Better Than Expected

Yesterday, we finally had our long-awaited search by the drug dogs. I say long awaited because I've been advocating for this (along with others) for several years now.

As a matter of fact, a former South parent emailed me today to congratulate us for going ahead with the search as she remembers a conversation I held with parents back in 2005.

The surprise to us in this particular instance was that we had no advance notice, unless you count about three minutes "advance notice". However, with great cooperation from the Farms, City and various other police departments, we were able to conduct a search of all lockers and parking lots in less than 90 minutes.

I want to give you some inside information about a school search with drug dogs. I didn't know until recently that there are several municipalities that help one another with searches of this type. As you may know, the City of Grosse Pointe has just one drug dog (Raleigh). Tackling a building of this magnitude with one dog would be impossible. The dog works so hard during the search it would be exhausted and unable to continue effectively.

So in this case, there were many dogs. I know of at least 9-10 that I observed, but there may have been even more involved. There were K-9 units from Buena Vista, Redford and Taylor to name a few, and the dogs and handlers were most impressive!

For example, I was in the parking lots with the dogs and if they 'hit' on a car, they were correct in nearly every case. Even a small amount of marijuana residue resulted in a hit by the dog, and that was with the car locked and windows closed.

The reason for the title of this message and that it went better than expected is that we found very little evidence of drug possession. Essentially, we discovered paraphernalia (papers, pipes, etc.) in cars or lockers. Student in possession of these items suffered the consequences outlined in our zero-tolerance policy.

We aren't naive and fully understand this wasn't the perfect search, and we will make some procedural changes next time. However, I am hopeful that searches of this type of more commonplace in the future. Students have to understand that school will not be the place to possess or exchange drugs of any type.

Special thanks to Director Jensen of the Farms and Director Fox of the City for their leadership in making this happen. The sole purpose was to serve as a deterrent for inappropriate behavior.

The Audience Was "Wowed"

I've always been amazed by the talent at South, and it comes in various packages. For example, just this week we received our ACT scores from the March MME testing cycle. The current juniors did very well, with more receiving a score of 35 of 36 than I can ever remember.

But it doesn't end with test performance. The recent Art Fest featured talent as good as I've seen over the past nine years. When I looked at the artwork and the names behind the work, I couldn't figure out how they found time to do all of those pieces on top of their other academic classes. Many of the strongest artists always seem to carry the heaviest academic load.

Last night was one more example. The annual Spring Concert for the Instrumental Music program was held at Music Hall in Detroit. First of all, I have to admit it's a great venue because it trumps the acoustics we can replicate in any of our school buildings. Secondly, there's always a little more electricity in the air when students are in a different place playing for a bigger audience.

Both the band and orchestra performed strong programs packed with difficult music selections. The show also featured seven solo performers from the various groups. However, the final solo for the orchestra featured Candace Rembert playing the viola.

A few words can't express the reaction of the audience. The moment she finished, the crowd was on their feet and the ovation lasted a long time. I can't imagine a more enthusiastic response to a single performance. If you were there, you know what I mean.

I am usually hesitant to single out a particular student like I just did with Candace. However, I can't remember being so blown away by music of any type. The orchestra behind her was terrific, the directing was magnificent, but most of all her passion and enormous talent were evident.

It was truly a memorable moment for the South community.

What, No Parent-Teacher Conferences?

When I first came to Grosse Pointe almost 10 years ago, I was surprised to find the district did not have parent/teacher conferences at the high school level. A better description for my feelings may have been shock instead of surprise. I expected parents in GP to be heavily involved in their child's education, so I fully expected that P/T conferences were a given.

Through the years that I have been in this chair, every once in a while the topic comes up. It is still a rare occurrence, however. But it did come up recently from one parent, and in this case it was a middle school parent.

That got me to thinking. I've thought a lot about the changes over the years. Back when I was teaching, I distinctly remember P/T conferences. The parents would come in twice per year, spring and fall. They would sit across the desk from me and I would show them their student's work. Sometimes, it consisted of grades from the gradebook, while at other times it may be a recent test or term paper. In either case, we discussed the progress of their child in my class. The individual conference was limited to ten minutes, meaning that sometimes there were many things left unsaid.

It was the norm that I would see parents of students that performed adequately or well. However, it was also the norm that I did not get to see the parents I really wanted to see because their students were not doing as well as they should. That was probably the most disappointing aspect of P/T conferences.

Fast forward to today. Much has changed. First of all, all teachers are accessible via email and voicemail. I usually encourage parents to use email because of the ease of responding. You can get to it as soon as you can get to it, and I rarely get a complaint that teachers are slow to respond.

Beyond email and voicemail, however, is the immediate access that parents have through Parent Connect. It gives parents the opportunity to see grades and attendance almost immediately. It more or less provides a video of what has gone on in the classroom on a daily basis. When I think back to P/T conferences of old, they were strictly a snapshot of the student's progress only two times per year.

This is the summary of my thinking. Although I'm surprised we have not had P/T conferences in Grosse Pointe, I'm equally surprised that other school districts have not gone away from it. With the ready access of data available to students and parents, the twice per year meetings seem kind of passe.

I don't anticipate a change in the near future. From the lack of requests that I have had to look into the existing practice, it's apparent most parents feel their needs are being met through Parent Connect and email access to staff.

I wish all of you the best of the Easter season, and feel confident our students and staff will come back refreshed from spring break.