American Education Week Thank You
As superintendent, I make an effort to thank our students, faculty and staff with a short note anytime I observe or hear about a positive that they have accomplished. As we approach American Education Week Nov 14th- 20th, I’d like to write this personal thank you to all of our faculty and staff- for what they do every day.
To our bus drivers- thank you for your dedication and work ethic as you navigate difficult roads in all sorts of weather so that our children can arrive at school safely. I appreciate you being a role model. Your daily presence is stabilizing and comforting to our children, and your smiles first thing in the morning and last thing in the afternoon help set the mood for our student’s school day.
To our child nutrition workers—feeding a family is challenging, but feeding hundreds every day, twice a day is a feat that never fails to amaze me. Our meals are nutritious and appetizing, and I enjoy eating at each school. The job of educating our children would be impossible without your hard work.
To our maintenance, custodial and transportation workers- our schools average over 50 years in age and our buses travel 100,000 miles per year. You not only keep the buses running and schools open, but your abilities and talents save us precious funds each year. I fully realize the importance of the work that you do, and thank you.
To our clerical support staff- many of our facilities run smoothly because of you. Keeping up with appointments, placing orders, talking to parents, communicating with teachers and many other duties make your job especially important, and I thank you for your willingness to go above and beyond expectations daily as you fill so many needs.
To our Central Office support staff- your tireless efforts and dedication to the education of our youth serve as a daily inspiration for me, and all those that you touch. Thank you for helping our entire system move forward.
To our teachers, teacher assistants and administrators- my respect and appreciation for all you do increases every day. Education in the 21st century has demanded that many of us change our approaches and long-held beliefs. As our school system has moved forward, I have been awed by the willingness of our educators to learn from each other in order to make life better for our students. Thank you for staying late, arriving early and all the extra tasks that you do in between.
It takes many people to effectively educate our students. Please join me in thanking all of those special people that go to work each day to make life better for our children.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
The World is Flat
In the book “The World is Flat, by Thomas Friedman, the author observes that the world is no longer a collection of countries functioning independently of one another, but rather all countries, and specifically all economies, are tied closely together in one large economic web. World events and technological advances have driven this flattening, and now, more than ever, our economy in the US is tied closely to the economy of the global market. In my personal travels to Japan, United Kingdom, China, Sweden and other places I have seen this first hand.
It is our job as educators to prepare our students for the future. While we have no idea what the world will look like in ten, or even five years, we do know that the globalization of economies and culture will play a role. It is against this backdrop that we decided as a school system to expand our students’ global horizons. Beginning with West Columbus High School’s partnership with Denmark, we sent teachers and students abroad, and students and teachers from Denmark came to WCHS. East Columbus sent teachers abroad to China, and teachers from China recently spent a week at ECHS. Students from China and East Columbus will continue the exchange program later next year; South Columbus will begin their exchange program with Denmark next year as well. We hope to bring Southeastern Early College on the project with an exchange program with China in the next year. These programs are made possible by the Center for International Understanding.
I have occasionally heard the wisdom of creating these exchanges challenged. There is extra time and expense involved, so why do we do it? The answer is simple: If our students are to have a chance at success, they will have to have a global perspective. I would argue that a student who leaves high school with little understanding about global society is in as much danger as a student who cannot read or write. We cannot take every student abroad, but we can bring the experience back to our schools to help create broader understanding among all of our students, teachers and administrators of the global society in which we live today.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
AYP 2009
Federal “AYP” scores have been released, and Columbus County Schools showed marked improvement in student achievement according to the AYP model. During the 2009-2010 school year, 63% or 12 out of 19 schools made Adequate Yearly Progress. Percentages of schools making AYP in surrounding systems include Brunswick County Schools at 58%, Bladen County Schools at 39%, Pender County at 63% and Robeson County at 32%. Larger systems percentages include Wake County Schools at 38%, Guilford County Schools at 58.5%, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg at 58%. As a school system, Columbus County Schools met 89.4% (243 of 272) of target goals. Eight schools exited federally mandated improvement (often referred to as Title I School Improvement) by posting two years growth. We were thrilled with the results, but not surprised. Our principals, faculty, staff and students have been working tirelessly to ensure that these gains happened, and I am extremely proud of these accomplishments.
