Exciting Small Steps for Monomoy Regional High School

The slow process of creating the new regional school district is moving forward. Curriculum task forces comprised of teachers from both Harwich and Chatham have been established and have been involved since December working on merging curricula for the new district. We have just learned that the Provincetown School Committee is interested in either tuitioning its students to Monomoy or becoming a member of the new region. We have recently petitioned the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) for their approval to combine Harwich and Chatham athletic teams under the banner of Monomoy beginning next year since the new district becomes fully operational on July 1, 2012. We expect to receive a favorable response by mid-week and surely this will be the subject of a post in the near future. This past Thursday evening the Monomoy School Building Committee heard a presentation from the newly selected Owner's Project Manager, Skanska Corporation, in which they outlined their role in the planning and construction of the new building. During their presentation they discussed an extremely aggressive timeline which hopefully will result in breaking ground this fall and opening the new school in September of 2014. They also explained that the planning process would include multiple opportunities for all of the important constituencies to be involved and provide input into the design process. Within the next few weeks it is expected that we will have an architectural firm on board and we will finally know which of the model schools will be available to Monomoy for our new building. These are indeed exciting times!

So progress is being made every day, however the most exciting development occurred just yesterday. Faculty from both districts came together in a joint in-service day at Harwich High School. There was a session for all in the morning on the use of technology and social media and people socialized over lunch. In the afternoon, the high school faculties came together to begin working on identifying core values and beliefs for what will become our new school. In essence, this was an interactive workshop to create a vision for Monomoy Regional High School. Harwich principal Kevin Turner and I planned and facilitated an afternoon that engaged a room full of professionals in an exciting exercise that was not only productive and exciting but lots of fun as well. There was an inspirational video presentation entitled Passion and Persistence and a number of questions to stimulate their thinking and provide information for the culminating activity. Instructional leaders at each table masterfully guided the discussions and built consensus around key concepts and ideas. But the best was saved for last. Each group was charged with producing a 60 second evening news type video clip describing Monomoy Regional based on the vision of the school that had emerged from their discussions. I have never seen teachers so happily engaged during an in-service activity but, more importantly, what they all produced was absolutely incredible. There were clips modeled on news interviews, a parody of Father Guido Sarducci's Five Minute University, a song about the new school to the tune of Take Me Out to The Ball Game, and an amazing rap song complete with hoodies, sideways baseball caps and low-slung jeans. There was much laughter and fun, lots of great collaboration, and best of all, a stack of mini-essays that they all wrote as their ticket to leave describing their ideal school. I don't think I have ever experienced a professional development in-service day as positive and as powerful as what we all experienced yesterday.

I might also add that the sight of many of the Chatham faculty arriving at yesterday's in-service wearing their new Monomoy sweatshirts sent a strong message to all that, as much as we love our school and will continue to be Chatham High School for the immediate future, we are also just as committed to moving forward and being part of the exciting new school called Monomoy.

Thank you to all who participated yesterday and made it such a successful, positive, and productive day.

Principally Speaking is Back....

After a six month hiatus, in part due to a much busier schedule and also the need to clear my head, Principally Speaking is back!

What I have discovered over the past few months is that I find it difficult to write on a regular basis, not because of a lack of topics or issues, but because I often seem overwhelmed with stuff about which I want to write. I think what I need to do is narrow my focus and so for the immediate future I will be concentrating on issues relating to regionalization, sharing my thoughts and opinions in an effort to assist in the process of merging our two fine schools in a positive fashion. We currently have so much going on from curriculum committee work to the tireless efforts of the building committee. And most excitingly, there is progress being made and that is what needs to be shared with the public. Of course, if other issues arise, you can be sure I will write about them as well.

So what has really brought me back to my blog is an interesting article (actually a chapter from Stephen Covey's book The Eighth Habit) I recently read entitled Blending Voices - Searching for the Third Alternative in which the author suggests that in situations such as the one we face with regionalization, too much energy is wasted arguing about which of the two competing interests would be best for the new school we are creating. What we ought to be doing is searching for that third alternative, one that is ultimately better than either or even a combination of the two. He states, "The Third Alternative isn't my way, it isn't your way - it's our way. It's not a compromise halfway between your way and my way; it's better than a compromise. A third alternative is...a higher middle position that is better than either of the other two ways....." The operative word here is better. What we should be striving for in every situation that arises through the regionalization process is how we can create the best school possible to maximize opportunities for our students.

