A Superintendent by Another Name

Contrary to popular belief, Dr. Hatrick has not always been Superintendent of Loudoun County Public Schools. There were others before him. Beginning 40 years ago, and for 19 years after that, the LCPS ship was steered through major changes by a man named Robert Butt, and local historian (and local treasure) Eugene Scheel published a story about his tenure recently; it's definitely worth your time to read from beginning to end.

When Loudoun Schools Closed the Book on the Past

The 1969-70 year marked the first school term in which more than a token number of black and white students and teachers would learn and teach together. It marked the end of an era in which the School Board hired teachers with no degrees or two-year degrees. It marked the opening of Broad Run, the first high school in lower Loudoun, where each week 100 new families were moving into a county of 36,000 people.

Kindergarten, middle schools, Head Start, a full education for the mentally and physically challenged -- these programs began and coalesced during Butt's 19 years as superintendent of schools.

LoudounSchools YouTube Channel

I'm not really an audio-visual guy. I like writing, I like reading. Nevertheless there are a lot of great videos out there, and today I found one that I really couldn't share without starting a YouTube channel, so I introduce to you....

LoudounSchools on YouTube: www.YouTube.com/LoudounSchools

The first video is a Back to School Video that LCPS published as a 20MB downloadable file on its homepage, I just noticed it this afternoon. It's great that LCPS is creating more videos and I hope they will soon open their own video channel.

How much money to the classroom?

The question of how much local education funds are spent in the classroom in the classroom is always important, and it has become an issue in this year's campaign for Virginia Governor as Republican Bob McDonnell's education plan involves requiring local school districts to spend 65% of funding "in the classroom" and less on overhead and administration. The Washington Post provided an interesting analysis yesterday:

Fact-Checker: How Much Does Virginia Spend on Classrooms?

The McDonnell campaign said it relied on the "latest spending numbers" to examine classroom spending in Virginia, federal instruction expenses from fiscal year 2007. (According to those same figures, public elementary and secondary schools nationwide spent nearly 61 percent of their budgets on instruction in fiscal year 2007; Virginia came in at 61.2 percent.)

But the latest spending numbers from the state, in the form of the superintendent's annual report for fiscal year 2008, shows the state spent 64.8 percent of its budget on instruction. The difference is a somewhat technical disagreement over what constitutes classroom expenses.

For example, federal guidelines say teacher training, library and media services and guidance and social work counselors are "outside the classroom." Virginia includes those services in its classroom funding totals.

McDonnell's release cites Federal F33 forms, which apparently show that the following 16 districts (out of 134 in Virginia) meet his proposed instructional spending threshold:

Hanover County, Bristol City, Shenandoah County, Fluvanna County, Colonial Beach, Smyth County, Norton City, Greene County, Augusta County, Colonial Heights City, Fauquier County, Amherst County, Page County, Roanoke County, Harrisonburg City, and Highland County

Ticonderoga Farms Teacher (and staff) Appeciation Day

Sunday October 4th, 2009 from 9:00am – 6:00pm

Free admission for all teachers and their immediate families! (School ID required)

Come out for a day of family fun!! Enjoy a hay ride, hillside slides and our Spooky Barn!

Pick your own Pumpkins!

Meet the animals, get lost in our Bamboo Puzzle, pet the animals and play an Indian in the tee-pee village!

Public Service vehicles will also be on display.

Home grown figs, pumpkins, gourds and more!

Food and Entertainment

Located in South Riding at the end of the Loudoun County Parkway
26469 Ticonderoga Road
Chantilly, VA 20152
703-327-4424
www.ticonderoga.com

NYT: Coming Out in Middle School

I just finished reading a lengthy article called Coming out in Middle School (on my blackberry screen over the course of two days). It's about sexual identities...

All of this fluidity, confusion and experimentation can be understandably disorienting for parents and educators. Is an eighth grader who says he’s gay just experimenting? Could he change his mind in a week, as 13-year-olds routinely do with other identities — skater, prep, goth, jock — they try on for a while and then shed for another? And if sexuality is so fluid, should he really box himself in with a gay identity? Many parents told me they especially struggled with that last question.

bullying...

What is clear is that for many gay youth, middle school is more survival than learning — one parent of a gay teenager I spent time with likened her child’s middle school to a “war zone.” In a 2007 survey of 626 gay, bisexual and transgender middle-schoolers from across the country by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (Glsen), 81 percent reported being regularly harassed on campus because of their sexual orientation. Another 39 percent reported physical assaults. Of the students who told teachers or administrators about the bullying, only 29 percent said it resulted in effective intervention.

families...

