There are many important things happening daily at Marcus Whitman. I hope to comment upon many of those that impact the lives of our students. Please feel free to share your comments with me.

I was recently asked what we are doing about cyber bullying, and whether it would be added to our Code of Conduct as behavior deserving of disciplinary consequences. Cyber bullying refers to the practice of attacking another person either online through social networking sites like My Space or Facebook, through email, or by texting. It is behavior that is most common among preteens and young adolescents.

My response is that our principal approach to this issue is through education. We have in place an Internet safety education program called NetSmartz for elementary students. That program touches on the topic, though it is primarily focused upon keeping students safe from other perils on the Internet. Parents can access the NetSmartz program at: http://www.netsmartzkids.org/indexFL.htm

Our School Resource Officer, John Peck, has done much to address this issue, particularly at the intermediate and middle school level. He has presented the information to students and has also spoken at parent orientation meetings. The topic is also covered as part of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, and our ninth grade Computer Literacy course uses resources from the iSafe Program (http://isafe.org ) to cover the topic.   

As to the question of a disciplinary approach to the problem, a recent article in the New York Times reveals how complex and time consuming this issue can become in public schools. Assigning disciplinary consequences for activities that happen off school grounds at times when school is not in session can be problematic at the very least.

The article is at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/28/style/28bully.html?_r=1

We have turned to law enforcement for assistance when such bullying has occurred. Deputy Peck makes the following recommendations if a child is the target of cyber bullying:

·         Do not reply to the bullying.  It may stop if they don’t get a reaction.

·         Save or print any messages or postings if they continue to happen.

·         Let a counselor or someone at school know about the issue.  They may be able to help.

·         If a threat is made, contact law enforcement.

A short article on what to do if a child is a target can be found at:

http://www.msisac.org/awareness/oct07/documents/Parent%20Guide%20to%20Cyberbullies.pdf

Our best option remains educating students and parents about the harm that such behavior can do. We will continue to teach about this at every opportunity. I encourage every parent of students in grades four through eight to talk with your children about this issue. The federal government puts out a publication called Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids about Being Online to assist parents in preparing for such a conversation. A copy can be found at: http://www.onguardonline.gov/topics/net-cetera.aspx

Once again this year we asked voters to complete a survey containing a number of questions about how the public felt things were going for the District and how effective our attempts to improve communication between the schools and the community.  As always, the responses are interesting and deserve some study. You may view the survey results at: http://www.mwcsd.org/district.cfm?subpage=1049731

You can read all of the comments at: http://www.mwcsd.org/files/1049731/written%20responses%20to%20survey.pdf

As always, I welcome responses to this blog, or about any of the earlier postings.

In January, Governor Paterson proposed a budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year in which he slashed aid to education by $1.4 billion. This included a $1.26 million cut for Marcus Whitman. The Governor claimed in his budget address that he would cut more from wealthy districts than from the poor ones. This is at best a misstatement, and in fact it appears to be an outright lie. I have posted two documents on our web site that were produced by Rick Timbs and the Statewide School Finance Consortium demonstrating how unfair the distribution of cuts truly is.

The first, which can be accessed at http://www.mwcsd.org/files/filesystem/District%20Cuts%20Per%20Pupil.pdf, presents the cuts per student for every district in the state. Districts are listed by county, and it shows that Marcus Whitman received the second highest cut in Ontario County, at $1391 per student—an amount that is 77 percent above the State average of $787 per student. This is disturbing, but when you compare the cuts in Ontario County to those in the wealthy downstate counties like Westchester and Nassau, the difference is appalling.

In Westchester, only three of the 40 school districts received cuts above the state average, and none of those three were cut as much as Marcus Whitman. In fact, The Rye School District received a cut of only $174 per student. Residents in Rye can make this up in pocket change!

On the Island in Nassau County the story is much the same. Cuts exceed the state average in only five of fifty-six school districts, and none of them exceeds the cut we must shoulder. In Great Neck the cut is only $252 per student.

The second document, which can be found at http://www.mwcsd.org/files/filesystem/DistributionofStateAidcuts.pdf, provides a graph showing the cuts by county as compared to the state average. The downstate counties of Westchester, Nassau, Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk, Dutchess, along with New York City and Hamilton County in the Adirondacks, receive cuts below the state average. Every other county in the state is above the state average.

I understand the fact that the State has lost revenue in the last year and that aid to education must be reduced. However, it is unfair that the burden fall most heavily on the poorest counties, while the wealthiest counties feel virtually no impact at all. Our legislators need to take action to change this distribution plan. Simply making all the reductions equal the state average of $787 per student would restore enough money to our district that no increase in the tax levy would be required to maintain the educational program for our students.