The concept of a third alternative could not come at a more opportune time. One of the major decisions which will have to be made soon is what type of schedule will Monomoy Regional High School use. It is timely because so many other curriculum and instruction decisions might possibly hinge on the type of schedule that is selected. Until now the focus has been on the schedules currently in place in the two schools. Chatham employs a fixed 4 X 4 long block schedule and Harwich operates on a hybrid schedule with a rotating long block. Both schedules have advantages and disadvantages but serve their respective schools very well. Both schedules have advocates for their adoption for the new school. However, if we approach the schedule decision with Covey's Third Alternative in mind hopefully we will be looking for the schedule which will best serve the interests of our students in the new school, one that is neither theirs nor ours, but something entirely new and better than what we both have now.

Without consciously thinking about it, we employed Covey's philosophy a last month when a decision was made concerning which student management system (SMS) the new school district would adopt. Currently, each district uses an SMS that has proven effective at running its schools, managing everything from student records, scheduling, attendance, and finances. We like ours and they like theirs. Seemingly, a decision was not going to come easily. Deb Morgan, the combined district Director of Technology, did some research on the best SMS programs available and then set up a day of vendor presentations for involved parties in both schools. Interestingly, one of the three choices was the system currently used by Chatham. After the presentations everyone was asked for their feedback and, ultimately a choice was made. The result was a third alternative because it was clearly the best choice and it was recently approved by the Monomoy Regional School Committee. So those who use the student management system every day will have some work to do learning an entirely new system and we all know that change is not easy or comfortable. But we will do what is necessary because we believe that this third alternative is a big improvement over what we both now use and it is exciting to think that we will be implementing this new system in our new school.

As we go forward there will be many situations where we will be faced with a decision to be made between my way or your way for the new Monomoy Regional High School. I would respectfully suggest that our mantra should be Let's search for the Third Alternative. Let's focus on what will be the best for teaching and learning at Monomoy Regional High School. Our students, faculty, and parents deserve nothing less.

Winding Down and Looking Forward....

Graduation has come and gone and what a wonderful event it was. Full of laughter, music, memories, and some tears, it was a truly special evening. In eleven years of Chatham graduations, I have never failed to be impressed by the genuine pride and emotion displayed by everyone involved. And every year the senior slide show is such a fitting way to put an exclamation point on the whole ceremony. This year's graduates, rising stars all, are on their way and I wish them all the best. They will make us all proud with their accomplishments.

Following closely on the heels of graduation, we held our fourteenth annual Evening of Excellence last Wednesday where we honored over half of the remaining students in grades 9-11 for their academic achievement throughout the school year. Another special night was capped by the awarding of our Blue and White award to one individual in each of grade. Selected by the faculty for outstanding achievement, Liam Phelan, Sydney Whitcomb, and Christie Macomber all received a citation from the Massachusetts House of Representatives courtesy of Representative Sarah Peake and a $50 dollar gift card to Barnes and Noble.

And now we face our final full week of classes and the examinations which will assess student progress early the following week. The students were all given copies of their schedules for next year and will have this coming week to resolve any conflicts or gaps that may exist in their schedules so we will be able to start the new school year off smoothly in September. I am usually not one to boast, but this may well be the best master schedule I have ever built. Often described as trying to solve a Rubiks Cube, building a master schedule, especially in a small school, can often be an exercise in frustration. However, this year for some reason all of the pieces seemed to fall into place. Almost every student got the courses they needed with very few serious conflicts. We also have a nice array of elective offerings and it is exciting to see increased student interest in our new engineering and applied technology courses as well as some of our academic electives as well.

So even though we are wrapping up another successful school year and getting ready for a restful summer break, we are already looking forward to the coming year when we will be admittedly a bit smaller due to some out-migration but just as committed to providing the best educational challenges and opportunities for all of our students. We will be rolling out year two of our laptop computer program for the incoming freshmen class, instituting a new energized advisory program along with a weekly activity period for academic enrichment and remediation for all students, and offering a new Advanced Placement course in Biology for enthusiastic sophomores. Next year will also mark the beginning of our collaborative work with our colleagues in Harwich to begin creating the new curriculum for Monomoy Regional High School and I am sure that there will be a lot of excitement generated when ground is broken sometime next spring for the beautiful new building. It will definitely be a very busy year but there is so much to be excited about as we look forward to the immediate future.

