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.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Saturday, January 7, 2012
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.
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.
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