Though many of the parents I spoke to needed a period of adjustment before accepting their children’s announcement that they were gay or bisexual, others offered immediate and unequivocal support. “The biggest difference I’ve seen in the last 10 years isn’t with gay kids — it’s with their families,” says Dan Woog, an openly gay varsity boys’ soccer coach at Staples High School in Westport, Conn., who helped found a gay-straight alliance at his school in 1993. “Many parents just don’t assume anymore that their kids will have a sad, difficult life just because they’re gay.”

and Gay Straight Alliances...

Indeed, courts — citing the Equal Access Act, which requires public schools to provide equal access to extracurricular clubs — have consistently ruled against schools that try to block G.S.A.’s from starting. (The 1984 law was the brainchild of Christian groups fighting to allow students to form religious clubs in schools.)

in Middle Schools across the US.

Holy Social Networking, Batman!

• Countryside Elementary PTA has a Facebook Group!
• Sanders Corner PTA is on Twitter
  

Are there others?

(of course, teachers, principals and administrators will have to access these from home... both services are banned on LCPS computers)

Educating Digital Children

Jen Bergel showed the School Board & Administration a video last night that you might enjoy:

RBMS Tropical Smoothie Night

River Bend Middle School PTA hosts a fundraiser tonight at Tropical Smoothie Cafe in the Regal shopping center from 5-8pm.

Please bring this flyer with you.

Grade Weighting

From a parent:

Every parent I’ve talked to regarding this issue just throws their hands in the air and says “I don’t understand it” – quite frankly I don’t understand the rational for not making a change for the honor classes.

Prior to its September 8th recommendation to retroactively weight honors courses, the LCPS administration had advised us not to weight honors courses. Here's why, in an excerpt from the Grade Weighting Committee's final report (emphases mine):

Section 8 VAC 20-160-60 of the Code of Virginia describes elements for weighting: “Advanced, accelerated, advanced placement, and honors level course to be weighted shall have the following elements (1) defined curriculum; (2) standards that exceed normal course requirements; and (3) defined assessment component."

The LCPS Program of Studies describes Honors classes that include the following characteristics: expectations for extended work, more independent learning, greater depth of material, and quicker pacing of content to be learned. When the committee examined the descriptions of Honors and Advanced English, an insufficient level of difference was noted. Specific information on rigor or higher-order thinking skills has not been incorporated into course descriptions. There is a reluctance to provide course descriptions that do not specify high expectations for all students. The current curriculum does not sufficiently define the advanced level of content or standards for Honors
courses, and do not appear to meet the requirements of the Code.

A third element of the code is also missing because current Honors courses do not provide a defined assessment component. Current Honors courses do not include different assessments, nor do they provide sufficient guidance to justify weighting.

In order to pursue weighting of Honors courses, an alternate set of beliefs about access and equity would need to be introduced to replace current principles. Additionally, some areas of study do not label courses with an “Honors” designation because students progress according to their level of competence in the subject while other subject areas offer multiple Honors classes.

So either the committee was wrong, or the Board will decide that it matters more what Fairfax says than what state law says. I will vote according to the law, with advice from the Board's attorney.

9/22/09 School Board Agenda

Full agenda is here

Highlights:

• Grade Weighting for Honors Courses
• Approval of minor revisions to disciplinary policy (1, 2, 3, 4)
  
• Elementary School Naming Committee
• Middle School Naming Committee
• Presentation by Outreach Coordinator
• Presentation of revisions to Curriculum policy
• Presentation of revisions to Financial and benefits policies
• FY2009 Financial Review

LEAP talks Volunteers tonight

The Loudoun Education Alliance of Parents meets tonight (7pm, LCPS Admin Building) to talk about the most important subject for every Parent-Teacher organization at the start of the year... volunteers.

"VOLUNTEERS WANTED: Your School Needs You!"
Learn ways to recruit and retain parent volunteers as LEAP examines the numerous benefits of volunteering in our schools - benefits reaped both by students and by volunteers! Then explore how volunteer-run programs can expand our students' learning through after-school enrichment classes and Odyssey of the Mind.

Ask the Candidates about Education Funding

It's only nine weeks until Virginians go to the polls to elect a new Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General. Every member of the the House of Delegates representing Loudoun is up for re-election and has a strong challenger. They're calling, showing up at back to school nights and knocking on your doors to ask for your vote. Don't forget to ask them about state education funding.