As many of you know, testing and accountability have become very important in schools in the 21st century. Educators and stakeholders may have differing opinions as to the amount of testing and what the results say, but by in large, our schools and our school system are judged at least in part on our students’ performance on tests. This accountability is an alphabet soup of terms and formulas that many do not understand, so some clarification may help understand just what all the scores mean.
There are two major types of accountability: Federal and State. Federal accountability, also known as Adequate Yearly Progress and by its acronym AYP, breaks a school up into different subgroups. The subgroups are School as a Whole, White, Black, Hispanic, Native American, Asian, Multiracial, Economically Disadvantaged Students, Limited English Proficient Students, and Students with Disabilities. Each subgroup has a target goal (a number of students that must “pass the test”) that must be met. If all the subgroups meet their goals and 95% percent of the students are tested, then that school makes AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress). A few things to note about AYP: First, only students in grades 3-8 and 10th grade are considered when establishing AYP. AYP does help ensure that all students are being moved forward, and helps us as educators focus on groups that need assistance. One particular frustration about AYP I hear expressed often is that failure to meet even one goal prevents a school from making AYP. While looking at whether or not a school made AYP, one should also look at the number of goals accomplished to get the full picture. Columbus County Schools full AYP results are available at http://www.columbus.k12.nc.us/ayp.
The second accountability is the state “ABC” model. This model, while also very complicated, is based on proficiency (reaching level 3 or 4) on all End of Grade (EOG) tests or End of Course (EOC) tests at the high school level. The main differences between the AYP and ABC models are that student proficiency is considered independent of “subgroups”, and on the high school level AYP considers just Algebra I, English I and Writing, whereas the ABC model looks at those scores plus EOC’s Biology, Algebra II, Civics and Economics, US History, Physical Science and Geometry (Geometry will not be considered this upcoming year). The state has yet to release the ABC scores from last school year; that should happen sometime in August. Looking at our preliminary ABC scores, we feel confident there will be more good news to share.
It is important to understand this “alphabet soup” so that one can have a full understanding of what the results truly indicate. Scores are great, but they are signposts on the journey and not the destination itself. We still have students not achieving at grade level, and as long as we have one student that is not proficient, we cannot rest and we cannot stop improving as a school system. We also cannot rely solely on test scores to evaluate our effectiveness at creating “respectful, responsible adults” in a “global society”.
Test scores should not be the only standard by which we judge our schools. As Einstein once said, “not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted” meaning that the experiences our students have on the athletic fields, stages, classrooms and communities also serve to create not only well rounded students, but also well rounded people. The 21st century demands that our students can work “beyond the bubble” of the score sheet, and our schools will strive to create life long learners and creative problem solvers that can meet any test that life in our global society has to give.
As many of you know, testing and accountability have become very important in schools in the 21st century. Educators and stakeholders may have differing opinions as to the amount of testing and what the results say, but by in large, our schools and our school system are judged at least in part on our students’ performance on tests. This accountability is an alphabet soup of terms and formulas that many do not understand, so some clarification may help understand just what all the scores mean.
There are two major types of accountability: Federal and State. Federal accountability, also known as Adequate Yearly Progress and by its acronym AYP, breaks a school up into different subgroups. The subgroups are School as a Whole, White, Black, Hispanic, Native American, Asian, Multiracial, Economically Disadvantaged Students, Limited English Proficient Students, and Students with Disabilities. Each subgroup has a target goal (a number of students that must “pass the test”) that must be met. If all the subgroups meet their goals and 95% percent of the students are tested, then that school makes AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress). A few things to note about AYP: First, only students in grades 3-8 and 10th grade are considered when establishing AYP. AYP does help ensure that all students are being moved forward, and helps us as educators focus on groups that need assistance. One particular frustration about AYP I hear expressed often is that failure to meet even one goal prevents a school from making AYP. While looking at whether or not a school made AYP, one should also look at the number of goals accomplished to get the full picture. Columbus County Schools full AYP results are available at http://www.columbus.k12.nc.us/ayp.
