As a teacher and as an administrator I have always tried to maintain a calm controlled environment in the places I have worked. I have tried to never be angry with students but only angry about inappropriate behavior. I have tried to deal with disagreement about or among students, staff and the school community in general in a dignified respectful way. I always felt that a lot of eyes were watching me and it was my duty to face challenges in the most mature way possible. If I as an educational leader couldn’t do it, who could?
Early on this fall we faced challenges of all kinds! We opened the year unable to use 3 classrooms until the middle of September. We had three and a half sections at third/fourth grade and that was unpopular with parents especially when the half time teacher went full time in another building and we had to hire another person. Several parents went to school board about it and the use of half time teachers were referred to for a long time after as the “Longfellow problem.” Half sections eventually became common in the district. It didn’t hurt that the new half-time person I hired turned out to be incredibly popular.
One afternoon we had a group of Japanese visitors in our school. We have had several here before from many different countries and it is always a rewarding experience. On more than one occasion I have asked the foreign visitors why they are visiting our schools since theirs are supposed to be so good. Without exception, they have all said they would like to have their schools be more like ours. A strange comment since so often we hear how our schools should be more like theirs.
A parent went to the superintendent to complain about me. I expected it but was still somewhat surprised by this behavior. This person is a tough one to figure and so very unpredictable. This person has alienated most of the school community and I have received an number of complaints. Many other parents and teachers are afraid of this person. I hope to talk with the superintendent about this person sometime next week.
Another parent threatened us today by saying she would file child endangerment charges against us for not supervising her kindergartner during indoor recess. The truth is the child was supervised. This parent second-guesses us on everything and it is getting very tiresome. I don’t know why she continues to enroll her kids here if she is so unhappy with us? This is going to make an old man out of me!
At this point I began to wonder what would happen next. All the distractions from parents kept the school on edge and you could feel the tension in the building. For one reason or another some people get some sort of satisfaction out of the turmoil they create. Unfortunately it disrupts the learning environment for a lot of kids. The behavior is unforgivable in a lot of respects and makes me angry when I think about it. There must surely be a special place in hell for people like this.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
90s44 Beginning of the 99-00 School Year
For a while now I have been using journal entries from the 90s for my blog and not really telling many stories although the entries are stories in a way. Part of the problem has been that I have been very busy and sometimes too tired to write much new. The other problem is that many of stories I could tell are too recent and involve people that are still around. I have changed names and references to make it impossible to recognize people or incidents but still tried to give the flavor of the experience. I will visit them again sometime and maybe tell more.
I have eight more entries to finish out the 90s. I have been writing a piece a week for what will be five years when I finish those. Then, rather than writing about the 2000s, I plan to revisit earlier years and tell more stories about those times. I won’t be as driven to write one a week and so they may not show up as often. I think some my fiction may show up in the blog as well.
Now, to finish the 90s:
The 1999-2000 school started off with a lot of changes. We had new superintendent in the district. I wrote that I thought he would be good and that I hoped the media would give him a chance. At Longfellow, we replaced several staff as others moved on. I was pleased with the new hires and optimistic about the year.
During the summer the building windows were replaced and it was determined that there was a structural problem in the classrooms in the northwest part of the building. An I-beam needed to be replaced and that is no small job. We couldn’t use three rooms until the work was done so we were pretty crowded.
I hired a half time person at the third/fourth grade level but after a few days of school she took a full time position in another building. I was very unhappy with comments she made to parents about her leaving even before it was official. I will write later about parent dissatisfaction with the half sections. What it meant was during half of the day students were in three sections and larger class sizes. The other have of the day they were in four sections. The latter was used for reading and math. I saw it as making the best of the situation but parents didn’t like it.
I had a parent that year who was giving me a lot of trouble. He wanted his special needs daughter fully included in the classroom. He was adamant that her daughter was not around those “other kids,” those with special needs. The parent seemed to have great contempt special needs children except for his own child, of course.
The parents were full of contradictions and anger about their child. They didn’t trust us and second guessed our every move. We kept careful notes and documented every meeting and intervention. I’ll probably write about this situation again.
I have eight more entries to finish out the 90s. I have been writing a piece a week for what will be five years when I finish those. Then, rather than writing about the 2000s, I plan to revisit earlier years and tell more stories about those times. I won’t be as driven to write one a week and so they may not show up as often. I think some my fiction may show up in the blog as well.
Now, to finish the 90s:
The 1999-2000 school started off with a lot of changes. We had new superintendent in the district. I wrote that I thought he would be good and that I hoped the media would give him a chance. At Longfellow, we replaced several staff as others moved on. I was pleased with the new hires and optimistic about the year.
During the summer the building windows were replaced and it was determined that there was a structural problem in the classrooms in the northwest part of the building. An I-beam needed to be replaced and that is no small job. We couldn’t use three rooms until the work was done so we were pretty crowded.
I hired a half time person at the third/fourth grade level but after a few days of school she took a full time position in another building. I was very unhappy with comments she made to parents about her leaving even before it was official. I will write later about parent dissatisfaction with the half sections. What it meant was during half of the day students were in three sections and larger class sizes. The other have of the day they were in four sections. The latter was used for reading and math. I saw it as making the best of the situation but parents didn’t like it.
I had a parent that year who was giving me a lot of trouble. He wanted his special needs daughter fully included in the classroom. He was adamant that her daughter was not around those “other kids,” those with special needs. The parent seemed to have great contempt special needs children except for his own child, of course.
The parents were full of contradictions and anger about their child. They didn’t trust us and second guessed our every move. We kept careful notes and documented every meeting and intervention. I’ll probably write about this situation again.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
90s43 Wrapping it Up
Friday, May 7, 1999 – Today we got word that a note threatening the lives of Northwest Junior High students was found in that building. The note said the students would be killed on Monday. The building was under lock-down today and the police were there. It will be the same on Monday. Apparently several parents pulled their kids out of school today and will again on Monday. This is absolutely CRAZY!
Monday, May 17, 1999 – Rainy weather lately has made for squirrelly kids. The staff has been kind of testy too, because of all of the end of the year stuff. Tomorrow I am taking a vacation day to be an artist in residence at the elementary school in the L & M district. That should be fun! Then on Wednesday, I am taking a professional day to go to Des Moines to meet with Iowa’s first lady, Christie Vilsack, and to serve on her advisory council. That should be very interesting!
Tuesday, May 25, 1999 – Had a great time storytelling at L&M last week and meeting with Christie Vilsack was neat. A lot happened last week. On Friday I suspended a child for trashing my office and making threats. He is the child of a prominent community member so it could be a touchy situation. Also, late on Friday, another difficult parent called and said they were moving and their child would be attending a different school next year. They have been impossible to deal with much of the time and we will not be sorry to see them go, but the kid will be missed. Actually this move should be good for them.
Today, the student I suspended is returning to school and things could be tense. I am supposed to go on the 5/6 field trip but will wait to see how things are going before I leave. Another student brought a squirt gun to school today and was pointing it at people on the bus. There was also a problem outside with some of Ms. Hill’s students so we are off to a rough start.
Thursday, May 27, 1999 – …I turned in my portfolio today to Tim Grieves. We will have to meet regarding my evaluation before he leaves the district. I am glad it is almost over.
We will be getting about $100,000 from the state and $150,000 from the federal government for class size at k-3. That could help us immensely. We will have to do a new staffing plan as soon as we find out.
Wednesday, June 9, 1999 – School’s out! Some changes in staff for next year. We will be losing some associates and picking up some new ones…We have a student coming in who needs a four and one half hour associate that we will have to hire. We are also losing our strings teacher who is staying in the district but will not be at Longfellow next year. She is upset about not being here but there is not much that can be done about it. We are meeting at the CAO this morning about staffing for next year. Right now the plan is to have two ks, three and a half 1/2, three and a half 3/4, and three 5/6. I think that will change before school starts but we will just have to wait and see. Right now we have about 50 kindergartners so I think we will be having 3 sections there.
Thursday, June 14, 1999 – We are wrapping things up for this year. Julie is here one more day and then gone for the summer. I plan to do a lot of cleaning and throwing away and then planning for next year.
Monday, May 17, 1999 – Rainy weather lately has made for squirrelly kids. The staff has been kind of testy too, because of all of the end of the year stuff. Tomorrow I am taking a vacation day to be an artist in residence at the elementary school in the L & M district. That should be fun! Then on Wednesday, I am taking a professional day to go to Des Moines to meet with Iowa’s first lady, Christie Vilsack, and to serve on her advisory council. That should be very interesting!
Tuesday, May 25, 1999 – Had a great time storytelling at L&M last week and meeting with Christie Vilsack was neat. A lot happened last week. On Friday I suspended a child for trashing my office and making threats. He is the child of a prominent community member so it could be a touchy situation. Also, late on Friday, another difficult parent called and said they were moving and their child would be attending a different school next year. They have been impossible to deal with much of the time and we will not be sorry to see them go, but the kid will be missed. Actually this move should be good for them.
Today, the student I suspended is returning to school and things could be tense. I am supposed to go on the 5/6 field trip but will wait to see how things are going before I leave. Another student brought a squirt gun to school today and was pointing it at people on the bus. There was also a problem outside with some of Ms. Hill’s students so we are off to a rough start.
Thursday, May 27, 1999 – …I turned in my portfolio today to Tim Grieves. We will have to meet regarding my evaluation before he leaves the district. I am glad it is almost over.
We will be getting about $100,000 from the state and $150,000 from the federal government for class size at k-3. That could help us immensely. We will have to do a new staffing plan as soon as we find out.
Wednesday, June 9, 1999 – School’s out! Some changes in staff for next year. We will be losing some associates and picking up some new ones…We have a student coming in who needs a four and one half hour associate that we will have to hire. We are also losing our strings teacher who is staying in the district but will not be at Longfellow next year. She is upset about not being here but there is not much that can be done about it. We are meeting at the CAO this morning about staffing for next year. Right now the plan is to have two ks, three and a half 1/2, three and a half 3/4, and three 5/6. I think that will change before school starts but we will just have to wait and see. Right now we have about 50 kindergartners so I think we will be having 3 sections there.
