Scot Graden's Blog

1972 was a big year…. I turned one and Bruce Ross started at Saline High School. Thirty-Six years later, he still has more energy than most of our High School students. Mr. Ross has taught many courses over the years – lately drafting has been his area. He was also a wrestling coach for several years.

However, the position he is best known for in Saline is as the Driver’s Ed teacher. I’m not exactly sure how long he has taught it or how many students have learned to drive with Mr. Ross (my quick estimate is well over 1,000) but it is clear – he is a Saline icon in Driver’s Ed. He never misses an opportunity to talk to nervous parents or excited students about the program. Last night was no different. At the Class of 2012 Open House Mr. Ross shared information about Driver’s Ed among other programs.

Congratulations to Lauren Paolini who was recently selected for the U.S. Women’s National Volleyball Training Team! The University of Texas Junior has taken a semester off from school train with the team in Colorado. As a Senior, Lauren led the Saline High Varsity squad to District and Regional Titles and a spot in the State Quarter-Finals at EMU.

While at Saline High Lauren was also a standout on the basketball court – earning All-SEC Honors.

I had the opportunity to stop by the Middle School Science Fair today. Mr. Fanning, a Middle School Science Teacher and SHS graduate, coordinated the event again this year. He made some adjustments this year – he had each project use a similar format. The projects all had the same core components – question, hypothesis, background knowledge, data, conclusions, etc.

The fair had 90 entries! Nice work students and Mr. Fanning. On a side note, I was glad I got to see Mr. Fanning’s wife Andrea (formerly Paquin) who is also an SHS graduate. She was home on a break from an extended business trip to India. I’m sure she was excited to spend the day at the fair!

Below are pictures of the first three places.

Today was a pretty straightforward call. Over 500 school closings in Southeast Michigan. Every public school in Washtenaw County. Enjoy your weekend and be ready to get back at it on Monday!

A few years ago, several students approached the Saline High Administration about starting a dance team. They recruited Ms. Arnett to be the faculty advisor and connected with Community Education to handle the administrative duties. Since then the team has performed at Saline High School football and basketball games. This year’s squad has 26 students in grades 9 through 12. They are led by Coach Marks. This year they have added a “Kids Dance Camp” where the team will teach kids a dance then they will perform it at a Saline High basketball game.

Signs, signs, everywhere there are signs….. well, not in front of our High School. On Tuesday, the Board of Education approved the purchase of a new electronic sign for in front (just west of the front parking lot) of the High School along Campus Parkway. The sign will be a full color sign with a district managed electronic message. The message will be able to include four lines of text, as well as graphics, pictures and even video – all managed via the web.

One of best aspects of getting the sign is that there are multiple groups involved in funding the project. The High School PTO, led by Ms. Ann Dowling, Community Education, SHS Class of 2008 and Wal-Mart have all made significant contributions towards the purchase and installation of the sign. The rest of the costs will be covered from the remaining bond funds.

Here is a rendition of what the sign will look like when it is installed this May.

Tonight was a busy meeting. First, on behalf of the Saline Education Association, Tim Heim, Tim Timoszyk and Jim Letcher presented the board with books that were signed by each board member and will placed in the Media Centers of each building. This was done in honor of National Board of Education Appreciation Month.

We then heard a presentation by Houghton Principal Jesse Stevenson on the success of the Kindergarten Extended Day Option for the 2007-2008 year to date. Ms. Pasola, Ms. Kolacki and Ms. Raft – the current teachers – were on hand to help describe the program and share what they have learned about the benefits for their students. Laurie Dawson assisted with the development of a slide presentation and a program brochure for perspective families interested in the program for the 2008-2009 school year. Look for both online soon.

From there we tackled several action items – a school calendar revision to reflect the Middle School dates without students for the MAMSE conference, facility use regulation updates, a 2007-2008 mid-year budget amendment, and accepting a bid for a new electronic high school sign. I’ll post an artist rendition on the blog soon.

On March 13 & 14 there will not be school for our Middle School students. Saline Area Schools will be hosting the Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Conference. The hosting of this professional development opportunity will provide our Middle School staff with a chance to both showcase their instructional skills and learn new ideas from other professionals in the field.

For our students… well, they get two days without classes… Saline Community Education has teamed up with the Saline Parks and Recreation Department to provide “Middle School Mayhem” for both days at Liberty School. The program will run from 8am to 2:30pm and will include all kinds of fun…. Inflatable obstacle course, game room with wii sports, Rock Band, DDR and more. There will be a bus to the Recreation Center for swimming, a pizza lunch and more. We have even set up a study hall to help catch up on assignments. All this for $10 a day or $15 for both days!!

Call 429-3502 to register.

On Tuesday, January 15 Harvest Elementary School hosted “Science Night” which is a cooperative program with the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum intended for both students and adults. By all accounts it was a success – several other elementary schools have partnered with AAHOM to host this fun and educational event. Thanks to Ms. Grunow and Prinicipal Sharon we have pictures. I’ll post one here, for more click here.

In the last two days we have reviewed two possible tools for us to gather meaningful data on student learning. One product, Pearson Benchmarks, is an assessment development tool. This product allows our teachers to quickly develop appropriate assessments (tests) for students. The software is built with the State of Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations embedded – so we are assessing the “right” learning. With the help of Steve Laatsch, the Heritage School Principal, we are piloting the benchmark system at the 5th and 6th grade level this spring.

Today we met with John Flora, a representative from NWEA – the Northwest Evaluation Association. NWEA is currently working several schools in Washtenaw County, as well as thousands of districts across the country to provide norm-referenced assessments. If we purchased this product we would be able to assess year to year growth of each student through a norm referenced test which could be given in the fall and spring each year. Unlike the MEAP, which for example assesses our 3rd grade students one year and then a new set of 3rd grade students the next year. We naturally compare the two – and while we do look at the trends, comparing one set of students to a different set doesn’t give us the authentic growth (or lack of growth) information we needed to make effective instructional decisions.

The bottom line, we need data….. lots of it….. from multiple sources at different grade levels and across subject areas. Ms. Betty Rosen-Leacher and Dr. Sean Enright are working in this area most days. As a district, we are looking to commit resources to get systems in place to make sure we get what we need to know where we are at and how to increase student achievement.