Welcome!

Welcome to Laurie Goodman's blog. I use this space to share news and opinions about education and schools in Ridgewood, the state of New Jersey and the nation, in addition to other issues I'm personally interested in. I invite you to share your thoughts, feelings, questions or opinions, too, by posting comments on any blog entry. Please observe basic courtesy -- keep your comments focused on issues, no personal attacks or bullying, please. Contact me directly at: lauriegood@mac.com

Friday, August 28, 2009

¡Que bueno! Spanish program for grades 3-5 looks really good

At the 8/24 Board of Ed meeting, we approved some new textbooks and curricula for the 09-10 school year. One of these was the interactive software program that will be used in grades 3-5, since we had to eliminate the Spanish teachers in those grades due to budget pressure. I wanted to let you know that the program we approved -- Rosetta Stone -- is much better than, frankly, I expected it to be.

I was a little worried. I mean, Rosetta Stone -- isn't that one of those "learn to speak a language overnight" cassettes they sell in the back of airline magazines? Well, I checked it out and, while yes Rosetta Stone is marketed in in-flight and other magazines, it is also becoming more widely used in schools. I played around with the program. What I learned -- and what impressed me -- was the way it uses voice recognition technology. Each student logs in and follows speaking prompts that allow the software to recognize his or her voice. During lessons, students speak and the software hears their pronunciation and self-adjusts the lessons to give feedback and extra practice where needed. Students cannot progress to the next level until they meet certain proficiency. In addition to the assessment tools built-in to the software, classroom teachers from every school have been attending special training sessions to allow them to supplement the computer lessons and practice with games, projects and lessons on Spanish culture.

Would it better if we could have Spanish teachers teaching our students in grades 3-5? Probably. But I believe the Rosetta Stone program will give our children real Spanish skills. Of course we'll be looking for feedback from students and parents throughout the year...but as someone who studied extensively and was fluent in Spanish and Russian (at one time!), I am actually feeling pretty positive.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Tennis Courts at RHS all fixed up

Got the word recently that the tennis courts at RHS were repaired over the summer. Glad to know our excellent tennis players will be able to play on courts suitable for their talents. (It's also good to know the neighbors and others in town can enjoy the newly-refurbished courts, when the team isn't using them.)

Best of luck to the RHS boys and girls tennis teams in 09-10!

Monday, August 24, 2009

BOE 08-09 Self-Evaluation: Board and Community

The final section of our Board Self-Evaluation for 2008-2009 covered the relationship between the Board and the Community. Here is how we scored ourselves. (Note: 4 = Commendable, 3 = Good, 2 = Adequate, 1 = Unsatisfactory. Also,the presentation and discussion of this evaluation took place at the Board meeting on 7/20, and you can watch the video by clicking here.)

Section IX: Board and Community:

Our Board:
1. acts as representatives for every child in our school district. 3.8 (3)
2. anticipates community issues and trends affecting our district. 3.2 (1)
3. encourages community involvement in the district. 3.3 (1)
4. promotes community use of school facilities. 3.6 (3)
5. builds partnerships with the community, business and governmental leaders. 2.9 (1)
6. provides opportunity for meaningful parental involvement. 3.1 (2)
7. has an effective community relations program. 2.7 (1)

As a board member, I:
A. maky my decisions based on what is best for every child in the entire district. 3.4 (3)
B. listen to, and consider, community input while guarding my statutory decision-making authority. 3.2 (2)
C. promote the positive image of the district within the community. 3.6 (3)

Perhaps not surprisingly, communications -- at least in my personal opinion -- is an area that still needs work, in spite of the progress we've made (and I do think we've made progress).

So that concludes my reporting of our Board Self-Evaluation process, which was discussed at the Board of Ed meeting on July 20. As we finalize our goals for the 2009-2010 school year, I'll keep you posted on those and how they relate to this evaluation.

Enjoy the last few days of summer :(

Comments on Obama's "Race to the Top" education initiative

Educators are criticizing President Obama's Race to the Top plan, one of the main tenets of which is to link teacher compensation to their students' test scores. While on the surface it seems like a good idea to have something more quantifiable to judge teachers' performance, something "real" that concerned parents can refer to instead of what can appear to be a vague "insiders club," but there are a big dangers in the concept -- especially if one approaches it with education as the priority and not budgets or spending. I thought we had learned from No Child Left Behind that too much focus on standardized tests is bad for education.

