An Update on Our Progress

Today - November 29 - marked the start of the second trimester at the high school.  One-third of the school year is gone.

Our district engaged in significant restructuring this year.  There was staff movement, student movement, and significant changes.

With one-third of the school year gone, what have we learned?

I have been in every building multiple times.  I know that good instruction is taking place.  Students are learning.  Teachers and staff are engaged.  Students greet me with smiles and seem genuinely happy at school.

Yet, I know that not everyone is satisfied with how the restructuring has gone.

Transportation in and around Hayes in the morning is problematic.  Some days everyone arrives on time.  Other days there are long waits.  Some parents, frustrated by the long wait on Nixon, let their sons or daughters out of the car and expect them to walk along Nixon to Hayes.  That is a problem.

Every school is larger than it was last year.  Adjusting to more students in the hallways and on busses and at lunch has created some concern among students, staff, and parents.

While the restructuring was done to save money, the promise was made that this would lead to educational improvements as well.

I am still confident that the plan that was created and implemented is working and will work, but I am also aware that all of us have had to make significant adjustments this year.  If you have concerns do not hesitate to contact me so that we can work toward solutions together.

Willow Ridge 2nd Grade

Mrs. Sampson talks to her class about what things they have in class that they use to do math. From the calendar to number lines to rulers the class could identify a lot of tools for math work and thinking.

What Good is Technology?

An article in the New York Times discusses the use of technology by students.  The article suggests that many students forgo homework and focusing on school because they are distracted by Facebook, text messages, and video games.

As I walk through the halls of our schools I see cell phones and ipods.  Students walk around with earbuds listening to music.  Is this good or bad?

Technology is part of the world that these students are growing up in.  They have no fear of technology and seem adept at figuring out how to use technology.  But are students learning?

Students listen to music, text, update their Facebook status and do homework all at the same time.  How is that possible?  Is that a good thing?

I don't want to sound like a Luddite but I worry and wonder about the ubiquity of technology - especially among our students.

I believe that technology has enhanced our lives and opened up possibilities and doors that were not able to be opened previously.  But is it too much?

Is technology a tool or is it an end in itself?

Believe in Our District; Work to Make It Better

 I sat in a first grade classroom today and talked with a teacher.  She was very positive.  She talked me through some of the concerns she had about her class and her classroom.  There were a lot of very good things going on. She communicated clearly to me about the district and her faith in her colleagues.  At the end of our time together, there were two messages that I took away from our conversation.  First, she believed in our district.  Second, she believed we could do better.

I also sat in a conference room at the high school today.  The assembled administrators were also very positive.  While they spoke of some of their frustrations, they had come to solve the problem not to get lost in complaining about the problem.  They talked about classrooms and students and working with teachers to help students succeed.  We talked about student progress toward graduation.  At the end of our meeting, I also thought that they had two clear messages for me.  One, they believed in our district.  Second, they thought we could do better.

I sat with parent leaders last week.  We spoke about the school year and what was working and what was not working.  They shared concerns about where the district was right now.  At the end of our meeting, I felt they also shared two messages.  They wanted to believe in our district.  They thought we could do better.

As I talk with people who work for the district, who have children who attend the district, or who are just connected to our district, the message is the same one.  They believe in us, yet they believe we can do better.

It is a frustrating time to be in education.  Funding, enrollment, graduation requirements – the list of items that could bog a person down is almost endless.

Yet as I go to buildings, visit with parents, and see our employees in action, I am buoyed by the commitment that I see around me.  I see employees working hard, going out of their way to make things better.  I see students focused on learning.  I hear from parents who want to make a difference. 

Progress is not always easy and it is not always fast.  I understand that every year that any child is in our school district, attending one of our schools, it is an important year.  We cannot take a year off.  We cannot take a month, or a week, or even a day off.

When events try to crowd into the school year and appear to threaten progress, people have a right to be concerned.  Yet what I have seen this year has been a resolve to solve problems, a resolve to continue making us better.

Why?  Because people believe in our district.  People – be they employees, parents, or community members - understand that every one of us has a responsibility to work together to make our district better.  People are willing to commit because they believe in the district.  Yet with the first message comes the unmistakable second message.  We can do better.

My commitment to our district is that I will work hard to continue to help us improve.  If you have an idea that will help us improve or a concern about something that might be holding us back, do not hesitate to contact me.  Together, we can continue to build a great district.   

Social studies at Beagle

Ms. Schuller helps students in her 6th grade Social Studies class begin a review of geographic terms - absolute location, relative location, movement of goods. Sixteen terms in all.

Delta Center Elementary

Mrs. Martin and her first grade class focus on rhyming words in the story "I'm a Turkey."

An Open Letter to Governor-elect Snyder

Dear Governor-elect Snyder,

Congratulations on your election night victory!  I look forward to working with you.

I know that you have many priorities.  It appears that education is one of them.  I appreciate that, for, you see, I am the Superintendent of the Grand Ledge Public Schools.  Education is one of my priorities as well.

In your ten-point plan, point number eight states that we need to reform Michigan’s educational system.  Sometimes words like that from a politician rankle people like me who spend their lives trying to ensure that every student receives a quality education.  But I will take you at your word when you say, “schools, teachers, and parents must renew their commitment to ensuring that each child is given the best possible preparation and education for life.”

I agree with you! We have three district goals. The first one states that every child should make at least a year’s growth in a year’s time.  If we can do that then every child who graduates from our high school will be ready for that next step in his or her life.