Thursday, June 14, 1999 – We are wrapping things up for this year. Julie is here one more day and then gone for the summer. I plan to do a lot of cleaning and throwing away and then planning for next year.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
90s42 More From My Journal
During my time in education I have been directly involve in a lot of troubling things. But nothing quite as horrifying as what happened at Columbine High School in the spring of 1999. Every educator was shocked by this event and things have never been quite the same since. I am very sad to say that we are probably just as vulnerable to this kind of thing as we were then.
Monday, April 26, 1999 – Last week there was a terrible tragedy in Littleton, Colorado. Some students entered the building with guns and bombs and killed several people and wounded several others. It sent a shock through the nation and especially the schools. There have been some copycat incidents but nothing nearly as serious. I am hopeful that something will be done to protect the children from this happening but educators have pleaded for help for years and nothing has happened so we will just have to wait and see.
I have an ICN meeting after school today to talk about an evaluation for one of our students at a state institute. I don’t know what they will be able to tell us? This has been a very stressful situation for some time and we can’t really trust the parent. This is the person who didn’t like the associate that works with the child. I have spent many long hours with this person and am convinced that he will never be happy with us.
Wednesday, May 5, 1999 – I participated in the Penn Elementary Principal interviews yesterday. It was very interesting. A teacher from Longfellow was one of the candidates. She did a very good job! The job is being offered to another person. She teaches at Penn and has been assistant principal there. She will do a good job. I think the Longfellow teacher would have been good, too, but she needs some more experience. While I was there a student here used a stick as a weapon so I had to come back and deal with that. I suspended him for three days—two in school and an out-of-school day.
We had our last administrative council meeting of the year this morning. It included a luncheon for Barb and Tim. It was a nice event. This afternoon is the Silver Salute to recognize retirees and staff that have 25 years in the district.
I have a few teacher evaluation things to finish up and I’m done with that for the year. I haven’t met with Tim about my evaluation yet, but I think it will go well.
We had a meeting last night with the elementary principals about salary negotiations for next year. We are not very satisfied with our settlements in the last few years. There is not much money available this year so I don’t think it will be much better. Several of the principals are seriously considering returning to the classroom because the pay per-diem is not that much different and the stress is much less.
Monday, April 26, 1999 – Last week there was a terrible tragedy in Littleton, Colorado. Some students entered the building with guns and bombs and killed several people and wounded several others. It sent a shock through the nation and especially the schools. There have been some copycat incidents but nothing nearly as serious. I am hopeful that something will be done to protect the children from this happening but educators have pleaded for help for years and nothing has happened so we will just have to wait and see.
I have an ICN meeting after school today to talk about an evaluation for one of our students at a state institute. I don’t know what they will be able to tell us? This has been a very stressful situation for some time and we can’t really trust the parent. This is the person who didn’t like the associate that works with the child. I have spent many long hours with this person and am convinced that he will never be happy with us.
Wednesday, May 5, 1999 – I participated in the Penn Elementary Principal interviews yesterday. It was very interesting. A teacher from Longfellow was one of the candidates. She did a very good job! The job is being offered to another person. She teaches at Penn and has been assistant principal there. She will do a good job. I think the Longfellow teacher would have been good, too, but she needs some more experience. While I was there a student here used a stick as a weapon so I had to come back and deal with that. I suspended him for three days—two in school and an out-of-school day.
We had our last administrative council meeting of the year this morning. It included a luncheon for Barb and Tim. It was a nice event. This afternoon is the Silver Salute to recognize retirees and staff that have 25 years in the district.
I have a few teacher evaluation things to finish up and I’m done with that for the year. I haven’t met with Tim about my evaluation yet, but I think it will go well.
We had a meeting last night with the elementary principals about salary negotiations for next year. We are not very satisfied with our settlements in the last few years. There is not much money available this year so I don’t think it will be much better. Several of the principals are seriously considering returning to the classroom because the pay per-diem is not that much different and the stress is much less.
Sunday, January 03, 2010
90s41 End of the Year
From about April 1st on things get hectic in an elementary school! Teachers are working frantically to cover material, complete end of year reports, do all of the required “end of the year” assessments and everything else. At the same time the district is planning for the coming year. That includes enrollment projections and staffing for the next school year. Some staff are notified that they will be moving to another position or building. It all makes for a very tense time of the year!
Each year there is a meeting at the central office when you get the official enrollment project and staffing for next year. I always dreaded that meeting! I dreaded even more having to go back to my building and share the information with the staff. The very worst part was having to tell someone they wouldn’t be in our building next year.
Monday, April 5, 1999 – Wow! I have been very busy and not had much time to write. We are doing staffing for next year and the budget. Enrollment will be down so we will probably lose a teacher. It looks like we’ll be having two kindergartens, three 1/2, four 3/4, and three 5/6. I don’t know how the parents will react to that. Time will tell. Negotiations are still going on so when that is resolved it may change things.
We are interviewing for our interpreter/associate position. We have done three and will probably do three more.
Tuesday, April 6, 1999 – We probably made a big mistake today, but I really didn’t know any way out of it. We have a special needs student who has a full-time associate during the year. We were discussing whether the child would need extended year. The team unanimously felt that it would benefit the child. Thinking the parents would want summer school we were trying to decide how we could pay for it if the parents didn’t want to pay themselves. The parents were 25 minutes late to the meeting. We agreed the child could benefit from extended year, identified the skills that would be maintained and then the parents said they didn’t want summer school. Our AEA consultant then came up with the option of a tutor for 45 min. a day, four days a week, for six weeks. That will definitely be unpopular at the central office, but had painted ourselves into a corner and weren’t able to be quick-thinking enough to get out of it. The problem is it sets an expensive precedent. It will cost the district about $360.
Monday, April 19, 1999 – I sent my self-evaluation over to Tim last week but forgot to include this with it. I’ll send it over today. We are struggling to get everything done before the end of the year. I’m trying to get all of the teacher evaluation stuff done but it is really time consuming. The Seminar in School Leadership class met this morning and had an interesting session. It was primarily about accommodations for special needs kids. We used two or three of Autry’s pieces from Life and Work. We only have one more session. That will be on May 3rd.
Each year there is a meeting at the central office when you get the official enrollment project and staffing for next year. I always dreaded that meeting! I dreaded even more having to go back to my building and share the information with the staff. The very worst part was having to tell someone they wouldn’t be in our building next year.
Monday, April 5, 1999 – Wow! I have been very busy and not had much time to write. We are doing staffing for next year and the budget. Enrollment will be down so we will probably lose a teacher. It looks like we’ll be having two kindergartens, three 1/2, four 3/4, and three 5/6. I don’t know how the parents will react to that. Time will tell. Negotiations are still going on so when that is resolved it may change things.
We are interviewing for our interpreter/associate position. We have done three and will probably do three more.
Tuesday, April 6, 1999 – We probably made a big mistake today, but I really didn’t know any way out of it. We have a special needs student who has a full-time associate during the year. We were discussing whether the child would need extended year. The team unanimously felt that it would benefit the child. Thinking the parents would want summer school we were trying to decide how we could pay for it if the parents didn’t want to pay themselves. The parents were 25 minutes late to the meeting. We agreed the child could benefit from extended year, identified the skills that would be maintained and then the parents said they didn’t want summer school. Our AEA consultant then came up with the option of a tutor for 45 min. a day, four days a week, for six weeks. That will definitely be unpopular at the central office, but had painted ourselves into a corner and weren’t able to be quick-thinking enough to get out of it. The problem is it sets an expensive precedent. It will cost the district about $360.
Monday, April 19, 1999 – I sent my self-evaluation over to Tim last week but forgot to include this with it. I’ll send it over today. We are struggling to get everything done before the end of the year. I’m trying to get all of the teacher evaluation stuff done but it is really time consuming. The Seminar in School Leadership class met this morning and had an interesting session. It was primarily about accommodations for special needs kids. We used two or three of Autry’s pieces from Life and Work. We only have one more session. That will be on May 3rd.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
90s40 Challenges
We had a district strategic plan in the 90s and it included a strategy to deal with budget shortages that we were facing at the time. It was referred to as “Strategy 2” and was the justification for cuts in several areas. It affected building staffing and budgets and created a lot of anxiety across the district. This journal entry reflects that as well as some other changes. The interesting thing is that the district is facing these same challenges today. We have been in the budget cutting mode the last two years and it looks like it will continue for a while.
Friday, March 26, 1999 – We are working on our staffing plan now. It looks like we will have two k, three 1/2, four 3/4, and three 5/6. Our projected enrollment is 258. I think it will be closer to 270, but we will just have to wait and see. We are also working on the building budget for next year. It will be about $4000. less than this year so we will have to use our carryover to make up the difference.
Administrators in Iowa City undergo a comprehensive evaluation. I was evaluated during the 1998-1999 school year. The process included parent, staff and student surveys. At the same time I was being evaluated I was evaluating teachers. It was all very time consuming and I was doing that on top of all of my other duties as a principal.
I am struggling to get my portfolio in some kind of acceptable format and just can’t seem to find time to work on it. I have received the external survey information from the staff and am waiting on it from the parents. The staff input is very positive. I expect some negative stuff from the parents. With all the external stuff in I can work on my self-evaluation. Hopefully, I can get this all done soon. I am also trying to finish up teacher evaluation for the year.
Being a superintendent has never been a job I was interested in. I was offered the position at Mediapolis the year I left but I never really considered it. It is a tough job and is too far removed from the kids for me. Superintendents have to make hard decisions and they eventually alienate a lot of people. It is just the nature of the job. This year we lost both the superintendent and the assistant superintendent the same year. I wasn’t surprised to see them leave and was curious about who we would find to take their place.
For our school improvement plan I will be asking each unit to come up with an objective that relates to our achievement goal and uses the data from our assessments as documentation towards the goal.
We will be replacing both Tim Grieves and Barb Grohe this year. That will be tough and there could be a lot of uncertainty for a while. Hopefully, we’ll get through it without too much trouble. Their support and expertise will be missed.
Friday, March 26, 1999 – We are working on our staffing plan now. It looks like we will have two k, three 1/2, four 3/4, and three 5/6. Our projected enrollment is 258. I think it will be closer to 270, but we will just have to wait and see. We are also working on the building budget for next year. It will be about $4000. less than this year so we will have to use our carryover to make up the difference.