Here are snippets from several letters to the New York Times on this issue (click here to read full letters):

From a former teacher:
"For many years, there has been a terrible distortion of education’s promise, as everything besides reading, writing and math has increasingly been cut. The arts, imaginative endeavors, recess, inquiry, curriculum that integrates various domains: these are not luxuries but are integral to student identification with learning."

Another educator:
"... it is critical that the incentive not reward solely yearly results; the financial services industry debacle has taught us a hard lesson about short-term orientation and how it distorts behavior... propose that teachers be evaluated on three criteria: student data, principal evaluation and peer review, which would encourage an enduring teamwork culture within and across departments that is the hallmark of great schools."

Former teacher:
"I left my job as a public school teacher shortly after the No Child Left Behind law was passed. My job went from teaching children to teaching test preparation in very little time. Many of our nation’s teachers have left their profession because the focus on testing leaves little room for passion, creativity or intellect."

Teacher:
"High test scores do not guarantee student learning. The evaluation of a student’s progress and a teacher’s abilities requires an act of human judgment (much like evaluating a work of art)."

Math educator:
"To “teach to the test” in mathematics by having students memorize facts and mnemonic devices takes away from the true value of learning mathematics and its ever-increasing importance in our technological society. To deny students the opportunity to be enriched with mathematical concepts prevents them from learning to appreciate the power and beauty of mathematics. In the long range, this could cause irreparable harm to our society!"

Are all these comments to be dismissed simply because they are from teachers, who you might cynically say don't want to be held accountable? Absolutely not. I understand the desire to quantify something which is hard to quantify. But this plan is not it, as NCLB was not it. We need some big thinking here, folks. Not a quick fix.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Board of Education Meeting August 24 @ 5:30

The Board will be meeting tomorrow (Monday) at 5:30 p.m. (note time change) on the 3rd floor of the Ed Center. This is still a "summer" meeting, so the agenda is not giant. Also, I believe Board member Sheila Brogan will be away.

Highlights of the agenda (which you can read full by clicking here) include:
-- approving new textbooks and software for the new SAIL program at RHS and Spanish for grades K-2;
-- approving new curriculum for the year;
-- approving the Fall sports schedule;
-- some staff resignations and appointments;
-- approval of some contracts, including changing the district's dental insurance carrier

Our next meeting after this one will be September 14, after school starts.

BOE 08-09 Self-Evaluation: Board/Superintendent Relationships & Board/Staff Relationships

Here's the latest installment in our Board Self-Evaluation. Remember, 4 = Commendable, 3 = Good, 2 = Adequate, 1 = Unsatisfactory. Also, remember that the presentation and discussion of this evaluation took place at the Board meeting on 7/20, and you can watch the video by clicking here.

Section VII: Board/Superintendent Relationships:

Our Board:
1. respects the management responsibilities and administrative prerogatives of the superintendent. 3.7 (3)
2. works with the superintendent in a spirit of mutual trust and condfidence. 3.7 (3)
3. maintains ongoing open lines of communication, and observes the chain of command. 3.6 (3)
4. keeps the superintendent informed about community/school issues and aspirations. 3.8 (3)
5. conducts a comprehensive and fair annual evaluation of the superintendent in accordance with statute and code as per NJQSAC. 3.7 (3)
6. works with the superintendent to develop performance objectives for evaluation that are consistent with district goals and in compliance with district policy. 3.4 (3)
7. requires regular dialogue on progress towards district goals and objectives, student achievement and feedback on performance. 3.1 (2)

As a board member, I:
A. respect the management responsibility of the superintendent. 3.6 (3)
B. observe the chain of command. 3.2 (2)
C. participate fully in the superintendent evaluation process approaching the task of evaluation fairly and diligently. 3.4 (3)


Section VIII: Board/Staff Relationships

Our Board:
1. provides effective personnel policy direction and oversight. 3.5 (3)
2. recognizes the importance of staff development and provides the necessary time and funds. 3.6 (2)
3. provides for public recognition of staff achievements. 3.7 (3)
4. treats district staff with courtesy and respect, recognizing that the appropriate channel for board/staff communications is through the superintendent. 3.7 (4)
5. ensures that our actions and decision are quickly and effectively communicated to the staff. 3.0 (3)

As a board member, I:
A. communicate all concerns about staff members to the superintendent. 3.4 (3)
B. use and enforce the chain of command. 3.4 (3)
C. attend school and community activities. 3.6 (4)

Thursday, August 20, 2009

What are schools for?

