DECISION-MAKING: MDH

WHEN IT COMES TO MAKING DECISIONS ABOUT THIS H1N1 FLU, I HAVE JUST ONE STATEMENT TO MAKE:

"WE HAVE NOW AND WILL CONTINUE TO FOLLOW THE DIRECTION OF THE MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH."

Minnesota Department of Health (MDH): H1N1

Yesterday, I sent a note out to report on a probable case of H1N1 in a person connected to the Rocori Middle School. That probability was confirmed this morning when officials from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) announced that the CDC has identified the virus as H1N1 (swine flu). Health officials have also been careful to report that the individual who was infected was never seriously ill and is now well on the way to recovery.

Indeed, all of the steps taken by the MDH and the Rocori school have been purely precautionary. In many ways, the swine flu virus is looking and acting like the kind of influenza that moves through the country every year. What makes this one different, apparently, is that it is a new strain so greater caution is in order.

I was involved in a phone conference call with MDH and Minnesota Department of Education officials late yesterday afternoon. On the line were the superintendents of nearly all of the districts in the immediate vicinity of Rocori. We had the chance to get detailed information regarding swine flu and we were able to ask many of the questions which are coming in to our own school districts. We received the kinds of assurances parents and caregivers would want to have regarding the safety of our children. We were all comforted in the call. The MDH provided an excellent link to us. You can find up to date information at http://education.state.mn.us/mdeprod/groups/communications/documents/announcement/013894.pdf

We will continue to follow the advice of the MDH as we attempt to keep our students on the usual course of studies and activities this spring. In yesterday's message, I highlighted the kinds of common sense procedures we should all follow: wash hands thoroughly and regularly, cover coughs, and stay home when sick. We should all be able to continue to go about our daily lives knowing that state health officials are taking all of the appropriate steps--including making sure schools are informed--to keep people safe. We will continue to count on you to help--and to offer our children ongoing assurances of calm and caring support. I will provide additional information as it becomes available.

H1N1 (swine) Flu Virus

As students came to school we heard news concerning a possible local incident of the H1N1 (swine) flu virus at the Rocori Middle School which has been closed today. Officials await test results on what is reported as a probable case of this virus. State officials will be releasing additional information throughout the day.

Clearly, health officials across the nation are taking the possible spread of the H1N1 virus seriously, and we will, in turn, continue to rely on the advice and direction of those officials. We are receiving regular alerts from our respective state agencies. We will continue to consult as more information on the situation emerges.

I know that you will continue to provide a calming influence on those who might otherwise become worried. Of course, we should also stress the importance of using reasonable precautions against spreading any illness. These tips might seem to be obvious, but they merit repeating:

• covering your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing
• or coughing into your covered elbow rather than your hands
• washing your hands often with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub and
• staying home when you are sick
• limit contact with others and avoid close personal contact

For updates: www.health.state.mn.us

PENPALS

During the course of this school year I have engaged in the traditional practice of being a pen pal with a student named Nick from Oak Hill Elementary. It's this kind of activity that brings an excitement and enthusiasm to writing. A young student like Nick gets to write a letter to someone from a distance just to wait for the arrival of a response. Now, imagine what happens when a student sees his own letter published with a published response. Read below to see what Nick wrote to me in his last letter of the school year.

Dear Dr. Jordahl,

Thank you for being my pen pal - it was awesome! It was fun writing to you. I hope it was fun writing to me. In school we had a concert. We are doing poems like acrostic and color an autobiographical. We are also doing magnets.
For Easter I might be going to Pipestone or staying here. I have a hockey tournament, but I forgot where it is at. I tried out for the Flames Hockey and I got invited to the Grizzly's - another Hockey team for the flames. I'm going to Woodbury for this. I went to Mexico for spring break.

Sincerely,

Nick

Well, I thought I would do something special this time by replying to Nick in a blog - a truly published reply along with his now published letter. So, here it is:

Dear Nick,

I have really enjoyed being your pen pal during this school year. First of all, I have been so impressed with your writing and how much you have learned and improved during the course of this school year.