The second accountability is the state “ABC” model. This model, while also very complicated, is based on proficiency (reaching level 3 or 4) on all End of Grade (EOG) tests or End of Course (EOC) tests at the high school level. The main differences between the AYP and ABC models are that student proficiency is considered independent of “subgroups”, and on the high school level AYP considers just Algebra I, English I and Writing, whereas the ABC model looks at those scores plus EOC’s Biology, Algebra II, Civics and Economics, US History, Physical Science and Geometry (Geometry will not be considered this upcoming year). The state has yet to release the ABC scores from last school year; that should happen sometime in August. Looking at our preliminary ABC scores, we feel confident there will be more good news to share.
It is important to understand this “alphabet soup” so that one can have a full understanding of what the results truly indicate. Scores are great, but they are signposts on the journey and not the destination itself. We still have students not achieving at grade level, and as long as we have one student that is not proficient, we cannot rest and we cannot stop improving as a school system. We also cannot rely solely on test scores to evaluate our effectiveness at creating “respectful, responsible adults” in a “global society”.
Test scores should not be the only standard by which we judge our schools. As Einstein once said, “not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted” meaning that the experiences our students have on the athletic fields, stages, classrooms and communities also serve to create not only well rounded students, but also well rounded people. The 21st century demands that our students can work “beyond the bubble” of the score sheet, and our schools will strive to create life long learners and creative problem solvers that can meet any test that life in our global society has to give.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Budget 2010
The economy has been on the mind of everyone lately; it seems as though the news is bad all over. Every time the news comes on, so does another bad piece of news about the economy.
A year ago in June of 2009, our school system was faced with a very difficult financial crisis. Due to budget shortfalls, caused primarily by reduced tax intake, our school system was to lose 60 positions. To put this in perspective, this would have meant a 15% decrease in teaching positions. These cuts would have not only destroyed our schools, but our local economy, taking over 2 million dollars out of our county. These cuts would have meant further reductions in taxes collected, causing a snowball effect and putting us in danger of an even worse scenario the following year.
It was at this point last year that we learned that the federal stimulus would be coming and bringing close to 2 million dollars to our school system. Our plan had been to use these funds to add 21st century technology to every school in the form of laptops, handheld devices and other instructional technology hardware. Myself, along with the board and our leadership team, felt strongly that while this technology plan would be a great luxury, the necessity of keeping talented teachers outweighed the benefits of the added technology. With careful planning and the use of the added federal stimulus money, our job cuts went from 60 to just one for the 2009-2010 school year.
We held out hope during the 2009-2010 school year that things would improve, but we prepared for the worst, knowing that Columbus County Schools has to revert 1.4 million dollars to the state at the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year. As staff retired or resigned, we held as many positions as possible open in anticipation of the job cuts that would be occurring in June of 2010. When the reality of the budget situation came into focus, we realized that we could no longer avoid the loss of positions. Because we no longer had stimulus money, cuts had to be made. We followed the state recommended Reduction in Force policy and used a point system to determine which staff would be cut. This was not an easy thing to do- in fact this has been one of the most difficult processes I can ever recall in education. In this case, we made the best choices to ensure all our children have what they need to learn and be prepared for their future. There has been much publicity surrounding the nature of our job losses. While it is true that we reduced our positions by 25, we have reassigned and rehired 18 of the people involved. Overall 7 people have lost their jobs as of this writing. While this is still less than ideal, we have made every effort to balance the needs of our children with the needs of our staff.