I ran across this fascinating essay by John Goodlad, regarding the state of our education system and the time (now) for us (all of us) to make some real changes. You can click here to read the entire essay, but I'm going to extract the heart of the essay here:

[Begin quote...]
Unless we get above the endless bickering that has kept our system of schooling stranded in the deep structure that hardened into place many decades ago, we will find ourselves only tinkering with school reform one more time. Enough already! There are children here.

There are some obvious improvements to be made that will arouse little controversy, such as upgrading the infrastructure of schooling and providing high-level equity in instructional and curricular learning and teaching resources. And there is a rich array of ideas that have been briefly implemented in innovative school programs that were not brought to scale and sustained. Their stories are readily accessible but have been virtually ignored by policymakers, even by federally appointed committees such as the National Commission on Excellence in Education that in 1983 produced the influential report A Nation at Risk. In all probability, some of these will be rediscovered, funded, not brought to scale, and fade, largely because of the ideological differences embedded in our multilayered system of schooling.

Over a period of sixty years, I have taught in a one-room school and school for delinquent boys, taught in every grade from the first through graduate school, been a dean for sixteen years, and studied in depth and breadth educational change, schooling, the education of educators, and more. I now look back in wonderment, anger, and near-despair at the stark reality of we the people scarcely murmuring for eight years over the imposition of the No Child Left Behind Act on our PUBLIC SCHOOLS. No powerful intellect is required for coming to the conclusion that we the people are grossly undereducated in what education is and negligent in the informed care of our irreplaceable asset, the public school. Where art thou, Horace Mann, arguably its founder, who proclaimed over 150 years ago that “the public school is the greatest discovery made by man”?

I have concluded that we will never have the schools our democracy requires until their well-being is a major priority of local communities. And we will not have them until policymakers, business roundtables, educational organizations, teacher-preparing institutions, and community leaders agree on what all schools are for. The challenges are enormous and, unless we take them seriously and begin the necessary learning now, our century-old tinkering with schooling will continue.

These are not tasks to delegate to national commissions. They are for all of us—the “yes we can” people, the young and the old, and everyone in between.

[End Quote]

Something to think about. What do you think schools are for?

Dr. Fishbein attending "Superintendents' Summit" on Swine Flu

Next Tuesday, Superintendent Dan Fishbein will attend a "pandemic influenza summit for district superintendents and local health officials" sponsored by the New Jersey Department of Education, in collaboration with the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.

(From the press release:)
According to Education Commissioner Lucille Davy, the goal "is to call attention to the need for planning for a possible statewide H1N1 outbreak before the traditional opening day of school issues take center stage."

"It is important that health officials and school officials collaborate on pandemic influenza plans so that we can respond in a coordinated effort as we plan for a resurgence of the H1N1 influenza virus this fall," said Heather Howard, Commissioner for the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.

Topics to be covered at the summit include updates on the latest information from the federal Centers for Disease Control and the US Department of Education, a discussion of New Jersey’s pandemic plan, guidance on school closures and the continuity of educational services and "best practices" that can help school districts develop plans to prevent the spread of H1N1 address closure issues should they arise.
(end of press release)

The federal government recently released new guidelines for school districts to follow in the event of a flu pandemic this fall. I'll post some of those guidelines tomorrow... (along with the next "chapter" in our Board of Ed self evaluation).

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

NY court rules Google must reveal anonymous blogger's identity

Interesting news story today. An anonymous blogger was writing (possibly) defamatory things about a fashion model. (The writer called her a liar, "ho" and "skank.") The model sued to force Google to reveal the identity and account information of the blogger...and the New York state supreme court agreed. As the judge reportedly said, "the Internet is no longer a safe harbor for defamatory language."

