectrum"—from mild to extremely involved; from moving in and about society hardly being noticed or being considered a tad odd to non-speaking, head-banging, screaming, and injuriously self-biting. It's a big range of symptoms from very mild to very involved. (A definition of Autism concludes this journal entry).

There are very few education programs available in the state and nation for youth with the truly most unique Autism, although as the population increases the number of specialized programs increases. The most intense programs are 24 hours/day, 365 days/year programs and the costs reflect the necessity for minute-to-minute specialized care which can be $700/day or $800/day or $255,000 to $275,000/year. That amount may not even be the full cost—all the additional services and expenses have additional costs. Programs for the most involved autistic children are the most costly programs there are for children to my knowledge. Again, I am not mentioning this in any negative way, just to share information about schools and school budgeting.

Unique Children & School Budget
Our school district has created specialized programs here, in Greenfield, for our very involved autistic children. Our costs are approximately $80,000/child. We have children preschool to middle school with this profile in our schools and our specialized budget in this area approximates $600,000. Thanks to having very specialized personnel with very specialized oversight, all of the children are making progress which is extremely unusual and thrilling. Parents are partners with us in striving to have consistent approaches that move each child along a path of greater independent living.

 Research I've read about the prognosis of the most involved children suggests at best 50% of the youth make progress. Our unusual and annual rate of 100% of children making progress I believe relatse to the children staying in a familiar home environment with their caring and attentive parents. I'm not sure, of course, and I personally know nothing about any child's home situation. It's the only difference I see, though, between an institutional program with three shifts of personnel and a child in his/her real home attending a specialized day program, year-round.

While the program costs for these children and other types of students with unique conditions that affect learning are unusually high, school districts receive catastrophic financial aid for children whose costs are greater than $35,000 or so. So we do not pay the whole cost. School districts request this financial aid child by child, totaling the costs per child. In Massachusetts, this catastrophic financial state aid is called "Circuit Breaker" aid. In other states this same type of aid has a logical name, like Catastrophic Special Education Aid.

There was a time that Massachusetts school systems received approximately 70% for any student's costs over the threshold of $35,000 or so. When Circuit Breaker reimbursement was at 70%, Greenfield was receiving $800,000/year in reimbursement. Our total expenses for all ages and types of high-cost students approximates $2,000,000. Our budget was $1,200,000 and with $800,000 in Circuit Breaker aid we had enough for our $2,000,000 expense.

But then, the state budget changed the % of reimbursement for Circuit Breaker aid—and Greenfield dropped from $800,000 reimbursement to $302,045. Overnight Greenfield had a $500,000 gap between our budget and our state aid. $500,000 is approximately the cost of all the classroom teachers at one of our elementary schools. $500,000 is NOT an amount we can find unused in the budget. So this is a worrisome gap in school funding.

Now in 2011-2012, the Circuit Breaker aid percentage was debated by the legislature and finally set at 60% or so. Greenfield anticipates $484,847. Way better than $302,045, but still $315,000 less than the $800,000 we need. This state aid bounced from $800,000 to $300,000 to $500,000 in three consecutive years. Schools do not have 100% flexibility to accommodate large swings like this--it's very difficult. What is changing is not the schools, children, or school programs, it's a state decision about percent to use in the Circuit Breaker aid formula.

Last year I recommended we start inching up this line in the budget by $125,000/year so over the next few years we can inch up to 1.6 million, where the district is safer from these swings in funding. This $125,000 wasn't included in our budget appropriation for this year, so I am recommending $250,000 in the 2012-2013 budget to bring this line item up to a safe level. The $250,000 increase is to stabilize our whole system budget as a result of the decrease in state aid for these catastrophic special education expenses we must provide for a few students. I hope that made sense. It is a big increase but must plan to have a gap between budget and state aid we can manage.

Kathi and I both have been special education administrators and we ask ourselves: Is there any way we can lower our $2,000,000 in special student tuition costs? I should be clear that there are many children who need expensive programs, not only children with autism. To look at options, we have to understand why so many Greenfield students are placed out-of-district by other agencies. When a state agency places a child, the home school district is almost always required to split the cost. Our tuition costs often result from policy decisions of other state agencies (it seems to us). We have day programs in Greenfield for almost all of our students with unique needs.  Sometimes students in our programs need a safe or different place to live. Public schools are not the agency that handles residence decisions. There are group homes and therapeutic family homes in Greenfield, but not enough, apparently, and some of these beds are given to students from Boston or Springfield (or anywhere). Then, when a Greenfield student needs a residence, the responsible state agency might place our student in…Worcester or somewhere too far to use our school programs. This out-of-area residence decision can cost Greenfield between $35,000 and $100,000 per student just because there is no bed here! I find this an unsettling public policy unless it's an emergency because it drives costs up for school systems.

It sometimes seems that for far less than our tuition costs we could buy a group home and staff it so Greenfield students had a safe place to live in Greenfield. It is possible. I did this once. And maybe 10 years ago California made the news for opening a residential charter school. There should be a cross-agency team working on developing safe homes and registered, trained therapeutic homes for Greenfield students in Greenfield. That's the only way we can cut our expensive tuitions in half, probably. Therapeutic homes are…jobs. I think people are paid $30,000-$40,000 to train to have a unique child.

It's maddening, in a way, to try to get in front of how the whole state works to study issues carefully and stimulate policy changes. This should be someone's public policy or economics dissertation study: The Economic Impact on School Districts of Social Service Agency Residential Placement policy.

Excerpt from the National Institute of Neurologic Disorders and Stroke website:

What is Autism?
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a range of complex neurodevelopment disorders, characterized by social impairments, communication difficulties, and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior. Autistic disorder, sometimes called autism or classical ASD, is the most severe form of ASD, while other conditions along the spectrum include a milder form known as Asperger syndrome, and childhood disintegrative disorder and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (usually referred to as PDD-NOS). Although ASD varies significantly in character and severity, it occurs in all ethnic and socioeconomic groups and affects every age group. Experts estimate that six children out of every 1,000 will have an ASD. Males are four times more likely to have an ASD than females.

