A Chatham High School Showcase...

We have spent a considerable amount of time lately thinking and talking about what we need to do to spread the word concerning what Chatham High School has to offer, especially in light of last year's departure of a rather significant portion of our incoming freshman class from our middle school. We fully understand and appreciate what school choice is all about but we want to make certain that any decisions parents make regarding sending their children to another school district is made only after considering all of the available information. To that end, we want to get all of the relevant information about our excellent school out in the open so that everyone can make an appropriate decision. In the past we have worked hard to get information out to the media and share news via newsletters, but we now want to do something a bit more dramatic and interactive.

Here's what we are thinking about: we are planning to hold a CHS Showcase sometime in early spring for parents of 7th and 8th graders in our district and for prospective school choice parents and students. The plan would entail showcasing many of the positive educational and co-curricular opportunities that are available to students at our school through a series of concurrent presentations by teachers and students throughout the evening which would give parents and their kids an opportunity to find out about programs that might interest them.

Our thinking is that we would begin the evening with a nice dinner and parents would be encouraged to bring their kids along. We would have some welcoming remarks and perhaps some accompanying music by our excellent jazz band while folks enjoyed their meal. Following dinner parents and students would be directed to a series of half hour presentations all over the school where students and teachers would not only speak about programs, curriculum, and opportunities but would demonstrate them as well. We envision presentations on teaching mathematics using the Promethean Board, STEM education and our new engineering lab, Advanced Placement opportunities at CHS, Forensics, Art demonstrations, the performing arts, We The People, the Community Internship program, and interscholastic athletics at CHS, to name a few. Though only in the early planning stages, it does sound like an interesting evening and hopefully we can fine-tune the idea and pull it off successfully.

So, that's what we are thinking about on this cold winter's day. What do you think?

The Wonders of Technology...

I spend a lot of time thinking about technology and learning and the impact it has had on promoting the integration of 21st century skills. I also think about how amazingly adept today's students are with all forms of technology and how they are able to use it effectively to get things done almost without any effort. Sort of the way most of us use a pencil or a paper notepad. Of course, I am growing increasingly concerned over the ways some of our students are using technology inappropriately, but that has been a topic of a past posting and, I suspect, it will resurface again and again in the near future. But this past week I began thinking of all of the ways that technology has changed the landscape for me as an administrator. I guess what triggered it for me was when I received an email late one evening from a parent regarding difficulties she was having with iParent and I responded within ten minutes to assure her that I would fix the problem the first thing next morning when I got to my office. (The amazing thing about technology is that I actually could have logged in to IPASS from my home computer immediately and fixed the problem but it was late and I was reluctant to stop reading my book for a problem that was not an emergency).

So, I guess that is one of the first things that struck me about how my job has changed due to technology. With the availability of email and the functionality and immediacy of my school issued BlackBerry, parents have access to their child's high school Principal 24/7 and I have no problem with that. Back in the not so dark ages, parents would either have to write a letter or call the school and get past the Principal's gatekeeper, the school secretary, to leave a message on a little pink slip or a voice mail. Of course, with email all of that has been eliminated and that is a good thing. It frees up my secretary to do other things and it most often results in a more immediate response and, hopefully, a successful resolution of the parent's concern. The only down side is that with such direct access there really is no filter and occasionally when someone is angry or frustrated and wants to vent (and we have all done it!), their message comes through loud and clear. And, while that can often be disconcerting, it too, is not necessarily a bad thing. For me it's sort of like yanking a band aid off a cut that is healing. It stings for a bit but getting concerns out into the open air and being able to respond to them is always helpful. I take pride in being able to respond to parents as quickly as possible regardless of the issue. Your time is as valuable as mine; your concern is important to you; and I see it as my job to respond and do what I can to address it in a timely fashion.

I believe that iParent has been an amazing tool for parents by allowing them to have access to their child's grades, attendance, discipline etc. But it has also been great for me as an administrator. By demystifying student information, especially grades, it has reduced the number of queries about student performance and, when there are questions, they are now more specific thanks to the information which parents can access online. Actually, the whole IPASS student management system has definitely changed my life as an administrator. Because it is web-based and totally integrated, I have the ability to access student or staff information anywhere and at any time. Information that used to be stored on a Rolodex or in binders is now only a click or two away.

