Put the IFs Back in the Classroom

Shown below is the Letter to the Editor that I submitted to the Record & Landmark regarding the IFs. It was printed in today's edition of the paper. I am including it here for those of you who do not subscribe to the paper. If you compare the letter below to the one printed in the paper you will see they only made a few minor changes. The paper did add the headline included below in green.

Iredell-Statesville Schools cannot afford to keep non-teaching teachers in the district's payroll

To the Editor:

A recent Record and Landmark article detailed the cuts in the proposed 2010 – 11 state budget as regards to education and the response of the Iredell-Statesville School administration to those cuts. As part of his response Superintendent Brady Johnson is quoted as saying that about 50 I-SS employees will retire at the end of the current school year and that the district will fill the 25 most critical vacancies and absorb the rest through attrition. This is supposed to save the district one million dollars.

The May I-SS Personnel Report recently approved by the School Board states that the two current Instructional Facilitator (IF) coaches are being promoted from interim status to permanent status. This indicates that I-SS is going to continue with the IF program. This is a program that has questionable value. The recent teacher survey indicated that many teachers do not find the IF program beneficial.

There are about 35 Instructional Facilitators currently employed by the district. These IFs should be moved back into the classroom to replace teachers who are retiring or resigning. This could save the school system another million dollars in salaries and benefits. If these IFs are truly exemplary teachers let their classrooms serve as models for other teachers. This would be a much better utilization for these individuals. As it is now, the IFs spend much of their time in meetings. They should be in classrooms instructing the students. I-SS can no longer afford to pay 35 teachers not to teach.

May Personnel Report

Update: The May 2010 Personnel Report is now included below.

I requested a copy of the Personnel Report that was approved by the Board at the May 10^th meeting. Of course it includes things such as Resignations and Retirements, but there were two sections that I found particularly interesting.

The first was the section listed: Approval of Administrative Appointments. Under this section there were a number of administrators listed along with their appointed positions. The list included principals, assistant principals, and Central Office administrators. The Central Office administrators on the list were Marty Moore, Jed Stus, Mary Anne Karriker, Kelly Marcy, Patricia Campbell, Dale Ellis, and Pam Schiffman.

In examining this list I noted that most, if not all, were being appointed to the position that they currently hold. I assumed that this meant that these individuals were being given a new or extended contract. To make sure I sent an e-mail to Dawn Creason asking her for clarification.

Today, I received an e-mail from Dale Ellis in which he stated that his contract and the contracts for Larry Rogers and Pam Schiffman were being extended. He stated that the others on the list had expiring contracts that were renewed and extended. In addition, Mr. Ellis also stated that there were no salary adjustments associated with any of the renewals and/or extensions.

I can understand extending the contract of an individual who is doing a good job in a valuable position. But why were the contracts for Dale Ellis and Pam Schiffman extended when they were not up for renewal? That makes no sense in this economy. If either one was threatening to leave I would say let him or her go.

And, speaking of the economy and all the cutbacks in the classrooms, since the contracts for Marty Moore and Jed Stus were expiring why not just eliminate those positions and reduce the Central Office administrative staff. There are already too many administrative positions at the Central Office.

Earlier I mentioned that there were two sections within the May Personnel Report that I found interesting. The second on was the section titled Approval of Administrative Transfers. In this section it was reported that Sherrard Lewis was being transferred from Interim 6-12 IF Coach to 6-12 IF Coach and that Kim Rector was being transferred from Interim K-5 IF Coach to K-5 IF Coach. I guess that Brady Johnson has decided to continue the IF program. What happened to the results of the teacher survey? With a number of teachers retiring or resigning at the end of the current school year the IFs could have been placed back in the classroom and saved the school system a significant sum of money.

I guess it is just ‘business as usual’ at the Central Office.

May 2010 Personnel Report.

Click on an image of one of the pages to enlarge that page.

School Board Election

Tuesday, May 4th

Remember that this is the general election for the School Board and not a primary election.

If you live in District 1, or 7, please remember to vote. There is no contest in Districts 3 and 5 and the other districts are not up for election this year.

School Board Candidate Forum

According to the Statesville Record and Landmark there will be a forum for School Board Candidates on Tuesday, April 13^th, from 7:45 to 9:00 p.m., at Little Joe’s Chapel in Barium Springs. The local Chambers of Commerce and various media outlets are sponsoring the forum. It will follow the forum for the Iredell County Sheriff candidates.