It seems that our free speech laws will now be evolving, as we always knew they would, for the Internet age. I'm sure there will be many more cases, many steps forward, backward, sideways...just thought this was interesting...since I'm writing on a blog...and sometimes people post anonymous comments...

Here's a link to the story, click here.

BOE 08-09 Self-Evaluation: Board Operations & Board Performance

continued...

I was thinking that this little exercise, sharing with you our Board Self-Evaluation, is actually a good way to inform the public of just what it is the Board of Education is expected to do, at least as far as the state is concerned. The statements throughout this document can be read as a checklist of the activities and priorities the state expects us to have. Anyway...

Remember, click here to see what the ratings of 1-2-3-4 mean. Also, remember that the presentation and discussion of this evaluation took place at the Board meeting on 7/20, and you can watch the video by clicking here.

Section V: Board Operations:

Our Board:
1. holds our meetings in compliance with applicable statutes, policies and bylaws. 3.8 (3)
2. provides a climate that allows free, open and orderly discussion by all members at our meetings. 3.7 (2)
3. develops and utilizes skills in teamwork, consensus-building, collaborative problem solving and decision-making. 3.0 (2)
4. uses good decision-making processes, acting only after all appropriate information has been received and studies. 3.2 (2)
5. acts only after giving administration time to gather information and make recommendations. 3.4 (3)
6. respects the administration's leadership by thoughtfully deliberating on recommendations. 3.4 (3)
7. provides time, funding and opportunity for orienting and updating our members on local, county, state and federal levels in accordance with statutory travel regulations. 3.2 (3)
8. Our board method of governance contributes to overall effectiveness and efficiency of the board. 3.2 (2)
9. Our board method of governance has clearly defined bylaws. 3.0 (2)
10. Our board method of governance lessens the total work of board members. 3.1 (3)
11. Our board method of governance ensures appropriate communication to the board. 3.2 (2)

As a board member, I:
A. introduce new issues through the agenda process, allowing sufficient time for appropriate study. 3.0 (3)
B. recognize the importance of teamwork, problem solving and effective decision-making. 3.4 (3)
C. attend workshops to increase my effectiveness as a board member. 2.4 (3)

OK, so this is where we see some differences of opinion...and I wish we knew which opinions belong to Board members and which are administrators. I guess it's good that everything falls into "adequate" or above -- except for one, about our "clearly defined bylaws," which some rated "unsatisfactory." Something else to follow-up on...

Section VI: Board Performance:

Our Board members:
1. recognize that authority rests with the board as a whole, sitting in a legally authorized board meeting. 3.9 (4)
2. make every effort to attend all board meetings, coming prepared and having done their homework. 3.8 (4)
3. recognize the need for, and the importance of, confidentiality. 3.8 (4)
4. work together in an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect. 3.1 (4)
5. ensure that all members have input into decisions. 3.4 (4)
6. avoid even the appearance of impropriety or conflict of interest. 3.9 (4)
7. operates in accordance with the board member's Code of Ethics and the Ethics Act. 3.9 (4)

As a board member, I:
A. make no personal promises nor take any private action. 3.6 (4)
B. make every effort to attend all meetings, having done my homework and prepared to contribute. 3.8 (4)
C. maintain the confidentiality of board proceedings. 3.6 (4)
D. am respectful of everyone at our meetings and I listen with an open mind. 3.6 (4)
E. adhere to ethical standards. 3.6 (4)

Clearly, we feel we operate ethically, honestly and confidentially. I'm a bit concerned that someone feels there is a lack of mutual respect (hence the lower score for #4). Unfortunately, the confidentiality of this process makes it hard to follow-up and resolve those issues, at least in this process. Something to work on...

The next post on this topic will cover Board/Superintendent Relationships and Board/Staff Relationships.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Bergen Tech/Special Services finances coming under scrutiny (to put it mildly)

Have you been following the unfolding story on the Bergen County Technical and Special Services School Districts in the Bergen Record? The reporter is working this story hard -- and it appears there is plenty of bad recordkeeping (at the very least). What I find fascinating is the superintendent's repeatedly insensitive and defensive comments. Why do people do that? It is not helping the situation! This is public money...if someone wants to ask questions about how it's being spent, it's your job to answer, with details. OK, fine, take your time, clear up your records, gather receipts, whatever, but don't get belligerent!