I have also enjoyed getting to know you and your hobbies and all the activities that keep you busy. I've heard about your vacation trips with your family and the trips you have had to take because of hockey. I have heard about your school experiences related to learning and activities. I am so proud as a superintendent that my students are having the positive experiences that you have had.

I can only imagine that your trip to Mexico was really fun. I remember going on trips with my parents when I grew up, and those trips were some of the best memories of my life. I don't have any trips planned for the near future, but as you know, I will be going back to Italy sometime this next year. I always enjoy going there, and my wife has been there during these last two months. In fact, she is coming home tonight.

I should also tell you that I had the pleasure of meeting your mom at an Oak Hill meeting last week. Meeting her was very special because she was able to share that you have really enjoyed this pen pal relationship. I hope that this last month of school for the 2008-2009 school year will be as good as the first 8 months.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jordahl

BLOG IN THE CLASSROOM

A blog is short for web log. It’s a way to communicate information much like journaling thoughts and ways to express feelings; this sounds like a diary of sorts, but it can be so much more. Imagine regular use of this in the classroom as students publish their journals and creative writing. Even communication from the teacher about field trips, calendars, classroom guidelines and more is enhanced when teachers blog. Even so, this way of communication is really enhancing the classroom (especially at the elementary level).

I have included a video below for those interested in having students blog; there are several reasons for doing so. This could be another way for students to write and publish, but look below for other ways to use a blog:

□ creative writing, poetry, short stories, and etc.
□ class newspaper
□ post interviews
□ information about family history and traditions
□ reflections on lessons taught
□ post steps to math problems solved
□ post solutions to math problems
□ illustrate how math concepts are used in everyday life
□ book reviews (example – KWL)
□ story boards, timelines, and etc.
□ vacation trips (add Google Earth/Google Map)
□ showcase individual art projects throughout the year
□ post famous art works with characteristics of each
□ a digital camera for pictures of work displayed
□ music – pictures of instruments, music, history, and etc.
□ material on thematic units you study throughout the year
□ Link to videos, podcasts and websites to encourage extended learning
□ record narrations of their favorite stories (create sound files)
□ science fair projects journal
□ collect data on science experiments
□ create spreadsheets, graphs, charts, and etc.
□ list class hypotheses before science experiment
□ results posted and compared to initial hypotheses
□ communicate same type info – globally (enhance culturally awareness)

Be creative and have fun…plus, parents see the work immediately.

TeamWorks: The Future in 742

We have engaged in a process known as TeamWorks, Inc. in District 742. This has helped us to grow as leaders in this district. Now, I have scheduled my Superintendents’ Cabinet Members and Activities Directors to continue to learn more about the effective ways to bring this process to our teachers and coaches so that they fully understand the impact of a comprehensive educational leadership system. The next meetings will be:

Monday, April 27th – 8:00 a.m. – Noon – Topic: The development of a Scorecard #1
Thursday, April 30th – 8:00 a.m. – Noon – Topic: Scorecard #2

I will also be bringing the TeamWorks process to the teachers and other staff next year by beginning the year with this being presented at a Back-to-School Welcome/Workshop on Wednesday, September 2nd. All staff are invited, and this will allow for an overview presentation of TeamWorks (what’s been done in the District to date) at the Civic Center for the September 2nd morning.

Then, we will spend a couple of days in the buildings (later in the year) working with staff to further their understanding of this trust building, educational leadership system process. It is very useful to get the teachers and other staff engaged in partnering with the administration in moving forward with the strategic directions of the district that are the result of working with TeamWorks. More sessions are planned for staff development time on November 9th & January 25th.

I assure you that this will be motivating and uplifting for all staff.

ST. CLOUD AREA STUDENTS: ROLE MODELS FOR SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY

I am a huge advocate for service learning. While at the volunteer summit, I wanted to stand up and brag about accomplishments with regards to District 742 students serving this community. I will continue to share our accomplishments with the media as we continue with service to these communities. We have a vision that imbeds service learning into the curriculum. In fact, the curriculum department is working to do this.

