leadership in high schools

Due to transgressions committed in school, courts sometimes mandate community service hours to be completed by students.  These opportunities are not as easy to come by particularly in small rural communities.   A local pastor might need help cleaning out a garage or need small yard work.  A soup kitchen may need volunteers for a period of time.  However, on a limited time basis ie. 25 hours with no further follow-up there are fewer takers for this kind of “mandatory volunteerism.”  Furthermore there is the issue of trust, insurance liability and supervision.  There are few takers at the end of the day for this kind of student help.  Ideally, community service should be served in the community after school but  this is easier said then done.  This is where schools come in.

Principals and teachers get calls from students and families for help.  Courts sometimes send letters to the school indicating how many community service hours need to be fulfilled before the next court appointment.  If this hours are not met, students can have there probation violated  and thus see jail time. 

Ideally Students have been known to come in desperately to school requesting community service hours.  This work may take the form of washing OT/PT mats, cleaning windows, doors, dusting, cleaning classroom sinks and boards, watering plants etc.  This work is accomplished during study hall hours if the student is not behind in any academic subjects. 

To those who argue that this is not the function of schools I pose this.  Is this not the avenue through which by state and federal laws, counselling, social work, nursing, occupational therapy and physical therapy came to exist in schools?  Was there not  perceived needs not being addressed in the community, which then were imposed on education and schools?  How is there a difference between counselling, social work, reaching out to students/families and community service mandates?  Both are mandated!

 Yes, this is how schools continue to evolve and reflect the communities around them. 

Emerging Technologies  This is a podcast for your enjoyment.  You will be able to note its application to the topic of technology and education in our schools. 

1.  Our American society is saturated with it.

2.  More reading is taking place on the internet than that via books as evidenced by the decrease of written publications in the western hemisphere.

3.  The Chinese are now the greatest number of English speakers in the world.  Go figure - their total population eclipses all other nations.  It is the Chinese who are driving our need to compete in the global education race.  They as a people, are reading via the internet.  Talk about a literary explosion.

4.  Our children need to be exposed to this new learning tool because they are no longer as a group entranced by our teaching methodologies of yesteryear.  They are the new “nano byte” learners. 

5.  The work place incorporated these technological skills seven years ago;  schools are just beginning to catch up.

6.  Technology unleashes the creative animal is all of us.  Intermarrying technology and learning is a natural continuum.  Did you know that creativity is now being listed as one the leading school related skills that need to be emphasized just like numeracy, literacy etc. 

Baggs is a young man who is full of vim and vinegar.  He fights daily for his place in general education despite all personal indicators that with his IEP he should be in a more restrictive placement.  On Thursday, March 6, 2008 I met Baggs in the Counselors Office.   Baggs had threatened to kill another student the day day before.  I asked him why he was so mad with the other student.  Baggs replied “he’s called me a pussy, a wimp, that I hang out with drug dealers”.  I explained the difference between fact and innuendo.  We went over the A.I.S. plan - Avoid, Ignore and Stay Away.  The counselor in Alt. Ed. Mr. Swanson sings this mantra daily, to students.   Baggs was adamant ….. he would not re-direct despite all my attempts to get him to resolve his issues with the other student.  He was in no condition to be returned to classes/program.  I informed him that he would need to have a time out with the ISS teacher.  He really balked at this one.  He threatened to call his parent.  I told him he could not;  that his responsibility was to be in school.  He whipped out his cell phone in open defiance of me.  I confiscated it.  He informed me that he was going to walk off-campus.  I informed him that I would have him returned to campus and school. 

I always enjoy working with our counselor Mr. Swanson - he knows the exact time in which to interject, the impasse moment.  He asked for a few moments with Baggs alone.  I agreed.  Later Mr. Swanson informed me that Baggs was in no condition to remain in school, his threats of violence against the other student kept escalating.  I decided to call his parent and ask for his removal from school.  The parent, mother came and fetched Baggs and I suspended him for 5 days.  His refusal to redirect, calm down, continuing escalation, threats of real violence both in and outside school, threats to walk off school property endangering possibly himself and others all factored into my decision. 

