Changing The Tire With The Car Still Moving...

Here we are at the start of a new semester. In some ways the time has flown by, but in other ways it's taken a while. In either case, on Monday students will begin their new semester. For some of them, it will mean different classes and different teachers. However, for most students the majority of their schedule will be unchanged as students typically enroll in yearlong classes.

At the same time everyone is gearing up for the new semester, we are also enrolling students for the 2010-11 school year. That's the way it goes in the business of schooling, you're preparing for next year even though you're only halfway through the current school year. Hence, the analogy to changing a tire while the car is still moving.

I want to take this opportunity to remind students and parents to choose their classes carefully. Guidance counselors and teacher will be offering the same advice. Please heed it.

Over the next few weeks, we will be looking at more than 10,000 course requests from our high school students. We take all of those course requests and determine staffing based upon requests. If there are enough students interested in a course to offer it, we do so. If there is not enough student interest, the course doesn't run.

We then take all of those course requests and determine the 375+ sections that will be needed within our master schedule. And then we will build a master schedule that 'fits' those sections into an 8:00 - 3:05 school day.

The aspect of creating the master schedule that takes the greatest emotional toll in these difficult economic times is creation of a layoff list. Each of the past six years we have been in the downsizing mode, requiring layoffs from nearly all of our bargaining groups. That's why we need you to choose classes carefully. It affects people's livelihood.

In a downsizing mode, we have to eliminate sections with low enrollment and collapse sections when possible. That creates far less flexibility in the master schedule than we had just a few years ago. It also means that when school begins in the fall we cannot accommodate schedule changes except in the rarest of circumstances.

So again I ask you, please choose your courses carefully becuase what you decide in the next few weeks will be reality in the fall of 2010. Good luck!

What Is A Tardy Sweep?

Periodically, we are asked by the staff to "crack down" on students that are late to class.

Don't get me wrong, compared to any other high school in my experience, this is far less of an issue at South than elsewhere. However, when teachers are investing all they have into student achievement and engagement, it's frustrating to have students walk in late to class. At the very least it's a disruption, but it can also cause somewhat of a restart to the class.

So occasionally we conduct a "hall sweep". It's pretty simple. We pick a certain period of the day and once the bell rings, teachers are asked to lock their doors and refer all tardy students to the auditorium. Once students report there, the administrators assign detentions to students caught in the hall sweep because obviously these students were tardy to class.

Each time we do this we get some complaints from students or parents. Of course, if a student has a legitimate excuse to be in the hall (i.e. sent to their locker by the teacher) the detention is cancelled. However, there are always some students that claim it was their first time being late and they are being unduly punished.

I don't believe a detention is too big a penalty for tardiness to class, and hopefully it will serve as a deterrent to future tardiness. I mention this because we will have another hall sweep in the near future, and I'm hopeful that an up-front explanation may prevent some of the complaints after it is implemented.

I believe it's obvious to all that punctuality is a good lifelong skill to possess, and this is something all high schools try to enforce. Students have seven minutes to move between classes here at South and that is ample time to get wherever they need to go. Often times, the tardy students are those that spend time socializing with friends and waiting for the last minute to start to class.

We believe this is an effective deterrent, we know that teachers and hall monitors request it, even though students caught in the sweep dislike it. It's one of the ways we use to curb tardiness to class.

The Survey Says...

I hope everyone was able to enjoy the New Year and that it was a happy one for you and your families.

Just before the Holidays, we were able to make each of the surveys available to the public. These are the surveys administered in early October and that are designed to provide feedback to our School Improvement Team.

If you go to the South webpage, there is a message embedded in the document that references the surveys. The message instructs you to go to the links on the left side of the page to see each of the four surveys:
1) Parent
2) Teacher
3) Student
4) Support Staff

At our staff meeting on January 5th, we took a good look at both the parent and teacher survey results. At an upcoming meeting, we will continue with the student and support staff results.

For the most part, each of the surveys are complimentary of the quality of education here at South. There was high praise for the curriculum standards and high expectations for students. There are, however, areas that we must address and dissecting the survey results is the first step.

In hindsight, we wish we would have asked students the same three open-ended questions that were asked in the other surveys:
1) What do you like best about South?
2) What do you like least?
3) What suggestions do you have for improvement?

Having that information from the students would have given us a more complete picture of the similarities and differences of opinion. Oh well, we can do that next time.

I encourage you to take some time to go through the survey results. At the minimum, I think you will find it interesting to see how others feel about South High School.

How Do I Get In This Place?

We finally have our new security system in place, much like other buildings in the district. We will implement this plan when students return from the Holiday break on January 4th. The change concerns exterior doors and when they will be locked or unlocked.

Expect the doors to be unlocked in the morning until 8:15, or 15 minutes after the day begins. Obviously, PLC Mondays will be treated differently, but doors will still lock 15 minutes after school begins.

After that time, anyone wishing to enter the building will have to “buzz in” at one of three entrances. There are three spots where there are buzzers and cameras:
1) entrance A, which is the door to the main building under the bridge from the I.A. building
2) entrance E, the door near the old greenhouse closest to Grosse Pointe Blvd.
3) entrance S, the door to the Boll Center or new pool building.

These will be the only doors to enter once school has started and when classes are in session.