There are so many projects going on all over the community by our students; we need to make sure that service learning is institutionalized. This blog is an attempt to share with the community how much our students do under the guidance of their teachers/schools to serve. This community should recognize that their schools' students are role models for all when it comes to service. Look at the service-to-community examples below:

District 742 students serve:
□ Many food drives
□ Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign
□ Drives for donating books
□ Caring for the Veteran's Memorial
□ Decorating and engaging veterans in activities at the V.A. several times each year
□ Visiting local nursing homes to engage residents in activities
□ Students plan and host a First Responders Tribute
□ One school has a sister school in Belize; students raise funds for them
□ We host a District Legion Convention; kids serve at this event
□ Student Councils: A variety of projects
□ Public Library Fundraising
□ Package unclaimed lost and found for needy children
□ Helping to run our summer school program.
□ Local park clean-ups/garden planting/bench painting
□ Toys for Tots Collection
□ Neighborhood litter pick-up
□ Prairie planting
□ Reading to younger children/ELL students via Book Buddies
□ Collection of school supplies for the less fortunate
□ Give with Your Heart Project
□ Change the World Projects
□ Peer Tutoring
□ Peer Mentoring
□ St. Cloud Hospital - Children's Unit
□ Back Packs/School Supplies distributed – kids in need
□ Several fundraisers: events to donated to local and one national charities
□ Blood Drives at our high schools
□ Donating furnishings for families in need
□ Participation with the DNR in trout stream restoration projects
□ Earth Day clean-up activities
□ Rice donations to the UN World Food Program to help end hunger
□ Growing a vegetable garden and donating fresh produce to the food shelf
□ Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign
□ Share the Spirit, sponsored by Catholic Charities
□ Kids Hope Shop at the Place of Hope
□ Kids Against Hunger
□ Volunteering at Tri-County Humane Society
□ Lake George clean-up
□ Feed Our Families event
□ Blankets/hats for the homeless shelter
□ Collection of stuffed animals for Guatemala
□ Coats for Kids
□ Packaging at Kids Against Hunger
□ Support our Troop drive
□ Crisis Nursery
□ Empty Bowls
□ Benefit concert for food shelf
□ ARISE Program sponsoring (Track and Field for Developmentally Delayed adults and kids)
□ Juvenile Arthritis Walk
□ Youth Build
□ Sauk River clean up project

...and the list goes on and on!!!

DISTRICT 742 STAFF BEING HONORED

Deb Johansen
Deb Johansen, Developmental Adapted Physical Education Teacher and ARISE Coordinator, has recently been named the "Central District Adapted Physical Education Teacher of the Year" by the Central District Association of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.

Teresa Szymanski
The Central Minnesota School Counselors' Association had its Annual Awards Banquet Tuesday night. They were honored to present Teresa Szymanski as "Central Minnesota Elementary Counselor of the Year."

Congratulations to both of these staff members for being recognized for their contributions to their profession, to District 742 and most of all, to the youth they serve.

AN INVITE TO THE April 30TH PRODUCTION

THIS IS AN INVITE TO THE April 30TH PRODUCTION PUT ON AT NORTH AND SOUTH JUNIOR HIGHS.

SOUTH JR. HIGH @ 9:20 AM
NORTH JR. HIGH @ 1:20 PM

Over 100 ALC students signed up to participate! AMAZING!

A 1-hour production put on by our ALC students in grades 7-12 will soon be coming to our Junior High School students on April 30th, 2009. It is a message to empower youth to set goals and make healthy choices in life like saying no drugs, alcohol, gangs, suicide, sex; to work on good self esteem; and finding their positive talents.

The "Saving Myself" production company is from Detroit, and they are working together with ALC students. We hope to draw in the community, parents, and the district students and staff. Sponsors are the St. Cloud Tech College and the Community Foundation. This type of programming helps students engage and connect to their school and to build the positive decision-making skills that are necessary in life. Plus, this will improve student attendance and attitude. It will be a great message for the ALC students as well as the North and South youth. We expect there will be wonderful cultural connections while working on this production.