The wonders of the world wide web and powerful search engines have provided me with access to an amazing array of educational resources to assist me in doing my job. Information which a few decades ago would have required me to spend hours in a university library researching various sources and reading microfiche is now available on my desktop in a matter of seconds. In fact, there is so much information available that I often feel overwhelmed yet I occasionally wonder what else might be out there when I only peruse the first two or three pages of a Google search when it says there are 2,478,391 other entries relative to my search query! That troubles me but I would never have the time or the patience to actually find out what I might be missing.

Of course, what would any information delivery system be with out the inevitable junk mail. Conservatively, I receive over one hundred unsolicited offers for various educational services such as assembly programs, professional development opportunities, anti-bullying programs, webinars on virtually any conceivable topic related to education, and, of course, the odd offer for discount prescription medications from Canada or elsewhere. The delete key on my laptop gets a daily workout!

I guess the bottom line is that for me technology has enhanced my opportunity to communicate with those who are important to me: parents, faculty and staff, members of our community, and even students. I can tolerate the occasional unwanted communication as long it allows me to continue to appropriately respond to those messages that truly matter. So, whatever your issue, if you feel the urge to reach out and contact me, please do so. Just understand that if I do not respond within a few minutes or even an hour, it is not because I am ignoring you, that is unless you are trying to sell me something. If that is the case, your message has already been deleted.

If you have any thoughts or comments about what I have written, send me an email!

A New Year and a New Initiative...

Well, the new year is off to a great start and we have an additional focus for our efforts - bullying and cyber-bullying. A new law enacted last year requires schools to create both a policy against bullying and a plan to prevent it. Both were to be created, put in place, and filed with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education by the last day of 2010. We made the deadline with a few weeks to spare and our policy and plan are clear and direct. Bullying will not be tolerated! There is a very specific reporting process in place with the bulk of the responsibility falling on me as the building principal to receive reports, investigate complaints, and take appropriate action to stop acts of bullying should they occur in our school or in cyberspace. We are taking this new responsibility seriously. Now, it's not that we never responded to complaints of bullying before, however the new law gives us direction and leverage in addressing acts of bullying and holds us accountable for doing so. I believe it is an excellent step in helping to make our schools safer for all students.

In order to help ensure that all staff understand the new law and its requirements, we had a district-wide training session yesterday conducted by Ms. Meghan McCoy who is the Program Coordinator at the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center (MARC) at Bridgewater State University. Her presentation was dynamic and the research-based information she shared with us was truly enlightening (and a bit frightening for parents in the audience!). In addition, she provided everyone with some specific strategies to intervene should we suspect that bullying has taken place. Here are some important pieces of information I took away from the presentation:

• All conflict between individuals is not bullying. What sets bullying apart is that it involves conflict that is repetitive and always involves a power imbalance, very much like a domestic violence situation.



• Today the majority of bullying is done in cyberspace often on social networking sites such as Facebook or via texting or blogs.



• Due to the immediacy and the amazing reach of technology, a single incident of cyber- bullying is, by its very nature repetitive, and is therefore a reportable incident of bullying.



• The most important thing students who are victims of bullying can do is talk to someone...anyone, a parent, teacher, counselor, clergyman, or a friend. Talk to someone!
• Parents who become aware of any situation which might be bullying should contact the school immediately. We are all in this together and we will address the problem head-on as a team.

The presentation was so good that we are working to bring Ms. McCoy back to Chatham to do a similar presentation for our student body. The message is that important and I am convinced that our students will connect with her and that she will be able to successfully deliver that message to them. We are hoping to schedule an assembly sometime in the coming month. We are also planning to hold a forum for parents on the evening of our second semester open house which has been scheduled for February 9th. There will be a brief PowerPoint presentation and lots of resources available to help inform parents and to enlist them in our effort to stop bullying. We hope for a great turnout for both the forum and for the opportunity to meet second semester teachers.

Lastly, we will be working this spring to integrate anti-bullying education in our existing health curriculum 9-12 and to incorporate positive relationship building and conflict resolution strategies into our advisory program. We know that the culture of our small school is healthy and positive and it seems that we do not have a significant bullying problem, however bullying does exist at CHS, perhaps more so than we are aware, and that is why we are taking this new initiative so seriously. I cannot think of a better way to start the new year!