leadership in high schools

Alternative Education:  4 core teachers, 1 consultant teacher, I counselor, 1 teacher aide, and 1 teaching assistant.  Total student population will be 60+ this year which is based on slots that are sold each year.

Special Education 12 classroom teachers, 1 work experience teacher, 1.4 speech teachers, .80 Occupational Therapist, .80 Physical Therapist, 2.4 Phys ed. teachers (shared with Alt. Ed), I guidance counselor, 4.5 social worker, 1 teaching assistant, @28 teacher aides.  Total student population 76. 

.8 = 4 days of related service, 1.0 is five days of service.  See descriptions above that denote number of days of service for each professional staff member. 

The number of faculty and staff reflect the proportion of need in each of the programs. 

Alicia was hired a week ago.  We opened school without her.  She started the second day that students were in attendance.  Her classroom is delightful to visit because every time I notice something new.  Yesterday, Friday, I noticed that a large hamper like chair with animal print cushions has been placed in the corner of her L – shaped classroom making for a distinct reading area.  Below the chair lies a classroom carpet.  She has been successful in appropriating a fancy clapboard executive style desk which I though would never survive a move from an office area close to Alicia’s classroom, but it did!. She has artfully placed reading and soft light lamps in different areas of this class space.  The atmosphere created makes for a comfortable, welcoming environment.   

Posters have been displayed on the wall, the chalkboard shows evidence of daily planning and lesson activity and order is beginning to take shape in this classroom.  Teachers have to be leaders and Alicia has shown evidence of this already.  This is her classroom and her personality is shaping it. 

This past week, Alicia has had to contend with a parent who calls the office daily to speak to her and inquire about his son’s behavior and level of ability and a very weepy mother who drove into the school parking lot mad because her son has been impossible to deal with at home.  Alicia has graciously tackled both parent issues and at the same time is working with the school nurse to deal with the messy bathroom problem being created by  her 11 year old male student.   He has been defacing the restroom with excreta and has been discovered the second day of this anomaly.  Teaching is not always pretty:(

This coming week, we have a new student in-take and Alicia will join me in describing the goals of her class this year and her instructional plans for getting her students to succeed.  This will bring her class size to 5 students.  This is a I:6:1 special education classroom. 

This is a bountiful year for us at the Hewes Center.  We have never hired these past 6 years,  so many new teachers and staff.  A welcome reception will be hosted for them on Monday afternoon.  The purpose of this social is to introduce teachers and staff to each other before the first faculty meeting this week Thursday. 

Those on “stage” will be  Mr. Curto, Ms. DeLeon, Ms. Calimeri – teachers, Ms. Swanson – physical ed. teacher, Ms. Darling – guidance counselor, Wendy Johnson – Behavioral Consultant teacher.  New aides are Jessica Blake, Rick Cogliano and Justin Clark.  In addition to these 5 teachers are 2 that joined us at the beginning of the year, Laurie Wilcox and Christine Barber.  The Hewes Center is a vibrant, exciting place which is poised to see continued growth and development in terms of student programs, graduation rates, active, student-centered instruction, use of technology and an environment that is disciplined and professional at all levels. 

There are a ton of social networks out there for educators.  Here are some that I use.

• NING
• Tapped In
• Classroom 2.0
• Twitter

Two teachers at the Hewes Center have joined classroom 2.0 and this is great.  I would like the new gym teacher, Jamie Swanson to join Twitter because I have invited a “friend” who is following me precisely because he owns his own gym and is big into teaching, health and exercise.  I would like Jamie to maximise her interest in digital technology to introduce our students to exercising for health and mind so as to reap its myriad rewards.

The Associates Degree in Botany did not make the cut for our final teacher selection.  The Highly Qualified and Certified teacher status under NCLB regulations, took its toll on our potential candidate and the regulations won out.   

Our 7/8th grade special teacher has now been officially selected.  He is Mr. Samuel Curto and he comes to us from Buffalo, NY specifically Sloan.  I learnt that Sloan is near Cheektowaga and the Gallaria Mall.  I am familiar with the Gallaria Mall – Canadians flock here when the dollar is weak.  Gallaria Mall is also famous for the case that Johnny Cochran (famous O.J. lawyer) won when he challenged the Mall policy of not allowing public busses to pick up and drop off in front or close to the mall.  A girl died because of this policy.  Johnny sued on behalf of the family and won the case.  I had never heard of Sloan being a small part of Buffalo but as the saying goes, one learns something everyday!. 

Mr. Curto fascinates us at the Hewes Center because we hope he will bring an interesting array of perspectives to our school building.  His teaching experiences in Las Vegas, NV and in our Erie 2 CC BOCES sites of Baker Road and Ormsby will surely inform our practices as will his undergraduate studies at Buffalo State College and graduate studies at D’Youville College, Buffalo. 

The letter went home today to parents and guardians announcing him as the new teacher.  What a relief for students, my office, parents and CSE chairs.  A soft spoken, caring teacher in place before the end of the second week of school.  This weekend I am relieved.