Administrators in Iowa City undergo a comprehensive evaluation. I was evaluated during the 1998-1999 school year. The process included parent, staff and student surveys. At the same time I was being evaluated I was evaluating teachers. It was all very time consuming and I was doing that on top of all of my other duties as a principal.
I am struggling to get my portfolio in some kind of acceptable format and just can’t seem to find time to work on it. I have received the external survey information from the staff and am waiting on it from the parents. The staff input is very positive. I expect some negative stuff from the parents. With all the external stuff in I can work on my self-evaluation. Hopefully, I can get this all done soon. I am also trying to finish up teacher evaluation for the year.
Being a superintendent has never been a job I was interested in. I was offered the position at Mediapolis the year I left but I never really considered it. It is a tough job and is too far removed from the kids for me. Superintendents have to make hard decisions and they eventually alienate a lot of people. It is just the nature of the job. This year we lost both the superintendent and the assistant superintendent the same year. I wasn’t surprised to see them leave and was curious about who we would find to take their place.
For our school improvement plan I will be asking each unit to come up with an objective that relates to our achievement goal and uses the data from our assessments as documentation towards the goal.
We will be replacing both Tim Grieves and Barb Grohe this year. That will be tough and there could be a lot of uncertainty for a while. Hopefully, we’ll get through it without too much trouble. Their support and expertise will be missed.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
90s29 Formal Dinner
Tuesday, February 16, 1999 – Last Thursday we had a very successful formal lunch for the students at Longfellow. We got a lot of favorable press for the school and the district and we can all use that right now…
We started several traditions when I was at Longfellow. Several continue but I am not sure about this one. Every year around Valentines Day we had a formal lunch for all of the students. Everyone was expected to come in his or her Sunday best. Even the staff dressed for the event. Our intent in doing it was to reward the kids and give them some instruction in appropriate behavior in a more formal setting. I always wore a tuxedo that day.
We decorated the lunchroom and used table clothes. We also put flowers on the tables and unlit candles. Soft music played in the background. As the students ate I passed out chocolate kisses to each one.
This became a very popular event with the students and families. Many parents came and took pictures of their children. Over time, more and more parents came and it begin to be congested. Eventually, we had to ask parents not to attend.
The newspaper covered the event several times and Channel 2 did a segment on it once. The latter was interesting because the reporter was a jerk and expected a free lunch out of it. The story turned out pretty well but the reporter thought he was pretty special. Seems to be a common thing with Iowa TV station personalities.
I am not thrilled that schools have been forced to take on many parenting duties but I always liked this event because we all could see the kids in a different light. I was amazed at how much quieter they were during lunch. I think it impacted their behavior all day long. There were very few behavior incidents on those days.
Friday, February 19, 1999 – There was a bomb threat for all Johnson County schools this morning. It was called in to the police department. Mr. Murray and I searched Longfellow while school was in session and found nothing unusual. It took us about an hour and a half to do the search. We also searched the outside around the building and the trash containers. Every building in Iowa City handled it this way. About a week ago there was a similar threat in another county and they missed a least a day of school. Even though I knew it was very unlikely that there was a bomb in any school and even more unlikely that there was one at Longfellow it was still nerve-racking searching and thinking about it. We had about a dozen parents take their kids out of school when they heard about it on the news and we have had dozens of calls about it. All in all a wild day!
We are still working with a parent regarding the interpreter for a child. Yesterday the parent was very angry with me but had calmed down a great deal today when I talked to her. We are meeting with the parent again next Wednesday. It is likely that this will go to mediation or we will have a hearing.
We started several traditions when I was at Longfellow. Several continue but I am not sure about this one. Every year around Valentines Day we had a formal lunch for all of the students. Everyone was expected to come in his or her Sunday best. Even the staff dressed for the event. Our intent in doing it was to reward the kids and give them some instruction in appropriate behavior in a more formal setting. I always wore a tuxedo that day.
We decorated the lunchroom and used table clothes. We also put flowers on the tables and unlit candles. Soft music played in the background. As the students ate I passed out chocolate kisses to each one.
This became a very popular event with the students and families. Many parents came and took pictures of their children. Over time, more and more parents came and it begin to be congested. Eventually, we had to ask parents not to attend.
The newspaper covered the event several times and Channel 2 did a segment on it once. The latter was interesting because the reporter was a jerk and expected a free lunch out of it. The story turned out pretty well but the reporter thought he was pretty special. Seems to be a common thing with Iowa TV station personalities.
I am not thrilled that schools have been forced to take on many parenting duties but I always liked this event because we all could see the kids in a different light. I was amazed at how much quieter they were during lunch. I think it impacted their behavior all day long. There were very few behavior incidents on those days.
Friday, February 19, 1999 – There was a bomb threat for all Johnson County schools this morning. It was called in to the police department. Mr. Murray and I searched Longfellow while school was in session and found nothing unusual. It took us about an hour and a half to do the search. We also searched the outside around the building and the trash containers. Every building in Iowa City handled it this way. About a week ago there was a similar threat in another county and they missed a least a day of school. Even though I knew it was very unlikely that there was a bomb in any school and even more unlikely that there was one at Longfellow it was still nerve-racking searching and thinking about it. We had about a dozen parents take their kids out of school when they heard about it on the news and we have had dozens of calls about it. All in all a wild day!
We are still working with a parent regarding the interpreter for a child. Yesterday the parent was very angry with me but had calmed down a great deal today when I talked to her. We are meeting with the parent again next Wednesday. It is likely that this will go to mediation or we will have a hearing.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
90s38 Character
My journal is full of incidents like the one described below. I was always amazed and surprised by the things that were happening and the response of those involved. I never really knew for sure what to expect. I grew up in a period where parents were more likely to support the school on an issue than their own child. That is definitely not the case now. In fact, the opposite seems to be true.
November 13, 1998 - I had parents in yesterday morning concerned that I had told their kids that if they tried to beat someone up after school I would call the police and if they engaged in that kind of behavior we didn't want them at Longfellow. I told the parents that I had said that because it is true. I don't know what they were expecting? I said that we just couldn't tolerate that kind of thing. Their children are very good at diverting the attention from the real issue and the parents were doing the same thing. I told them that and they didn't like it much. The truth is the boys were overheard, by an adult, saying that they were going to get another student after school. They admitted to it but still tried to blame the other student. It's disturbing that very few will take responsibility for their actions. It's a real problem in school and the world in general.
This has been a disturbing trend for a long time now. People refuse to take responsibility for their own behavior. They always want to blame others or circumstance. It appears that if they can blame someone or something else they don’t have to do anything about it themselves.
In education we have seen it in kids and their parents. It is always someone else’s fault. I am not sure what the parents in the incident above expected me to do but I have always insisted that school is a safe environment for all and I would take whatever steps necessary to make sure that it was.
Teaching responsibility used to be the parent’s job but so many of them are not responsible themselves that it isn’t getting done. Race, ethnicity or social economic status doesn’t have anything to do with it. It seems to know no boundaries. Kids from some of the best families are the worst.
I really don’t think the school should have to teach everything to a child but that is the prevailing thought. Whether it’s character or values, respect for others, responsibility and so on, the general expectation is that if the kids don’t have it the schools must not be doing their job. On top of teaching all the subject areas we took on these additional responsibilities.
We started a program called Success4 in our building in 1998. It was part of a larger program called the Iowa Behavior Initiative (IBI). The focus was on teaching responsibility and expected behavior in different places at school including the playground. In my November 9th journal entry I wrote: At this point last year we had 140 office time outs. We have had 24 so far this year. At this point last year we had 24 bus reports. We have had 8 so far this year. Our IBI work and our school improvement goal seem to be working.
November 13, 1998 - I had parents in yesterday morning concerned that I had told their kids that if they tried to beat someone up after school I would call the police and if they engaged in that kind of behavior we didn't want them at Longfellow. I told the parents that I had said that because it is true. I don't know what they were expecting? I said that we just couldn't tolerate that kind of thing. Their children are very good at diverting the attention from the real issue and the parents were doing the same thing. I told them that and they didn't like it much. The truth is the boys were overheard, by an adult, saying that they were going to get another student after school. They admitted to it but still tried to blame the other student. It's disturbing that very few will take responsibility for their actions. It's a real problem in school and the world in general.
This has been a disturbing trend for a long time now. People refuse to take responsibility for their own behavior. They always want to blame others or circumstance. It appears that if they can blame someone or something else they don’t have to do anything about it themselves.
In education we have seen it in kids and their parents. It is always someone else’s fault. I am not sure what the parents in the incident above expected me to do but I have always insisted that school is a safe environment for all and I would take whatever steps necessary to make sure that it was.
Teaching responsibility used to be the parent’s job but so many of them are not responsible themselves that it isn’t getting done. Race, ethnicity or social economic status doesn’t have anything to do with it. It seems to know no boundaries. Kids from some of the best families are the worst.
I really don’t think the school should have to teach everything to a child but that is the prevailing thought. Whether it’s character or values, respect for others, responsibility and so on, the general expectation is that if the kids don’t have it the schools must not be doing their job. On top of teaching all the subject areas we took on these additional responsibilities.
We started a program called Success4 in our building in 1998. It was part of a larger program called the Iowa Behavior Initiative (IBI). The focus was on teaching responsibility and expected behavior in different places at school including the playground. In my November 9th journal entry I wrote: At this point last year we had 140 office time outs. We have had 24 so far this year. At this point last year we had 24 bus reports. We have had 8 so far this year. Our IBI work and our school improvement goal seem to be working.
Sunday, December 06, 2009
90s37 Responsibility
I have heard critics says things like all elementary principals have to do is stand in the hall and pat children on the head as they pass by. Some have the notion that we have nothing to do or if we do its not important.
The truth is elementary principals are overwhelmed with things to do and when they think they may have a chance to catch up ten new things pop up. Responsibilities include the entire grounds and the structure. I usually walked the building inside and out daily looking for anything that might be a problem. I walked the parameter of the grounds weekly.
Teacher observations, student behavior, parent issues, personnel issues and paperwork fill up the rest of the day.
October 9, 1998 - I have started my observations of teachers. I am observing them as they administer the Checkpoint Assessment and the DRA with hopes that I will better understand them and even do some of them myself. I am also working on my goal of helping all of us better understand the relationship between the strategies, skills, lesson objectives and benchmarks and how it all fits together. I have met with two of the teams and will meet with the other soon. I am also reinforcing this by having the teacher make the connection as part of the evaluation process.
