Something Must Be Done

Something must be done!!!!
T. Braddy

     As a leader in a Title 1 school each year we watch our veteran well trained staff have the choice to transfer to another school.  Each year several of those veteran teachers do choose to transfer to another school  It comes with a list of reasons from I want to be close to home, I need to work the hours of school X or I need a change.  When you talk to them about choosing the option of transferring they are always quick to say, it's not the kids, I love the students here.  I do believe them when they say that.  We have hard-working, compassionate teachers who care about the success of children.  Why does it seem to be such a revolving door at my high-risk, high-poverty school.  I have my own opinions on that and the political climate we are in with the current education policy. While I believe it was designed to help at-risk schools in need, it seems to be missing the mark and truly burdensome for those devoted to making a difference in the lives of children at-risk behaviorally and academically.

     I attended the GCPS school board meeting and a parent from a neighboring Title 1 school stood up and presented to the board that she believes there should be a financial motivator for teachers to remain teaching in a Title 1 school after four years. At my feeder high school they have offered bonuses to come on board at that school.  It just seems to me that misses the mark.  I would welcome an opportunity to provide bonuses to experienced teachers with a proven record of success with at-rsik children but what about keeping the teachers that have done the hard work, grown in their craft and have proven to be successful with the at-risk students in our building.  I know the state has implemented some sort of merit bonus; however, based on my observation those that received the bonus were teachers teaching accelerated or gifted students.  Now my principal receives frequent requests from teachers to teach gifted or accelerated students.

   My question is, is there not a way to reward those strong teachers who choose to work with at-risk children.  The children that are enrolled daily that have come from third-world countries with education systems that do even come close to meeting the standards of American schools.  Those students who come in to their classroom and do not speak the language and by American standards have been under-educated.  How as a leader do I attract and retain teachers to my school where this is what we face daily and then end up receiving sanctions from Race to the Top or which ever policy is in place at the time that we are not "good enough" as a school?

Transitioning

This is the time of the year that teachers transition and we go through the process of new hiring. I am a little concern about our current  teachers  maintaining a sense of urgency for the remaining of the school year. There are 32 more days until the end of the school year. We are in testing season and with high stakes testing comes teacher anxiety, job security, student performance and job evaluation.

The Juggler

The past few weeks have been a struggle to multi-task major projects with deadlines. In my capacity, I am working to complete a feasibility study and application for candidacy for the International Baccalaureate Programme for my school. In addition, I worked on other projects that include robotics, math competitions, gifted programs, IB awareness, design course for PD, and other pop-up projects. At times it became very overwhelming for me to meet expectations. At no point did any project had my full and undivided attention. I kind of felt bad because certain projects where not attended to effectively. I felt like I could have done a better job if I sufficient or more time. Unfortunately, I needed to work on other items given my deadlines. I understand that delegating of task to others would and should help. However, when I delegate a task and the task is not efficiently completed the way I would like, then this becomes a major issue for me. I do not like to relinquish control when I am held solely responsible for the outcome. I have a difficult time trusting others to get the job done the way I would like it to be done. This creates a problem in how I delegate task. However, the past few weeks have demonstrated to me that I needed to improve on how I delegate to others.  Any suggestions on managing and delegating to others? Any strategies on mapping task for completion?

PBIS

My major project is focused on implementing the PBIS program into my school. As a county, all schools are being encouraged to adopt the program but it is not an easy task. As a result, the county has hired a representative to be in charge of assisting all schools with the assimilation process. On a local level, I am the direct contact for my school and I share a major role in insuring that my school successfully implements the program. To date, I have created a website that displays all the rewards, sponsors, and purpose of PBIS. I am also in the process now of trying to determine how to continue to keep students excited about doing the right thing. That includes continuously developing activities that will capture students attention and make them want to earn Campbell cash that will allow them to purchase rewards. Much like last semester a major challenge is to keep teachers motivated with passing out the Campbell cash to students. Data has been collected to show the improvement in school behavior since last year and we will continue to make comparisons of the school climate this year with the previous year.

If Only Teachers Knew.....

This past week as an administrator was a series of learning experiences for me. Our students come to us with so many issues and it is up to us as school leaders to support them academically as well as emotionally. Last week, I had to expel a student, dealt with a student who was so emotionally disturbed he put his fist through a window, breaking the window and bleeding all over the floor, a student who left her class to threaten a student in another class and through all of this, we were undergoing a 2-day instructional audit. I realized that my primary focus as an instructional leader is to keep the teachers and the students focused on teaching and learning. So while my Assistant Principal and I dealt with all the issues, the teachers were able to concentrate on teaching and the students on learning. I realized also that as a leader, I must be able to think fast and provide solutions to situations, even if it is only temporary. Finally, I learned that I cannot save every student, I have to let some of them go and as much as it pains me, I cannot jeopardize the futures of the entire student body for a few. If only teachers knew how much we do to make their jobs easier.....

Motivation

My major project, Together Ownership & Responsibility at Collins Hill (TORCH) is designed to help first year 9th graders who are at risk. This program offers peer tutoring, teacher tutoring, and support every day of the week. The first semester was very successful with almost 90% of the students passing and on track with their cohort. We were so excited about the progress. This semester looks much different!! With 9 weeks remaining in the school year, we are seeing more and more students failing classes. Some of the students who past all classes 1st semester are now failing 3. A lot of students are failing 2. I have met with all students over the past 2 weeks. There is little to no motivation Students are telling me they are tired, do not care, or there is no reply/reaction at all. I feel that we as a school care more about their success than they do. I know it is our responsibility to push these students, to stay on them, to help them see the importance of education and I feel that we do. We want so much for these students. How do we motivate them? How do we get them to understand the importance of education? How do we get them to truly envision what could be? We give them rewards when they are successful. We recognize their successes. We praise them for successes. We tutor them. We bring in motivational speakers. We are active with these students every single day. But right now, we are frustrated with where some of these students are with their academics. The phrase 'meet me half way' doesn't apply here. I feel we are meeting them way more than half way and we are expecting them to do their part. What do we do? What are other schools doing to help students be successful? I need suggestions as we head into these last 9 weeks!!  Any help is appreciated.

AWOL Students

We are experiencing mass amounts of students leaving campus each day, and/or are skipping classes.  Many of these classes are their Guided Study class which is in combination with their lunch period.  First, we are struggling to get students to attend GS because they see no value and often say that class is pointless.  To an extent, I see their point.  They explain they don't receive a grade so why should they have to go.  We have students walk out the doors, go to lunch, and try to come back on campus.  They leave for periods at a time.  We are the largest school in the state of Georgia.  We have 35 trailers and too many places for students to exit the building.  Many of our students leave out the side door where are trailers are located and keep walking.  Some leave out the back doors and walk around to the front of the school.  On a daily basis we are catching up to 10 students at a minimum walking back on campus to catch the bus.  The majority of these students are not engaged in school and we are working to fix that next year when it comes to instruction.  However, we can't teach the relationship piece.  If students have a teacher that engages them and that they have a good relationship with, they attend that class.  It has been the fault of the administration team to not keep track of these students since the beginning of the year.  Because we are so large and have so many different issues, the students who are AWOL has fallen to the side.  Attendance is a huge issues at our school and next year we are looking to make this top priority.