What are some common signs of autism?
The hallmark feature of ASD is impaired social interaction. As early as infancy, a baby with ASD may be unresponsive to people or focus intently on one item to the exclusion of others for long periods of time. A child with ASD may appear to develop normally and then withdraw and become indifferent to social engagement.

Children with an ASD may fail to respond to their names and often avoid eye contact with other people. They have difficulty interpreting what others are thinking or feeling because they can't understand social cues, such as tone of voice or facial expressions, and don't watch other people's faces for clues about appropriate behavior. …

Many children with an ASD engage in repetitive movements such as rocking and twirling, or in self-abusive behavior such as biting or head-banging. They also tend to start speaking later than other children and may refer to themselves by name instead of "I" or "me." Children with an ASD don't know how to play interactively with other children. Some speak in a sing-song voice about a narrow range of favorite topics, with little regard for the interests of the person to whom they are speaking.

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Tuesday, January 17, 2012: Non-Teaching Professionals in Public Schools

Schools have professionals considered in the broad category of "teachers" and covered by the master contract of the teachers union, but who are non-teaching. People in this category are speech therapists, social workers, counselors, and psychologists.

When there is an emergency needing mental health professionals, our own staff step right in. Early Friday morning before teachers and students arrived at Federal Street, our elementary school psychologists, elementary social worker, and elementary counselor were present to plan together how to handle the day. Our Federal Street principal met, also. And behind the scenes, the student services administrator and I were also trying to provide support.

We have four (4) school psychologists—all have Ph.D.-level credentials. Two work with our youngest children, primarily assuring Greenfield meets the requirements of the special education laws. In addition, they consult to the schools whenever there is an emergency issue—they meet together, plan together, and guide the school and administrators.

It is surprising how many very sad and/or life-disrupting issues there are to consider and handle each year when you have 1700 children. We have children (and families) going through so many issues.  Homelessness. Loss of income. Death. Accidents. Divorce. Serious illness. Suicide. Parent deployment to a foreign country. Family violence. Abuse. Chronic disease. And there is fear. Despair. Intense worry. So we need to have professional psychologists on staff. 

We are very lucky to have such highly qualified school psychologists in Greenfield.

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Friday, January 13, 2012: Saying Good-bye to BearSaying Good-bye to Bear
When the reporter called last night to inquire about Bear's sudden death, we did not have any detail and were in no frame of mind to start talking to reporters. I was alerted shortly before 3:00 p.m. of what was happening—a collapsed worker, rescue personnel immediately on hand, concerns. I asked the reporter to please give us a day to clarify the situation and notify families and school workers. They did not wait a day. Nor did others who were posting all over the internet.

The interesting thing about life is that each person's life will have an ending, just as each has a beginning. The body stops functioning and that is it. Perhaps the best we can hope for is that it ends quickly without suffering. I don't know. For our friend and colleague, life ended in an instant, it seems.

I spent the evening reading advice for talking to children about death. It's quite difficult because if the children become scared by the discussion, they start to think that their teachers and their parents might die any day, too. It might not be just a one-day thought—it could linger. We sent home a letter to all parents at Federal Street Elementary School today, making sure parents knew what happened and giving a bit of information about talking to their children. We let families know that Mr. Bear, as children knew him, was in our thoughts. Our elementary school psychologists and counselors were on the scene, working together to help faculty and students. And we hope we addressed our very sad situation as sensitively and carefully as possible for a K-3 elementary school.

When Bear was the head of the custodial/maintenance union, I saw him during the year on work topics. We always chatted when we met in or out of school. Jim Craig (known as Bear to adults and Mr. Bear to children) was just a really nice person. Friendly, warm, funny, caring. He did not have his own children and he completely enjoyed being the man in our buildings that the children respected and he treated them with respect, also. Sometimes he would have lunch with a group of children. He always had a supportive word for them. He cared about our children with autism and assured their rooms were given attention.

Our colleague, Bear, was going on vacation next week and just before leaving for the day—collapsed. And that was it. We are somber, reflective, incredulous, sad, shocked, but also talking among ourselves about what a genuinely nice person Bear was. We did not have a picture of him to post, tonight, inside the school where he worked, so I'll share a picture of Bear without friendly children around him.

We will do something to remember Bear when there is time to collect our thoughts. This is a very sad day.

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Thursday, January 12, 2012: While You Were Sleeping; School Calendar 2012-2013; High School Project Update

While You Were Sleeping
While you were sleeping (if you went to bed before 10:30 p.m.) our road crews were out pre-treating roads so if the expected snow came it would turn to mush. I had a late conversation with my executive secretary that we may need to cancel or call late start for our schools. Why? Because she has the passwords to contact all the TV and radio stations and also to make all-call announcements to our faculty and parents.

Around 11:30 p.m. I drove around town and was surprised how well all the roads were pre-treated in preparation for today's snow prediction.

While you were sleeping our road crews were out treating roads. By 4:30 a.m., administrators who have to decide what to do about safe bus travel and schools opening are up, gathering information. At 5:21 a.m. I had my first conversation with a neighboring district, which is very helpful. Gill-Montague and Greenfield have the most similar valley situation and road conditions. By 5:30 a.m. I'd spoken to our road crew supervisor. By 5:45 a.m. I'd confirmed what everyone was saying with Tom Bevacqua who seems to be up all night and morning watching the weather.

By 6:00 a.m. we had decided to stay the course today and not cancel or call late start. With a high school, late start isn't a problem, really. Everyone loves it! With hundreds of little children—not all having phones or TVs in their homes—late start is tricky. You don't know if you can reach all the parents. Will little children be left outside for the bus at the regular time in freezing weather? It is a very difficult call.

Personally, I think the worst condition for deciding what to do is when the temperature is 32 degrees. So you go up one degree and you have melting and down one degree and you have icing. In New Hampshire or anywhere hilly, you go up the hill and the road is freezing and then down the hill and it is not freezing. Difficult.