Things continue to go well at Longfellow. We have lost another student and will pick up two on Monday so maybe the trend will change now. I hope so! I still have parent concerns about class size and did get some ratio to hire two hours more of associate time.
The Strategy 2 committee has made some tentative recommendations that include considering having some elementary administrators serve more than one building and cutting back on the days administrators work. Neither sounds good to me but I doubt if they are interested in my opinion.
October 19, 1998 - Tomorrow is a parent/teacher conference day. All continues to go well at Longfellow this year. We really deserved a good year after last year and I am very grateful that we are having one. I had two students last week that stabbed each other with pencils after what started as a friendly sword fight? I suspended both of them for the rest of the day and then gave each a day of in-school suspension. We have a strict no tolerance policy about that sort of thing and sometimes it seems a little harsh to some. We had ITBS last week and have make-ups this week.
October 20, 1998 - Today is a parent/teacher conference day. It has been quiet so far. The PTA had a potato/chili supper last night and a book fair today. There were about 150 people there last night and it was a successful event. I am up for evaluation this year and so this journal will be part of it. We have to do a self-evaluation, seek input from the school community and also do a portfolio. I can see that it will be very time consuming. I hope it yields valuable information.
The truth is elementary principals are overwhelmed with things to do and when they think they may have a chance to catch up ten new things pop up. Responsibilities include the entire grounds and the structure. I usually walked the building inside and out daily looking for anything that might be a problem. I walked the parameter of the grounds weekly.
Teacher observations, student behavior, parent issues, personnel issues and paperwork fill up the rest of the day.
October 9, 1998 - I have started my observations of teachers. I am observing them as they administer the Checkpoint Assessment and the DRA with hopes that I will better understand them and even do some of them myself. I am also working on my goal of helping all of us better understand the relationship between the strategies, skills, lesson objectives and benchmarks and how it all fits together. I have met with two of the teams and will meet with the other soon. I am also reinforcing this by having the teacher make the connection as part of the evaluation process.
Things continue to go well at Longfellow. We have lost another student and will pick up two on Monday so maybe the trend will change now. I hope so! I still have parent concerns about class size and did get some ratio to hire two hours more of associate time.
The Strategy 2 committee has made some tentative recommendations that include considering having some elementary administrators serve more than one building and cutting back on the days administrators work. Neither sounds good to me but I doubt if they are interested in my opinion.
October 19, 1998 - Tomorrow is a parent/teacher conference day. All continues to go well at Longfellow this year. We really deserved a good year after last year and I am very grateful that we are having one. I had two students last week that stabbed each other with pencils after what started as a friendly sword fight? I suspended both of them for the rest of the day and then gave each a day of in-school suspension. We have a strict no tolerance policy about that sort of thing and sometimes it seems a little harsh to some. We had ITBS last week and have make-ups this week.
October 20, 1998 - Today is a parent/teacher conference day. It has been quiet so far. The PTA had a potato/chili supper last night and a book fair today. There were about 150 people there last night and it was a successful event. I am up for evaluation this year and so this journal will be part of it. We have to do a self-evaluation, seek input from the school community and also do a portfolio. I can see that it will be very time consuming. I hope it yields valuable information.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
90s36 More Problems
I have always thought that the general public would be surprised and alarmed about all of the problems we face daily in our elementary schools. Occasionally, they do get a brief glimpse. Some seek to get away from it while others just choose to ignore it. Times when people need to pitch in and be part of the solution are often times when they leave or just criticize.
September 28, 1998 - We had the first session of our Seminar in School Leadership this morning. About fifteen people showed up and I got two messages from people who forgot it but will come next time. We are meeting at the Holiday Inn for breakfast 15 times and talking about Autry's book Love and Profit and other sources that might be of interest to the group. It should be fun!
Last week I got a report that a female 3rd grader was behaving inappropriately on the playground. She has been threatening others and exposing herself. This happened sometime last year and earlier this year and I thought we had it taken care of. One parent was so upset that she took her child out of Longfellow and is sending her to Regina. I am very sorry to see them go but I know this parent has been on the verge of this for sometime and this incident was the straw that broke the camel's back. Now I hear from someone at the central office that the parent doesn't feel I did all I could. I did interview everyone last week in Julie or Donna's presence. I am trying to reach another parent who is concerned but haven't yet made the connection. In addition, another parent told us today she wanted to take her kids out of Longfellow because one of them is being picked on. She has three kids here. Two of them are in SCI. Their home school is Wood. I hope to meet with this parent and the teachers after school and relieve some of her concerns. We had a special education student who had a small pocketknife on the bus this morning. He showed it to the driver and did not use it in a threatening way. I am going to give him in-school suspension for a day, but am having trouble getting hold of the parents.
* * *
Wow! When it rains it pours!!! I knew things were going too well.
I ended up suspending the boy who brought the knife to school to one day of in school suspension. The mother of the three children who was thinking of sending them to Wood decided to only send the regular ed. one there so we will be keeping the two that are in SCI.
The sudden drop in student numbers has me again concerned. Some of them are attributed to class size and some to families moving. We lost three on Friday. Two of those moved and one is going to Regina. We are losing another one who is going to Puerto Rico. Two are going to another school because of class size. One boy went to Wood because that is his home school and he thinks he has more friends there. We have three more that say they are moving and tomorrow is their last day. Whew!
September 28, 1998 - We had the first session of our Seminar in School Leadership this morning. About fifteen people showed up and I got two messages from people who forgot it but will come next time. We are meeting at the Holiday Inn for breakfast 15 times and talking about Autry's book Love and Profit and other sources that might be of interest to the group. It should be fun!
Last week I got a report that a female 3rd grader was behaving inappropriately on the playground. She has been threatening others and exposing herself. This happened sometime last year and earlier this year and I thought we had it taken care of. One parent was so upset that she took her child out of Longfellow and is sending her to Regina. I am very sorry to see them go but I know this parent has been on the verge of this for sometime and this incident was the straw that broke the camel's back. Now I hear from someone at the central office that the parent doesn't feel I did all I could. I did interview everyone last week in Julie or Donna's presence. I am trying to reach another parent who is concerned but haven't yet made the connection. In addition, another parent told us today she wanted to take her kids out of Longfellow because one of them is being picked on. She has three kids here. Two of them are in SCI. Their home school is Wood. I hope to meet with this parent and the teachers after school and relieve some of her concerns. We had a special education student who had a small pocketknife on the bus this morning. He showed it to the driver and did not use it in a threatening way. I am going to give him in-school suspension for a day, but am having trouble getting hold of the parents.
* * *
Wow! When it rains it pours!!! I knew things were going too well.
I ended up suspending the boy who brought the knife to school to one day of in school suspension. The mother of the three children who was thinking of sending them to Wood decided to only send the regular ed. one there so we will be keeping the two that are in SCI.
The sudden drop in student numbers has me again concerned. Some of them are attributed to class size and some to families moving. We lost three on Friday. Two of those moved and one is going to Regina. We are losing another one who is going to Puerto Rico. Two are going to another school because of class size. One boy went to Wood because that is his home school and he thinks he has more friends there. We have three more that say they are moving and tomorrow is their last day. Whew!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
90s35 Picnics and Problems
The first entry below contains my first thoughts on adding a half-time teacher at the 3/4th grade level. We didn’t have the staffing ratio to have a full time person and this seemed to be the best option. It was well received at first but eventually became known to the school board as the “Longfellow problem.” More on that another time.
September 8, 1998 - Things are really going well so far here at Longfellow. We do have some large class sizes at 3/4th. We have 3.5 teachers there and would like it to be four but it is not likely. Our ESL numbers are up to 22 so we may be making some changes there.
We are all in shock because of something that happened at another school in the district. Apparently a volunteer in the building was taking inappropriate photographs of students...It is a very scary thing for anyone who works with children.
I started the Longfellow picnic as a way of celebrating and bringing the neigborhood and the school together. It is an annual event that continues and I am proud to have been part of it.
September 14, 1998 - Things are still going quite well at Longfellow. Last Wednesday, September 9, we celebrated our 80th year to the day. We had a picnic outside with music from the Drollingers and a stilt walker. We had activities for the kids and it was a great time. A lot of parents came and enjoyed the day, too. Longfellow Site Council met for our first meeting of the year today. It was a very productive session with everyone taking some responsibility for the school improvement plan goals…
September 21, 1998 - Things are still going well at Longfellow! We had a nice staff lunch last Thursday and I hired a local banjo player to play for it. I think the staff enjoyed it.
We had a child bitten by a puppy last week. The owner of the puppy refused to take any responsibility for it and bullied the boy and his father into saying that it happened with their own dog two weeks earlier. It was clear to us and the school nurse that it was a fresh wound. It bled profusely. There were also several witnesses who saw the dog bite him. The animal control people just didn't want to follow through on this one. Too bad that you can bend the rules if you are a big enough bully!
We were able to hire our .5 3/4th grade teacher as half ESL teacher here. That is great! We also picked up a .25 from another ESL teacher who has been in another building. He is furious about being here and has been very rude and uncooperative. It has been down right ugly! It will probably get worse before it gets better. I hear that he is a good teacher. We'll have to wait and see.
I have been working on my goals for the year and hope to have them done soon. The superintendent wants them by the end of the month. I also have to start revising my portfolio. I taught 6th grade last week while the 5th graders were at McBride. I did 3 sessions over that many days. There were 42 kids in the group so it was a big class! It was fun and it went well. We worked on point of view and visual literacy.
September 8, 1998 - Things are really going well so far here at Longfellow. We do have some large class sizes at 3/4th. We have 3.5 teachers there and would like it to be four but it is not likely. Our ESL numbers are up to 22 so we may be making some changes there.
We are all in shock because of something that happened at another school in the district. Apparently a volunteer in the building was taking inappropriate photographs of students...It is a very scary thing for anyone who works with children.
I started the Longfellow picnic as a way of celebrating and bringing the neigborhood and the school together. It is an annual event that continues and I am proud to have been part of it.