So there is plenty of time for all of the planning and excitement next fall. Now is the time to sit back, relax, and reflect on the past year and all that has been accomplished. Summer is a time for reflection, but more importantly recharging. I hope that everyone, students, staff, and parents do just that. Enjoy the summer months, recharge your batteries, and come back to school in the fall ready to tackle another great year.

Have a safe and restful summer!

Drug Free Means Just That....

Yesterday was a tough day. Working with the Chatham Police Department and the Barnstable County Sheriff's Department we conducted a sweep of the school parking lot with the BCSD's drug K-9 Morgan. Now, we have done this before and have also had the drug dog in our building many times over the past decade and in almost every instance, our search has come up empty. I am never disappointed when that happens. Unfortunately, yesterday was a bit different. The dog, whose training and sense of smell is truly phenomenal, indicated on several vehicles and, since that indication serves as probable cause, those vehicles were searched in the presence of the students to whom they belong. The search of three of the vehicles turned up nothing physical, however the dog's response indicates that at some point recently there had been some type of narcotic activity in each of those vehicles. Either someone, not necessarily the driver, had smoked marijuana or might have had some form of narcotic on their person while in the vehicle. The dog is that good! Those three students got a rather startling wake-up call and hopefully, after my conversation with the parents of each student that morning, some meaningful discussions ensued at home that evening. Unfortunately, one of the vehicles the dog indicated on did have both marijuana and paraphernalia in the vehicle. Even though a recent ballot vote resulted in decriminalizing this type of possession, this is still a clear violation of our school rules and has resulted in serious disciplinary consequences for that student.

I must say that I am disappointed in the results of yesterday's effort but not really surprised. I would have been very happy to have had the sweep turn up empty. That, unfortunately, is a rather naive expectation. I believe that there has been an increase in the use of marijuana among students and a rather cavalier attitude regarding its possession, in part, I believe, due to the change in the law. But it is important to point out, once again that the school rules have not changed and we will continue to do whatever is necessary to keep our school drug free.

Predictably, student reaction to yesterday morning's events were mixed. Some students thought it unfair that we would employ a police K-9 to check student vehicles for narcotics especially on a Friday when "students were more likely to have drugs in their cars." Others were clearly angry saying that the school has no right to conduct such a search and that we violated students' rights. I think those students must have missed that paragraph in our handbook where we clearly state on page 24 that, "All vehicles parked on school property are subject to K-9 serches for illegal substances." However, more encouraging were the reactions that suggested that students were "stupid" for bringing drugs onto campus and those that suggested that the search was a good thing because they want to come to a school that is free of illegal substances.

Well, students have been warned. We will continue to collaborate with the CPD and the BCSD to conduct searches both inside and outside our building according to the law. We will continue to hold students accountable and do whatever is necessary to keep our school safe and drug free. From what I have heard from faculty, parents, and community members, this is the right thing to do to protect our kids. Some may disagree. Either way I would like to hear from you.

Figures Lie and Liars Figure, Part Two....

Here we go again! The author of a recent guest editorial in the Cape Cod Chronicle presented an argument against the proposed 8-12 grade configuration being considered for the new Momomoy Regional High School. The argument seemed logical and the author cited research to support his claim that to put eighth graders with high school students would be unsound, in part, based on a research study conducted in Maine "several years ago" that found that eighth grade students housed in schools other than a K-8 configuration performed less well on standardized tests. Interesting information but, once again, its only part of the story and based on that alone one could draw an incorrect conclusion.

Here is some additional information from this specific study that the author neglected to share. It was conducted more than "several years ago", in fact, it is almost two decades old. It was published in the summer of 1992 before the onset of state mandated high stakes testing and increased accountability, the emergence of the focus on school culture, and a host of other educational reforms. Secondly, the authors merely stated that eighth grade students in a K-8 environment seemed to do better than students in other grade configurations without making any assertions of superiority of one model over the other. The study implied that the question of why Maine eighth graders in schools with elementary spans outperformed other eighth graders remains unanswered and that their findings actually "call into question any simplistic assertion regarding the superiority of (nominally) middle-level schools." Thus, the research the author cites actually seems to refute the critical importance of the typical 5-8 middle school grade configuration which was such an important part of his argument. Furthermore, another study entitled Grade Configuration: Who Goes Where? (Paglin and Fager, 1997) concluded that every grade configuration has its own strengths and weaknesses relative to the context which the grade span occurs and that "no particular sequence of grade spans is perfect or in itself guarantees student achievement and social adjustment." The key, they suggested, is to focus on developing the positive potential within any given grade configuration.