I also don't understand some of the relationships among these districts, the Freeholders and the County Superintendent. They all seem to be caught not really knowing what the districts are doing, and pointing the finger at "the other guy," whom they thought was taking care of business appropriately. Never mind the odd fact that the county superintendent is ("by state statute") a member of Bergen County Tech and Special Services School Boards. I didn't know that. Isn't it a little strange that the county super sits on two of the boards that he also supervises? So he supervises himself?

Click here to read the article about travel expenses from last Sunday. Click here to read about employee use of district vehicles from yesterday.

Monday, August 17, 2009

BOE 08-09 Self-Evaluation: Student Achievement & Finance

OK, in the interest of pacing...I thought I'd combine two sections tonight.

I'm not going to re-list the points system. You can click here to see what the ratings of 1-2-3-4 mean. Also, remember that the presentation and discussion of this evaluation took place at the Board meeting on 7/20, and you can watch the video by clicking here.

Section III. Student Achievement:

Our Board:
1. determines the district educational goals with input and data from administration. 3.7 (2)
2. requires written curriculum with specific evaluation components in accordance with all statutes. 3.8 (4)
3. requires systematic evaluation of and feedback on the instructional program. 3.6 (3)
4. uses the expertise of the professional staff, in development of curriculum, insuring it is focused on student achievement. 3.8 (4)
5. monitors the effectiveness of our instructional programs by measuring student achievement aqgainst state and local standards and other pertinent data. 3.8 (4)
6. sets high standards for all students based on multiple, assessment measures. 3.7 (3)

As a Board member, I:
A. am involved in determining district educational goals. 3.4 (3)
B. am aware of the communitiy's educational aspirations. 3.4 (3)
C. focus on improving student achievement as a basis in my educational decision-making. 3.4 (3)

The comments in this section focused on our work on the elementary math textbook process over the past year, as well as future evaluations of the new middle school schedule.

Section IV. Finance

Our Board:
1. exercises financial oversigh of all aspects of district operations in accordance with statutes. 3.6 (3)
2. provides policy guidelines and parameters, related to our goals, for budget development/evaluation. 3.4 (2)
3. requires that all requests for unbudgeted expenditures be accompanied by specific indication of need and funding sources. 3.3 (2)
4. balances the educational needs of students with the impact of budgetary increases. 3.8 (3)
5. reviews, understands and evaluates all financial reports to ensure that all educational dollars are used in an efficient and effective manner. 3.4 (4)

As a Board member, I:
A. understand the relationship between our budget and our district's goals. 3.4 (3)
B. understand and participate in our district's budgeting process. 3.4 (3)
C. understand and review the monthly reports. 2.8 (3)
D. understand and review the results of the annual audit. 3.0 (2)

Comments in this section talked about the work in developing this year's budget and making tough decisions on cuts.

So, there you have it. The next sections of the self-evaluation cover Board Operations and Board Performance.

New district website

The school district's new website launched over the weekend. It's still a work in progress, but I think it's pretty good and a good evolution from the CapturePoint version we started with several years ago. The site was created by SchoolFusion and they have a lot of experience with school sites. There is a lot of powerful functionality available, but we're starting relatively slow.

One of the best features is the calendar -- click on View Calendar under "Upcoming Events" (on the right) and then click on "Choose Calendars to View." You will be able to select multiple calendars, for example RHS and Somerville, and then see them integrated into a single calendar. This way you see the events that apply to you across multiple schools. It's a cool feature. (Did I mention that the calendars are also able to be synced with iCal (and iCal compatible) calendars? So if you use iCal your home calendar will be updated automatically for the calendars to which you subscribe? Yikes! That's high tech!)

Other cool features include much more detailed teacher pages (to come), RSS feed, and translation into several languages such as Korean, Japanese and Spanish, which will be a help to our non-English-speaking families.

So check it out -- click here -- and please give feedback!

BOE 08-09 Self-Evaluation: Policy

continued...

This is a continuation of my previous post on our Board self-evaluation, which was discussed at the 7/20 Board meeting (click here for webcast).