You can find contact information for your legislators at:

http://www.nysenate.gov/

http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/

The proposed school budget contains a cap on Universal Pre Kindergarten enrollement of 72 students.  This choice was made as part of the process of creating the 2010-11 school budget.

The District has provided a UPK program for three years. In each of the three years enrollment has risen. There are 69 students currently enrolled in a total of four half-day sessions.

The District receives just over $100,000 in a grant from the State. This amount has been capped by the State at the level it was in the first year the program was offered, despite the fact that enrollment has increased, salaries have increased, fuel costs have increased. The grant provides less than half of the cost of the program. The rest of the cost is covered by general fund dollars, including your school tax payments.

The Governor has proposed cutting $1.26 million dollars from State aid to education for Marcus Whitman; this is a cut of $1391 per student. As a result, the Board has had to make some difficult and unpopular decisions.

The choice to cap UPK enrollment at 72 students is not as arbitrary as it may appear. First, UPK enrollment at Marcus Whitman has never topped 72 students—although this remains a possibility. Regulations require that if enrollment exceeds 18 students in a section, then the District must place another teacher aide in the class. Under no circumstances can the enrollment exceed 20 students.

Therefore, the District must spend more than $22,000 to permit student number 19 and 20 to be enrolled. If that occurs in both classrooms, the cost rises to better than $44,000 to serve, at the most, 8 students—that is $5,500 per student. If only six additional students enrolled the cost rises to $7,333 per student.  That is on top the approximately $3,000 cost per student if 72 students are served.

As I said, we were faced with a number of bad choices. By permitting, at most, eight students to attend UPK, the cost would be roughly equivalent to the cost of a teacher. We have already lost nearly 10 percent of our teaching staff over the last few years, and this has resulted in increased class sizes in elementary and secondary classrooms.

If the State had delivered the aid they promised us three years ago, or if they had permitted the UPK Grant to rise as enrollment increased, we would not have had to make some of the decisions we are making.

Each year we present the proposed budget to the community a week before the Board of Education must adopt the budget that will go to the voters in May. On Monday, April 5, we presented the budget for 2010-11. The text of the presentation and the PowerPoint slides can be found at:

http://www.mwcsd.org/files/1018485/narrative%20and%20budget%20proposal%202010-11.pdf

If you care to share any comments on the proposal, please respond to this blog.

A draft of the Math and English Standards that have been produced by the National Governors Association, the Council of Chief School Officers, and 48 cooperating states, has been published, and the coalition that created them is seeking feedback. You can read the standards documents and share your thoughts by visiting www.corestandards.org .

The window for responding to the drafts closes on April 2, 2010. That is not very much time to consider such a complex set of documents. I encourage anyone who is interested to visit the site and provide thoughts and comments.

This entire process seems to be moving ahead at a breath-taking pace. If these standards are approved by New York State, it may mean that a great deal of very expensive curriculum work will have to be done in each school district to change what is taught to align with these “National Standards”.

A year ago we created a budget that was $938,000 smaller than the previous year’s budget. Much of that reduction was made possible by “right sizing” our staff. Student enrollment numbers had been declining for a number of years, and last year we reduced the teaching staff by 10.5 positions. We cannot make a similar reduction this year, because the smaller classes are just entering the Middle School. We will reduce staff in the new budget, but only by a few. There are four anticipated retirements this year, and two of those positions will not be filled.  We will also save about $60,000 by hiring new teachers to replace the other two veterans who are leaving.

There is the possibility that other teachers may choose to retire once the new 55/25 legislation is passed and signed by the Governor—this legislation will permit teachers who are 55 years of age with 25 years of teaching service to retire without a penalty. More information on this proposal can be found at http://www.nysut.org/newyorkteacher_14644.htm .

Unfortunately, we can’t build a budget on possible retirements, and we won’t know if any teachers will take this option before the Board must approve the budget on April 12. Staffing remains the district’s biggest expense—about 75 percent of our budget goes to salaries and benefits. We continue to look at every line of the budget seeking reductions, but we must run our school buses, clean and maintain our buildings, mow the lawns and maintain the fields; we must also have teachers in the classrooms working with our students every day.

On January 19, Governor Paterson released his budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins April 1. In that proposal he has reduced state aid to education by $1.1 billion, including a cut of $1.26 million for Marcus Whitman. That amount is about 4.5 percent of our budget. To raise this much from the local community would require a tax hike of better than 10 percent; that is clearly impossible.

I am looking for ideas about where we can reduce our costs without cutting programs for our students. We have asked the administrators and staff for suggestions. We also hope to hear from the community at large.  Please share your thoughts.

The State will file a proposal with the federal government by January 19, for a share of the $4.35 billion in grants intended to drive education reform. New York, as a large state, is eligible for as much as $700 million next year. Should the State be successful in getting this grant, 50 percent of the money will be distributed to participating districts. To participate, the districts must sign off on a Memorandum of Understanding by January 8.

