Willow Ridge visit

Waverly vs. Grand Ledge

Grand Ledge vs. Waverly on Fallen Heroes Night.

Are We Doing Our Job?

In 1973 there were 91 million people in the workforce.  Of those 91 million people, 32% were high school dropouts and 40% were high school graduates.  Over 70% of the workforce in 1973 had only a high school diploma or less.

By 2018, the workforce will be 166 million and 10% will be high school dropouts and 28% will be high school graduates.

By 2018, 62% of the jobs will require at least some college.

To put that another way, of the 162 million jobs available in 2018, 103 million of them will require education beyond high school.

Some may argue that a high school diploma or less would still get you a job.  But of those jobs available with a high school diploma or less, only 68% are full-time, full-year jobs.

Who is the workforce in 2018?  This year's 5th graders are the graduating class of 2018.  The high school graduating class of 2018 needs to understand that they will need an education beyond high school to be competitive and to be successful.

Put another way, in 1970 60% of high school graduates and 46% of high school dropouts could look forward to living a middle class lifestyle.  In 2007, only 45% of high school graduates and 33% of high school dropouts could look forward to living a middle class lifestyle.  The percentages in the years to come of people with a high school diploma or less who will live a middle class lifestyle will continue to decline.

Are we preparing the students in our school district to be competitive and successful?

(This information came from the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University.)

First Day Update

I spoke too soon in an earlier post about how well the first day of school went.  Overall, the day was still a good day.

However, we had some significant problems with transportation this afternoon.  We had delays that were unacceptable and that will be corrected.

I understand that parents expect schools to be able to handle basic issues - like transportation - flawlessly.  We did not do that today.  We will improve.

I appreciate the patience that parents showed today and I commit to making sure that tomorrow, and the days that follow, are better.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of the 2010-2011 school year.

I visited every school today.  Overall, I was very happy with the day.  I was at the high school at 7:00 and helped hand out schedules to freshmen students.  By 9:00 this morning at Beagle, every student was in their classroom and the halls were quiet.  At 9:20, I visited a 4th grade classroom at Wacousta and found them working on math.  Kindergarten students were busy in their classrooms when I visited Neff at 10:30.  At 1:30 while I was at Delta Center, Principal Averill was meeting with his first, second, and third graders to discuss school rules and responsibilities.  

Having said that, there were some concerns that surfaced that we will get fixed.  Schedules at the secondary level caused a few concerns.  Part of that was a glitch that we discovered in the new student management software.  We believe that we have that resolved now and scheduling should be resolved quickly.

On this first day of school we had transportation concerns pop up.  Some of these concerns were with the length of some bus rides from certain neighborhoods.  We are working on some solutions and should be able to implement them by the end of this week.  We also were a bit slow getting away from the kindergarten building today.  We wanted to make sure that we had every kindergarten student on the right bus and that took more time that we had anticipated.

Today though, it was good to see teachers in classrooms, students finding their way in the hallways, and parents taking pictures as they sent their sons and daughters to school.

Reading, Reading, Reading

An interesting article in The New York Times summarizes the importance of getting kids to read.  Students who read, not surprisingly, improve their reading ability.

One interesting note in this article is that allowing students to choose what they read increased their interest and kept them reading.  Reading is the most important factor, not what they are reading.

The impact of getting students to read improved test scores and was the equivalent of going to summer school.

Encouraging our children to read, especially in the summer, has long-term benefits.

My "Fat" Letter and How It Relates to Our Schools

I received a “fat” letter from my health insurance company.  They probably do not call it a “fat” letter, but that is how came across to me.

Basically, the letter said that I weighed too much and if I didn’t start to lose weight I would slip from the preferred, cheaper health insurance pool into the basic, more expensive health insurance pool. Not only did they say I was getting fat, they were going to charge me for the privilege. 

I understand why they sent me the letter.  On my last visit to the doctor I weighed 238 pounds.  While I had convinced myself that I was not overweight, I was probably on the road that would get me there.

But I have a surprise for my doctor. 

Since January 5^th I have lost 49 pounds.  I now weigh 189 pounds.

I am not sick.  I have no health issues.  I just made the decision that I needed to do something about my weight.  I made the decision even before I received my “fat” letter.

This was not a decision that I made lightly.  I love ice cream.  I love Mt. Dew.  I love Butterfinger candy bars.  But I also love my wife and I wanted to be around a long time with her.  So I knew I needed to change.

I started being more serious about my walks with Kaya, our dog.  I stopped sitting down in the evening and eating everything I could find.  I quit getting a 99-cent Mt. Dew and a bag of Nutter Butter cookies everyday after lunch.  I quit keeping M & Ms in my candy jar at work.  I drink more water.  I don’t eat everything on my plate at lunch.

I feel better.  I sleep better.  I feel good about what I have been able to do. 

Schools don’t receive “fat” letters.  We do, however, receive indicators that let us know how we are doing.  Instead of a scale that shows our weight, school indicators come in the form of standardized test scores, school improvement goals, and school performance indicators.

The state of Michigan has a school report card.  This report card is based on school performance on the MEAP or MME, indicators of school performance, and whether or not a school made Adequate Yearly Progress.  I am happy to report that all of our schools received an A or a B last year and every one of our schools made adequate yearly progress.

We can also evaluate ourselves by setting and reviewing school improvement goals.  Quite honestly, I don’t think we have done a good job of reflecting on where we are and identifying where we need to be.  One of my goals is to help our district get better at setting, monitoring, and evaluating school improvement goals. 

Schools also can evaluate their performance based on other criteria.  How many students participate in extracurricular or co-curricular activities?  What is the average daily attendance of students and staff?  Are people happy when they come to work?  Are people willing to work together?

We can measure some of these areas and in others we are trying to find ways to measure our performance.  On many of these criteria though our district excels and we can be rightfully proud of who and what we are.

I know that we are not perfect.  I know that there are areas that we can improve.  But the people in our district do a lot of the right things and make a difference for our students everyday.  But, instead of getting comfortable and saying that we are good right where we are, I want us to be a district that takes stock and tries to improve.

This summer I will return to my doctor for another check-up.  My hope is that I will not receive another “fat” letter in the future.  While I am not in perfect health, I am closer now than I was a few months ago.

This summer, our district will receive report card grades on each of our schools.  My hope is that these grades will help us identify what we continue to do well and where we can continue to make improvements.   Our district health is improving and I hope that together we can continue to work toward getting us in the best shape possible.