September 14, 1998 - Things are still going quite well at Longfellow. Last Wednesday, September 9, we celebrated our 80th year to the day. We had a picnic outside with music from the Drollingers and a stilt walker. We had activities for the kids and it was a great time. A lot of parents came and enjoyed the day, too. Longfellow Site Council met for our first meeting of the year today. It was a very productive session with everyone taking some responsibility for the school improvement plan goals…
September 21, 1998 - Things are still going well at Longfellow! We had a nice staff lunch last Thursday and I hired a local banjo player to play for it. I think the staff enjoyed it.
We had a child bitten by a puppy last week. The owner of the puppy refused to take any responsibility for it and bullied the boy and his father into saying that it happened with their own dog two weeks earlier. It was clear to us and the school nurse that it was a fresh wound. It bled profusely. There were also several witnesses who saw the dog bite him. The animal control people just didn't want to follow through on this one. Too bad that you can bend the rules if you are a big enough bully!
We were able to hire our .5 3/4th grade teacher as half ESL teacher here. That is great! We also picked up a .25 from another ESL teacher who has been in another building. He is furious about being here and has been very rude and uncooperative. It has been down right ugly! It will probably get worse before it gets better. I hear that he is a good teacher. We'll have to wait and see.
I have been working on my goals for the year and hope to have them done soon. The superintendent wants them by the end of the month. I also have to start revising my portfolio. I taught 6th grade last week while the 5th graders were at McBride. I did 3 sessions over that many days. There were 42 kids in the group so it was a big class! It was fun and it went well. We worked on point of view and visual literacy.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
90s34 A New Year
You never know for sure what a new school year will bring. The 1997-98 school year had been one crisis after another. Beginning this school year I was hoping for a calmer time.
August 10, 1998 - I have been back for a while. Julie, my secretary, started back today. Things are really picking up. Several staff members have been in and we are all getting excited about the school year. Tomorrow is new student enrollment day. We are hopeful that we will get a number of new students because we are down about 40 from last spring. We have a staffing meeting Wednesday and the CAO and Administrative Council on Thursday morning. We have a staff retreat on Monday and everybody comes back to start the year on Wednesday of next week. We are starting off the year with IBI and had posters printed for the school. I’m anxious to see how that all works out. This is going to be the best year ever!!!
The IBI mentioned in the above entry is the Iowa Behavior Initiative. It really made a big positive difference in student behavior in our building that year. It is all about teaching expected behavior over and over whenever the opportunity arises. In many places it is now called PBS (Positive Behavior Supports).
August 18, 1998 - School starts on Monday and the pace has really picked up. We are getting a few new students but still nothing close to what we lost. Had a staff retreat yesterday that went very well. We worked on our school improvement plan and the student behavior expectations for the coming year. It was a very positive start for us. Everyone seems to be excited about the year. Tomorrow is the official first day for teachers. We start with breakfast on the West High lawn.
August 24, 1998 - Wow! What a day! School is underway! It was very busy around here today but all in all the day went well. We are still short an associate and a half but hope to find someone for those positions soon. A guidance counselor in the district who was a close friend of some of our teachers died today. It was very sad. I sent a teacher home as soon as the kids were gone. She was a close friend of the counselor. We seem to have some very good kids this year. We have about 20 in ESL. Lunchroom and noon recess went Ok.
August 26, 1998 - Some issues are heating up! Class size in the p.m. at 3/4 is a concern. In the morning they are in four sections so class size is about 20. In the afternoon they are in 3 sections and class size is about 28 plus the SCI kids that are included part of the time. The parents have a petition and some are calling me. One has even requested that their child be moved to another section. The 5/6 teachers are at odds with me over another issue. Over the summer we agreed to send the 5th graders to McBride Camp for a week. Now the teachers want to have a lottery and let 6th graders fill the empty slots. They can take 60 and we only have 43 fifth graders. I have said we are only sending the fifth graders and that has them upset. Met with Jerry and Brad about some misunderstandings between the Physical Plant and us. I think we got it worked out and things should improve.
The class size issues mentioned above became a nightmare! I’ll tell more about that later. I stuck to my guns with the 5th grade McBride issues and it worked out fine.
August 10, 1998 - I have been back for a while. Julie, my secretary, started back today. Things are really picking up. Several staff members have been in and we are all getting excited about the school year. Tomorrow is new student enrollment day. We are hopeful that we will get a number of new students because we are down about 40 from last spring. We have a staffing meeting Wednesday and the CAO and Administrative Council on Thursday morning. We have a staff retreat on Monday and everybody comes back to start the year on Wednesday of next week. We are starting off the year with IBI and had posters printed for the school. I’m anxious to see how that all works out. This is going to be the best year ever!!!
The IBI mentioned in the above entry is the Iowa Behavior Initiative. It really made a big positive difference in student behavior in our building that year. It is all about teaching expected behavior over and over whenever the opportunity arises. In many places it is now called PBS (Positive Behavior Supports).
August 18, 1998 - School starts on Monday and the pace has really picked up. We are getting a few new students but still nothing close to what we lost. Had a staff retreat yesterday that went very well. We worked on our school improvement plan and the student behavior expectations for the coming year. It was a very positive start for us. Everyone seems to be excited about the year. Tomorrow is the official first day for teachers. We start with breakfast on the West High lawn.
August 24, 1998 - Wow! What a day! School is underway! It was very busy around here today but all in all the day went well. We are still short an associate and a half but hope to find someone for those positions soon. A guidance counselor in the district who was a close friend of some of our teachers died today. It was very sad. I sent a teacher home as soon as the kids were gone. She was a close friend of the counselor. We seem to have some very good kids this year. We have about 20 in ESL. Lunchroom and noon recess went Ok.
August 26, 1998 - Some issues are heating up! Class size in the p.m. at 3/4 is a concern. In the morning they are in four sections so class size is about 20. In the afternoon they are in 3 sections and class size is about 28 plus the SCI kids that are included part of the time. The parents have a petition and some are calling me. One has even requested that their child be moved to another section. The 5/6 teachers are at odds with me over another issue. Over the summer we agreed to send the 5th graders to McBride Camp for a week. Now the teachers want to have a lottery and let 6th graders fill the empty slots. They can take 60 and we only have 43 fifth graders. I have said we are only sending the fifth graders and that has them upset. Met with Jerry and Brad about some misunderstandings between the Physical Plant and us. I think we got it worked out and things should improve.
The class size issues mentioned above became a nightmare! I’ll tell more about that later. I stuck to my guns with the 5th grade McBride issues and it worked out fine.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
90s33 End of the School Year
The last few journal entries describe some on-going problems that we had that year. In the March 5th entry I refer to some bullying behavior that was going on among some of the 6th grade girls. I had dealt with the girls almost all year long and it seemed that no matter how much I chastised them the bullying continued. It was very frustrating. Girls can sometimes be more difficult to handle than boys in many ways.
The other child referred to was very troubled and I often wonder what has happened to the child since then. They moved out of the district that summer. The child would be about 16 years old now.
The rest of the entries describe a few of the more frustrating things that happened that year. As with all of my published entries, I have modified enough to make it impossible to identify the people involved and yet still illustrate the types of things that occurred.
March 5, 1998
Today is a parent/teacher conference day. All have gone pretty well. We met with a parent whose daughter is being bothered by some other 6th graders. Hopefully we are making progress in getting this kind of thing stopped. It is very frustrating. We had a kindergartner kick, bite, hit, and spit on adult staff yesterday while I was out of the building. She has done this before, but not for a while. We are going to have to meet and make sure that the mother is taking some steps to stop this behavior.
April 1, 1998
True to form the year continues to be full of struggles and surprises. A student went bonkers yesterday. I had to carry him to the office. He threatened to get his neighbors shotgun and shoot me in the head. Teacher salary negotiations are stalled and the Strategy 2 stuff is still a hot issue. We are already planning for another round of cuts for next year. It won't get any better until the legislature changes some things. I am not optimistic that will happen soon.
April 14, 1998
A parent has pulled his child out of Longfellow and placed the child in the BD classroom at Lemme. It is a relief not to have to deal with them and this is probably the best for the kid. It is a troubled family! I also suspended the child for two school days because of the incident mentioned in the April 1 notes. Now that that is taken care of another parent has flared up and wants to control who their child associates with. We are meeting with her on Thursday.
June 6, 1998
Whew! That school year is over! I hope I never have one like it again! This spring has been hectic--actually the whole year was hectic--and I haven't had much time to journal about it. I am looking forward to a nice break from the stress this summer. Near the end of the year we had another stabbing incident. A student used a pencil. I suspended her and her father is quite upset that this will be on her permanent record. He filed a grievance against me but I held my ground and the issue went to the superintendent. As far as I know she upheld my position.
The other child referred to was very troubled and I often wonder what has happened to the child since then. They moved out of the district that summer. The child would be about 16 years old now.
The rest of the entries describe a few of the more frustrating things that happened that year. As with all of my published entries, I have modified enough to make it impossible to identify the people involved and yet still illustrate the types of things that occurred.
March 5, 1998
Today is a parent/teacher conference day. All have gone pretty well. We met with a parent whose daughter is being bothered by some other 6th graders. Hopefully we are making progress in getting this kind of thing stopped. It is very frustrating. We had a kindergartner kick, bite, hit, and spit on adult staff yesterday while I was out of the building. She has done this before, but not for a while. We are going to have to meet and make sure that the mother is taking some steps to stop this behavior.
April 1, 1998
True to form the year continues to be full of struggles and surprises. A student went bonkers yesterday. I had to carry him to the office. He threatened to get his neighbors shotgun and shoot me in the head. Teacher salary negotiations are stalled and the Strategy 2 stuff is still a hot issue. We are already planning for another round of cuts for next year. It won't get any better until the legislature changes some things. I am not optimistic that will happen soon.
April 14, 1998
A parent has pulled his child out of Longfellow and placed the child in the BD classroom at Lemme. It is a relief not to have to deal with them and this is probably the best for the kid. It is a troubled family! I also suspended the child for two school days because of the incident mentioned in the April 1 notes. Now that that is taken care of another parent has flared up and wants to control who their child associates with. We are meeting with her on Thursday.
June 6, 1998
Whew! That school year is over! I hope I never have one like it again! This spring has been hectic--actually the whole year was hectic--and I haven't had much time to journal about it. I am looking forward to a nice break from the stress this summer. Near the end of the year we had another stabbing incident. A student used a pencil. I suspended her and her father is quite upset that this will be on her permanent record. He filed a grievance against me but I held my ground and the issue went to the superintendent. As far as I know she upheld my position.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
90s32 Always Something!
