Scot Graden's Blog

The one idea that kept resonating with the group was decidedly low tech – personal meetings.  Getting together with groups, away from the school if possible to discuss issues related to Saline Area Schools.  It could be a building principal meeting at a neighborhood location.  It could mean the superintendent visiting local Senior Housing Centers to discuss the current issues facing our district.  It could be working with families to host informal gatherings where school staff are present to share information about the district.  Overall, the idea was to communicate face to face and allow for two way communication.

With the local media landscape in transition and families as busy as ever, clearly there is no “one way” to communicate.  Today’s discussion highlighted the need to think about how we can connect and communicate with the greater community.

In speaking to staff and community members about the redesign, the question of actual “administrative costs” for Saline Area Schools was discussed. One of the methods we use to evaluate the cost effectiveness of our administrative structure is to use Bulletin 1014.  The State of Michigan publishes this annually – you can download it here – http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,1607,7-140-6530_6605-21514–,00.html This report ranks all Michigan Public Schools and Charter Schools on a variety of information they collect through the mandatory State reporting program.

This report shows that Saline has one of the lowest administration costs per pupil in the State (755 out of 780).  We spend $816 per pupil on business & administration.  Some comparisons, Dexter spends $1,009 per pupil, Hartland $975 per pupil, Novi $899 per pupil – which are also in the lower half of the State listing.

It’s important to note that only looking at specific titles doesn’t given the full picture related to administrative overhead.  I would also like to highlight the fact that the administrators we have on staff are working very hard to provide a quality level of service while being a member of a lean administrative structure.

On Thursday, I attended the Foundation for Saline Area Schools Spring Recognition event at Stonebridge Golf Course.  It was a celebration of the eighteen thousand dollars awarded to twenty-three classroom grants.  Several staff shared the impact of their grant on their students.  It was great to see the excitement of the staff as they discussed the projects with the community members and staff in attendance.

This year marked a milestone for the Foundation.  In the fall, they accepted the challenge to raise $65,000 as a strategic grant to allow us to fully implement Project Lead the Way in the 8th grade level.  The evening included an anonymous matching donation of up to $5,000.  The group present raised the matching amount of $5,000.  At the end of the evening Saline Area Schools received a check for $65,000!

We are so fortunate that in an era of reductions, cuts, etc. we have a community partner like the Foundation for Saline Area Schools.  I would like to publicly thank the 17 trustees and all of the generous donors who helped make this grant possible.  The trustees are:

If you are interested in supporting Saline Area Schools, I urge you to make a donation at http://www.supportfsas.org.

In the April edition of Educational Leadership, psychologist Michael Thompson has some interesting ideas for parents and educators to consider as high-school students prepare for college.

• Practicing their leadership skills
• Using the process of choosing their next life step for rich, unpressured self-discovery
• Taking stock of their talents and accomplishments
• Giving back to the school community in a meaningful way
• Participating in a ritual that marks their passage to adulthood. This should involve a smaller, more intimate ceremony in addition to the whole-school graduation ritual.

Our seniors have 6 weeks left before they move on…  it’s time to reflect on their accomplishments and look forward to their futures.

Predicting enrollment for the coming year is based on a number of factors, but the one that has the largest impact is the size of the graduating class compared to the size of the incoming kindergarten class.  For example, in February 2010 we had 455 students in 12th grade and 375 in kindergarten.  Our total enrollment was 5,437 students.  Using those numbers and rolling them up a year – we were expecting a decrease of 90 students if we brought in the same 375 student kindergarten.  In September 2010 we had 5,335 students – 102 students less than the year before.  This year we have 408 students in 12th grade and 361 in kindergarten.  Rolling the numbers up one year we should expect a decrease of around 50 students in the fall.

As I noted above, there are numerous other factors that affect student count including the local economy, housing availability, schools of choice and county birth rates.

Another interesting point is to look at the September and February counts to see if we gain or lose students.  Traditionally we have counted 15-20 fewer students in the February  vs. the September counts.  This year we counted 5,335 in September and 5,333 in February.  While the student count was almost the exact same, there were 66 students who exited the district and 64 who enrolled between the two count dates.