Research and passionate arguments aside, here's the bottom line from someone who has spent the last forty years working in a 9-12 high school environment - grade configuration is not nearly as significant as many would have you believe. Much more important is what you do in any school with curriculum, student support services, and co-curricular activities to meet the needs of all students. Here's my two cents worth, and it is not based on twenty year old research. First, let's be totally transparent. The consideration of the 8-12 grade configuration for MRHS is being driven by the numbers. The magic number of 700+ students will enable the model school to be constructed in expeditious fashion with close to 50% state reimbursement to the towns. That in itself is not a bad thing because even though it may seem that the decision is not focused on kids and their needs, it really is. The decision will lead to the building of a state-of-the art, environmentally sound school which will expand learning opportunities for all students. It seems the right thing to do for so many reasons and it will be good for all students.

Simply stated, putting eighth graders in a high school environment will not result in dire academic, social, or emotional consequences. Actually it has been done in a number of school districts across the nation. In fact, the town of Shrewsbury did it back in the mid-eighties with good results. While recently most school districts such as Barnstable and Dennis-Yarmouth are being forced by declining enrollments to reconfigure their schools by incorporating eighth graders in their high schools, some have done it as a matter of choice. Hudson combined their eighth grade students in their high school over a decade ago as a result of a conscious decision to improve learning for their students. It has worked so well that even though the town is currently constructing a new middle school, the eighth graders will not be part of that school. They will remain at the high school where they are, for the most part, fully integrated in that school environment.

The 8-12 configuration works well for students in Hudson and I believe it will work well at Monomoy Regional High School. Eighth graders would be fully integrated in all co-curricular activities such as the arts, clubs, and in interscholastic sports where they would enable robust junior varsity, and possibly, freshmen teams with a 'no cut" policy. A modified teaming approach in the core curricular areas would provide the comfort, stability, and individual attention students at that age need but other curricular areas would be open to eighth graders allowing for accelerated learning in subjects such as math, foreign languages, and science. Having eighth graders in the building would also allow teachers to begin implementing a pre-advanced placement curriculum to lay a solid foundation for students who plan to challenge themselves with A P courses later in their high school career. Socially, the eighth graders would be semi-isolated in that they would not be allowed to attend high school dances and other major social events, however dances, class trips, and other special events specifically scheduled for them would allow eighth graders to bond with each other, develop their own identifies, and grow socially and emotionally at their own pace. They would also have their own guidance counselor who would focus entirely on their concerns and help ease the transition to the rigor of a high school curriculum. These are but just a few of the exciting possibilities afforded by developing a grade 8-12 high school.

So, don't be swayed by emotional claims and outdated or misstated research. Check out what is happening in Hudson High School right now and think about what this exciting model could do for our kids in the new Monomoy Regional High School.

The Power of Rainbows....

As I left my office and walked down the hallway the other day I was struck by a very familiar sound literally bursting out of one of the English classrooms. It was a loud, almost brash voice filled with enthusiasm and what was being said was punctuated by raucous laughter. Rather than being unsettling, it was surprisingly comforting...Lisa Doyle was back! Back where she belongs among adoring students, energizing them and filling them with appreciation for literature and poetry, symbolism and simile, and the difference between a comma and a semicolon. For the last six and one half months Nancy von der Heyde has done an exceptional job filling some incredibly big shoes. She worked tirelessly to implement the curriculum and push her students to excel, knowing all along that some parents and students were less than thrilled she was in the classroom rather than Mrs. Doyle. Yet, she persevered and we all owe her an immense debt of gratitude. So now Mrs. Doyle is back, thankfully healthy and ready to finish out the year. We had a brief ceremony at lunch on Thursday to thank Ms. von der Heyde and welcome Mrs. Doyle back and, of course there was cake, a few moving student speeches, and lots of cheering and applause. Seemingly, all is right in our little CHS world! Pinned to my office bulletin board I have a photograph of the rainbow that magically appeared at a soccer game last fall on the day the school honored Mrs. Doyle. It depicts Mrs. Doyle standing triumphant, arms raised as if in defiance or in victory. From this day forward my view of rainbows has been forever altered. For the rest of my life every rainbow I experience will remind me of how fortunate we all are and that miracles do indeed occur. Welcome back, Lisa!