I have already signed off on the Memorandum, because it would be foolish to miss the opportunity to bring more federal dollars to the district. The district is agreeing to implement changes in four areas: standards and assessments; data systems to support instruction; great teachers and leaders; and turning around failing schools.

We really have no choice in the area of standards and assessments, or in data systems. The State sets the standards and creates the assessments, and we report results through the State’s system. It is clear that the State now intends to sign on to the set of National Standards being developed by a group of 48 States. The assessments, including Regents examinations, will be revised to reflect the changes in the standards.

The opportunity to create great teachers and principals may require the most change in how things are done at Marcus Whitman. There is a strong push to use assessment results as part of the decision making process for tenure appointments. The use of some sort of merit pay system is also being recommended. These items are, of course, subject to negotiation in New York State.

As we do not have any failing schools, we will not have to address that issue.

This is clearly an example of the federal government using money to leverage change. Much of what they are seeking can be good for schools and their students. The question always remains: What happens once the federal grant runs out? We must be careful not to create costly programs that local taxpayers must support for years to come.

A great deal more information, including a video message from the Commissioner of Education, can be found at: http://usny.nysed.gov/rttt/

As we sit and wait for action to be taken in Albany to address the budget deficit—currently estimated to be somewhere between 2.1 and 4.1 billion dollars—we see the senate and assembly in session but accomplishing nothing. At a cost of $70,000 a day, the people of New York deserve better.

It is clear that the revenue estimates used in creating the budget last April were woefully optimistic. Each day that passes makes correcting the problem that much more difficult, because the end of the State’s fiscal year on March 31, is drawing near. It now appears that the Governor will attempt to unilaterally cut State aid to school districts and other municipalities. If he does, the issue will end up being decided in the courts, and that will take more time that we cannot afford.

The legislature wants to move $391 million of federal aid earmarked for use next year into this year’s budget. This is not a solution; it only buys a three month reprieve until the legislature must create a budget for next year. Where will they find the money in April to replace the federal dollars?

A good discussion of the issue appeared in an editorial in the Wednesday edition of the Albany Times Union. You can read this opinion at: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=872642&category=OPINION

Will someone in Albany please make a decision!

This past Monday evening the Board of Education held its first budget workshop of the season. These workshops will all begin at 6:00 pm, before the Board meeting each month from now until April. Monday night these sections of the budget were presented: Board of Education, Administration and Finance, Transportation and Long Term Debt. These are only drafts at this time, and over the coming months we will discuss each section of the budget with the Board of Education and members of the community in attendance. Before the Board of Education adopts the budget on April 12, each section of the budget will be discussed in detail, and sections will be changed as decisions are made.

Unfortunately, only a hand full of community members chose to attend last night. Each year we receive complaints about the lack of communication about budget matters. Creating a budget is a complex process and requires that many decisions be made about where taxpayer dollars will be spent.

I encourage everyone in the community to attend these workshops, to ask questions, and to share your thoughts. The full budget calendar can be found at http://www.mwcsd.org/files/news/Budget%20Calendar2010-11.pdf

We have been told by the Ontario County Department of Public Health that no flu clinics are going to be scheduled at Marcus Whitman in the near future. This is due, in part, to the fact that they have been experiencing very slow delivery of the vaccine for H1N1, and that they have seen many more people at their seasonal flu clinics.

The next H1N1 clinic they have scheduled will be on Tuesday, November 10, from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm at the Ontario County Department of Public Health located in the County Complex in Hopewell. The next Adult Seasonal Flu Clinic for those age 19 years and older will be on Thursday, November 12, from 2:30 pm to 6:00 pm in the same location.

You can find the latest news on flu clinics in Ontario County on their web site at: http://www.ontariocountypublichealth.com/flu-clinic.html

Information on clinics in Yates County can be found at:

http://yatescounty.org/display_page.asp?pID=623

The word from the Health Department is that they will not decide if schools should close. In fact they suggest that schools remain open if at all possible, because if children are out of school they tend to be concentrated at day care centers, and older students tend to congregate as well.

If anyone in your home develops flu-like symptoms, please keep the patient at home for at least 24 hours after the fever drops to normal without the benefit of medications. This will help to reduce the chance of spreading the virus.

We have received a comment that included a request that our attendance figures be posted so that parents can monitor any spike that may be an indication of the spread of the H1N1 virus. We will begin posting these numbers on our web site. They can be found on the “District” page. The link is: http://www.mwcsd.org/district.cfm?subpage=865181 

The figures posted will be the number of students absent from school on the previous day, and a percentage of students in attendance. We will post this for each school individually.