We have to decide whether or not it is safe to run our buses. That's the decision we make. There are people who work in the schools who live quite a distance away or way up a hill somewhere. Each person has to decide what is safe for him/her. We ask people to be careful. And in our schools, each school has a way to cover for someone who needs a little extra time getting in because of road conditions.

While you were sleeping lots of people were awake, working to make sure roads were treated and thinking about the school operation decision.

School Calendar 2012-2013
Greenfield's school calendar for 2012-2013 has been a topic for administrators for approximately a month. We plan the calendar to be 1) family friendly, 2) best for our school achievement interests, 3) improving and supporting teacher collaboration, and 4) consistent with employment contracts. With an election in 2012-2013, we also considered a city request to not have school on election day.

Summer school for Greenfield will be the four weeks in July in 2012 and 2013, leaving August for professional development programs. This is much better for our custodial/maintenance staff to ready buildings for September school opening.

We continue to plan our half-days for students the day before vacations or on Fridays. If parents want to plan a long weekend together, this provides the opportunity as opposed to disjointed weeks with mid-day half-days. We now have afterschool programs, however, so parents who need safe childcare have this option.

In 2012-2013, at the city's request we will not hold school November 6th—election voting. This will be Greenfield's  professional development day for teachers and faculty.

Each year we are clearer about what time of the year are best for certain activities. The K-12 Film Festival will be on our calendars, now, for the last weekend in April. And kindergarten screening and enrollment will be organized during February and March.

As soon as all the discussion and suggestions are codified in a draft calendar document, this will go to the school committee in draft form and to the teachers union, for feedback. And then we will ask the school committee to review and vote the 2012-2013 calendar at the February school committee meeting.

High School Project Update
At Tuesday night's high school facility committee meeting, we were told that there were 1100 requests for building financial aid at the MSBA. The committee (with architects and project manager present) discussed the vote and what would happen if we did not have the vote. Someone said Greenfield would drop down to the bottom of the list for requests for state aid and it might take years before we had a chance again to have state financial aid with the high school building.

Some changes to the architect's building design plan have been made, taking into account details of feedback.  GHS  administrative offices are moved forward toward the proposed high school entrance for security reasons (people have to check in before they have access to the building and hallways). The band and chorus rooms have been rearranged. The hallways from the gym area to the classrooms have been straightened out. The environmental science lab has been moved from the interior to the outside of the building for more sunlight.

Last night in my office the phone rang. I don't know the name of the person who called—a retired female who had a concern about a phone line being used. After we took care of the phone line issue, I asked if she'd mind if we chatted about the high school—what did she think about it? She said she found the information a little confusing—what was actually happening? I explained that the state has now decided that building new is a better investment than renovation, which was almost the cost of building new. She said in her lifetime she didn't think buildings were as good after renovation—a lot of money spent and maybe it wasn't worth it. She asked about the cost. We talked about the cost of the new building and the costs if we did not do the new building. She hoped the school district would be sure to make those points to the public—all the costs of trying to keep that old building going. Imagine—a random retired person calling in. She was supportive of a new high school after discussing some details.

And that is the truth.

Monday, January 09, 2012: Capital Planning, Thinking about the End Goal, Associate Principals

Capital Planning
Greenfield's city charter includes a 5-member capital planning committee that annually reviews requests from each division of city government and prioritizes a recommendation to the mayor for capital borrowing.

The types of items that require the city to borrow money (instead of just paying the bill from the operations budget) are the major expensive items. Cap-ex (capital expense) items would include: vehicles (police cruisers, fire trucks, school vans for transportation); expensive building repairs (fixing roofs, replacing expensive doors and windows, new boilers/heating systems), outdoor items (sidewalk and road replacement, street lights, playground equipment, parking lot expansion), buildings (renovations and sometimes new buildings), and expensive equipment needed by any division of city government.

Capital borrowing by a city or town is unique borrowing because 1) a city borrows money at a low government rate--lower than individual borrowing through a bank, which is also low at the moment, 2) the city has a financial rating that calculates how much a particular city can borrow a year and still have a healthy financial status, and 3) since the process of maintaining a whole city has no beginning or end but just keeps going through the decades, new borrowings start each year and certain old borrowings end each year. To function with stability, cities maintain a certain threshold of borrowing all the time. And that's why there is a capital planning committee in each city's charter. And that is why each year new capital borrowing is promoted. Our capital planning committee keeps a five-year plan so if something isn't approved one year, it's still on the plan for another year when our committee thinks the expense can be managed.

Why am I talking about this? Because tonight at the capital planning meeting I reviewed details about school department capital borrowing requests. My approach is to bring to the capital planning committee's attention all the capital borrowing needs we have. Then, items are discussed and prioritized. No department can expect that everything it needs will be purchased through capital borrowing every year, schools included. Still, it's important for this committee to know which roofs leak, which transport vehicles should be retired, and how many school computers are so old they no longer can handle the software being used.

Here is a sampling of school system "capital needs" that were discussed tonight (typically there is background information about what is needed, what it will cost, and whether or not the need can wait a year to address):