Other doors between buildings will be programmed to unlock one minute before class is dismissed, and up until two minutes after class starts. In other words, students will be able to go outside between buildings during regularly scheduled passing times.

The same will be true at lunch. The exterior doors will be unlocked during lunch, but only until two minutes after 5th period begins. If students are still outside after that time, they will have to “buzz” the office to be allowed back into the building.

There are two other changes…one temporary and one more permanent. The front doors to the building will remain locked until we get back to spring-time weather. We just cannot handle all of the snow and slush being dragged into the front entrances during the winter. That is the temporary change.

The permanent change is that entrance Q, the door nearest the choir room, will remain locked during the school day, including lunch periods. If students are moving from the I.A. building to the main building or S-building, they will have to use the bridge between buildings or enter through entrance A, located right below the bridge crossover.

If students arrive after classes are in session, and have to “buzz in” for entrance, they are to identify themselves giving name and grade. One of the secretaries will be able to allow entrance at that time. They are to then go to the Attendance office and sign in.

At the end of the day, all doors will lock at 4:00 except for students with practice schedules.

In short order, all of us will be used to these changes. In reality, we are one of the last schools to limit access in this manner so it’s probably long overdue.

In closing, I hope you are able to enjoy your time with friends and family while school is not in session, and wish you the best of the Holiday Season!

And Now, A Word From Our Parents

With the onset of the Holiday Season, we are getting very close to a full release of the parent data from the school survey. Although there isn't room in this spot for all of the details, I will provide a few of the highlights.

The Basics:
- 402 parent responses overall, with 72% being female
- 91% of those responding were white in regard to ethnicity
- the largest portion (33%) of those responding listed a senior as the oldest child
- when asked what they liked best, the most popular narrative responses were the curriculum, teachers, and high standards

The Good:
- 92% feel the school has a positive impact on property values
- 92% feel the education offered to students is of high quality
- 92% feel the school is clean and the grounds are well maintained
- 92% feel we have good textbooks and adequate supplies
- 89% believe the quality of schools influenced their decision to live in this community

The Bad:
- only 10% feel that substance abuse is NOT a problem, while 64% believe it IS a problem
- only 15% feel there are NO problems with bullies at school, however, 24% claim they do not know if it is a problem
- only 26% feel we are doing a good job teaching career/vocational courses, while 40% either did not know or the question did not apply to them
- only 45% of parents are confident students see a relationship between what they are studying and their everyday lives
- only 46% feel we are preparing students to deal with issues or problems they will deal with in the future

Our hope is to have the results ready to post on the website shortly after the Holiday break. We have been pleased with the number of responses as more than a third of our parents, well over half of our students, and nearly all of our staff members responded to the survey.

We thank you for taking the time to complete the survey and wish everyone the best of the Holiday Season!

The Results Are In

Well, the results aren't completely in yet. I'm speaking of the data from the surveys that were administered earlier this month. We surveyed students (877 responses), parents (433), teachers (93), and support staff (44). And although the program quickly tabulates percentages of responses, it takes a while to put the data in a useful format. My secretary is putting the data in bar graph form so that it is easier to absorb and understand.

So far, all efforts have been dedicated to compiling data from the students. In some respects, we believe this data to be most critical to our needs and should have priority. Earlier today, I was able to take a quick look at the bar graph representations. All in all, it looks pretty good.

Here are a few of the highlights:
- 71% of our students have been here since elementary school, while 21% entered while in high school
- 86% participate in after-school activities
- 76% have participated on at least one sports team
- 93% rate the overall education at South as good or excellent
- the highest ratings were for the English (90%) and science departments (81%)
- 91% feel that classes "required for graduation" are either good or excellent
- 90% feel that classes at South are "challenging"
- regarding class size, 15% feel classes are too big, 40% big, and 43% just right
- 62% feel they get individual attention in their classes
- 91% feel they are safe or very safe while at South
- 85% plan to attend a four-year college, with the highest percentage (31%) pursuing a career in science or technology

The data above is just a quick view. Students were also able to provide an open-ended response regarding each of the categories listed. One constant...they don't like wearing ID badges, but I could have told you that before the survey.

When we have a more complete picture, we will share it with you. I wish everyone out there a Happy Thanksgiving and hope the break away from work or school is rejuvenating for you.

It's Long Overdue

For several years now, we have been discussing the concept of bringing drug dogs into the school. It has been discussed in meetings with parents, among staff, and at the Board of Education level. Here at South, we have decided it's time to act.

Let me be clear, the major purpose is to serve as a deterrent to behavior that is illegal in the eyes of the court, let alone school officials. Our goal is not to "bust" students.

I hope we find nothing, and wish we didn't even see the need for such action. However, our instincts tell us otherwise. We have found several students this fall in possession of illegal substances. We also hear rumors, unfounded or not, of more students engaging in similar behavior.

I can't really tell you that use or abuse among students is on the upswing. Sometimes, we just stumble upon illegal substances or students that engage in illegal activities.

I have often said that here in Grosse Pointe we have a volatile mix--we have many affluent families living adjacent to a city where access to drugs is readily available. That is a bad combination, and puts our students in great danger.

At some point in the near future, we will undergo a search of the building and grounds with a cadre of officers and narcotics dogs. In all likelihood, there will be regular searches in the future.

Again, I hope we find nothing. But I also hope our students understand there is zero tolerance at our school.