Scot Graden's Blog

I had a chance to stop by and watch the Robison/Wholehan 6th grade team during their Mayfest performance tonight. I was there for square dancing as called by local legend Luke Schaible. The students and in the end, their parents, both showed decent dancing skills.

The group moved to the cafeteria for dessert, but just prior, the students performed outstanding renditions of the Canadian national anthem in both English and French. They will do this again in Toronto for the Canadian Parliament. It was an emotional night as Ms. Robison has announced her retirement at the end of the year after 17 years with Saline Area Schools.

With board President Lisa Slawson on the 8th grade trip to Washington D.C., Vice President Trudy Driscoll stepped in to run the meeting last night.

We began by introducing our new Director of Elementary Special Education, Ms. Cherie Vannatter. We are very excited to have Ms. Vannatter back in Saline. Together with Ms. Carol Melcher, Director of Secondary Special Education, we are poised to provide enhanced support to our special education staff and families.

Ms. Jamie Aumend and Ms. Linda Duvall provided an excellent overview of the French Exchange program involving Saline Middle School students. We were able to see the planning and coordination that is required along with the benefits to our students.

Assistant Superintendent Tom Wall presented an overview of the 2008-2009 budget. We will be presenting a balanced general fund budget near $50 million for next year. As part of the budget presentation, School of Choice information for next year was discussed.

Using remaining bond funds, we approved the bids on the Pleasant Ridge site improvements for $743,000. You can learn more about the project by clicking here.

We approved an architect contract in the amount of $46,500 for the Henne Field re-development from previous accrued CARES funds.

On the downside, the Board did approve a resolution to layoff 15 teaching staff for the 2008-2009 school year. This was a difficult situation for the members of the board, however, it was necessary as we move to different schedules at both the middle school and the high school. Several of the staff are likely to be recalled to other full or part time positions.

WHOis: Jack Jester-Weinstein

We’ve all seen him around town, or performing in the band….. Jack Jester-Weinstein. The kid with the unusually large head of hair. (Yes, my style is the anti-Jack)

He also happens to be an extremely bright young man who is a fine representative of Saline Area Schools. Read more about him here.

This is a big weekend for young artists across Saline. The three day Spring Arts Festival got underway tonight and is open from 1-8pm on Saturday, May 10th and again from 1-8pm on Sunday, May 11th. The festival highlights selected works from each building in the district and has works from seniors to kindergarteners.

I was very impressed with the talent of our young artists. In particular, my attention was drawn to the talents displayed by the students from our Alternative High School.

Be sure to stop by this weekend, the show is held in the wrestling room at the high school.

The Fiddlers ReStrung did Saline Area Schools proud with their performance at the Detroit Downtown Hoedown,
held in Hart Plaza along the Detroit River. The students enjoyed great
weather and enthusiastic crowd during their performance on Friday
afternoon.

My favorite writer on the topic of education and technology is Scott McLeod. Mr. McLeod writes a blog and runs CASTLE, a technology center for school leaders at Iowa State University. He recently wrote an article for The School Administrator, the newsletter for the American Association of School Administrators, titled “Blocking the Future”.

The article discusses how many districts are blocking websites and digital technologies. He doesn’t spend much time on the why we are doing it, but more on the impact blocking can have on the students. He states, “It is clear by now our world is becoming even more technological, not less. Technology tools such as digital software, online systems, global networks, and personal computers are literally reshaping global civilization.”

I agree with him to a large degree, however, the push to quickly accept and use new technologies is problematic. First, Saline Area Schools cannot typically afford to be the first to adopt new technology. We are getting better at finding free programs and with many of the Web 2.0 tools that are out there – these costs are then minimal. For example, we are starting to use Moodle as a tool for our staff and it is free. Secondly, there is a operational piece, as many parents know, access to the internet is a blessing and curse. As we work with young students we find the amount of inappropriate content is staggering. Attempting to filter access to restrict the ability to locate the objectionable material is a never ending battle. Take YouTube for example – we restrict access to it due to some of the content. However, some staff want to use clips from presidential debates and I can see the benefit to our students. Additionally, several other Washtenaw County school districts allow unfiltered access to YouTube.

Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. We will continue to be open to exploring new technologies and guarded about their implementation.

I had the chance to stop by the Two Twelve Arts Center and check out the Saline High School Advanced Placement Art exhibit. Some of the pieces had been picked up as the grading process for the AP program has begun. The exhibit officially ends this Saturday. I was amazed at the creativity and talent of our students.

We will have another great opportunity to view the work of our students at the Spring Arts Festival on May 9th and 10th at Saline High School. The event will include selected works from each building.

Below are a couple examples from the AP exhibit, the top one is from John Wright and the bottom one is from Christine Westmaas.

Last week there was a fun event held between the middle school and the high school. The 2008 Nazzy Awards are given out for excellence in digital book talks. They were hosted by Ms. Staci Nazareth – the middle school media specialist. At the high school, Mr. Nate Bush and Mr. Stephen Stump provided support. When you watch the video, check out the lower left-hand corner to see the high school watching the middle school presentation. The live webcast was a great way to bridge the buildings – and it was a lot of fun.

There was a nice article in the Ann Arbor News on the “Wheel, Run Together” event put on by Saline High’s Courtney Bertoia and Adam Davis. Check out the article here. The project was part of their participation in student council.

In researching information from this year, I learned that 85% of high school parents have used eSembler to view their student’s grades and/or attendance. At the middle school is was 95% and at Heritage it was 92%. From my standpoint, it is great to see our families involved in monitoring the progress of their children. I’m not sure how our students feel about it…..

Next year we will again have a district wide “gradebook” that parents will be able to view. Along with most school districts in Washtenaw County, we are preparing to move to PowerSchool. We have begun to think about how best to launch the “parent portal” portion of the software. Ms. Jackie Lane who is the Saline Area School’s behind the scenes tech person has been developing implementation plans.

Look for information at open houses next fall, as well as, specific informational nights where our tech staff will lead parents through the process of monitoring their children’s information.