From Creigh Deeds, Democrat for Governor:

Raise teacher salaries to the national average. Virginia has some of the best teachers in the country, despite the fact that we do not compensate our teachers as well as other states do.

According to the Southern Regional Education Board, the average teacher salary in Virginia was $46,690 in the 2007-2008 school year, well below the national average of $52,308. Creigh will make sure that Virginia remains an attractive place to teach by working to raise Virginia’s teacher pay to the national average.

Governor Kaine found a way to protect K-12 education, and I will protect education in my budgets. Bob McDonnell, on the other hand, has pledged to take $5.4 billion from our schools to pay for roads.

Contrast this with Bob McDonnell, Republican for Governor:

Bob McDonnell, Republican gubernatorial candidate and former Attorney General of Virginia, and Bill Bolling, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, announced today a bold education proposal that will dramatically increase money for Virginia's teachers and students by $480 million a year, without a tax increase.

But read the fine print from McDonnell's proposal. It doesn't provide more school funding. All it really does is put more restrictions on local school districts, telling them how to spend their funds. McDonnell's approach means less education funding, and more Richmond controls on your local school district. A one-size-fits-all approach that treats rural Galax county the same as suburban Loudoun County.

More Federal Special Ed Funding?

From Education Week:

With Harkin's Move, Full Funding for IDEA Gains Momentum

"Full funding" of the act is often referred to as providing states with per-pupil federal aid for students with disabilities that is equivalent to 40 percent of the average per-student cost.
Thanks to the economic-stimulus bill, funding for IDEA grants to states was increased to 34 percent of the average per-student cost. But that was a one-time investment, without which IDEA grants are funded at around 17 percent of the cost of special education programs. Federal funding has never exceeded 18 percent.

First week controversies: Speech & Fees

The first surprise of the new school year: angry emails to the School Board about President Obama's education speech dwarfed (in both number and intensity) those about the anticipated controversy of new & higher fees for parking, sports & AP tests. Since the announcement last week that all schools would show the speech to all students, with an opt-out provision, the Obama speech emails have evaporated.

Below is the response sent to one parent by the LCPS Public Information Officer regarding the fees. It's a good summary of information. Note that the Board made the fees, not LCPS administration.

This year's budget fell $70 million short of the amount we would have anticipated during usual economic conditions. For the first time in 18 years, the local contribution to the school system went down. This downturn came in the face of adding 2,500 new students and a new school to the system. We realize how tough times are and did months of budget analysis and preparation so that we would put as small a strain as possible on local funding.

No LCPS employee received a raise, no programs were added and no new administrative staff were hired. LCPS already had the leanest administrative staff in the Washington Metropolitan Area according to the Washington Area Boards of Education (WABE).

There was nothing easy about the deliberations the administration and School Board went through in the decision to impose fees. Budget deliberations started in September and continued through April.

The fees imposed will bring in the following amounts to help balance the budget:

Parking: $525,000

AP Test: Fees $880,000

Athletic Fees: $770,000

Such fees are commonplace in other jurisdictions and do not cover the expenses of the services provided.

Part of the reasoning for parking fees is that driving to school -- for most students -- is an option. Bus transportation is provided to all our schools.

The staffing of LCPS schools is done under guidelines and ratios provided by the Virginia Standards of Quality. We exceed these ratios (not by much) in areas such as deans and counselors, but we feel the educational results merit such costs.

Outside organizations used LCPS facilities for a total of 245,304 hours last year. We are a public entity and open our buildings for public use. Some entities, like Parks and Recreation, are not charged for use because they are a part of the county government and also funded by taxpayer dollars. Churches are charged between $16.50 (for a classroom) and $88 (for an auditorium) per hour. Last year, churches paid $1.3 million in rent to LCPS.

Author event at Loudoun County HS

Loudoun County HS welcomes author Susan Beth Pfeffer (her blog), author of The Dead and the Gone and Life as We Knew It on Monday September 21st at 10AM as part of George Mason University's Fall for the Book event.

Event Flyer

Ms. Pfeffer will be speaking about writing, her life, her books, etc. Refreshments and book signing will follow, and books will be available for purchase.

LCHS is inviting 40 students from each high school in the county, with the goal of exposing more students published authors. For details contact Mary Ours, Loudoun County High School Librarian.