February 17, 1998 - We had yet another controversy recently. The 5/6 social studies teacher was using a simulation about the colonization of America. In one part of it the students journal about their reaction to being attacked by Indians. A local Native American found out about it and was enraged about the material. She called me and complained and now has filed a formal complaint with the district. I immediately stopped the teacher from continuing with it because they were very near the end of the simulation anyway. We could have finished it up but I thought this was the prudent thing to do. Fortunately, the material is on the district list of approved materials so the district has to defend it, not us. Several families, including some with Native American ancestry have let me know that they felt I should have let the kids finish the simulation. The person who complained doesn't have children at Longfellow. I think the issue was just too volatile for us to continue with it. The parent who gave the material to the outside person now regrets having done that and has been very apologetic about it.
In retrospect I probably shouldn’t have gave in so easy but I was weary of controversy and wanted to get on to more important issues. There is a process in the district to reconsider material and books being used but I felt this was such a volatile situation that it would be easier for everyone if we avoided it all together. Some people are just looking for an issue they can blow way out of proportion.
February 24, 1998- Wow! It continues! I had a student last week that stabbed another one with a pencil. It wasn't a serious wound but I had to suspend the student for two days of out and one day of in school suspension. Today, in the neighborhood, the house of one of our families had a minor fire. It was upsetting to one of the children because the fire trucks came and she was worried about her family.
March 2, 1998 - We all survived a great week of celebration for Longfellow's 80th birthday. It was a fun event for the school and the neighborhood. We are having some trouble with he 5/6 graders doing mean things to each other. I talked with one class about harassment. I don't think it sunk in so I may have to take additional steps. Barb Grohe was named National Superintendent of the Year last Friday. She is very deserving and I'm thrilled that she got it.
I came up with the idea of the 80th birthday celebration! It was a fun event and we had a lot of people visit. Many were former students and their family members. In the fall of that year we started the Longfellow picnic as a school and neighborhood event. It was a great success and still happens every September. Over the years their have been some prominent guests including Christie Vilsack, Herky, and many local athletes. It usually includes some local music.
In retrospect I probably shouldn’t have gave in so easy but I was weary of controversy and wanted to get on to more important issues. There is a process in the district to reconsider material and books being used but I felt this was such a volatile situation that it would be easier for everyone if we avoided it all together. Some people are just looking for an issue they can blow way out of proportion.
February 24, 1998- Wow! It continues! I had a student last week that stabbed another one with a pencil. It wasn't a serious wound but I had to suspend the student for two days of out and one day of in school suspension. Today, in the neighborhood, the house of one of our families had a minor fire. It was upsetting to one of the children because the fire trucks came and she was worried about her family.
March 2, 1998 - We all survived a great week of celebration for Longfellow's 80th birthday. It was a fun event for the school and the neighborhood. We are having some trouble with he 5/6 graders doing mean things to each other. I talked with one class about harassment. I don't think it sunk in so I may have to take additional steps. Barb Grohe was named National Superintendent of the Year last Friday. She is very deserving and I'm thrilled that she got it.
I came up with the idea of the 80th birthday celebration! It was a fun event and we had a lot of people visit. Many were former students and their family members. In the fall of that year we started the Longfellow picnic as a school and neighborhood event. It was a great success and still happens every September. Over the years their have been some prominent guests including Christie Vilsack, Herky, and many local athletes. It usually includes some local music.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
90s31 Principal’s Journal
I don’t think the general public has any idea of the challenges educators face routinely. In my tenure at Longfellow we dealt with almost every conceivable problem you can imagine.
Wednesday, October 15, 1997
It continues to be a wild year! We have now discovered that one of our ESL families doesn't have the right visa to attend school in the U. S. I had to meet with them and tell them that Friday would be their last day. That wasn't fun! The younger child has been quite a challenge so there is some relief that we won't have to deal with him although we really feel that he needs to be here in school. I checked the sex abuse registry on a parent and found that he was on it and is now living in the home after returning from prison. That is very frightening! Hopefully nothing will happen. Still searching for an SCI teacher we advertised again and I'm going to go over and look to see if there are any applications this afternoon. The district's Strategy 2 committee has come up with some options that the board can consider when trying to find ways to cut 1 million from the budget. It could become very heated and is headed that way already. Had the flu or something the last couple of days but am feeling better now. I hate being sick!
Having good staff is critical to the success of any school. I was blessed with good teachers and a strong support team while I was there.
Friday, November 14, 1997
Things have improved dramatically. We hired an SCI teacher who will start in December. Yeah!!!
Monday, November 17, 1997
Julie is doing a great job as secretary and is bringing more stability to the building with each new day. It is amazing the difference that she makes. We still have some troublesome students, but are making progress on those problems.
Monday, November 24, 1997
We have a short week this week because of Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to the break and the turkey. Things here seem to be getting better and better! I am really encouraged and relieved.
Monday, January 5, 1998
Back at it after winter break. Everything has been pretty quiet today. Hopefully 1998 will be quieter and calmer than the last part of 1997 was. We are going to be hiring another associate to work in the resource room . That will help out with the load there and give me another person for supervision during recess times.
It seems that every few years we have to tighten our belt in education. That is never a bad idea but when you are already a bare bones operation it’s hard to cut without getting some meat. I truly believe that if we could ever adequately fund education we would solve a host of problems!
Friday, January 30, 1998
There is still a great deal of turmoil in the district regarding budget cuts. The board will have to make some difficult decisions soon. I am hopeful that the state legislature will improve education funding which will in turn help us out. You can never count on that to happen, however. Things are going pretty well here at Longfellow. We still have some problems with student behavior and lack of parent support. We are working on strategies to better deal with that.
Wednesday, October 15, 1997
It continues to be a wild year! We have now discovered that one of our ESL families doesn't have the right visa to attend school in the U. S. I had to meet with them and tell them that Friday would be their last day. That wasn't fun! The younger child has been quite a challenge so there is some relief that we won't have to deal with him although we really feel that he needs to be here in school. I checked the sex abuse registry on a parent and found that he was on it and is now living in the home after returning from prison. That is very frightening! Hopefully nothing will happen. Still searching for an SCI teacher we advertised again and I'm going to go over and look to see if there are any applications this afternoon. The district's Strategy 2 committee has come up with some options that the board can consider when trying to find ways to cut 1 million from the budget. It could become very heated and is headed that way already. Had the flu or something the last couple of days but am feeling better now. I hate being sick!
Having good staff is critical to the success of any school. I was blessed with good teachers and a strong support team while I was there.
Friday, November 14, 1997
Things have improved dramatically. We hired an SCI teacher who will start in December. Yeah!!!
Monday, November 17, 1997
Julie is doing a great job as secretary and is bringing more stability to the building with each new day. It is amazing the difference that she makes. We still have some troublesome students, but are making progress on those problems.
Monday, November 24, 1997
We have a short week this week because of Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to the break and the turkey. Things here seem to be getting better and better! I am really encouraged and relieved.
Monday, January 5, 1998
Back at it after winter break. Everything has been pretty quiet today. Hopefully 1998 will be quieter and calmer than the last part of 1997 was. We are going to be hiring another associate to work in the resource room . That will help out with the load there and give me another person for supervision during recess times.
It seems that every few years we have to tighten our belt in education. That is never a bad idea but when you are already a bare bones operation it’s hard to cut without getting some meat. I truly believe that if we could ever adequately fund education we would solve a host of problems!
Friday, January 30, 1998
There is still a great deal of turmoil in the district regarding budget cuts. The board will have to make some difficult decisions soon. I am hopeful that the state legislature will improve education funding which will in turn help us out. You can never count on that to happen, however. Things are going pretty well here at Longfellow. We still have some problems with student behavior and lack of parent support. We are working on strategies to better deal with that.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
90s30 When it Rains it Pours!
Some years move along very smoothly with few problems or disruptions. Some years don’t go so well and every so often you have a year where there are all kinds of problems. The 1997-98 school year was one of those. It is the kind of year that drives principals out of education. I lost my secretary that year and had to replace my SCI teacher. I was able to get another secretary in September but didn’t get the SCI teacher until December.
The journal entry below describes a few of the problems. There are many more entries like this. I altered this one only enough to hide the identity of the students mentioned.
Thursday, October 2, 1997
… The person I thought I had hired to take our SCI has now decided she doesn't want it. I was shocked when she told me. So now we are looking for someone to fill that position. I am hoping we can find someone soon but it is very difficult this time of the year. This is really tough on the kids... We have some difficult students to deal with. One is a 1st grader from the Africa who only speaks French. She spits, kicks, grabs, hits, licks and does about everything else to adults and students. We are working to find the best placement for her. Two girls who have been at Longfellow before have returned. They have caused a lot of trouble in the past. They often threaten and intimidate others. Hopefully we are not going to have problems with them this time around. Another child who is in 4th grade has had problems all the time she has been in school. Her mother doesn't help. She has been vocal in her dislike for me in the past but seems to be working with us right now. She pulled her older child out of Longfellow and enrolled her in Regina because she was convinced everyone picked on her here. I personally watched her on the playground for two years. I'm convinced that she dished out as much, if not more, than she got. It was very rare that anyone actually bothered her in any way. She rarely complained to me or her teacher about problems. I think what she wanted most was her mother's attention...
We seemed to be encountering more and more troubled children. Many were young and appeared to have serious problems. It was very disconcerting for us. We wondered where these kids came from and why all of a sudden we had so many in the school. It created a chaotic environment. The whole school seemed to be on edge and every time you dealt with one problem, two or three more popped up.
Stress builds up in staff, students and parents. Eventually, tempers flair and there are hard feelings. During those difficult times it is important to stay the course, keep your eye on the prize and know that these difficult times will pass.
The journal entry below describes a few of the problems. There are many more entries like this. I altered this one only enough to hide the identity of the students mentioned.