I do not believe that students come to school to be faced with legal charges because of their immature behaviors.  Parents are called so that they can be involved in the teaching process.   Sometimes time away from peers and classroom pressures serves as self-reflection:  students return to school because they want to, realizing that the rules of school apply to ensure law and order.  Graduation from school becomes the focus rather that the need to turn school into an unruly street zone, with no rules and where only the strong and irrational prevail. 

PS:  I took a call from Baggs yesterday.  He confirmed that he was returning to school this Thursday and he apologized that his behavior had forced me to put on my big Principal hat.  I reassured him that I was not angry at him.  I explained that I was looking forward to his conflict resolution with the other student.  I told him that I would blog about him and knew that he would be graduating from the program of his choice, Alt. ed. but only if he took control of his actions and re-actions;  only if he controlled his destiny by doing the right thing, otherwise I would have to take control of his educational program choice, Special Ed., more restrictive, because his behavior pointed to the need for these external control mechanisms - a 1:6:1 placement rather that integration into the gen. ed. population.  Tomorrow Baggs and I have a formal meeting at 9:30 am.  He will sign a re-entry contract and together we shall plan for his success and graduation.   

Alternative Education really is General Education based on the Part 100 regulations that govern education.  General Education includes alternative education and students with 504 plans and IEPs.  Did you know that some of the most creative, imaginative, artistic and hands on learners are Alternative Learners?  Read the Education Re-Imagined page which contains notes on Michael Dell, founder of Dell computer, Ecko, founder of the Ecko t-shirt logo, Bill Gates etc who all dropped out of high school because it was to rudimentary and confined.  These students then went on to do great things for society.  

 Alternative Education teachers may have been alternative learners but there is no doubt that they trained as general education specialists.  Integration of Special Needs students into general education programs has forced these teachers to accept the student with a 504 or IEP as a matter of law not of choice.  Is there still a bias out there that is maintained by general education teachers regarding the “level playing field” in student assessment ref. gen. ed. students and students with accomodations?  You bet ya! . 

I believe that one of America’s greatest aspects of its democracy is the emphasis placed on the Special Needs Student.  The fact that we are financially committed to this population speaks volumes about our morality and humanity.  In most other societies, this population is hidden, ignored or disposed of.  Debates can ensue about how much we as a nation spend on special education versus general education - student cost ratios in public schools, however that is not the subject of this blog entry. 

Tonight I have collaborated with Dan Pierce, Alt. Ed. Supervisor LoGuidice and former high school science teacher to provide in-depth training for our science teachers at Hewes Center on the use of the science cart.  The ability of this science cart is only limited by the teachers imagination.  The cart which includes a video data projector is equipped with close to 400 lab experiments.  Unfortunately due to limited teacher training and time to adapt the technology plus become familiar with the all the myriad uses possible, the cart is not used as much as it should be.  Hence our students are denied the wonder of science and technology linked together to make learning real. 

This teacher training will be expanded to include an invitation to the Science liaison in CTE, Hewes and teachers of science at LoGuidice, Ormsby and Baker Road.  All sites that work primarily with our High School student populations.  I believe that two full days of sustained teacher training are needed to both review, experiment and use the science carts to teach with to a group of select students, before familiarity and usefulness of the Science Carts can be fully appreciated by our BOCES instructors. 

My goal as a supervisor is to get the science cart to be used by both Alt. ed and Special ed science teachers at the High School and Middle School level.  In addition, working with the CTE science liaison will assist all three instructional divisions to better collaborate and utilize expensive equipment for the betterment of all students and programs. 

I will propose that two days be set aside within one week for this sustained training opportunity that demands teacher concentration and time away from the classroom in order to ensure more regular use of the science carts.  Watch this site for follow-up news on this instructional resource - the science cart.