1. North Parish School: roof is shot and needs replacing, playground equipment is for older elementary children and there should be something for the little children; a parking lot is needed as there is nowhere to park. Even when holding someone's hand, the little three- and four-year-olds cannot be seen walking with their parents behind, in, and around the clump of cars there. This is the 2nd year with a request to create a parking lot at North Parish. The North Parish roof is recommended to wait a year; creating a safe parking/walking area is staying on the recommendation to the mayor.
2. Federal Street Elementary: The wooden play structure is past its lifespan. We will have fixed the roof, replaced the interior floors, and painted the exterior by the end of this year. We keep making progress updating the Federal Street Elementary School. There are worries about this wooden playground structure so doing something on the FS playground is staying on the recommendation to the mayor.
3. Newton Elementary School: The two-room portable and temporary classroom structure at the end of the K-1 wing has lived beyond its lifespan. We've tried to make these modular temporary classrooms nicer but the unit should be replaced. More important, there are no bathrooms on the K-1 wing with approx. 120 kindergarten and grade 1 children. And we are one classroom short for 2012-2013, unless we use the cafeteria for art next year. The committee has tentatively put aside this capital request until next year. It is an important capital expense need but we will have to make do one more year so we do not sway from the even more important need this year to address the high school. Newton's roof needs attention, particularly around the skylights, which leak. Exterior and interior painting to preserve the building and interior flooring have been addressed. Actually, we keep making progress upgrading the Newton Elementary School.
4. School Vehicles for Student Transport. We still have a quite old fleet of small student transport vehicles. Some vehicles should be retired. We have one wheelchair van needing replacement. I try to encourage lightly-used vehicles be purchased. It saves money and meets our needs. If we have to retire a vehicle for any reason, we do have the option of contracting van transportation. This is quite expensive, however, so in the long run having our own transport vehicles gives more flexibility and is more cost-effective.
5. Exterior school door replacement. Our maintenance staff checked every exterior door in every building of the school system. Yikes. This will stay on the capital planning request for 2012. Exterior doors have to do with building security so this is quite important.
6. Greenfield Middle School: There is a plan to create parking spaces on the street behind the school. The parking situation at the GMS building is untenable—there are not enough spaces. It is tough to spend city money on parking spaces when there are unused spaces during the day on adjoining property, but for whatever reason no one can work out an arrangement to use parking or rent parking spaces with the school's neighbor. So this year a $40,000 proposal is moving forward to create needed staff parking on the street behind the school. It is a situation that has to be addressed, particularly as the school system is growing.
7. Professional Review of School Properties: There is no feasibility opinion about whether or not any of our elementary schools could be expanded with an addition. Greenfield enrollment is growing. We should nail down what is possible on these sites, if anything, so at least we have this information for discussion of options. While there is time we need to clarify: Where are the land boundaries? Which parts of the land are wetlands? Can there be a building addition—if so, where? Could the building have a 2nd floor? If so—where? Could the site handle additional parking? If so—where? These questions should be answered so we know what is possible with the schools we have. The request is not for "the plan"—but for an educated opinion about what is possible on these particular sites so we don't waste time when we need to make decisions about enrollment growth.

The capital planning committee has no easy job. When you listen to the Department of Public Works requests, the Fire Department requests, the Police Department requests, the Parks and Recreation Department requests, the Health Department requests, and so on you see city-wide important needs for capital borrowing. The school department has the most buildings, so we are the department consistently talking about roofs, windows, boilers, etc., more often than any other department. And within a whole city, education is a constitutional right so having safe schools for children is based in statute. Not everything a city needs is exactly equal but everything is important.

I don't know why the school buildings were let go as they were, but in another year or two all the buildings will be fixed, clean, and in good repair for the future. All the leaking roofs will be fixed. All the exteriors of buildings will be fixed to preserve these city building assets, and multiple school buildings will have major overhauls for upgrades and to establish energy efficiency, cost-shared with the state or provided for through an ESCO that covers costs through energy savings.

In the future, there always needs to be a plan addressing the roofs, windows, doors, painting, floors, playgrounds, and parking of school buildings. You want these recurring needs organized on a rotating basis so everything doesn't have to be repaired at the same time. It doesn't matter if the building is old—it has to be maintained to be functional and clean for school use. If you take care of older buildings, they can last and be useful for a very long time. If you don't take care of a building and the wood becomes rotted from leaks, it is more difficult to keep the building in use over time.

Still Thinking about the End Goal—"The Vision"
I was talking with someone tonight and asked: what is your long-term vision for the Greenfield school system? I don't think being #1 in the world is a sensible vision (Ford's corporate vision). So what is the vision?

Tonight's Impromptu Person-on-the-Street Answer:
Greenfield Schools become the state poster child for districts that restructure, redesign, and turn around. Parents, teachers, and administrators want to work here because of the spirit and energy.

I was laughing with one of the principals this morning saying that my thinking on vision keeps getting more imaginative. What of a vision where elves from the Shoemaker and the Elves story visit my office each night to do all the paperwork. We are told to use our imagination about what we'd like to see in the future.

Keeping the arts as part of a balanced education program should be in our vision. Someone recently quoted a California orchestra conductor who said "if you put a music instrument in the hands of a child, the child will never pick up a gun." There might be something to that. We are now, I believe, at 40-50% of students studying a music instrument (grades 4, 5, 6, 7). We should be at 100% of students in grade 3 learning to play a recorder so they have more sense of the skills involved in learning to read music.

Associate Principals
The State of Massachusetts has many types of licenses, but in school administration there is one license titled: Principal/Assistant Principal. And this is the license our principals have. There is no license for an "associate" principal--the license you have is "principal."

The term "associate" means "a person united with another in the same action." We have a league of "principals." There is a senior principal at each level (elementary, middle, high) and everyone else is associate principal--a proper state-certified school principal.

I chose not to use the title "assistant principal" because in the old days this position did not have any responsibility to create a quality school. I want everyone in an administrative capacity to be focused on improving our schools. The assistant principals before 2008 handled bus duty, lunch room duty, and school discipline. I did not want follow this pattern so I made a change in the title of this position so we did not fall back to administrators being used for bus duty.

There also used to be competition among the elementary schools, I'm told—competition for programs and perhaps even funding. I wanted more teamwork among the schools, which we now have. To knit our schools together, I had one person designated as the senior principal and the elementary schools meet and work together, now, all the time. Still, every associate principal is a fully certified principal.

The associate principals and senior principals all have the same goals of actively and continually improving the quality of our school programs. It is not unusual to have Professors and Associate Professors, Directors and Associate Directors, and even Principals and Associate Principals. All associate principals have the same goals to improve schools where they are assigned. I spend the most time working with the senior principal on overall direction of the schools, overall grants, overall space and teacher planning. I try to work with everyone who needs time for some reason.