MathCorps: Putting District 742 in the National Eye

As you may know, AmeriCorps has significantly helped our district in reading; this program is recognized across the country. Having stated this, the intent behind this message is to help everyone realize that we are piloting a new program. We are the only school district in the country that is piloting MathCorps. MathCorps reaches students who are in 4th-8th grade to tutor and mentor students who are struggling to be at or above grade level in math so that they have the capacity to be successful with math in the future.

We gather data by using the NWEA MAP testing to assess our student's growth and achievement. It is the RIT scores of these assessments that make it possible to monitor student growth during the year and from year-to-year along developmental curriculum scales. NWEA uses the RIT scale, short for Rasch Unit, much like centimeters on a meter stick. While students might normally grow 2 points at any one of these grade levels in a year, our target group of MathCorps students experienced growth of 8.4 points in just a 1/2 year. This is remarkable because the remainder of the student population grew by just 0.5 points in that same 1/2 year. I realize that this study needs a complete year (which is soon coming), but the data to date is incredible.

I am so supportive of this that I've encouraged college students to apply to work with MathCorps and ReadingCorps (including my own children).

Even so, I am concerned about the future of this program. The state is committed to next year, but it's the future that concerns me, and I believe that funding mechanisms need to be examined very seriously so this program happens across the entire country. I have shared our pilot with U.S. Education Secretary Duncan's office along with the success we have recognized. My hope is that this will be seen as a viable program for the entire United States.

THE LEGISLATURE: THEY NEED TO BE THERE FOR KIDS

[watch the video below]

Several of us in education are organizing to take our concerns to the legislature over the next few weeks. There needs to be a “real” conversation about what should to be done to fund education.

The legislature will pass a Tax Bill that will increase revenues in the range of $1.5B sometime in the next 2 weeks; it will be vetoed by the Governor. There are not enough votes to override the veto. This will result in the Bills of both the House and Senate being about $1.5B short of balancing budgets. Then, the orders will go out from leadership to make additional cuts. K-12 will not only be cut more, we may take the brunt of the cuts.

One likely stategy will be to make a major aid/levy shift in the amount of about $2B. This will cost on average $30/pu each year for lost interest earnings. In addition this money will be eventually shifted back with the money coming from education funds.

I am going to continue to get information from the MASA and SEE (our lobbyists); watch this site for updates. In the meantime, continue to contact our representatives and others that you know. We need to push them hard while asking, “Do you care about our future?”

Watch the Pension Bill as it relates to TRA pension fund and for those hired after 1989; we need solutions for these, but it is going to be an added cost. Please tell “them” that we need the levy authority to make these contributions.

GUIDELINES FOR FEDERAL STIMULUS DOLLARS

The first half of the increases for IDEA and Title I have been released to the states. Districts all over this country are working to plan their budgets for next year and establish plans to make the best use of the stimulus funding.

It is clear that the stimulus money carries with it four expectations:

1. Spend funds quickly to save and create jobs.
2. Improve student achievement through school improvement and reform.
3. Ensure transparency, reporting and accountability.
4. Invest funding thoughtfully to minimize funding cliff.

District 742 intends to use the dollars wisely to save jobs, and we want to do this with transparency and accountability. We also have plans in place to provide professional development, interventions like all-day-everyday kindergarten, and student-growth assessments that will provide the data we need to be successful well into the 21st century. Unfortunately, we realize that these dollars will need to be spent over the next two years leaving us with the need to, once again, reduce our budget. Therefore, we will leverage these dollars to show our legislators the importance of adequate school funding while investing them in our professionals for the long term impact they can make to meet the needs of children.

It is clear that the Department of Education is providing flexibility while not holding districts out of compliance on "supplement" not "supplant" requirements. Districts can exercise the 50 percent flexibility in their reduction of local effort using the stimulus dollars, but this puts a burden on all districts because of the need to either cut later or find more revenue. Even so, we hold our breath because we worry about what the state legislature may want to accomplish by holding these dollars. Fortunately, Secretary Duncan is discouraging governors and the state legislators from playing games with the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund. The secretary has made it clear that he will not grant these waivers to any states he perceives to be playing games with the money.