Reminder: Board members (and administrators) rated each statement on a scale of 1-4:
1 = Unsatisfactory.
2 = Adequate
3 = Good
4 = Commendable
("Not Observed" was also an option)

Each section has two subsections: "About the Board" and "About You, the Board Member." (Only Board members rated the statements in the second subsection.)

I will share the average scores for each statement about the Board and about Board members, and then for the individual self evaluation, I'll also tell you the score I gave myself (in parentheses).

So here we go. Tonight let's look at...

Section 2: Policy:

Our Board:
1. operates as a "policy-making body." 3 (2)
2. develops broad policies that give the administration sufficient authority and latitude to manage the day-to-day operations. 3.3 (2)
3. uses written policies as the framework for our decision-making process. 3.4 (3)
4. reviews and updates the policy manual regularly as required by NJQSAC insuring that our bylaws, policies and procedures reflect current regulatory, and statutory requirements. 3 (2)
5. ensures that the administration develops appropriate procedures and regulations to implement the board's policy intent. 3.2 (2)

As a board member, I:
A. am familiar with the Board's policies. 2.6 (2)
B. use Board policy as a basis for decision-making. 3 (3)
C. leave policy implementation to the administrative staff. 3 (3)
D. avoid involvement in day-to-day operations of the district. 3 (2)

As you may know, school boards are supposed to be concerned primarily with policy. Our Board of Ed hired a firm, Strauss Esmay, to review, revise and update our entire policy manual. We will be reviewing the result of their work sometime in the next few months.

My next Board Self-Evaluation post will cover Student Achievement.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

New, improved baseball field at Vets?

There are some posts on another local blog regarding a proposed plan to build a "new baseball diamond" at Vets Field. Here's a little info I can add to the partial info on the other blog:

The baseball field plan was presented to the joint Village-BOE Fields Committee (of which I'm a member) in June. The baseball field plan I saw was an upgrade of the existing ballfield at Vets. The outfield fence would be removable so it would not interfere with things like July 4th fireworks, etc. The removable foul ball net would protect cars in the parking lot and would be virtually invisible as similar nets are at Maple and Somerville. To answer a question re: BOE "signing off" on such a project -- Vets Field belongs to the Village, not the BOE. It's not up to the Board of Ed to approve what is done at Vets. Would the BOE "allow" someone to provide our student athletes with a top-quality baseball field within walking distance of RHS? Hmmm. Kind of a no-brainer, I think (in my personal opinion, of course. As I've mentioned several times, I don't speak for the Board!).

Friday, August 14, 2009

BOE 08-09 Self-Evaluation: Planning

As I suggested the other day, let's go through the 08-09 Board Self-Evaluation. Keep in mind, this is the first time I've done this. I'm not sure how helpful it will be, but let's give it a try. I feel like sharing the info with you, although I'm not prepared to do a deep analysis right now. If you have any questions, I'll answer as best I can from my personal perspective. (And please let me know if you think this is helpful, or interesting, or a waste of time, or...)

As the Board discussed this evaluation at our July 20 meeting, we did start working on goals for the 09-10 school year, and those goals were definitely informed, in part, by this discussion. Those goals will be discussed and approved at future (soon) Board meetings.

First, some definitions.

Board members (and administrators) rated each statement on a scale of 1-4:
1 = Unsatisfactory.
2 = Adequate
3 = Good
4 = Commendable
("Not Observed" was also an option)

Each section has two subsections: "About the Board" and "About You, the Board Member." (Only Board members rated the statements in the second subsection.)

I will share the average scores for each statement about the Board and about Board members, and then for the individual self evaluation, I'll also tell you the score I gave myself (in parentheses).

So here we go. Tonight let's look at...

Section 1: Planning:

Our Board:
1. with broad community input, established a district wide vision, mission and multi-year plan for education. 3.0
2. plans, and collaboratively sets district and board goals and establishes priorities annually. 3.2
3. reviews Action Plans developed to support the goals. 3.0
4. regularly monitors progress towards achieving the district's vision, mission and goals making adjustments as needed. 3.1

As a board member, I:
A. participate fully in the district planning process. 2.6 (1)
B. recognize the importance of meaningful public participation in the planning process. 3.4 (4)
C. support the district vision, mission and goals. 3.2 (3)

The next Board Self-Evaluation post will cover Policy.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Short summer

Is it just me, or is summer a lot shorter than it used to be when we were kids? Is it just my adult point of view that looks back fondly on endless days of indecision? Beach or swimming pool? Ride bikes or build a fort? Hit the mall or paint our nails? Listen to Donny Osmond or make prank calls? Day after day, week after week, month after month.