Building monitors have mostly taken over being the one responsible adult consistently managing the coming, going, and large groups of children moving in and around the school.

I think more schools should change the assistant principal position to a real leadership position. Everyone with training in school administration should be doing the tasks of that important job.

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Sunday, January 8, 2012: American History & School System Vision

Over the weekend, I was pleased to find an old American history book: "The Story of Our Country" by Charles F. Horne, published in 1903.  Older texts give a more accurate understanding of what was happening and how people thought a hundred or two hundred years ago because the books were written right then. These older books do not have to make room for the years 1900 to 2010 because these years haven't happened yet. So there is more information and better information about the earlier periods in American history.

What did American history writers think 100 years ago? If you scan, you'll see they thought about national pride and the US becoming a leading country in the world.

(excerpts)
We have seen nation after nation rise to supremacy. Egypt, Persia, Greece, Rome, Germany, Spain, France, England, each in turn dominated the world. What part is our own land to take in this grand pageant? Is the United Stated indeed to be, as we fondly hope, the great world leader of the future?…Practical common sense has everywhere raised the inquiry. The Powers of Europe are propounding it to one another with grave anxiety.….

The story of the United States is unlike that of any other great nation, in that its present people have occupied its soil only about three hundred years; they did not come as did the Franks into France, the Goths and Moslems into Spain, or the Norsemen into Russia and England—a few conquerors to blend …among a more numerous and ancient subject people.

Instead, the pick of all that were ablest, most earnest, most daring, most conquering among the Europeans races, came here to stand alone. … They were men to be proud of, those ancestors of ours, not perfect by any means, but infinitely superior …

(three chapters later)
By the year 1600 the general outline of the earth and its continents had become fairly understood. The power of Spain had been broken by her long war with Holland and by the defeat of her "Invincible Armada." England had developed into a rich and powerful nation, and her population, during over a century of comparative peace, had so increased, that her leaders began to talk seriously of colonization as a relief from the overcrowding of the land.

In these older accountings, you always find a passion about building a nation—the presence of national spirit. In last week's administrative seminar on leadership, the facilitators talked about the importance of having a clear vision. Ford Company, when it fell on hard times and restructured, had a vision of again being the top automobile manufacturer in the world. In 1900 in America, people had the vision of the United States becoming the leading country in the world.

Rob Cohn wrote a My Turn in the Recorder last week. His message, I think, is that the problems of education in the nation are so big it's difficult to know what to do, but in the absence of the answer to everything, we have to have a good education here, in Greenfield, in each community, for our children. They are the future. Rich or poor, and in these times there are many families struggling, we have to do as much as we can for educating today's youth.

This weekend I'm thinking about vision—that view of the future that inspires people and nations toward an end goal. Our nation has a vision of no child left behind, but that is not the same as a vision of what we should be accomplishing and toward what end goal. 

What is our vision or end goal for education in Greenfield?

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Friday, January 5, 2012: Leadership Course for Principals; High School News
First, a vocabulary word from A.Word.A.Day.com pneumatic: (noo-MAT-ik, nyoo-)
MEANING: adjective:
1. Of or relating to air, wind, or gases.
2. Spiritual.
ETYMOLOGY: From Greek pneuma (breath, wind, spirit). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pneu- (to breathe), which is also the source of pneumatic, pneumonia, apnea, sneer, sneeze, snort, snore, and pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis???

Leadership Course for Principals on Leading Change
The Greenfield principal team had our second session today of the National Institute for School Leadership program. The program can be applied to doctoral program coursework. Facilitators this session talked about ideas and theories of providing leadership for organizational change. We read and discussed the importance of having a clear vision, strategies, key team of committed colleagues, and courage of convictions. We talked about Kennedy's courage to envision someone on the moon and Colin Powell's moxie to take a stand.

During these first two sessions we've discussed and read case studies about countries that went from nothing to world class based on purposefully targeting their education system. Today we reviewed a Harvard case study about Ford Motor Company and how it restructured after devastating losses. We've seen video interviews of people recognized for leading a needed change and also a potato farmer video full of advice about the time it takes to grow a truly quality potato crop. His advice: work hard, pay attention to details, and don't expect to reach the quality product you want quickly. It takes time to get the soil just right to support the quality product you want—sometimes a few years.

We attended as a team, on purpose. We have a few new administrators and I wanted to give these new key personnel a chance to feel part of the system. We have programs to help new teachers feel welcome and part of a school teacher team. But we needed a way for new administrators to be part of the administrative team synergy here. At lunch, everyone from Greenfield had time together. I watch as these key personnel from different GPS schools seem more relaxed with each other as time goes on. I think participating as a district administrative team was a good idea.

The Greenfield team almost feels like we should be one of the case studies. After all, we discussed a principal from California who took drastic action to bring about math achievement gains, deciding to eliminate arts and technology teachers to do so. This case study was just about one person in one school and how the changed needed was accomplished. In Greenfield, we have restructured all the schools (and we are still working on this) pretty much involving all principals. We are raising achievement while also creating a program with arts and technology.  

This second session covered topics like creating a shared vision and having a key administrative team that has trust, commitment, persistence, a willingness to work hard and long hours, meet regularly, gather and share feedback, and use data to gauge direction and strategic action. My sense is that Greenfield administrators think we are collaborative, committed, persistent, hardworking, regularly-meeting, data-focused team, working together to improve the school system. We get together weekly and thrash about ideas and we make decisions together. We seem to be making steady progress.

To be honest, we will have to meet back here between sessions and see what we can take from these seminars that will help Greenfield schools be even better and our administrative team be even better. Even if we don't find one portion useful, all the program segments stimulate conversation and make us think. On the whole, I think the principal team felt affirmed that our school system is doing very well, moving forward with vision and innovation.

The very last segment was on decision-making. We were asked to reflect on how we each make different types of decisions. For the record, I just decided I should stop writing in 20 minutes and go home. The process I used was glancing at the clock.