District 742 is going to be innovative as we use stimulus dollars. We are going to impact student achievement, increase capacity with our teachers (long-term), we are going to track results with all our children, and we are going to track the results of all-day-everyday kindergarten program.

OAK HILL MEETING: GRADE LEVEL CONFIGURATIONS - 2010-2011

Great work is underway to provide rigor, challenges and high expectations for all District 742 students. The District 742 Linkage Committee is gathering input from various groups of parents and stakeholders. The committee seeks ideas about grade level configurations for Oak Hill 6th graders in 2010-11. The public is invited to a meeting on Tuesday, April 21st for that purpose.

Program opportunities that provide academic rigor for adolescents, along with the realities of building capacities, enrollment projections, demographic realities and operational realities, are driving the need to explore and implement grade configuration changes in the 2010-11 school year. Grade level configurations may look different throughout the district because of differences in the needs mentioned above. Configurations may include PK-5, PK-6, PK-8 and 6-8. Our discussion on April 21st will begin with Oak Hill and the options available to their 2010-11 6th graders.

The meeting will be held in the Oak Hill Cafeteria on Tuesday, April 21st from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. The Board of Education Linkage Committee is promoting this meeting as part of its efforts to improve communication through face-to-face dialogue with district constituents. The public is invited

DISTRICT 742: DRAFTING A STRATEGIC ROADMAP

About 60 district stakeholders met for a third and final time as a Strategic Roadmap Development Team. As a reminder to all staff, community members, parents and school board members, all of this is in DRAFT form. We engaged in energizing discussions and worked to accomplish three main objectives:

1. To review the final input and refinement of the Core Values.
2. Development of Vision 2014 – descriptors based on group input on what is desired.
3. Development of Strategic Directions – based upon key accomplishments to be achieved and key contradictions to be recognized and addressed in order to move the District towards Vision 2014 by the end of the 2011-2012 school year.

Core Values

• Excellence - Pursuing of the highest standards of and for all while being accountable to each other in all we do
• Learning - Student centered planning, preferences and choices assuring opportunities to maximize learner access, potential and success in an equitable manner
• Leadership - Acting courageously, fulfilling our responsibilities, and engaging our constituencies to bring valued perspectives to our decisions
• Partnership - Engaging in our shared mission with trust, competence, transparency and interdependency with all of our stakeholders: staff, students, families, public, administrators and school board
• Respect - Recognizing & valuing each individual’s contributions through honesty, authenticity and compassion in our words and actions
  

Vision 2014

• Shared ownership for student success: community, families, students and district
• Integrating technology as “what we do” at a pace with the world
• Excellence in teaching, learning and engagement assuring success for ALL
• ALL students achieving and excelling
• Well resourced, well managed, well governed
• Culture and environment which is inclusive, attractive, respectful and reflective of all
• Community partnership around a clear image, identity and value

Strategic Directions

• Developing & implementing instructional district practices focused on diverse student needs
• Increasing our means by 20% & manage well within that
• Changing, aligning systems & structures to move towards our vision
• Developing partnership processes & capacity to address the we/they
• Developing a clear & effective District 742 “brand”
  

Key Messages

There were key messages that were evident as worked through this process. We see ourselves as a district committed to all aspects of a child's learning with an all-inclusive adult learning and engagement process. We must be committed to the individual learner; we must be cognizant of the current realities in our district while seeking the desired realities; we must effectively communicate those realities; and we must be committed to change and recognize that change equals improvement. It’s these key messages that create our district vision.

EXCELLENCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY: THE PARENT'S ROLE

This past year marked a courageous step by the leadership of our school board to adopt a resolution of excellence and accountability. A significant piece of this is the student and family responsibility component. District 742 expects that individual students and their families will meet their responsibility to assure that their child is prepared for school.

The mission of District 742 is to prepare all learners, in partnership with their families and the community, to live and contribute within a changing and diverse world. With this as our mission, the St. Cloud Area School District will be engaging families of the district in an agreement to play a significant role in determining the success of their child’s education when we begin the 2009-2010 school year. After all, the parent is the first and most important teacher in the life of a child.