I had the opportunity to hear David M. Steiner, the newly appointed New York State Commissioner of Education speak on Monday. He addressed the closing session of the Council of School Superintendents fall summit in Rochester.  His speech was intended to introduce himself to the school leaders. It included an eloquent statement about the need to improve the preparation of teachers, primarily by getting college students into the classroom sooner and giving them clinical practice in teaching well before they are hired by a school system. It is hard to argue with this idea, although I will point out that many colleges in the area already have their students working in our classrooms by their second year.

Another point Dr. Steiner made was that supervisors must receive professional development to improve their skills at assessing teaching and helping teachers to improve their skills. Again, this is not an idea against which one could mount a strong argument, but it does raise the question of who will pay for it. If we are mandated to deliver such professional development to our principals without the money to support such training, we must find the money elsewhere. What programs must be reduced to find the time and money for such training?

I must be fair, and say that the Commissioner has been on the job for less than a week, but I do have questions. You can find more information about the new Commissioner of Education at: http://www.oms.nysed.gov/press/BORElectsDavidSteinerCOE.html

As I struggle to adapt to the new—OK relatively new—technology of the web log or blog, I am forced to consider how technology affects our students. Most teens are far more adept at using technology than I will ever be, but they remain teenagers. Technology gives youngsters instant access to a world of information, some of which parents and teachers would prefer they not access. In addition, they can share their thoughts and images instantaneously, and once out, they are impossible to retrieve. The issue of teens sending nude images of themselves using their cell phones has led to trouble for many.  A recent survey indicates that 22 percent of teenage girls have electronically sent or posted online nude or semi-nude images of themselves.   We are in the process of delivering instruction on Digital Citizenship at all grade levels. Digital Citizenship is appropriate, responsible behavior with regard to all facets of technology use.

 We need to ask parents to help in stressing the danger of such poor choices. This short video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvp-kZeoWW0 drives home the message in a teen friendly format.

You may read a press release about the survey at http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/sextech/PDF/SexTech_PressReleaseFIN.pdf

We are nearly 10 percent of the way through the 21^st Century. We have been hearing about 21^st Century education, and preparing students for success in the new century for nearly a decade now. Yet, immersed in the public school culture for most of that time, I still do not possess a clear definition for what this 21^st century education is and how it differs from what we have been doing for most of my career.  Just this week I discovered a source of new information from a wide variety of sources. It is a series of films put together by the Pearson Foundation. They have put together 12 videos, each focusing on the thoughts and work of a particular school-reform leader. I would encourage anyone interested in the topic to visit the site at http://www.mobilelearninginstitute.org/21stcenturyeducation/index.html to view these films. You will, of course, need a high speed Internet connection.  So if you are stuck with dial-up at home like I am, you will need to visit the public library or call one of our schools and ask to use one of our computers. You will find these brief films thought provoking.

My first posting was about the serious issue of the H1N1 virus and its possible effect on the coming school year. The first comment I received was a request from a parent that his child be excused from class if the teacher chose to show an address from President Obama. I decided to post the comment, although it had nothing to do with my posting, because I said I would post all comments.  I also sent an email to this parent suggesting that the proper way to make such a request is to pick up the phone and call the building principal. If he was not satisfied with what the principal said, I asked him to then call my office. Such requests can also be sent to the building principals via email. Their email addresses and phone numbers are as follows:

Mike Chirco, Superintendent  

mchirco@mwcsd.org                    

585.554.4848 option #1

Al DeGroote, High School Principal           adegroote@mwcsd.org                               

585.554.6441 option #1

Clay Cole, Middle School Principal            

ccole@mwcsd.org                          

585.554.6442 option #1

Susan Wissick, Valley Elementary Principal          

swissick@mwcsd.org    

585.554.3115 option #1 

Paul Lahue, Gorham Elementary Principal      

plahue@mwcsd.org      

585.526.6351 option #1

Cheryl Wagner, Director of Student Support Services

cwagner@mwcsd.org

585.554.6441 x1354

Gil Jackson, Director of Athletics, Physical Education and Health Recreation

gjackson@mwcsd.org

585.554.6441 x1442

In the future, I will not post such “comments”. Incidentally, we did change one word in his text to a more appropriate choice for a school web site.

The opening of school always includes statements about high expectations and goals for the year. Writing those sorts of welcome back messages is always a pleasure, but this year we are faced with an issue that may become more important than all the shiny classrooms and bright bulletin board displays: the continued presence of H1N1, or the Swine Flu.

We continue to work closely with the Ontario and Yates County Public Health Departments as well as state and federal agencies to monitor events. A letter to parents has been posted on our web site at http://www.mwcsd.org/files/filesystem/Parent%20Letter%20-%20H1N1%20_2_.pdf , and the Center for Disease Control has established a web site that carries the latest information at http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/  .  We will continue to do our best to keep parents and the community informed about this important issue.