Summer has never been like that for my kids. This year Pete was at camp in New Hampshire for a month, then we did a week-long family vacation. Then he had exactly two weeks with “nothing to do” – except follow his coach’s daily workout schedule to get in shape for soccer. Then it was soccer day camp, which will be followed next week by RHS soccer tryouts and team practice, and then it’s the first day of school. I know many kids who had even more structure to their summer, with enrichment classes and such. It’s a different pace than my childhood summers.

It’s not just me…summer in Ridgewood really is shorter than the summers of my youth. In my hometown, the last day of school was around June 5, and the first day of school was after Labor Day. We had three full months of summer! Of course, we wasted it. We accomplished nothing. We participated in no “organized” activities. We did no “prep.” It was lovely.

I love all the opportunities that my kids have now. Their view of the world is greatly expanded from what mine was at their age. But I miss, on their behalf, the idea of lazy, unplanned, summer days.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Board of Ed Self-Evaluation discussed at July 20 meeting

It’s time to start getting in gear for the new school year, so I thought I’d set things up with some reflection on last year.

A little background…
The state requires Boards of Education to conduct self-evaluations each year, and actually Ridgewood has been doing an annual evaluation since long before the state required it. Currently, we use the services of the New Jersey School Boards Association. NJSBA gives us a Self-Evaluation form, which is completed by members of the BOE, Dr. Fishbein, and members of the “cabinet” (Mrs. Botsford and Mr. DeSimone)*. Each topic includes questions about the Board’s performance, and then questions for individual Board members to evaluate their individual performance. We all completed our evaluations, which consist of questions with ratings from 1 to 5 plus the opportunity for free-form comments, and then our NJSBA compiles the responses and brings us back a report. We don’t know how individual members answered, and we don’t know which comments are from whom (although, between you and me, sometimes a particular “voice” was recognizable in the comments!).

Like all our meetings, the one on July 20 where we discussed our self-evaluation was public, although no one was in attendance at the Ed Center and I think I heard that no one had yet tuned in to the webcast a couple hours into it. (It is, of course, posted on the district website, so if you’re interested, you can view it by clicking here.) While the meeting was public, we try to use the evening as a chance to speak candidly about the job we’re doing. Or at least, I want to speak candidly. But it those darn cameras definitely have an affect (in my opinion).

One of the purposes of the self-evaluation is to help us identify challenges facing the district and to guide us as we develop Board and District goals for the school year.

I think I’d like to share some of the ratings from our self-evaluation, just so you can see where some of the conversation was focused. I do think it’s interesting that we have a wide range of opinions on some questions. To me, the range of the scores is in some ways more interesting (or potentially alarming) than the compiled average scores. If we all rate something differently, doesn’t our lack of alignment or different perceptions mean something?

Anyway, the evaluation covered the following categories:

Planning
Policy
Student Achievement
Finance
Board Operations
Board Performance
Board/Superintendent Relationships
Board/Staff Relationships
Board & Community

Over the next week or so, I will report on our self-evaluation for each of these categories. First up will be Planning...

*Almost forgot to explain the asterisk! One of the discussions at the Board table on 7/20 revolved around the issue of who participated in the evaluation process. My personal opinion is since it's a self-evaluation, it should only be completed by members of the Board of Ed. Let me be clear: I respect Mr. DeSimone and Mrs. Botsford and I would like to hear their evaluation of the Board's performance, but I think that is a separate conversation. I think the evaluation would be a much more powerful and useful tool if it contained only the opinions of Board members (and possibly Dr. Fishbein, who I was told is technically a non-voting member of the Board). Apparently, according to our NJSBA rep, "most" districts do include administrators in the evaluation process. I think that's odd. We agreed that we would discuss the issue next spring prior to the evaluation, and decide what we want to do.