The intention of a contract is to set expectations for the parent knowing the parent plays a major role in their child’s educational success from the home. We want parents who will assist their child be successful academically, socially and emotionally while in our schools. Parents are expected to make sure their child is prepared to attend school every day, on-time, well-rested, nourished and properly dressed. Information is often sent home about the school, the school day, upcoming events or often simple expectations set by the teacher or school. Parents need to read and respond when asked to all letters, requests, notices, and permission slips received from school. With the communication technology of today’s 21st century educational experience, parents must find access to on-line reports from the school, and when this becomes impossible for the parent, it is their responsibility to access the information by contacting the school. Even so, access can be done right at the child’s school, a public library, the workplace and so many other locations. Success also occurs for the child when the parent reminds and expects their child to follow the rules of the school and respect all adults and other children. It is also important that parents assist their child to complete every assignment in a thorough and thoughtful manner, and when this is not possible, to arrange time for their child to work with another adult to oversee that homework is completed. We want our parents to talk to their children about being accountable to participate in every classroom, individual and group activity as requested. Finally, it is imperative that parents attend all scheduled parent teacher conferences.

When parents don’t have the resources to help their child succeed to the expectations of the school or their own expectation, we want parents to know that District 742 wants to help; we will be there for all parents. After all, the success of the child is enhanced when all of us work together. Therefore, as we look to the future, expect to see the St. Cloud Area School District hold themselves, the children and the parent accountability to excellence.

St. Cloud Tech: Heartland Economics Challenge

Students from St. Cloud Technical High School coached by economics teacher Craig Swanberg placed second in the Adam Smith division of the Heartland Economics Challenge last week at St. Cloud State University. The team of students Grant Spanier, Jack Hedlund, Gary Gohmann, and James Kustritz placed second in the regional competition and will be at the April 15 state contest at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul campus. The students answered questions on microeconomics, macroeconomics, and international economics; they participated in a quiz-bowl competition with teams of students from other high schools. There are two divisions – Adam Smith division for students studying economics in advanced placement and year-long economics classes; and the David Ricardo division for students studying economics as part of social studies, business, or other high school class. State winners in each division continue to the Regional finals in Houston, Texas on April 27, where they compete for $1,000 U.S. Savings Bonds and an all-expense paid trip to the National Economics Challenge in New York City. “The Challenge is very exciting to watch. It forces students to solve difficult problems based on real life issues. I am impressed by the brilliance of these students,” said Claudia Parliament, Executive Director of the Minnesota Council on Economic Education.
“Minnesota has excellent economics teachers and students. Minnesota has had more student teams reach the national finals during the past eight years than any other state.” Economics Challenge is hosted by the Minnesota Council on Economic Education. It is the only national economics competition for high school students. Its purpose is to honor and reward student high-achievers through competition and showcase outstanding high school economics courses and teachers.

Federal Stimulus

News from the Examiner.com, April 8
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The first $44 billion in federal education stimulus money is now available to states, but U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan will want detailed reports on how it is used, the Associated Press reported. Loopholes created by Congress could let states and school districts spend the money on such things as playground equipment or new construction, according to the Education Report. It also could let lawmakers cut state-level education funding and replace it with stimulus dollars, leaving school districts with no additional money, the report said. Duncan said last week he will withhold further funding - a second round of stimulus aid will be released later this year - from states straying from the goals of education reform and teacher job protection, the AP reported. Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina has refused to take the money because he can't use it to pay down debt. To get the second round of aid, states must report on: teacher quality and evaluation systems, comparisons between state and national test data, school restructuring under No Child Left Behind, charter schools and how many high school graduates earn at least some college credit.

OPEB: The Legislature and August 1st

The House is moving along a Bill to end our ability to bond for OPEB costs. Having been at the capital yesterday, I am thinking this will eventually pass. I talked to Rep. Paul Marquart; he is a representative from the Moorhead area. He put forth the bill to keep any district from doing this levy authority after March, but now the bill has been amended to August 1st. His reasons were pretty clear for authoring this bill. There was an intent by the legislature last year to allow this levy authority so that districts could free up their general fund, but then Alexandria announced that they were going to target their levied dollars to put all-day-everyday kindergarten in place in their district. Rep. Marquart said that this intent was clearly creating inequities because other districts would not be able to do this without OPEB. Then, I shared our plan for all-day-everyday kindergarten; he applauds our use of these monies because the use of compensatory dollars is our choice to use this allocation to create an intervention to close achievement gaps.