Please note that the initial information printed in the April 4^th edition of Record and Landmark, as well as posted on their web site, includes some incorrect information. Contrary to the information provided by the Record and Landmark, there is no primary for the School Board elections and there is no School Board election in November. The May 4^th election is the general election for the School Board. In both District 1 and District 7, the candidate with the most votes wins the election. As I reported earlier, no one filed to run against John Rogers (District 3) or Bill Brater (District 5) so they will continue to serve on the School Board.

According to the Record and Landmark, if you have a question that you would like to be asked of one or more of the candidates at the forum, you may e-mail your question to dibach@statesville.com with a subject line of ‘Candidate Question.’ It is also reported that due to limited time, not all questions will be asked.

School Board Elections

The filing period for the School Board elections ends Friday, Feb. 26^th, at noon. Four Iredell-Statesville Board of Education seats are up for election. Those are the seats representing districts 1, 3, 5 and 7. School Board elections are nonpartisan and are to be held at the time of the May primary election. The term of office is for four years.

The information below depicts the schools included in each district as well as the current School Board member representing each district.

District 1- Dr. Ken Wilson

Union Grove, Harmony, North Middle, North High, Central, East Middle (district also overlaps with West Middle and West High)

District 3- John Rogers

N.B. Mills, Northview, Pressly, Statesville High, East Elementary (district also overlaps with West High, North High, West Middle, Statesville Middle, Monticello, Ebenezer, and Third Creek)

District 5- Bill Brater

Celeste Henkel, South High, Troutman Elementary, Troutman Middle, Lakeshore Elementary, Lakeshore Middle, Lake Norman High, Shepherd (district also overlaps with West High, West Middle, and Sharon)

District 7- Karen Watson

Mt. Mourne, Brawley, Lake Norman Elementary, Woodland Heights (district also overlaps with Lakeshore Middle, Lakeshore Elementary, and Lake Norman High School)

According to the Iredell County Board of Elections, Dr. Ken Wilson, Mr. John Rogers, and Mr. Bill Brater have each filed for reelection. Mr. Robert Bobinski has filed to run in the election for the seat representing District 7. As of Feb. 19^th at 2:22 PM, Ms. Watson has not filed for reelection.

In my opinion, unless there is some significant change within the School Board there will not be any significant change in the administration of the School System. NOW is the time for some individuals to step up and speak out for the students. If you live in one of the school districts up for election, please either consider running for the School Board or encourage someone who will make a good candidate to do so.

According to Iredell-Statesville School Board Policy Code 2110, no School Board member shall serve more than two consecutive terms. According to the I-SS web site Dr. Wilson is in his second term and Mr. Brater is in his first term. I could not find information regarding the number of terms for Mr. Rogers and Ms. Watson.

Feb. 2010 I-SS Organizational Chart

A new organizational chart has been posted on the I-SS web site. There are only a few changes from the chart that was posted in December. One of those changes is that Todd Holden is listed as the Executive Director of Secondary Education. When it was announced in January that Mr. Holden was being promoted it was stated that he was to be Executive Director of Secondary Education and Career Technical Education. I don’t know it there has been a change in his duties or if the Career Technical Education part of his title was just left of the chart for some reason.

Also, the new organizational chart shows Dale Ellis as Associate Superintendent of Human Resources and Bill Long as Director of Teacher Support Services. As I reported in a previous post those changes were made effective in January. One last change that I noticed is that Dawn Creason is now listed as Public Information Officer. Ms. Creason had been listed as Director of Public Relations.

You may click on the image of the organizational chart at the left of this page to enlarge it.

I-SS Innovation Showcase

Updated Jan. 19, 2010.

I-SS is hosting the First Annual Iredell Statesville Innovation Showcase at the Statesville Civic Center on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. According to the announcement there will be a focus on strategies and simple processes that positively impact student success. There will be booths by teachers and administrators with breakout sessions throughout the day. The event is free and open to the public.

Mathew Fail announced at the Committee of the Whole meeting that there would be some 68 presentations with about 150 presenters. He also said that they were expecting participants from a number of other school districts. Click on the link below to access the announcement.

Innovation Showcase

This is a workday for I-SS. Are teachers being informed of this event? Have they been told that they could spend part or all of the workday attending the Innovation Showcase? No? Why not? Because I-SS does not believe that one-day conferences, workshops, or meetings are beneficial to teachers.

The following statement is taken directly from the I-SS web site. It is located in the Professional Development section under the Continuous Improvement tab.