LCPS Principals get Twitter Primer, but not access

LCPS principals get a "Principals Packet" every month with various articles and materials generated by an outside company. It is distributed in hard copy (fail). This month (Sept 09) it contains a piece called "Honey, I shrunk the blog! A primer on Twitter."

The possibilities for schools are endless. Twitter gives you another platform to share information quickly; create a positive buzz aobut your staff, students and programs; monitor community reaction; and listen to your constituents.

Of course this would be much more helpful to principals if LCPS permitted the use of Twitter by its employees.

All Loudoun Schools will show Obama Speech

Dr. Hatrick announced tonight that he has directed all LCPS schools to show President Obama's Education Speech to all students by next Tuesday (9/15), subject to the opt-out guidance provided on Sunday. The lesson plans suggested by the White House & Department of Education are not included in the requirement.

Obama's Education Speech

The White House has posted the President's speech about personal responsibility. I was able to watch it, I will make sure that my kids watch it, and hope that all schools will show it before the week is out. I look forward to hearing what the kids think of it (I already know what my 14-yo will say: "boring.").

Here's the link.

Dear Out of Town People

To:
Jennifer Mustoe of Spanish Fork, Utah
Sarah Fitts of New York, NY
Linda C. Martin of Athens, Alabama and Forest Grove, Oregon
and many others

From:
John Stevens of Sterling, Virginia

Subject:
Local Schools

Body:
Dear [Name]:

Do I contact you and instruct you about how to run your local schools? Do I do so without inquiring as to the facts of the situation, or having a connection with your community? No, I do not. Why not? Because that would be very rude, and would accomplish nothing.

2009-2010 School Year begins today

Ready or not, here it is. It will challenge everyone... parents, teachers, administrators, bus drivers and food service workers and custodians and coaches and guidance counselors... and School Board members. Rather than focus on the challenges we face, we should focus ourselves on preparing the kids of this community for the lifetime of challenges that lie ahead for them.

LCPS talks to press about Obama

I just posted a few minutes ago that LCPS wasn't returning press calls, based on what I was hearing from reporters. However, I did just find this posted 30 minutes ago in a Leesburg Today story:

Loudoun County Public Schools spokesman Wayde Byard said of Hatrick's decision, "This decision was made Tuesday, well before anyone weighed in pro or con. The first [school] day is just a bad day to do it, that's the only thing that went into this decision. It is not about the president's message or the president. It's the first day of school, the speech will be given during lunchtime-it's a logistical nightmare. We have lots of things to do including getting lessons started, but it will be make available on the Web for teachers to use with civic lessons."

Byard said the school system had received opinions from several parents on the matter, "pro and con both. Yesterday it was don't show it, today it's show it," he said.

Amid the national clamor surrounding Obama's speech, however, Loudoun's teachers and administrators seem only to be focused on preparing to start the new school year. "[Ackerman's] memo was very clear as to what was to be done. Everybody's on board. We're not censoring or banning the President, it's just the time is poor for us," Byard said.

More notes on Obama's Speech to Schools

The Board and administration are getting a lot of emails today, and a few calls, regarding the decision not to air President Obama's speech to students on Tuesday. Unfortunately LCPS isn't providing much information to the public (nothing on the website, no broadcast email, no return calls to the press) and my colleagues on the Board (Tom Reed excepted) are apparently being tight-lipped as well. The community wants more responsiveness, more openness, more answers.

• The School Board did not make this decision, or even discuss it. This was the Superintendent's call. The Board's first opportunity to discuss this will be on Tuesday evening at our regularly scheduled meeting.
• I spoke to a number of principals last night who said they hadn't heard much about the controversy yet but who agreed that the 1st day of school is always a challenging day and not a good day for the speech.

From the Department of Education website:

The president will speak directly to the nation’s children and youth about persisting and succeeding in school. The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning.

Clearly there is nothing partisan about encouraging students to work hard, set education goals and take responsibility for their learning. Their future, and the future of this nation, depends on it.

People opposed to the President encouraging our kids to learn are trying to bring the health care town hall meetings into the classroom, and the classroom is no place for that kind of partisanship.

It is not a good day for America or this community when some parents pledge to keep their kids from school if the President's speech will be shown and others pledge to keep their kids home from school if it isn't.

No matter how deeply Americans disagree on policy, every Republican, Democrat and Independent agrees that a strong education is critical, and I can think of no better message for our children.