Month of the Military Child

Even though Minnesota is without a single military installation, it is home to more than 15,000 children who have a parent serving in the National Guard and Reserves. These parents and other loved ones prepare for and are sent on long deployments. The sacrifices sometimes continue during the transition in their return from deployment. Our military children deserve the recognition and honor of their sacrifices during the military service their parent or loved ones provided to our country.

April is designated as the Month of the Military Child. This special celebration is a legacy of former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger - established to underscore the important role children play in the Armed Forces community. Governor Tim Pawlenty has also issued a proclamation to declare April as Month of the Military Child and will send a letter of gratitude to each child nominated by their parent. Nominations are collected on the Department of Veteran Affairs Website: http://www.mdva.state.mn.us/.

CORE VALUES

A group of 50 + teachers, parents, staff and School Board members met for just over 3 hours to continue the process of creating the key structures of the Education Leadership System™ (ELS) : Strategic Roadmap, Scorecards, School Improvement Plans and Monitoring Reports.

The two key outcomes of the workshop were:

1. Development of input on Core Values for the Strategic Roadmap
2. Begin the individual and team reflection and input for the Vision – 2014 Workshop to be completed at the third meeting on Wednesday April 8th at the Mississippi Room at the St. Cloud Library.

The team was provided the existing District Mission Statement and Core Values which were sourced from the District web site. The current Mission Statement will be used in the Strategic Roadmap as directed by the School Board.

The teams were guided through a Core Values Workshop by Dennis Cheesebrow of TeamWorks International. In this process, Core Values are defined as the values which will drive the words and actions of all: Board, administrators, staff, students and parents in the work and efforts of the District. Core Values are intended to be real, relevant and robust so the application can positively influence the relationships and outcomes of the District. Core Values are usually one to a few words and accompanied by a definition developed by the team.

The consultant offered a viewpoint to the team of the current Core Values as containing several elements of values, vision, strategy and beliefs which together are too long to be effectively used by staff and students at the school and classroom level. It is intended to sharpen, simplify and focus the Core Values for use by all at the school and classroom level.

The process started with a review of the existing Core Values and a sampling of Core Values developed and used by 6 other schools districts in the past few years as examples of final outcomes. Twelve tables of team members developed the first level of values, and then the table consolidated into six teams which developed the second level of core values. Out of the second level of core values emerged a DRAFT of Core Values for consideration by the team at the April 8th meeting.

DRAFT:

Core Values: Drivers of Our Words and Actions

• Excellence - a relentless pursuit of the highest standards of and for all while being accountable to each other in all we do
• Learning - the student as center in our planning, preferences and choices assuring opportunities to maximize learner access, potential and success in an equitable manner
• Leadership - acting courageously, fulfilling our responsibilities, and engaging our constituencies to bring valued perspectives to our decisions
• Partnership - engaging in our shared mission with trust, competence, transparency and interdependency with all of our stakeholders: staff, students, parents, public, administrators and school board
• Respect - honesty, authenticity and compassion in our words and actions recognizing & valuing each individual’s strengths, differences & contributions

Senator Tarryl Clark's Proposal: Q-Comp

St. Cloud's plan was paying for performance, but not to the standands set by MDE; it was paying for student achievement, teachers learning and teacher evaluation. MDE expects a greater percentage tied to student achievement.

The editorial board for the St. Cloud Times wrote about Senator Tarryl Clark's proposal regarding Q-Comp. What she is attempting to do is help all schools that are now in Q-Comp and those that may be engaged in the process in the future. The view that District 742 was not using Q-Comp to pay for performance needs to be addressed. The Q-Comp dollars in this district were being used to pay for teacher professional development to help teachers utilize the best practices of teaching. Pay-for-performance was targeted toward teaching performance (teacher evaluation and professional development) and student achievement (test scores). MDE was satisfied that we were moving into a reformed salary schedule (with teacher approval), but they wanted a greater percentage linked to student achievement. The problem is that there's no guarantee that Q-Comp is going to increase student achievement; there is research that says that better prepared teachers coupled with better teaching practices will increase student achievement.