We believe that professional learning improves the knowledge and skills of our faculty and staff, and can lead to changes in classroom practice and increased student learning. Professional development that is not on-going or collaborative (aka One-Shot Workshop) rarely translates into classroom application or student impact. Research shows that the most effective professional development combines meaningful job-embedded practice with support from instructors through on-going feedback and coaching.

I-SS says that one day workshops do not translate into classroom application or student impact. Yet, at the same time I-SS is spending taxpayer’s money to organize and present such a workshop. Where is the reasoning in that?

I have received the following information from Jessica Mellen, I-SS Graduate Fellow.

The event will be held at the Statesville Civic Center on January 26, from 8:45-4:10 (and closed from 12-12:50 so that presenters may have a brief lunch break). This event is similar in style to a science fair, in that the majority of presentations are on display boards (some complemented with technology) in a large exhibit hall. There will also be concurrent seminar-style presentations which will delve deeper into some widely applicable strategies. Each of the seminar-style presentations will be held 4 times throughout the day--twice in the morning, and twice in the afternoon.

The presenters are all I-SS staff who have volunteered to be a part of this event. The requirement for entry was simply that presentations should demonstrate strategies that are having a positive impact on student learning! At this point there are over 70 presentations scheduled (including the seminar-style sessions), and 150 presenters and volunteers from the I-SS staff.

The goal of this event is to both share knowledge across the district, and to celebrate successes that students, teachers and staff are having in their classrooms and buildings. The project team has been working closely with principals to make sure that all I-SS staff has the opportunity to attend the event, as they are the intended target audience.

There will be a Welcome Table, from which any further questions can be answered and information will be provided on the day of the event.

I do think that this type of event can be valuable to teachers. It is always good to see various instructional methods that are beneficial to students. I only wish that I-SS administrators would acknowledge the fact that I-SS teachers could learn from similar events that are sponsored by other school systems and by professional organizations.

I also received the following Showcase information and schedules from Ms. Mellen.

The following schedules are color coded to match a shift schedule for the schools. In efforts to make this event as accessible as possible for all I-SS staff to attend, schools have been approved and encouraged to bring their staffs to the event on school buses.

All visitors are welcome to attend whenever best suits their schedules: please do not feel obligated to follow the shift schedule. You are welcome to arrive and depart (if you plan to do so) at any point during the day that the Showcase is open. Visitors are also welcome to participate in the raffle, which will be drawn at the end of each of the four shifts noted in the schedule. We will also be soliciting feedback about the event via comment cards throughout the day.

Click on each schedule to enlarge it.

January Personnel Report

As reported in today’s Statesville Record and Landmark, it was announced at Monday’s I-SS Board meeting that Todd Holden has been promoted to Executive Director of Secondary Education and Career Technical Education. Mr. Holden has been principal of West Iredell High for the last four years. There was no mention of what his new salary will be. I wish Mr. Holden the best in his new position. You may click on the link below to access the Record and Landmark article.

Todd Holden Named Director

It was also announced at Monday’s Board meeting that the interim positions created when Mr. Johnson was named Interim Superintendent are now officially permanent positions. Specifically, the personnel report approved by the Board states the following.

Ron Hargrave goes from Interim Deputy Superintendent/Race Street to Deputy Superintendent/Race Street.

Melanie Taylor goes from Interim Assoc. Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction/ADR to Assoc. Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction/ADR.

Dale Ellis goes from Interim Assoc. Superintendent for Secondary Curriculum/ADR to Assoc. Superintendent for Human Resources/Race Street.

Bill Long goes from Interim Assoc. Superintendent for Human Resources/Race Street to Director of Teacher Support Services/Race Street.

As I mentioned in a comment to a previous post, Dawn Creason sent me an e-mail on January 4^th stating that Dale Ellis and Bill Long had gone back to their previous positions and salaries. Obviously this was not a true statement with regard to Mr. Long. As far as I can tell the Director of Teacher Support Services is a new Central Office position created for Mr. Long. Again we see that there is no shortage of money when it comes to Central Office positions. How sad it is for the students at Statesville High School and Third Creek Elementary who have to share media specialists because there is no money to hire a replacement for the media specialist at Third Creek who has recently retired.

