leadership in high schools

Mr. Kevin Bourgoin has been appointed the Alternative Education  Supervisor for the Hewes Center effective Oct. 20th, 2008.  This is a huge plus for our instructional programs in Southern Chautauqua County because it recognizes the huge growth in terms of students needs and educational accessibility for students at risk of not graduating high school.  For several years now, I have been responsible for two high school programs operating under both Part 100 and Part 200 regulations – General and Special Education.  I have enjoyed having a part in the growth and development of these programs and in particular achieving full student capacity/enrollment in each of these schools.  Of particular note is the fact that our programs have been working simultaneously to achieve student goals – we have had joint faculty meetings and shared resources for the betterment of all students. 

With the addition of a designated supervisor for Alternative Education, what positive changes and growth do you expect will impact the instructional programs of the Hewes Center?  Note that Alt. Ed student slots sold via the BOCES is now at a record high of 65 for this Center.  This program extends from grades 8-12. 

How would you like to our faculty meetings to be conducted?  Jointly as an instructional program or some other way?  We currently have weekly team meetings at the high, middle and elem school level and one joint faculty meeting a month?

Should we continue to have joint faculty meetings?

Can we have a set agenda with a heavy focus on teachers, teacher-learning and instructional resource sharing? 

Are we ready to develop focus team meetings with reps that will report out to our supervisors and then set the tone and delivery of our faculty meetings? 

At our last facult meeting we celebrated our transitions to a new building, the growth of our programs and the hard work of teacher predecessors who were instrumental in promoting our programs.  We had teacher learners and teacher-teachers showing us the use of blogging, IPods, web pages and the smart boards in our classrooms, we received USB memory sticks to remind us of our technology focus and skills development and we ended with a reminder to focus on the vision, mission, leadership and P-16 initiatives of our BOCES.  All classrooms and work areas will display our focus for this year via a BOCES wide hand-out/poster. 

Mr. Bourgoin, to re-phrase what a  recent teacher interview candidate asked “Do you know how you will be inspired to work with us at the Hewes Center and why this Center will be such a font of energy and learning innovation throughout our BOCES?”.  You are fortunate indeed to have landed this supervisory spot!

We have interviewed and identified two teachers of special education who will join our ranks in the Southern Region of Erie 2 CC BOCES.  This identification process was spurred by the need to open a new high school classroom grades 9-11 geared primarily for students in need of a self-contained classroom setting.  With the requirements of NCLB and the highly qualified/certified teacher status required of all teacher candidates, this greatly narrowed the pool of candidates. 

Teachers who are elligible for this posting gained K-12 special ed. teacher certification prior to 2006 and have accrued content area credit at university level in each of the four core academic areas.  Other elligible candidates are those who since 2006 have graduated with a grades 7-12 content area specialty within special education.  The K-12 teacher certified candidate must have taught content grades 7-12  since 2006 and ideally will be  highly qualified to teach all four content areas – Math, Science, English and Social Studies. 

This scope of this teacher posting is by design and scope limited in that students within this classroom need to be taught grade level content material in a self-contained setting.  This is because the students identified for this classroom, need to have limited distractions and possibilties of challenging social situations.  The needs of these students preclude them from partaking in a general education lunch setting;  stressful situations and acting out behaviors are caused by rotating classroom schedules, social interactions in hallways and classrooms with peers who are academically higher performing than they are. 

Twitter, a social network, introduced me to Mr. Blake, an alternative education teacher, who assited me in brainstroming prior to the visit to Niagara Academy, an Alternative School program organized and run by Niagara-Orleans BOCES under the leadership of its teachers and Principal Sushma Szortec. 

Key Questions:

What are the positive attributes of Niagara Academy?  What works?  Mr. Blake noted keenly that most alt. ed schools focus on the negative.  Bad students, ill funded programs etc.

What systems does the school work with in order  to reduce the student drop out rate? 

What training do the teachers receive in keeping the strategies of success sustainable and alive?

Examine the earlier post and respond to these questions in light of your alternative education experience and what is being accomplished at Niagara Academy.  I will also be sharing this post with the faculty, staff and leadership of that school, in order to get  broader  perspectives