Our second goal calls for teachers and administrators to collaborate to find, use, and monitor effective instructional strategies.  When we use effective instructional strategies, our students will learn, which will increase the likelihood that each child will make at least a year’s growth in a year’s time.

Our third goal calls for every person in the district to work together to create a high performing organization.  Teachers, bus drivers, secretaries, food service workers, custodians, teacher aides, administrators, and Superintendents need to focus of creating an organization that helps every student learn.   

I believe you when you say that you want every student in Michigan to receive a high quality education.  But then in your Policy Central, where you give more detail on your policies, you cherry-pick data to paint a picture that every school district in Michigan is sub par.

For example, you show the ACT scores for four states.  You compare Michigan to Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Ohio.  You show that our ACT scores are lower than those four states.  But you do not note that Michigan tests 100% of its high school graduates, while Minnesota only tests 70%, Wisconsin only tests 69%, and Ohio only tests 66%.

When compared to those four states Michigan’s composite ACT score for graduating seniors is lower – anywhere from one to three points lower.  Yet you could have compared us to Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Wyoming.  These four states test 100% of their graduating seniors.  When compared to those five states Michigan’s composite ACT score is higher than two and lower than three.  But there is only a one-point range either way.

You also note that Michigan’s average salary for instructional staff ranks 4th in the United States.  While that is true when you look at all the districts in Michigan, it is not true when you look at specific districts.  For example, the average teacher salary in the Grand Ledge Public Schools is right at the national average. To suggest that every teacher in Michigan is overpaid is not appropriate or helpful.

You state that we should reduce overhead costs and become more efficient.  Yet every employee in our district who has health insurance pays between 18% and 31% of the premium.  In our district, which covers 125 square miles we spend almost two million dollars a year on school transportation.  Other districts in our area that are significantly smaller have no transportation costs.  Sweeping statements about efficiencies, when I believe that we have done a lot to control costs, does not create a spirit of cooperation and collaboration.

You are my Governor-elect.  I want you to be successful.  I believe you when you say that you want Michigan’s schools to be successful.  I would like to invite you to my school district to discuss what we can do together to create a Michigan school system that educates every student well.

Sincerely,

Steve Matthews, Ed.D.

Communication: Ever Changing

When I was growing up, life was different.  We had one television in our house.  To change the channel we had to get up off the couch, go to the television, and turn the dial.  We had five television channels - ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, and a local independent station.

Today, there are two hundred and forty million televisions in the United States.  Two million of them are in bathrooms.  There are over three hundred television channels.

We had one phone - one that you actually had to dial.  If someone call and we were not home, we did not have voice mail or an answering machine.  When I went away to college, if I wanted to call home I had to use the common phone located in the dorm hallway.  If my parents wanted to call me, they had to call that phone, hoped someone would answer it, and, if it was not me who answered, they asked that person to go and find me.

Today, thirty percent of U.S. households do not have a traditional phone line.  As of December 2009, there were over two hundred and eighty five million wireless subscriber connections in the United States.  That would equate to almost ninety-one percent of the U.S. population.

We had no computer.  There was no such thing as email, gmail, or hotmail.

Today, over seventy-six percent of Americans own a computer.  Some estimates say that there are over two hundred and forty email accounts in the United States alone.

When I was young and trying to woo my girlfriend who later became my wife, I wrote her letters.  Now people post messages on Facebook or tweet on Twitter to communicate.

Americans have access to over one trillion web pages, sixty-five thousand iPhone applications, ten thousand radio stations, five thousand magazines, and three hundred cable television networks.

The major television channels - ABC, NBC, and CBS - get about ten million unique visitors a month.  You Tube, Facebook, and My Space get two hundred and fifth unique visitors a month.  None of those websites even existed ten years ago.

Today it is easier than ever to reach people.  Yet, it seems harder to connect that it has ever been.

Ninety percent of the two hundred million emails sent everyday are spam.  Answering machines and caller ID make it easier to screen calls and not answer those call that you would prefer to ignore.

While there are any number of ways for people to connect, it seems like it is harder and harder to communicate.  Our school district wants to communicate important messages to students, parents, and community members.  We constantly wonder what is the most effective way to communicate.

Communication is hard.  Making sure that students, parents, and community members learn about what we are doing is important.  It is also important to be able to hear from our community.  My goal is to communicate with the people who care about our district - students, parents, community members, and employees.

At the end of this entry I have listed several of the tools that I use in an attempt to communicate about our district.  I invite you to join me - in person or virtually.  While life is different today than it was when I was younger, I believe that we need to communicate today more than ever.

The district website:  http://www.glps.k12.mi.us
The Superintendent's blog:  http://grandledgesuperintendent.blogspot.com
The Superintendent's twitter:  http://twitter.com/docsmatthews
The Superintendent's You Tube videos:  http://www.youtube.com/docsmatthews

The next two Superintendent's Coffees:  Wednesday, November 10; 7:30 - 9:00 AM at the Grand Ledge A&W; Thursday, December 9; 5:30 - 7:00 PM at the Grand Ledge Biggby on Charlevoix.

Neff PE

Mr. Stevens -our PE teacher - gets the students ready for a game of soccer.

JV Football Team Reads to Willow Ridge Students

Our high school JV football time recently spent some time at Willow Ridge Elementary reading to our students. A wonderful way for our team to give back to the community and to model the importance of reading!  Thanks goes out to the JV and varsity coaches and Ann Anderson our reading teacher at Willow Ridge.