Greenfield High School

It wasn't until evening yesterday that I saw the Recorder and the articles about Greenfield High School on the front pages of two sections. I am delighted that a decision has been made about which way to proceed so we can stop spending money on studying options and move forward. In three years Greenfield could once again have a modern high school to carry the community fifty years forward.

The extensive work of the architect firm and all the engineering and building consultants uncovered that the building has a majority of rooms remarkably undersized by today's requirements. After they submitted 100s of pages of documentation, the state agreed that a renovation was needed, not just a repair. And then for several months the requirement was gathering and developing in-depth renovation information.

There is financial investment logic to all of this school building business. It's no different than in our own lives. The time comes when the cost of repairing your old car. lawn mower, or whatever needs repair is almost equal to or greater than getting one that is new and more efficient. And you have to know when to ask yourself: "Is this worth the money or should I just buy new?" At some point you decide it is time to buy new.

And that is what happened with the renovation project. The architect firm, after figuring out all the repair costs, had to then provide renovation design options. And for each renovation design, the architect firm had to provide projected renovation costs. When this lengthy study and design task was completed, the renovation costs were not very different than a new building cost.

And there we all were—state and local committees studying Greenfield High School—looking at a very significant multi-million dollar renovation costs and what would Greenfield have? Stories abound where something happens during the renovation and the unforeseen costs spiral up. And up.

Having a new facility seems unbelievable if I shut my eyes and go back to reading the years of Greenfield's letters and applications to the state for consideration of updating Greenfield High School. How could every town I visit on Cape Cod have updated and new schools but not Greenfield? How could every town in Franklin County have updated high schools but not Greenfield?

We just kept pursuing the need for Greenfield's high school to have state attention. We had a clear end goal and a committed and persistent team, willing to put in the hours needed.

My last 20 minutes are up. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis? Who would use a word like this? Maybe it refers to the phenomenon where one ultra-small voice makes an appeal that erupts into a huge outcome.

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Wednesday, January 4, 2012: English. Enrollment Starting. New Slide Show About our Math & Science Academy.
English: The man whose new year's wish was for everyone to have a goal of improving English writing got me thinking. People do write or say things in English that don't make sense or that mangle the rules of this language. Why not make this the year to take a writing course or learn 2 new vocabulary words each month?  

In fact, this could be a new year goal to share as a family. Parents could talk to their children about learning a new word or an interesting phrase in a book.       The interests of parents and the culture of the home regarding learning is a big influence on children. My mother always talked about proper use of English. And her correcting and talking about learning English must have rubbed off because my sister's undergrad degree is in English, my daughter is an English teacher, and here I am writing about English with two or three reference books under the computer table.

Plus, to read more or improve English skills is really a doable goal. In our elementary schools, we keep finding new ways to inspire English literacy. Increasingly we are taking children to the library to have their own library cards. We've started children's book clubs and are automating elementary libraries. We are slowly adding childhood book series to our libraries so children read more. We have computer-assisted Accelerated Reader in our libraries K-7. In grade 6 we have the adult pen-pal program where adults and students read the same book and write to each other about it to practice writing.

Make this your back-to-Scrabble evenings year.

Enrollment Starting: We are beginning enrollment registration for 2012-2013. Parents are starting to call. We are setting dates for open houses and scheduling days when parents can tour schools. Most of all—we are trying to update our websites. Oh, to have someone whose job it is to read, edit, and update our websites. Soon all the schools will have updated messages. This is the time of year when we start talking with parents and answering questions about our programs and schools. The phones are ringing. A good sign.

Our schools are all having more activities that bring parents together and build community. Our school events are fun—pressing apple cider, having even dinner dances, children's exhibitions, movie nights, pajama and book-reading nights, and student concerts. It helps that we have our music programs and theater programs back in place. And the book clubs and book pen-pal program are just lots of fun for adults and children, bringing adults and children together.

I am proud of the work here to make exciting, responsive schools. The middle school now has students setting their own goals for learning and reviewing personal accomplishments. What happens then? Well, young students are increasingly taking responsibility for learning –they want to meet their personal goals. We are predicting that Greenfield parents will continue to return. These schools have a lot to offer, now. And when parents return everything gets just a bit stronger because more local parents get involved with the energy of their community schools.   

New Slide Show for Math & Science
Heather Evans coordinates the new Math & Science Academy (MSA), which may have outgrown its home at Four Corners School. There is a new slide show posted and it gives an eye view of the MSA. Go to The Math & Science Academy on the Greenfield Schools website, half way down the page on the left side where schools are listed. The new slide show is at the top of the MSA home page. Or …just click here.

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January 1, 2012: New Year Wishes and Three Year Accomplishments

New Year Wishes
Did you know there are currently approximately 40 different calendars in use all over this world? From before recorded time, people on every continent gazed at the moon and thought how it could be used to measure time. And wherever there is a calendar system for measuring a year, the ending and beginning of years is cause for celebration of some type.

Over this new year, many of us reflect on our lives and make goals for the next year. Two new year expressions caught my attention.

The first was this radiating happy man at the airport. He was just smiling, lifting suitcases, and saying something cheerful to everyone, including wishing everyone a happy new year. I asked what made him so happy. He said: "I am a just a blessed man. I have my health. I have a job. I am loved. What more could I want?" The way he mentioned with confidence and pride that he was loved was uplifting. His new year was starting with pure happiness.

The second expression that caught my attention was different--a letter to the editor where the writer said all readers should have a new year goal of being better writers. He was exasperated how many people use English incorrectly. His example was the term "free gift." "All gifts are free," he wrote. "There is no such thing in English as a free gift!" Another term showing poor English understanding was "unusually unique." He wrote: "Unique means unique. There are no grades or qualifiers for the word unique." I read this letter and new year wish to my sister because our mother used to comment about misuse of English all the time. She would say: "There's no such thing as 'two twins.' Twins means two." To which my brother-in-law said the misused English term he notices all the time is "hot water heater." He said a water heater heats water, so calling it a water heater a hot water heater makes no sense.

