leadership in high schools

I just read a Superintendent’s in British Columbia’s blog in which he celebrated his faculty and staff for their “appetite for changing practice”.   In his power point presentation to the school community it was his intention to tie student achievement across all data strains to the changing dynamic occurring in the school district and the show the response of teachers and staff to the needs of students.  I am impressed. 

Entering the new school year this September, as a participant in High Schools New Face (HSNF) and as team and member of the the Erie 2 CC Boces Wiki devoted to promulgating intra-departmetal use of web 2.0 technologies, I know that I will have to be the best culinary artist and epicurean, if I am going to develop an insatiable appetite amongst the teachers I work with for the embrace and appreciation of web technologies.  I am slowly developing and forming a team of teachers who will assist our Center in bringing more teachers on board.  The start of a blog in Social Studies that 3 content teachers can help support and build is a great foot mark. 

Are there any other idea out there for me in the virtual school community, as I go down this path where some will be skeptical, others will reject and still others will be totally resistant to and shut down?     

This past Spring work began on a collaborative model between Chautauqua Works and Erie 2 CC BOCES.  For the Alternative and Special Education High School student who attends the instructional programs at the Hewes Center, linkages were forged between Chautauqua Works and the BOCES.  The entire process of selling the model to students, engaging parents in the process and making work a fashionable alternative to doing noting over the summer became the focus of our consultant teacher, Rose Dorey and our work experience teacher, Amy Montgomery.  The greatest plus of this work experience exposure has been the notion of students understanding the need to not work “under the table”, the need to become tax payers and understand their role in the local economy.  Most important is the schools goal of making education and a high school diploma relevant to the world of work and the skills needed in that environment. 

Students must meet income eligibility requirements - family of four making less than $42,000 a year.  Preference for students on probation.  Will need proof of citizenship, have working papers and have clearance from a physician stating that the student has no work restrictions.  All students must be aged 16-21.  These students are placed in jobs in the community and will be supervised by counselors from Chautauqua Works.

The above program sponsored by Chautauqua Works is different from that offered at the Hewes Center for summer school in that regression statements dictated summer school attendance and limits the number of hours worked to less than 30.  Please refer to category on Collaboration with Chautauqua Works.

Any comments regarding the difference between this summer program and the work experience programs of Erie 2 CC BOCES in the past?

Thank you Thea Kester, High School Social Studies Teacher.   In addition to hosting your beautiful daughter and her children in from New Jersey this past week, you eagerly took on the mantle of developing a blog for Social Studies teachers grades 9-12. 

How did this happen?  Thea, Lauren Hanson, Teaching Assistant and I, met up and accessed the Edublogs web site and began following the instructions.  In the first lesson Thea picked out her design header and wrote a post.  We then invited teachers to respond.  I returned to my office and posted a comment to the blog immediately.  I am so excited. 

Thea is sponsoring the following blog.  http://hewessocialstudies3.edublogs.org.  The 3 represents the 3 high school social studies teachers at the Hewes Center of Erie 2 Boces - Greg G., Cindy J. and Thea Kester.   

The high school teachers at the Hewes Center teaching summer school will be able to  pioneer this blog with students over 6 weeks, July 7-August 15, 2008.  This is our goal anyway.  I will help feed this blog over summer school since Thea herself will not be teaching but both Cindy and Greg both teachers of Social Studies at the Hewes Center, will be.  I encourage others to visit this blog to show support and give ideas.  

Suffice it to say that Thea and I will be collaborating this summer.   

Since the loss of one of our Alternative Education students, I have taken a hiatus from blogging.  I am back at it now with today being the start of my re-entry into this virtual world.  I want to thank everyone who follows this site for their patience and understanding.  This period of silence for me has been cathartic. 

Ken’s mother came to the Hewes Center two weeks ago, this after one of Ken’s friends at Hewes asked for his pool stick.  Our counselor, Leighton Swanson was out, himself mourning the loss of his mother.  I went down to A. building from my office in E. and met Gloria.  She had come to Hewes with her older son a former Career and Technical Education student of Erie 2 BOCES.  While her son was visiting his former teacher, Gloria sat with me in a quiet office.  She said she had come for the titanium pool stick.  Prior to this, we had attempted to call her (to no avail) to inquire about her welfare and ask about the return of the stick.  I gave the pool stick to her.  She thanked me for all our help and work with Ken.  I asked how she was doing.  She gave me a shrug of her shoulders.  She asked me if there was anything else Ken had at school that she could have.  He did not. 

Ken looked like his mother.  I had never met her.  His blue eyes stared at me.  Gloria was distant; understandably so.  She appears stunned and shocked.  The expression “hit by a train”  comes to mind but in this case it is so very poignant.  I pray that Gloria will slowly return to this life - her surviving son has a huge role to play in this.  May he not give up. 

Our students and staff took up a collection for Ken and donated it to the family on behalf of the student council.  We will continue to collect money and send it to Ken’s family as they work on pulling out of the debt they owe to the funeral home. 

Good bye Gloria and Good bye Ken. 

Last Thursday May 7, 2008 a freshman died because he got to close to the railway tracks in Ripley.  The circumstances of his death are still unknown.  Suffice it to say that there are many versions of what happened.  I prefer to think that it was an accident because no human being chooses death willingly at least not in my realm.  I have seen abject poverty and degredation in my life and have never seen a human beings choose death over life.  As a child I saw  beggars on the street with no limbs, blind and covered in sores they cried for food, money but not death!

I was unwillingly called to speak to the press who wanted to interview me because I was Ken’s principal and apparently knew him best.  I wish I knew him better!  I think our Alt. Ed teachers were priviledged to see his mind and know him in ways better than myself.  I was appointed spokesperson for Alt. Ed.  I hope I did Ken justice.   I spoke to the television crews t because I wanted to celebrate his life not the circumstances of his demise or question why it occurred.  I was surprised to see how the press needed to glamorize this instant news.  I kept being pushed to declare Alt. Ed. a program for troubled, disturbed youth, just the kind of  youth who would go out and play “catch the chicken” and be slammed by a train!.  I am glad I got to celebrate Ken’s life ” a boy with a zest for life, a beautiful smile”. 

Friday May 8, 2008 is a day I will re-live in my career.   I and the high school teachers of the Hewes Center lost one of our students.  This goes against our grain.  Just like no parent should outlive a child, no teacher should outlive a student.  We had crisis counselors on hand for our staff and students.  The teachers modified their teaching schedules.  The BOCES Superintendent sent us who work at the Hewes Center an email note of condolence.  We all had to be proud Americans on this day even though our hearts hurt.  We modelled appropriate grief for our students and each other. 

Ken was buried this past Monday.  Some of our teachers and his fellow classmates travelled to Erie, PA for the funeral.