Our school system exists for our stakeholders and we certainly welcome vigorous questioning of our choices. Some have questioned the timing of opening up a new school (Fair Bluff Technical Academy), and opening an Early College, and investing in projects like sending students abroad to places like Denmark. These types of questions are all valid, and I want our stakeholders to know a couple of things. First, we make what is best for students our top priority. We are bound ethically to pursue opportunities that will benefit our students and accomplish our mission of preparing students for a global society. Second though, it is important for everyone to note that in nearly all cases, these new and ongoing programs are accomplished either in part or in whole from outside funding, and would not decrease funds available for hiring. Not only should we pursue innovative opportunities, but when funds are available to supplement the cost, our school system would be doing a disservice to our students and our community by refusing these programs.
One final note is that the budget situation for the 2010-2011 school year is not completely settled. Lawmakers in Raleigh are still debating on final cuts that have to be made. It is possible that we COULD lose another 12-15 positions, and additional money may have to go back to the state even after the budgets are finalized. When these facts are pared with the reality that our local government contributes funds at a rate less than half the state average, the likelihood is that things will get a little worse before they improve. We understand that the county commissioners have proposed that a ¼ cent sales tax increase be placed on the ballot in November. Needless to say, any additional revenues coming into our county can only help our situation.
The situation seems desperate, and while it is bad, our school system is confident in our staff, and we know that while situations may not be perfect, our students will continue to get a top quality education. We do ask your help in one very important way. Please get involved with your child’s school or a school in your area. In difficult times, both in this country and in this county, the people that make up our towns, communities and schools have a history of prevailing. This time, I feel, will be no different.
A year ago in June of 2009, our school system was faced with a very difficult financial crisis. Due to budget shortfalls, caused primarily by reduced tax intake, our school system was to lose 60 positions. To put this in perspective, this would have meant a 15% decrease in teaching positions. These cuts would have not only destroyed our schools, but our local economy, taking over 2 million dollars out of our county. These cuts would have meant further reductions in taxes collected, causing a snowball effect and putting us in danger of an even worse scenario the following year.
It was at this point last year that we learned that the federal stimulus would be coming and bringing close to 2 million dollars to our school system. Our plan had been to use these funds to add 21st century technology to every school in the form of laptops, handheld devices and other instructional technology hardware. Myself, along with the board and our leadership team, felt strongly that while this technology plan would be a great luxury, the necessity of keeping talented teachers outweighed the benefits of the added technology. With careful planning and the use of the added federal stimulus money, our job cuts went from 60 to just one for the 2009-2010 school year.
We held out hope during the 2009-2010 school year that things would improve, but we prepared for the worst, knowing that Columbus County Schools has to revert 1.4 million dollars to the state at the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year. As staff retired or resigned, we held as many positions as possible open in anticipation of the job cuts that would be occurring in June of 2010. When the reality of the budget situation came into focus, we realized that we could no longer avoid the loss of positions. Because we no longer had stimulus money, cuts had to be made. We followed the state recommended Reduction in Force policy and used a point system to determine which staff would be cut. This was not an easy thing to do- in fact this has been one of the most difficult processes I can ever recall in education. In this case, we made the best choices to ensure all our children have what they need to learn and be prepared for their future. There has been much publicity surrounding the nature of our job losses. While it is true that we reduced our positions by 25, we have reassigned and rehired 18 of the people involved. Overall 7 people have lost their jobs as of this writing. While this is still less than ideal, we have made every effort to balance the needs of our children with the needs of our staff.
Our school system exists for our stakeholders and we certainly welcome vigorous questioning of our choices. Some have questioned the timing of opening up a new school (Fair Bluff Technical Academy), and opening an Early College, and investing in projects like sending students abroad to places like Denmark. These types of questions are all valid, and I want our stakeholders to know a couple of things. First, we make what is best for students our top priority. We are bound ethically to pursue opportunities that will benefit our students and accomplish our mission of preparing students for a global society. Second though, it is important for everyone to note that in nearly all cases, these new and ongoing programs are accomplished either in part or in whole from outside funding, and would not decrease funds available for hiring. Not only should we pursue innovative opportunities, but when funds are available to supplement the cost, our school system would be doing a disservice to our students and our community by refusing these programs.