Well, my new year's wish for everyone is a bit of both expressions. I wish everyone a healthy year and the ability to appreciate the gifts of life we have, like the man in the airport. Being a trumpeter for the value of education, I'll also encourage everyone to make continued learning one goal for the new year. Read, discuss, think, share ideas, expand your fund of knowledge, and remember that education is the foundation of a good life and a thriving nation.

Maybe we'll also remember that in English there's no such thing as a free gift.

Greenfield Schools Accomplishments

GREENFIELD SCHOOLS
THREE YEARS LATER

January 1, 2012

Before winter holiday break, Greenfield school administrators had their final meeting of 2011. People were asked to take just a few minutes to write down a few accomplishments they felt were significant—accomplishments of their school or the district as a whole. Some people noted an accomplishment of the past year; others noted accomplishments since the summer of 2008. I made a list of impromptu reflections shared around the table.

In three years, a new, vital, progressive school system has emerged. Comments show pride and a strong theme of teamwork that now defines the school system. If you can remember where we were the Summer of 2008, you'll find these impromptu comments amazing.

I'll share what people said.

1. We have implemented the Expanded Learning Time program (an extra 90 minutes per day) at Newton in a way that is now settled, enriches our children's lives, and has raised student achievement. All of our teachers and support personnel have worked together to create these wonderful additional services for our students. We have located service providers and presenters who now know our school and our expectations. We are all working well together for our students—providing enrichment in the arts, in fitness, teaching violin, chorus, Tae Kwon Do, science projects, and more.

2. In special education, we finally have a leadership team for district-wide special education. The importance of a group coming together cannot be understated. We are finally moving away from just focusing on compliance issues, which are now accomplished. We've begun to seriously discuss program quality and teaching.

3. Over the last three years, the food services program has constructively replaced kitchen equipment, purchasing high efficiency-rated equipment. The savings to the city per year in electric consumption is estimated at $90,000/year. All equipment costs were covered by our school system's food services program. We have been able to fully cover costs of food services program, making no requests from the general fund.

4. Newton has worked on school culture, teaching citizenship and leadership. Most recently we implemented a leadership program for grade 3 students. An example is these older students helping young students line up for school after recess.

5. The grade 4 & 5 upper elementary program has raised the bar on advancement and academic achievement. Taking hold of data and accountability, the grade 4 & 5 staff have reviewed all MCAS results, completed item analysis, reviewed schoolwork, and is working with Mahesh Sharma in mathematics. We are raising the bar to advance achievement.

6. An accomplishment of the middle school is in our hiring exceptional teachers to join the school. The people joining GMS are superb, just superb teachers. At GMS now there is common planning time among teachers, collaboration on instructional practice, collaboration for planning units of integrated instruction, and even peer review where teachers observe each other and discuss teaching.

7. An accomplishment for Greenfield High School is establishing an elective program with increased options and extra activities for our students. In 2008, all funding for electives and all electives were eliminated. Now, the $250,000 voted to restore an elective program has allowed administrators to plan a vibrant program for students. We have a wonderful elective program and we have considered ways to contain the costs, which are in a separate budget cost center and not intermingled with other high school costs.

8. At the Discovery School @ Four Corners we are proud of he collegiality taking place among and between elementary school teachers district-wide. This is new for Greenfield. Our schools used to almost compete with each other, but now everyone is sharing. Recently teachers at Newton came to our school to share what they learned at an inservice program. There is a new tone of sharing toward school improvement across the whole district.

9. An accomplishment of Greenfield Schools is the improved physical appearance of our schools—fresh paint, new flooring, new tables in the cafeterias. It raises everyone's spirits to see the buildings upgraded. [Note: By summer 2012, every school in Greenfield will have been upgraded to end leaking roofs, broken bathrooms, cracked floors. And the high school project—kicked into gear in 2009--is well on its way to bring Greenfield a updated high school.]

10. At Federal Street, we are proud of succeeding with our goal of downtown connections. We added swimming at the YMCA and connections with Greenfield library. We have added walking tours with architects, and, during the holiday season, each of our classes made a wreath and took it to a downtown business that works with or supports our school.

11. (Business Manager) One of our accomplishments is providing a long-term financial plan for stability. The superintendent and I think alike, thinking several years ahead all the time. It is an amazing accomplishment to have financially managed the school system during these economic times and with enrollment growth.

12. (Technology Administrator) We just implemented an iPad reading initiative at Greenfield High School—to motivate extra reading for students who need more reading practice. This is a very innovative program. We have outfitted all of our schools with up-to-date technology and have trained all of our teachers to use interactive classroom technology. We have added computer programs to help teachers and students make progress—the NWEA assessment program, Accelerated Reader, First in Math, The Solo Suite, Descartes Cove, the Virtual Chemistry Lab, Discovery Content Enrichment, Automated Libraries, Study Island and others.

13. (Superintendent) We had a vacuum of administrative leadership the summer of 2008. We now have a leadership team district-wide that works well together, sets goals and priorities together, works through problems and new initiatives together. Our elementary schools are working as one unit even with slight program variations.

14. The special education department has a leadership team, too, with a designated coordinator for elementary, middle, and high school levels. When we come together, we focus on our data and system-wide connections. There is more ground beneath our feet to make system improvements.

15. In food services, we have markedly improved what students eat—particularly fruits and vegetables. Our students are eating 25% more fruits and vegetables than most districts. And we have successfully implemented the in-class morning breakfast at Greenfield Middle School. We bring breakfast to the classrooms. It creates more trash but the teachers comment they can see the difference in student alertness during the morning sessions and many more students are having breakfast.

16. At Newton, we now have time for teachers to collaborate built into our schedule. Including teachers observing each other teach. We are making better use of team time—meeting to talk about individual children and individualizing programs. We are a stronger, more collaborative learning community.