Renewed Vision Meeting

Materials related to last night’s meeting are now available on the I-SS web site. You can find information for each of the system’s key processes as well as issue bins for each. The reports of the principal and teacher surveys as well as the reports of the various advisory meetings are also available. The video of the meeting is not yet available. I want to thank Mr. Johnson for making sure this information was available in a timely manner. You can access the information by clicking on the link below.

Renewed Vision Information

There was a lot of information shared at the meeting but it seemed to be mostly this is what we are doing and don’t you think it’s wonderful. There was some talk of a few changes being made but the bulk of the information was simply a reiteration of the processes that have been in place for some time. Yes, it was mentioned that there would be more flexibility in some of the processes, and yes it was mentioned that changes were made based on input from teachers and others. However those changes were minor changes compared to the feedback given in the principal and teacher surveys as well as in the reports of the various advisory meetings.

There were several initiatives that the principals and teachers said needed major tweaking that did not seem to receive any tweaking. Or, if they were tweaked, they were minor tweaks. Was this a true response to the feedback received from the various groups? I don’t think so. Was it an effort to encourage everyone to be content with the way things are? I think so.

What do you think? Remember, all comments are welcome. Some comments about the meeting have already been given after the previous post.

I-SS to Share Renewed Vision

Via a notice on the School web site and an e-mail to teachers and support staff, I-SS has announced a meeting to share a renewed vision and improvements for education. The meeting will be on Tuesday, January 12 at 6:00 p.m. in the Mac Gray Auditorium on the campus of Statesville High School. I-SS staff and the public are invited to attend.

According to the I-SS web site, Superintendent Brady Johnson will address attendees and share highlights of feedback received during area advisory meetings, as well as from activities conducted with principals, teachers, and other I-SS stakeholders. Johnson will also share his vision and direction for the school district, including changes to the Iredell-Statesville Schools model for continuous improvement and the district's key processes. Board of education chairman Dr. David Cash will also address the audience on behalf of the Iredell-Statesville Board of Education.

The notice also states that attendees will have the opportunity to share their feedback on the event in the form of written plus/deltas, as well as submit items to an issue bin. There is no mention of any time being allotted for questions and answers at the meeting.

Click on the link below to access the announcement on the I-SS web site.

I-SS to Share Vision

Executive Director of Secondary Curriculum/CTE Programs

I have heard that Dale Ellis is going back to Human Resources. I do not know if this indeed true but I-SS is currently advertising for the position of Executive Director of Secondary Curriculum/CTE Programs. Mr. Ellis assumed position of Interim Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education/Student Services when Brady Johnson became Interim Superintendent. So it would seem that not only is Mr. Ellis leaving this position they have decided to make it an Executive Director position.

If Mr. Ellis is going back to Human Resources will he return to his old position of Executive Director of Human Resources? And, if so, will Bill Long go back to his previous position. Also, will they revert to their previous salaries as Mr. Johnson promised.

The advertisement for the Executive Director position has a couple of interesting statements. First it simply states State Salary Schedule as the salary for the position. As we know all I-SS Central Office administrators are paid more than the State Salary Schedule amount and I would imagine that this individual will be paid more as well. Also the advertisement includes the statement that if the position is filled by an employee transferring, then this vacancy announcement will serve as notice for that vacancy. I do not know if that is a standard statement on I-SS applications, but to me it sounds like they already have someone in mind for the position as well as someone in mind for that person's position. In addition, how can this be considered an advertisement for the second position unless they already know what that position is?

In my previous post regarding the media specialists at SHS, I included Mr. Rogers' comment that the two media specialists will be shared between SHS and Third Creek Elementary. If the administration feels that sharing media specialists between schools is an acceptable solution why don’t they just share the duties of the Executive Director of Secondary Curriculum between two or more of the current administrators? If sharing is good enough for the students shouldn’t it be good enough for administrators?

To view the advertisement for the Executive Director’s position, click on the link below.

Executive Director of Secondary Curriculum

SHS Media Specialist

On Friday, I received a phone call from Dewoyne Daye, SHS Student Body Vice-President. Dewoyne was concerned because one of the two media specialists at SHS was being transferred to Third Creek Elementary because the individual at Third Creek was retiring. He said that there were no plans to replace the specialist at SHS and that would mean a reduction in services at the High School. Dewoyne was particularly concerned in that this would mean that the library would no longer be open before and after school. He pointed out that many SHS students do not have access to computers at home and that they use the computers in the library before and after school to complete various class projects. Dewoyne also mentioned that the media specialists assist students and SHS staff in many other ways and that one media specialist at the high school would not be able to complete all of these tasks.