Thursday, October 2, 1997
… The person I thought I had hired to take our SCI has now decided she doesn't want it. I was shocked when she told me. So now we are looking for someone to fill that position. I am hoping we can find someone soon but it is very difficult this time of the year. This is really tough on the kids... We have some difficult students to deal with. One is a 1st grader from the Africa who only speaks French. She spits, kicks, grabs, hits, licks and does about everything else to adults and students. We are working to find the best placement for her. Two girls who have been at Longfellow before have returned. They have caused a lot of trouble in the past. They often threaten and intimidate others. Hopefully we are not going to have problems with them this time around. Another child who is in 4th grade has had problems all the time she has been in school. Her mother doesn't help. She has been vocal in her dislike for me in the past but seems to be working with us right now. She pulled her older child out of Longfellow and enrolled her in Regina because she was convinced everyone picked on her here. I personally watched her on the playground for two years. I'm convinced that she dished out as much, if not more, than she got. It was very rare that anyone actually bothered her in any way. She rarely complained to me or her teacher about problems. I think what she wanted most was her mother's attention...
We seemed to be encountering more and more troubled children. Many were young and appeared to have serious problems. It was very disconcerting for us. We wondered where these kids came from and why all of a sudden we had so many in the school. It created a chaotic environment. The whole school seemed to be on edge and every time you dealt with one problem, two or three more popped up.
Stress builds up in staff, students and parents. Eventually, tempers flair and there are hard feelings. During those difficult times it is important to stay the course, keep your eye on the prize and know that these difficult times will pass.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
90s29 The Heart of the School
I have always said that a school could operate a long time without a principal but hardly a minute without a secretary. Over the years I have been very fortunate to work with some great ones. The ones I worked with as a teacher were always competitent and very helpful. I had two secretaries at Mediapolis and they were terrific!
Secretaries are the first person people meet when they come into the building. They greet students and tend to their health needs and just about everything else. They serve the teachers and are often pulled ten directions at one time. They answer the phone, deal with angry parents in person and on the phone, and assist inept principals. They seem to weather it all with a smile. I have seen them nurture a sick child as if they were their own, handle a difficult parent, hand out medication, and answer the phone without skipping a beat. Their gentleness has brought tears to my eyes more than once.
When I came to Longfellow I had a terrific secretary who assisted in my transition to the district and community in many ways. I couldn’t imagine functioning without her skilled assistance, but the unthinkable happened as this journal entry documents.
Friday, August 29, 1997
… Chris, my secretary, also told me that she would be leaving in two weeks. That was devastating! She has been here since before I came and has been tremendously helpful to me and the students, staff, and families. We will terribly miss her! …
I was devastated when I wrote the above entry! I couldn’t imagine how I could ever find someone as competent as Chris and yet had that special compassion for kids. Besides that I knew I would have to do many of the things the secretary did until we found someone.
Monday, September 15, 1997
Today is our first day without Chris and one of the office associates is gone this morning, too. Everything is going Ok, but I'm sure it will probably not always be that way. I am looking at some more possible candidates for the secretarial position. I hope to interview soon and hire as soon as possible. Just having someone will make me feel a lot better…
My anxiety wasn’t any less when I wrote the above entry. We interviewed six candidates shortly after I wrote this. I had interviewed nine by myself first and then invited six back for staff interviews. We selected Julie Willman and she started on September 22. A day I always remember because I felt I had been rescued from all kinds of agony. I didn’t write about it in my journal until about 10 days later.
Thursday, October 2, 1997
…We have hired a new secretary and she is working out great! … I managed to complete the reports I needed to do in September and now I am turning a lot of that stuff over to Julie, the new secretary…
I learned quickly that Julie had all of the things I was looking for in a great secretary. I couldn’t have been happier!
Secretaries are the first person people meet when they come into the building. They greet students and tend to their health needs and just about everything else. They serve the teachers and are often pulled ten directions at one time. They answer the phone, deal with angry parents in person and on the phone, and assist inept principals. They seem to weather it all with a smile. I have seen them nurture a sick child as if they were their own, handle a difficult parent, hand out medication, and answer the phone without skipping a beat. Their gentleness has brought tears to my eyes more than once.
When I came to Longfellow I had a terrific secretary who assisted in my transition to the district and community in many ways. I couldn’t imagine functioning without her skilled assistance, but the unthinkable happened as this journal entry documents.
Friday, August 29, 1997
… Chris, my secretary, also told me that she would be leaving in two weeks. That was devastating! She has been here since before I came and has been tremendously helpful to me and the students, staff, and families. We will terribly miss her! …
I was devastated when I wrote the above entry! I couldn’t imagine how I could ever find someone as competent as Chris and yet had that special compassion for kids. Besides that I knew I would have to do many of the things the secretary did until we found someone.
Monday, September 15, 1997
Today is our first day without Chris and one of the office associates is gone this morning, too. Everything is going Ok, but I'm sure it will probably not always be that way. I am looking at some more possible candidates for the secretarial position. I hope to interview soon and hire as soon as possible. Just having someone will make me feel a lot better…
My anxiety wasn’t any less when I wrote the above entry. We interviewed six candidates shortly after I wrote this. I had interviewed nine by myself first and then invited six back for staff interviews. We selected Julie Willman and she started on September 22. A day I always remember because I felt I had been rescued from all kinds of agony. I didn’t write about it in my journal until about 10 days later.
Thursday, October 2, 1997
…We have hired a new secretary and she is working out great! … I managed to complete the reports I needed to do in September and now I am turning a lot of that stuff over to Julie, the new secretary…
I learned quickly that Julie had all of the things I was looking for in a great secretary. I couldn’t have been happier!
Sunday, October 04, 2009
90s28 Excerpts For My Journal
The 1997-98 school year was a challenging one! I will get to some of those challenges but first will share some journal entries from the beginning of the year.
Principal's Journal 1997-98
Friday, August 8, 1997
Came back to work this week after a very busy summer. Worked in the office all day Monday and on Tuesday morning. Paul Davis and I went to the SAI Conference in Des Moines on Tuesday afternoon and stayed until Thursday noon. The conference was uneventful. Went to an Apple session and a teacher evaluation session. The latter was interesting. We managed to put in 52 miles on our bikes riding to the Salorville Reservoir each day. Concerns right now are about the number of students we will have and how many sections we will have at each grade level. I also have to find and hire an intermediate SCI teacher and maybe a half-time fifth/sixth teacher. We also have to do all the preparation for the school year so things are going to get hectic here very soon.
Monday, August 11, 1997
We worked on the class lists today. Changing from five sections at first/second to four sections. We are planning on interviewing for the Intermediate SCI position tomorrow. One of the persons called this morning and said she wouldn't be coming because she has been offered another position. That leaves only two to interview. We advertised in the Register over the weekend so that might generate a few more. Things seem to be getting more hectic by the minute! This afternoon we are going over to West High for training with the new elementary database. It will be great but I'm not excited about messing with it right now. Chris has been working with it so we already know quite a bit about it. The session on the database went well! It will be very useful! The Press-Citizen has requested information from each school about ITBS. Because of the open records law we are obligated to give it to them. It could be the source of some local controversy. There may be a school-by-school comparison. That is not an appropriate use of the scores but the press doesn't understand that. We will just have to wait and see how it develops.
Tuesday, August 12, 1997
We interviewed two candidates for our intermediate SCI position this morning. Several teachers helped with this. We liked one but she is already under contract with WACO so it may be a problem. She is to call me back this afternoon. I think they will let her go pending finding a suitable replacement. We may have to use a sub for a while until she gets released. I hope we get her! If not I guess it's back to the drawing board because I don't think we want the other candidate. Several teachers have stopped in and started working on their classrooms. We will need to hire a 1-hour noon associate before school starts if possible. The person who did it last year, our Media Secretary doesn't want to do it this year. Hopefully we will be able to get someone who can help us out. The SCI candidate called and said that she needed until tomorrow morning. She needs to talk with her principal. I told her she could do that. It delays us a little more but I guess I have no choice if I want her. We had 10 new students register today. That makes our count look a lot better.
Wednesday, August 13, 1997
Wow! A lot has happened today. Our enrollment continues to grow. We are very busy keeping up with everything. I met with the other elementary principals, Barb, Tim, and Ann to discuss staffing based on the new numbers. It now appears that we will be able to staff Longfellow with five first/second grades and three and a half fifth/sixth grades. That is an increase of 1.5 teachers over what we thought we would have. That is great but we need to move fast in getting those teachers. I'm waiting for the CAO to tell me whether they will be new hires or transfers. Either way we are a lot better off than I expected we would be.
Friday, August 15, 1997
Whoaaaaa! Things are crazy now!!! We had administrator inservice all day yesterday. The session was good but we all wanted to get back to our buildings to work or do some hiring. ITBS scores for each building are going to be published locally and that has everyone concerned because they are misunderstood and misused. Some custodians in the district have been involved in a drug ring and that was made public yesterday, too. This afternoon we are interviewing for our first/second position. We interviewed two and the staff was split on the decision so I made the final decision and will offer the position.
Principal's Journal 1997-98
Friday, August 8, 1997
Came back to work this week after a very busy summer. Worked in the office all day Monday and on Tuesday morning. Paul Davis and I went to the SAI Conference in Des Moines on Tuesday afternoon and stayed until Thursday noon. The conference was uneventful. Went to an Apple session and a teacher evaluation session. The latter was interesting. We managed to put in 52 miles on our bikes riding to the Salorville Reservoir each day. Concerns right now are about the number of students we will have and how many sections we will have at each grade level. I also have to find and hire an intermediate SCI teacher and maybe a half-time fifth/sixth teacher. We also have to do all the preparation for the school year so things are going to get hectic here very soon.
Monday, August 11, 1997
We worked on the class lists today. Changing from five sections at first/second to four sections. We are planning on interviewing for the Intermediate SCI position tomorrow. One of the persons called this morning and said she wouldn't be coming because she has been offered another position. That leaves only two to interview. We advertised in the Register over the weekend so that might generate a few more. Things seem to be getting more hectic by the minute! This afternoon we are going over to West High for training with the new elementary database. It will be great but I'm not excited about messing with it right now. Chris has been working with it so we already know quite a bit about it. The session on the database went well! It will be very useful! The Press-Citizen has requested information from each school about ITBS. Because of the open records law we are obligated to give it to them. It could be the source of some local controversy. There may be a school-by-school comparison. That is not an appropriate use of the scores but the press doesn't understand that. We will just have to wait and see how it develops.