One final note is that the budget situation for the 2010-2011 school year is not completely settled. Lawmakers in Raleigh are still debating on final cuts that have to be made. It is possible that we COULD lose another 12-15 positions, and additional money may have to go back to the state even after the budgets are finalized. When these facts are pared with the reality that our local government contributes funds at a rate less than half the state average, the likelihood is that things will get a little worse before they improve. We understand that the county commissioners have proposed that a ¼ cent sales tax increase be placed on the ballot in November. Needless to say, any additional revenues coming into our county can only help our situation.
The situation seems desperate, and while it is bad, our school system is confident in our staff, and we know that while situations may not be perfect, our students will continue to get a top quality education. We do ask your help in one very important way. Please get involved with your child’s school or a school in your area. In difficult times, both in this country and in this county, the people that make up our towns, communities and schools have a history of prevailing. This time, I feel, will be no different.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Kindergarten Health Insurance
We received some good news recently, and I wanted to talk with you a little about it. We received word from Governor Beverly Perdue’s office that Columbus County will be a pilot county for the “Healthy and Ready to Learn” initiative. This program identifies uninsured kindergartners and provides them with free medical care.
What does healthcare have to do with learning? We have known for many years that the first year of school is crucial for the child’s success. If a child gets behind the first year, it becomes increasingly difficult to “catch up”. Every single day is crucial to these very young minds. We have implemented Early Reading First programs at each of our elementary schools to insure that literacy issues are addressed before Kindergarten. We have also provided free breakfast for all students this year; multiple studies link a healthy breakfast and academic progress. One area that is in need of attention is health care for our kindergarten students.
Recently, Columbus County was labeled as one of the “unhealthiest” counties in North Carolina. Poor health does not just happen, but starts when health issues are not addressed in childhood. We focus on making sure students are ready to read and solve problems, but sometimes forget that to a child that is sick, or to a parent who is unable to provide basic medical care, school becomes a secondary priority. Chronic diseases, such as obesity or diabetes, also make a huge impact on a child’s ability to learn, especially if a child is not receiving regular check ups and is missing school on a regular basis. Making sure that our kindergartners have a healthy first year of school is as important and as connected to success as making sure they know letters, sounds and numbers. Our school nurses do an excellent job of identifying health issues and educating students and parents, but there is no substitute for consistent, preventative health care. This program will help make sure that students have a strong beginning on their way to a strong finish as adults. We must all remember that the children in our schools have real and present health needs that must be addressed if they are to be able to learn.
I would like to thank Governor Perdue for remembering this very important population in her overall plan for a healthier North Carolina; a healthier population will mean more productivity, and in turn will assist with the economic turnaround. The North Carolina Pediatric Society Foundation will take the lead in implementing this program, and will be joined by the School Nurses Association of North Carolina, N.C. Healthy Start Foundation, Action for Children, N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Rural Health and Community Care, N.C. Healthy Schools, the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, the Office of the Governor and the N.C. Academy of Family Physicians. The program is slated to be expanded next year to all 4 and 5 year olds. This will be statewide community based effort, and we are proud to be selected as one of the first counties to receive this important resource.
What does healthcare have to do with learning? We have known for many years that the first year of school is crucial for the child’s success. If a child gets behind the first year, it becomes increasingly difficult to “catch up”. Every single day is crucial to these very young minds. We have implemented Early Reading First programs at each of our elementary schools to insure that literacy issues are addressed before Kindergarten. We have also provided free breakfast for all students this year; multiple studies link a healthy breakfast and academic progress. One area that is in need of attention is health care for our kindergarten students.
Recently, Columbus County was labeled as one of the “unhealthiest” counties in North Carolina. Poor health does not just happen, but starts when health issues are not addressed in childhood. We focus on making sure students are ready to read and solve problems, but sometimes forget that to a child that is sick, or to a parent who is unable to provide basic medical care, school becomes a secondary priority. Chronic diseases, such as obesity or diabetes, also make a huge impact on a child’s ability to learn, especially if a child is not receiving regular check ups and is missing school on a regular basis. Making sure that our kindergartners have a healthy first year of school is as important and as connected to success as making sure they know letters, sounds and numbers. Our school nurses do an excellent job of identifying health issues and educating students and parents, but there is no substitute for consistent, preventative health care. This program will help make sure that students have a strong beginning on their way to a strong finish as adults. We must all remember that the children in our schools have real and present health needs that must be addressed if they are to be able to learn.