As if that excitement were not enough, we have a wonderful, new district web page! Months in the making, it was launched last week and, while it clearly is a work in progress, it is a tremendous improvement over what we have had for more than the last decade. Powered by Finalsite and the result of a significant amount of work on the part of our District Technology Director Deb Morgan, the new site is bright, colorful, and very polished. It is both artistic and functional, displaying lots of photographs of students engaged in learning on a number of levels as well as updated school news. It is also highly interactive and over the next several months plans include populating the site with a number of opportunities for students and parents to access and download forms and other information in a convenient manner. So if you get a chance, check it out at www.chatham.k12.ma.us and give us your honest feedback. Is there something that is missing or is there a link that might make your school experience easier or better. Please let us know because we are sincere in our aim to make this page your "go to" site for everything you need or want to know about the Chatham Public Schools.

So Spring arrives tomorrow and things are looking up at Chatham High School. It is hard not to be optimistic. Feel free to leave a comment and let me know how you feel.

Figures Lie and Liars Figure....

A week ago the Cape Cod Times published an article about the apparent success of vocational schools in maintaining high graduation rates which is excellent news. The article based its argument on the data provided by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and generally did a pretty good job of explaining a complicated calculation process that is used to derive an annual percentage. The problem is that the paper did what it usually does with education data. It created a chart ranking all of the area high schools so everyone could make comparisons. That in itself is fine, however in order to be useful, data has to be accurate and it really should be presented in context. First the accuracy. I cannot speak for the other schools, but with regard to Chatham's data, they used the district's figures, not those ascribed solely to the high school. The actual graduation rate for Chatham High School is actually 81.4, not 79.5, not a big difference, but it suggests a general sloppiness in dealing with data which raises questions. Secondly, and more important, the chart they created only lists the graduation rate for 2009 and 2010 for comparison purposes when it would have been far more helpful to identify where all of the students in the four year cohort who did not receive a diploma ended up. In our case, three students from the cohort are still in school in a post-grad vocational program (in fact, two have just received their diploma), two left school and acquired a Graduate Equivalency Diploma (GED), and three did, in fact, drop out. All of this information is readily available on the DESE website and would have presented a much clearer picture of just what the data really means. Furthermore, had they dug a bit deeper, they would have discovered that the DESE clearly understands that, for some students, an extra year is necessary to successfully earn a diploma which is why they also provide data based on a five year graduation rate. In that scenario, our graduation rate climbs to 87.9 or 91.7 if one looks at the adjusted cohort rate. As it was presented, the article with its comparison chart seems to suggest that those who were not included in the graduation rate statistic were drop outs which clearly reflects negatively on a school that has a figure that is less than 100%.

I write not to justify our graduation rate. We know we can and should do a better job ensuring that students stay in school. We certainly try to do that using various intervention strategies, counseling, and flexible scheduling, and, when students ultimately decide they want to leave, we do as much as we can to ensure that they enroll in a GED program. There are, however, two realities with which we deal on a daily basis at CHS. Most schools today are dealing with an increasingly transient school population and often CHS is seen as a small, personalized school where a disaffected student from another district might finally meet with success. That is often the case in seventy to eighty percent of students we admit from other schools and districts. However, we also admit students for whom no school is going to be the panacea to help turn things around. They come with their parents' high hopes and within a few months realize that while we are small and personalized, we also have high expectations for all studentsand hold them accountable. Often that pressure is what turns out to be the tipping point and, unfortunately, another student becomes a drop out.

Perhaps the next article that appears in the Cape Cod Times will not only present the correct data but will do so in an appropriate context so that the public can draw correct assumptions about the performance of area schools. In the meantime, we will continue to do the best we can to meet the needs of all of our students and help them accomplish the goal of earning a Chatham High School diploma.