I have been in contact with the Senator about her proposal. It is my hope that no other district will ever have to spend countless hours of staff time engaged in a "fix-it" plan during the school year. By all practical purposes, and in all fairness, we should have been notified of being a non-compliant district previous to the summer of 2008. We had planned on using Q Comp and the budget for Q-Comp in the 2008-09 school year. Finding out about this in July after the budget is established was too late; this has put a burden on our district financially.

Tech High School

There was an article in today's St. Cloud Times that talks about replacing Tech in the future. A 90+ year old building is obviously going to need repairs and updates, and therefore, I was asked what our expenditures have been over the years on this facility. To keep this short, the last five years expenditures look like the following:

2004-05 = $339,626
2005-06 = $436,105
2006-07 = $860,824
2007-08 = $1,112,331
2008-09 = $1,652,339
5 year total = $4,401,225

The projects have been for roofs, ceilings, lighting, accessibility upgrades, asbestos, mold, science labs, indoor air quality, boilers, the pool, plumbing, H & S, and etc.

NCLB IS PUNITIVE

Punitive elements of NCLB need to be redirected into a more positive and helpful approach. Minnesota is more punishing of schools than most other states in the country. If we use a math grad test as a requirement for graduation we will see only about 75% of our students in Minnesota passing the test (even with a lot of remediation). If 25% of students attaining grade 12 do not pass the Math GRAD Test, this will mean 4000-5000 Minnesota students that will be denied graduation for this reason alone. These students will suffer from lost opportunities to enter colleges, the military and other types of vocational training.

If some type of a waiver, or appeals, process is allowed for students not passing the test, here will be the following effects:

a. An appeal/waiver process will place a significant burden on HS Principals and School Boards to determine which students can graduate, or not graduate, via the appeals/waiver process.
b. Students, and their parents, denied diplomas, may use litigation to change these decisions.
c. Some schools would grant waivers to all students, making a mockery of the whole process and negating the movement toward higher proficiency.

Let’s move away from the punitive approach. Instead, we should be providing a math endorsement for all students passing the Math GRAD test to be placed on transcripts and diplomas. We could even include an even higher endorsement level to indicate proficiency and ‘college’ readiness. Plus, we could consider additional ideas to encourage students to strive to show math proficiency. Even so, with all of this said, growth is still a more important indicator of a school's success than proficiency.

We know that math competency must be increased, but Minnesota needs three (3) elements to be present to increase math competency:
1. Students and parents must be willing to demand and attain high proficiency.
2. We must be prepared to deliver world class results in math.
3. Progressive state and district policies that will help attain success.

Duncan has said he supports the law's mission of accountability, though more flexibility may be required. Some have criticized Duncan for what they call a heavy-handed approach to accountability in Chicago.

Obama says that the status quo is not working for America's kids. “We cannot continue on like this,” Obama said. We need a new vision for a 21st century education system – one where we are spurring innovation; where we are demanding more reform; where parents take responsibility for their children’s success; where we’re recruiting, retaining, and rewarding an army of new teachers; where we hold our schools, teachers and government accountable for results; and where we expect all our children not only to graduate high school, but to graduate college and get a good paying job.”

Weather-related Decisions

I have been asked recently about the process I go through to make weather-related school late starts, early dismissals and cancellations. I make weather-related decisions based on the recommendations of our transportation services, other area school district superintendents, road conditions, and forecasts from the media, and various weather-related internet sites. The process starts the evening prior to doing this, and must be decided by 6 AM for a late starts or a day-long cancellation. Once school is in session, we continue to keep our eyes/ears on reports in case of the need to call for an early dismissal. The safety of the children is our first concern, and with parents going to work at a regular time, too many children are left at home without supervision with school dismissals. Therefore, I will always do my best to keep school in session.