Tuesday, August 12, 1997
We interviewed two candidates for our intermediate SCI position this morning. Several teachers helped with this. We liked one but she is already under contract with WACO so it may be a problem. She is to call me back this afternoon. I think they will let her go pending finding a suitable replacement. We may have to use a sub for a while until she gets released. I hope we get her! If not I guess it's back to the drawing board because I don't think we want the other candidate. Several teachers have stopped in and started working on their classrooms. We will need to hire a 1-hour noon associate before school starts if possible. The person who did it last year, our Media Secretary doesn't want to do it this year. Hopefully we will be able to get someone who can help us out. The SCI candidate called and said that she needed until tomorrow morning. She needs to talk with her principal. I told her she could do that. It delays us a little more but I guess I have no choice if I want her. We had 10 new students register today. That makes our count look a lot better.
Wednesday, August 13, 1997
Wow! A lot has happened today. Our enrollment continues to grow. We are very busy keeping up with everything. I met with the other elementary principals, Barb, Tim, and Ann to discuss staffing based on the new numbers. It now appears that we will be able to staff Longfellow with five first/second grades and three and a half fifth/sixth grades. That is an increase of 1.5 teachers over what we thought we would have. That is great but we need to move fast in getting those teachers. I'm waiting for the CAO to tell me whether they will be new hires or transfers. Either way we are a lot better off than I expected we would be.
Friday, August 15, 1997
Whoaaaaa! Things are crazy now!!! We had administrator inservice all day yesterday. The session was good but we all wanted to get back to our buildings to work or do some hiring. ITBS scores for each building are going to be published locally and that has everyone concerned because they are misunderstood and misused. Some custodians in the district have been involved in a drug ring and that was made public yesterday, too. This afternoon we are interviewing for our first/second position. We interviewed two and the staff was split on the decision so I made the final decision and will offer the position.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
90s27 Notes
From the time I started working as principal at Longfellow Elementary I kept a legal pad on my desk. On it I recorded every encounter with students, parents, teachers and others. I still have all of those notes as well as my journals from those days. Those are the places I go first when writing about that time in my life.
Those notes were a reference point for me when talking to people and referring to previous incidents or discussions. Writing about things not only aids your memory, it facilitates organization and clarifies thinking.
The notepads chronicle our shift away from self-contained special education classes to near full inclusion in regular education classrooms. It includes meetings with staff and parents and notes about incidents with students. I also kept notes on any phone calls I got.
The logs are full of parent requests to have their child advanced in a content area, usually math, or be whole grade advanced. I made notes about the parent request, the meetings I had with teachers about it, and the final meeting I had with the parents.
I think every parent thinks his or her child is special in some way. They are advocates for their child as all good parents should be. They often don’t have many other children to compare to so they make their judgments on the information they do have. Schools have hundreds, if not thousands, of kids to include in the comparison and have an accurate sense of where each child is.
In my career I have seen kids advanced in a content area or full grade. Rarely have I, or any of my colleagues that I am aware of, seen any significant advantage in these advancements. More often than not we have seen a negative impact when kids are moved outside their peers.
Parents don’t seem to care what we think. Many times they are doing it because they have heard of another child that was advanced and want to be able to say their child was advanced in a class or grade. In all of the cases I only had one child who wanted to do it. It was always the parent pushing them to be advanced.
Parents pressured teachers and their own children to be advanced. I heard every possible reason why it was the right thing to do from my child is bored to I know my child is smarter than all of the other kids in class because I have talked to those kids.
I have never figured out what the hurry was. I believe being a well-rounded and successful adult has nothing to do with being in the top math class or being advanced a grade level. I had a friend who was the registrar at the University Iowa. He told me, quite emphatically, to stop sending them kids who were academically ready but not socially and emotionally ready for college life.
Generally, these parents are the same ones who push their kids to be involved in and to be the best at everything they do. Not a bad ambition but totally unreasonable. The kids grow up neurotic and dysfunctional.
Those notes were a reference point for me when talking to people and referring to previous incidents or discussions. Writing about things not only aids your memory, it facilitates organization and clarifies thinking.
The notepads chronicle our shift away from self-contained special education classes to near full inclusion in regular education classrooms. It includes meetings with staff and parents and notes about incidents with students. I also kept notes on any phone calls I got.
The logs are full of parent requests to have their child advanced in a content area, usually math, or be whole grade advanced. I made notes about the parent request, the meetings I had with teachers about it, and the final meeting I had with the parents.
I think every parent thinks his or her child is special in some way. They are advocates for their child as all good parents should be. They often don’t have many other children to compare to so they make their judgments on the information they do have. Schools have hundreds, if not thousands, of kids to include in the comparison and have an accurate sense of where each child is.
In my career I have seen kids advanced in a content area or full grade. Rarely have I, or any of my colleagues that I am aware of, seen any significant advantage in these advancements. More often than not we have seen a negative impact when kids are moved outside their peers.
Parents don’t seem to care what we think. Many times they are doing it because they have heard of another child that was advanced and want to be able to say their child was advanced in a class or grade. In all of the cases I only had one child who wanted to do it. It was always the parent pushing them to be advanced.
Parents pressured teachers and their own children to be advanced. I heard every possible reason why it was the right thing to do from my child is bored to I know my child is smarter than all of the other kids in class because I have talked to those kids.
I have never figured out what the hurry was. I believe being a well-rounded and successful adult has nothing to do with being in the top math class or being advanced a grade level. I had a friend who was the registrar at the University Iowa. He told me, quite emphatically, to stop sending them kids who were academically ready but not socially and emotionally ready for college life.
Generally, these parents are the same ones who push their kids to be involved in and to be the best at everything they do. Not a bad ambition but totally unreasonable. The kids grow up neurotic and dysfunctional.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
90s26 Wildlife Habitat
I have mentioned that hyperbole runs rampant in Iowa City and the Longfellow neighborhood. I got a taste of that right away with a number of small incidents and a few major ones.
Because there was a great deal of mistrust by parents due to things that happened before I got to Longfellow I worked to rebuild that trust with parents individually, with the neighborhood association, and the PTA (Parent Teacher Association). When the opportunity arose I tried to do things that made each group feel like the school was an important part of the community. That included sharing the building and the grounds with all of those who had a need to use them.
My biggest challenge had been with the PTA. They clearly did not like the previous principal and weren’t sure about me. I found them second-guessing my decisions as well of some made by the building staff. I noticed that their preferred mode for doing that was not privately with me, but publicly in meetings or the press. More than once I found myself being talked about as if I wasn’t even in the room. I found that very odd.
I had managed to build some trust with the PTA president and thought I could win over the group in time. She began to share with me some of her reservations about others in the group who had attacked her publicly a few times, too. We commiserated with each other.
One morning she came into my office. She was concerned about the poison ivy in the fencerow around the playground. She was especially concerned about the north end and was sure that was where her daughter and others had gotten bad cases of the itchy rash. She asked if the district could do something about it, as not just students, but joggers and walkers of the neighborhood used the area. I told her I would see what I could do.
The district contracted with a lawn service and I asked them if they could help. The said that they had dealt with that problem before and would come and take care of it. I was pleased that I had been responsive and done something that the PTA President would be pleased with. If I had only known!
Within a couple of days I got a call from a local newspaper reporter. He said a parent had called them and told them I had single handedly destroyed the wildlife habitat of Iowa City. I was incredulous! I explained the whole story to the reporter and he seemed to understand. Nevertheless, the story made the front page of the local paper the next day. There were scathing comments from the parent about what I had done. The reporter much to my chagrin reported that I had indeed admitted my involvement in this terrible destruction of wildlife habitat.
The lawn care company claimed it had only done what the principal had requested. They had simply cleaned out the brush and weeds in the fencerow, so they were no help.
So the responsibility for Silent Spring in Iowa City rested solely on my shoulders. It didn’t help that I told them this was Iowa and everything in the fencerow would grow back in a year or so.
In less than a week the disenchanted parent raised over $8000 to plant trees and shrubs to replace the ones the principal had callously destroyed. The trees and shrubs are still there to this day and so is the poison ivy, worse than ever.
Did the PTA president jump to my defense? Nope! She barely admitted any involvement.
Because there was a great deal of mistrust by parents due to things that happened before I got to Longfellow I worked to rebuild that trust with parents individually, with the neighborhood association, and the PTA (Parent Teacher Association). When the opportunity arose I tried to do things that made each group feel like the school was an important part of the community. That included sharing the building and the grounds with all of those who had a need to use them.
My biggest challenge had been with the PTA. They clearly did not like the previous principal and weren’t sure about me. I found them second-guessing my decisions as well of some made by the building staff. I noticed that their preferred mode for doing that was not privately with me, but publicly in meetings or the press. More than once I found myself being talked about as if I wasn’t even in the room. I found that very odd.
I had managed to build some trust with the PTA president and thought I could win over the group in time. She began to share with me some of her reservations about others in the group who had attacked her publicly a few times, too. We commiserated with each other.
One morning she came into my office. She was concerned about the poison ivy in the fencerow around the playground. She was especially concerned about the north end and was sure that was where her daughter and others had gotten bad cases of the itchy rash. She asked if the district could do something about it, as not just students, but joggers and walkers of the neighborhood used the area. I told her I would see what I could do.
The district contracted with a lawn service and I asked them if they could help. The said that they had dealt with that problem before and would come and take care of it. I was pleased that I had been responsive and done something that the PTA President would be pleased with. If I had only known!
Within a couple of days I got a call from a local newspaper reporter. He said a parent had called them and told them I had single handedly destroyed the wildlife habitat of Iowa City. I was incredulous! I explained the whole story to the reporter and he seemed to understand. Nevertheless, the story made the front page of the local paper the next day. There were scathing comments from the parent about what I had done. The reporter much to my chagrin reported that I had indeed admitted my involvement in this terrible destruction of wildlife habitat.
The lawn care company claimed it had only done what the principal had requested. They had simply cleaned out the brush and weeds in the fencerow, so they were no help.
So the responsibility for Silent Spring in Iowa City rested solely on my shoulders. It didn’t help that I told them this was Iowa and everything in the fencerow would grow back in a year or so.
In less than a week the disenchanted parent raised over $8000 to plant trees and shrubs to replace the ones the principal had callously destroyed. The trees and shrubs are still there to this day and so is the poison ivy, worse than ever.
Did the PTA president jump to my defense? Nope! She barely admitted any involvement.
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