Dewoyne also informed me that at Statesville High currently enrolls 30% of the I-SS High School’s Hispanic population, 44% of the system’s African American population, and 19% of the system’s Asian population. SHS also has 14 different subgroups, which is more than any other high school in the system. In addition, SHS has the largest exceptional children’s population of all the high schools and Statesville High School has been declared a Title One/at risk high school.

Dewoyne asked me about the raises that were given to those taking the interim positions when Mr. Johnson was named Interim Superintendent. We talked about how that money could have been used for student programs and for funding positions such as the media specialist at SHS. Dewoyne said that everyone who works for I-SS should be looking out for the students' wellbeing but that is obviously not happening in this situation.

I think that the administration should be able to find money in the budget to keep these two media specialists at SHS and to hire a specialist to replace the individual at Third Creek. The students at SHS deserve the full support of the administration. I have already sent an e-mail to Mr. Johnson and to Mr. John Rogers in this regard and I am asking the readers of this blog to do so as well.

I received the following reply from Mr. John Rogers.

Paul,

All of the high schools except Lake Norman has lost a media specialist due to budget cuts. It was time for West Iredell and SHS to give up a media specialist. Keith Williams and I have worked closely with Mr. (Larry) Rogers concerning this issue. The plan at present is for both ladies to work at SHS and Third Creek.

This will keep both women at the high school a certain number of days per week. A major issue was the time in the morning and afternoon for students to work in the library on the computers. This will stay the same at the present. One major concern is for an experienced person at Third Creek. We are working on it.

Thanks for your interest and Merry Christmas!!!

New I-SS Organizational Chart

A new version of the I-SS Organizational Chart is now available on the I-SS web site. It is shown to have a December '09 revision date. Click on the image of the chart located on the left side of the blog to access the full-sized chart.

The only change that I noticed from the chart posted in September is that Mr. Johnson is listed as Superintendent instead of Interim Superintendent. As noted before, all of the other so-called interim positions were never listed as such. I guess it is now official that none of the interim administrators who were to go back to their previous positions and previous pay will do so. I understand the need for some of the changes in position as Mr. Johnson took over as Interim Superintendent and now as Superintendent but there was no justification to increase the salaries of these individuals when the budget was severely limited. As many have previously mentioned, teachers and other I-SS employees have been asked to take on extra responsibilities without a corresponding increase in pay. Shouldn't that philosophy apply to administrators as well?

Baldrige Award Received

According to the I-SS web site, a delegation of just over 50 administrators, teachers, Board of Education members, and students recently traveled to Washington, DC to attend the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award ceremony. U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke presented the award and Vice President Joe Biden congratulated the recipients. Apparently President Obama was not present.

Click on the link below to access the article on the I-SS web site.

I-SS Accepts Baldrige Award

Update:

Click on the link below to download the video of the Baldrige Award Ceremony. (There is a lot of rhetoric but there are also some excellent selections played by the Air Force Band.)

Baldrige Ceremony Video

IF Training

Pam Schiffman recently sent an e-mail to I-SS teachers stating that Instructional Facilitator Training will begin in December. The e-mail is marked ‘** High Priority **.’

In the e-mail, teachers are asked if they are interested in becoming an I-SS Instructional Facilitator. Teachers are also informed that future Instructional Facilitators (IFs) are teachers who:

• Have had at least five years successful classroom teaching experience career status
• Are committed to continuous classroom improvement and the I-SS Model for Raising Achievement and Closing Gaps
• Exhibit strong people and leadership skills
• Enjoy helping fellow teachers develop high performing classrooms through training, coaching, & support
• Are willing and able to work and be paid August 1 through June 30
• Are willing to complete training in order to become qualified for future IF positions

The IF Training will begin in December and teachers are to contact Kim Rector or Sherrard Lewis if they are interested. According to the I-SS Organizational Chart, Kim and Sherrard are the Elementary and Secondary IF Coordinators, respectively.

This seems to be another example of the I-SS administration putting the cart before the horse. Most of the principals have indicated that the IF model needs to be tweaked and the teacher surveys have not yet been tallied. The roles of the IFs is still in question, yet someone in the Central Office has decided to go on with the IF training as usual. Shouldn’t the tweaking of the roles of the IFs be completed based on the results of the principal surveys and the teacher surveys before any IF training begins? Or, is that just too logical? Did Mr. Johnson approve this or is someone else running the Central Office?