Enjoy The Break

Just two days away from Christmas, I don't think there's much doubt it will be a white one this year. As a matter of fact, it's snowing right now, adding to the nearly 10" already on the ground.

To all students and staff, we made it! Some were concerned that going these extra two days might result in extreme absenteeism. After all, many school districts dismissed their students for the holiday break on Friday, December 19, a snow day for nearly everyone across the state.

The major concern for Grosse Pointe was whether we would meet the 75% attendance threshhold that is established by the State of Michigan. The regulation from the state is that 75% of a district's students must attend for the day to "count" toward the days/hours requirement.

I am happy to report that our attendance was better than expected. While we might average about 92% attendance on any given day, we were better these past two days than many feared. On Monday, 12/22, we had about 86% of our students attend and today we had about 82% in attendance. In either case, we were in good shape.

So off on vacation we go. In talking to students and staff, it seems many more are staying close to home this year. But no matter what you are doing over the next 10 days or so, have fun and be safe.

Here's wishing you the very best the New Year has to offer.

Much To Be Thankful For

At a time of such economic upheaval, especially in Michigan, it is easy to get embroiled in negative conversations. It disturbed me to watch how representatives of the "Big Three" were treated by members of Congress, especially when the legislators may secretly believe they have more to gain from a collapse of the Big Three than if they were to remain solid.

I have a vested interest in this discussion. Many members of my family were employees of the auto industry and my youngest daughter and son-in-law are new engineers with GM. There isn't a day goes by that I don't worry about their economic future with the company. It even goes so far that I worry about my oldest brother's GM pension and health care. It appears that no one is really protected financially anymore.

However, there are times I am extremely grateful. I am hopeful that the new leadership in Washington will lead us to better times. Time will tell if serious changes are possible, but the optimism and positive messages that I have observed so far can only help a cautious public. It has been my experience that confidence is the best predictor of success. Until we are confident, we have little chance of moving forward with the bold steps that are likely necessary to climb out of this hole.

I am also thankful I work in a community that is so supportive of education. I'm not exaggerating when I say that we have "great" kids. They are bright, respectful, and committed to doing well. They have educational aspirations far beyond high school, making our jobs much easier.

As we enter the Holiday season, I wish all of you the very best of the New Year. We must be confident that '09 will be an improvement over the challenges of '08. And for that, we will be thankful.

Happy Holidays!

Early Results Are In

As I shared with you last time, we just hosted and completed our school improvement audit. The visiting team of five educators was here last week for more than two days. During the visit there were formal conversations with 41 stakeholders and informal conversations with countless others. All in all, I felt both the process and feedback we have received so far have been very worthwhile.

As mentioned earlier, there are seven standards that constitute the school improvement process. Many facets are included in the process, with the visiting team looking for artifacts or evidence of vision and purpose, teaching and learning, wise use of resources and effective communication.

Within each of the seven standards, there are four potential categories:
1. Not evident
2. Emerging
3. Operational
4. Highly Functional

The visiting team found South H.S. to be "highly functional" in five of the seven standards. For the other two, we were deemed to be "operational". The two standards needing attention are Leadership and Governance and Use of Data.

To improve in Leadership and Governance, we must spread our vision and commitment to goals throughout the South community. The visiting team felt that not enough stakeholders were on board with clear goals and the commitment to improvement. The good news is that this is an area we can address with improved communication.

To improve in the area of Use of Data, we need to gather and utilize data more frequently than we have to this point. We need to capture data on student performance on individual assessments and have teachers use that data to drive instructional decisions. As with the previous standard, we can address these deficiencies with a commitment to better utilize data.

It has been more than six years since South experienced an external audit for the purposes of accreditation, and we won't receive the official written report until January. In this case, we passed the test and are deemed "accredited" by the visiting team. However, we have work to do and we have already begun to address those concerns.

We will keep you posted regarding our progress and I would like to give particular thanks to those that participated in the process.

It's Time For An Outside Look

Beginning tomorrow evening, we will be going through an external audit at South. The purpose is to see if we are doing what we claim to be doing in regard to school improvement. In this case, an external review team made up of five educators will take a close look at what we do, why we do it, and how we do it.

During two full days on December 3-4 the team will meet with many stakeholders of the South community. This list will include students, teachers, parents and administrators. The visiting team will take a close look at our specific school improvement goals and the rationale behind them. They will check to make sure we use data effectively and have instituted programs that address weak areas identified by the data.

This audit is part of earning "accredited" school status. Over the years, the process has changed as a result of legislation and changes in governing bodies. What used to be simply North Central accreditation has come under the umbrella of an organization called AdvancEd. This group has developed a process for school improvement combining No Child Left Behind (national) and Education Yes (state) initiatives. There are now seven standards and 40 indicators of success that must be addressed. The visiting team will look for artifacts or evidence of our commitment to the process.

An external review gives us a look at our school that we can't through our own eyes. Going into the audit, we feel we are in good shape. However, my greatest hope is that we will get honest feedback so that we can get even better. After all, when it comes to school improvement you should never be finished.

Wish us luck!