leadership in high schools

A student in the fifth grade has brought in a young colorado blue spruce tree for planting in celebration of earth day this month.

How does a school deal with donations?  All donations to a school have to be approved or denied by the School Board.  No donation should be accepted quietly without notification to the School Board.  This latter policy is in place to prevent schools from becoming dumping grounds of others unwanted items that sometimes carry huge financial liabilities in terms of future injury to staff and students not to mention unwanted upkeep, expensive disposal and unnecessary maintenance. 

This tree has monetary value – $15 plus.  A written request to the Director of Instructional program stating the name of the tree, its growth needs and value, follows this donation together with an explanation of how this tree will be used for instructional purposes.  The BOCES Board of Education will be presented with news of this donation via an agenda item prior to the Board Meeting.  If this agenda item is approved as a donation, publicity can be sought for the planting of the tree.  Perhaps the local press can be alerted or the news will be published in the BOCES newsletter. 
We shall rely on the good services of our student at the High School level who are involved in the Conservation Program to prepare a hole for this tree and help our students plant it in a bright, visible place in proximity to our school building. 

May this tree flourish and live for years to come so that our students/teachers can enjoy it for years to come. 

Five teachers were recently trained on the use of a sophisticated mobile Science Cart.  Mr. Daniel Pierce, High School Science teacher and Supervisor of Alternative Education at our LoGuidice Center visited the Hewes Center April 23, 2008 specifically to undertake this task.  Two things are of exceptional note within our BOCES

1.  All teachers involved in the training are Special Ed. middle and high school level.

2.  All teachers involved in the training have enthusiastically embraced this science cart and began using it the next day.  Their central question to the trainer was “Where will the cart be stored – whose classroom?”

For now the science cart is stored in in a 7/8th grade classroom.  The science cart comes equipped with 2 student lap top computers, one teacher laptop computers, a video data projector and a DVD series on a variety of physical science experiments eg. gravity, velocity, motion etc.  Schools can purchase additions to the Science Cart to include the Biology, Living Environment and other science curricula. 

At the Hewes Center we currently teach Marine Biology as an elective and hope to add to our science course offerings next year.  The use of this science cart will be fully exploited by all Special ed. teachers grades 3-12+.  Having this kind of technology at the fingertips of our Special Ed. teachers speaks volumes for the growth and development we at the Hewes Center have seen in terms of instructional prowess.    This growth has been driven by our teachers and the learning demands of our students.  Embracing technology particularly digital technology has open learning doors into deep brain parts hitherto barely touched in our student except through related services like speech, OT, PT and physical education.  Today our students - autistic, learning disabled, reading disabled, mildly mentally retarded, other health impaired, emotionally disturbed, hearing impaired  can all participate in the wonder of the physical sciences through the introduction of 1-3 min. experiments conducted via our science cart. 

Our plan is to invite parents to a presentation of the Science Cart within the next five weeks.  At this presentation we shall launch the science cart and highlight its myriad uses for our parents.  Why wait until open house in the Fall?  We should promote and publicize this Science Cart now!  This equipment is exciting – just as exciting as showing off the skills of our teachers and boasting to parents about the quality of instruction their children are being exposed to.