I would like to thank Governor Perdue for remembering this very important population in her overall plan for a healthier North Carolina; a healthier population will mean more productivity, and in turn will assist with the economic turnaround. The North Carolina Pediatric Society Foundation will take the lead in implementing this program, and will be joined by the School Nurses Association of North Carolina, N.C. Healthy Start Foundation, Action for Children, N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Rural Health and Community Care, N.C. Healthy Schools, the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, the Office of the Governor and the N.C. Academy of Family Physicians. The program is slated to be expanded next year to all 4 and 5 year olds. This will be statewide community based effort, and we are proud to be selected as one of the first counties to receive this important resource.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Early Reading First
A few weeks ago, we were notified by Representative Mike McIntyre’s office that Columbus and Bladen counties will be sharing a 4.3 million grant for the Early Reading First program. While any good news is welcome, this news is particularly exciting for the fact that it will have an impact on students for years to come in all areas of our county.
The Early Reading First Program strives to have students on grade level by providing additional resources prior to entry into Kindergarten. After a screening process, a plan of action to increase reading skills is implemented during daily class time at an elementary school. Throughout this one year program, students increase reading skills through scientifically proven curricula delivered by highly trained teachers on a daily basis. The students receive computerized instruction and parents receive materials to extend the learning at home. There is even a summer program for students who need extra assistance.
Some studies have shown that as much as 90% of brain development happens by the age of five. If we rely on kindergarten to remediate deficiencies in our student’s reading skills, which is the foundation of all learning, the die may be cast and it may be too late for some. The Early Reading First program will help ensure that students are starting kindergarten ready for success.
Early Reading First will be implemented at ALL elementary schools for the 2010-2011 school year. If you have a child that will be four years old on or before August 31st 2010, we urge you to contact the elementary school in your attendance area and set up a screening time for your child. Having your child screened by an educational professional is the only objective way to discover the strengths and weaknesses that exist. If you know of any children who meet the age requirement in your community, churches or organizations, please encourage their parent or guardian to contact us for an appointment.
The funds from the federal government have made this program possible; without these funds we couldn’t have afforded the cost of such an expansive program. We are very fortunate to be able to provide this service at no cost to parents of eligible children. We believe that the benefits will be priceless in years to come.
Please visit our website at www.columbus.k12.nc.us and I invite your comments....
The Early Reading First Program strives to have students on grade level by providing additional resources prior to entry into Kindergarten. After a screening process, a plan of action to increase reading skills is implemented during daily class time at an elementary school. Throughout this one year program, students increase reading skills through scientifically proven curricula delivered by highly trained teachers on a daily basis. The students receive computerized instruction and parents receive materials to extend the learning at home. There is even a summer program for students who need extra assistance.
Some studies have shown that as much as 90% of brain development happens by the age of five. If we rely on kindergarten to remediate deficiencies in our student’s reading skills, which is the foundation of all learning, the die may be cast and it may be too late for some. The Early Reading First program will help ensure that students are starting kindergarten ready for success.
Early Reading First will be implemented at ALL elementary schools for the 2010-2011 school year. If you have a child that will be four years old on or before August 31st 2010, we urge you to contact the elementary school in your attendance area and set up a screening time for your child. Having your child screened by an educational professional is the only objective way to discover the strengths and weaknesses that exist. If you know of any children who meet the age requirement in your community, churches or organizations, please encourage their parent or guardian to contact us for an appointment.
The funds from the federal government have made this program possible; without these funds we couldn’t have afforded the cost of such an expansive program. We are very fortunate to be able to provide this service at no cost to parents of eligible children. We believe that the benefits will be priceless in years to come.
Please visit our website at www.columbus.k12.nc.us and I invite your comments....
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