17. In grades 4 and 5, an accomplishment is becoming a data-based program—using data more in order to plan better for student accomplishment—raising the bar. We have studied the MCAS data, identified students who are below proficient, adding in another level of support for them.

18. At the middle school, we have re-organized our mornings which were the most challenging part of middle school days—with children coming in at all times and going everywhere. Now we have an organized system for greeting our students—channeling them to certain locations where activities are possible—games, basketball practice, just socializing with supervision. We begin every day now in a good way by having people in place to manage this.

19. The high school has also raised expectations for achievement. We have tried and accomplished having more students work to accelerate, take and pass more challenging courses. Any student can try an Advanced Placement course—there are no bars to trying this level class. We have significantly increased AP course participation and also the numbers of students passing with qualifying grades for college credit. We have students now choosing to take double courses in mathematics and science. The Advanced Placement grant we wrote and implemented has had a huge impact on our program at GHS.

20. At the Discovery School at Four Corners, one of our accomplishments is also the whole school working together and the evolution of a team planning time together, once each week. We've built this into our Innovation School schedule. This year we have teachers all brainstorming together and talking about best practice for teaching. We have teaching teams—teachers presenting lessons to each other.

21. For the first time in years the Federal Street School library is open and fully staffed, 4 days each week. We've established book clubs in grades 2 and 3, where children are reading the same book and talking about the stories—the characters, how the author is developing themes. We are asking children to think and discuss.

22. A great accomplishment of the school district is opening the virtual school. In order to do this, laws had to be changed, negotiations at many levels had to take place, a major contract had to be established. We had to implement rules that required us to set up statewide billing and recruitment—and we only had a few days notice. And the school is a success. We are the first district in New England to figure this out. It is a major district accomplishment. [Note: The special education administrator added that it is clear now that some students truly benefit from this model—she recalled a recent student who is ending a suite of drugs because the student is now learning in an environment that works for this student.]

23. Speaking of libraries, we (technology department) just bought the software to upgrade and modernize the remaining two elementary school libraries. We are modernizing school libraries with an innovative approach to library management. Students can write and post book reviews for other students to read. Teachers and parents (from home) can pull up and scan our entire collection. We can connect to Western Mass lending library for other books we need. It's another accomplishment of the school district.

24. We have successfully implemented a system-wide, parallel assessment program to the MCAS so we can document and ensure students learning. Using the NWEA, teachers now screen student skills in reading and math three times/year. Teachers are monitoring student learning during the year—not just seeing what happened at the end of the year. In the middle school students are setting their own goals for learning and monitoring their own gains during the year.\ Gary Tashjian took on this challenge, figured out how to set up and use the NWEA, encouraged and trained his teachers to use NWEA data, and then provided leadership with other Greenfield principals, as we expanded this initiative through all schools. Skill screening three times a year is now institutionalized in Greenfield. And teachers are using the data so we can now be accountable for all students learning.

25. We have added to our literacy efforts by implementing Discovery streaming software. Our students do not all have the background information and this program allows teachers to assure all the students have background information on a new topic. We've done a lot of enhance learning.

26. We have lifted the reputation of the Greenfield Schools with our parents and within our region. Some of our advancements have brought recognition to Greenfield on the state and national level.

[Note: After sharing these impromptu comments about district accomplishments, so other Greenfield personnel have shared accomplishments, which are added.]

27. The Academy of Early Learning has climbed out of a very tenuous position over the last three years to become a much sought-after program. We have passed our reaccreditation with the NAEYC, more than doubled our enrollment, added two self-supporting full-day preschool classrooms, and created a successful and self-supporting before and after school program.

28. At Greenfield High School, we have added TV studio production, culinary arts, and textile arts classes, a Zoom-in Lunch Lecture Series, a museum series, and course offerings through Greenfield Community College (dual enrollment) and UMass. We have changed the summer program at GHS from serving just students who failed courses to serving any student who wants to learn during the summer.

29. Greenfield has re-established a district-wide volunteer program--the Greenfield VIPs. This effort started in 2010 and has brought GPS many new volunteers. We have sound practices for screening and placing volunteers in every school. We have forged many new connections with adults in the community.

30. The Greenfield School system has established media relations that have helped changed the image of these schools. There is a near constant presence in the Town Crier and a positive relationship with the Recorder which frequently, now, writes about the good news in our schools.

31. A highly successful Greenfield Education Foundation (GEF) was started--a solid group of community supporters working in tandem with the schools. GEF generates philanthropy for the funding just out of reach—updated uniforms, music instruments, library automation and books, special items teachers request. All money raised goes to support the students and teachers.

32. The school committee adopted a philosophy of continuous improvement, and has affirmed a position supporting innovation schools in Greenfield. There are active subcommittees and a leadership team the keeps dialogue open between the city and school system leaders.

33. We have developed an array of important summer programs for our students. The food service program has developed a Summer Meals program that feeds youth throughout Greenfield during the summer. We offer summer camp for arts and academics, particularly math, to elementary and middle school students. We offer online courses, college courses, recovery courses, and theater camp for high school students.

34. We created a film-making and film studies focus in our arts program. We launched a district-wide Greenfield School Film Festival in 2010-2011. An amazing total of 59 short films of 5 minutes or less were submitted by students in Kindergarten through 12th grade. All students got to see and vote on the films submitted from their school. Students learned about filmmaking and how a film festival works. Greenfield's Student Film Festival culminated in two events showing the winning films and an award ceremony for the top films in the Elementary, Middle, and High School categories. We plan to have an annual student film festival each spring. This was a great hit throughout the district.

35. We have expanded college connections, including courses for our students at area college. An example is the one-week summer "Biological Anthropology" mini course for GHS students taught by UMass grad students and organized in collaboration with the UMass Anthropology Department.  This has been offered successfully for the last 2 summers, and at least one student went on to enroll in UMass to study Anthropology. Like all our summer opportunities, there was no cost to our students.

[Note: If you have an accomplishment you'd like to have added, please send it to superintendent@gpsk12.org.]

Page last updated: April 18, 2012

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