Obama's Speech & Loudoun Schools

It's been a weird day. I've been attacked from the political left and right from neighbors down the street to strangers in other cities... and all I've done is check my email. The timeline:

1. Barack Obama will give a speech to America's students next Tuesday, September 8th from Wakefield High School in Arlington.
2. A few days ago the Loudoun School Board started getting emails from local blogger Barbara Curtis (who simultaneously blogged about her correspondence and her fears in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 posts and counting....):

spend the rest of the day spreading the word... a DANGEROUS precedent and must be stopped... potential control over impressionable minds... horrifying to any free-thinking American.... I cannot in good conscience bow to tactics reminiscent of totalitarianism... narcissistic and self-serving... clearly exploitative and dangerous to those who teach their children to put God first.

Her fears are in part about the following questions suggested for students:

• Why is it important that we listen to the President and other elected officials, like the mayor, senators, members of congress, or the governor?
• What is the President trying to tell me?
• What is the President asking me to do?
• What new ideas and actions is the President challenging me to think about?


3. LCPS Assistant Superintendent Sharon Ackerman sent a message to all principals saying in effect "the first day of school will be busy enough without this event. Please wait until after the first day of school if you want to show it to students." Full Text
4. This afternoon I got several emails and phone calls from people strongly objecting to the potential airing of the speech. "Brainwashing. Big Brother. Propaganda." One person refered to the "President's" address, as if Obama wasn't the President.
5. Soon after that the Washington Post published a story citing Loudoun specifically:

Parents who want their children to hear President Obama's back-to-school message Tuesday might have to keep them home.

6. Now the Obama supporters are writing to me angrily from across the country:
   
• This expression of hatred for the President should not be tolerated


• am ashamed to see that my home county is one of the few places in America to completely block President Obama's speech


• this reeks of veiled racism


• Are you planning to resign soon?

I have a request for everyone, from the right to the left, from down the street to across the country. Let's not bring the insanity of August's town hall meetings to the classroom, okay? Tone it down around our children.

Food doesn't belong in classrooms

Forwarded to me by a parent, this message from a teacher who gets it:

We will be celebrating many birthdays this year...You can help celebrate your child's birthday by contacting me as your child's birthday approaches to select the most appropriate day for our classroom celebration. Please help your child select his/her favorite picture book to have read at school. Due to student food allergies, district nutritional guidelines and respect for diverse economic backgrounds, we will not have students share food and/or material goods (i.e. gift bags).

It's Going to Get Worse

Next week as school opens you'll see larger class sizes, fewer buses for athletics and activities, testing fees, athletic fees and higher parking fees. Ready for more?

Loudoun Faces Grim Budget Forecast ... and of course the school budget is targeted first.

County officials already have indicated that deep cuts are likely and might come from Loudoun County Public Schools, which receives 70 percent of the county budget, or about $762 million. "It's the biggest part of our budget, and we've been discussing cuts for years -- but with the forecast being like it is, we may have to go further," said Supervisor Jim Burton

Will the Superintendent Start a Blog?

Tease. No, I don't think Dr. Hatrick will be starting a blog. If he did, it would undoubtedly be widely read and would definitely improve public's impression of the man. Many LCPS administrators should be blogging about the work they do and the many things going on in local education as a way to improve support for our public schools. Alas the technology- and media-shy central office culture (a close reflection of Hatrick himself) is unlikely to embrace this approach.

That said, Dr. Hatrick may have taken a step closer to blogging last week when he updated his Superintendent's Message on the LCPS website. There's nothing earth-shattering within, it has all the complexity of a product release. Still, it has some of the markings of a blog. First, it's posted online and not sent out as a press release, inside a publication or otherwise on the printed page.

Second, he will need to update it before too long, because in November it's going to be strange to read:

We've got a really exciting year ahead of us.

Finally, he talks about very current issues, in this case the impact of the economy on LCPS:

We acknowledge that this year, programmatically, will be a holding year to a certain extent. There are no new initiatives in the curriculum, no new programs. The good news is that we didn't lose any programs in setting a budget for this year.

and...

We froze everybody's compensation, so not a single employee in Loudoun County Public Schools will receive a pay raise.

So while we're not able to welcome Dr. Hatrick to the blogosphere yet, a timely message posted online instead of sent home in 60,000 backpacks is certainly a good start.

Parent Group Blog LEAPs to life

Don't miss the latest blog post from the Loudoun Education Alliance of Parents (LEAP) about their upcoming programs.

LEAP is sort of like a congress of Loudoun's Parent-Teacher organizations. Its mission is:

• To provide a forum for the discussion and sharing of common educational concerns and ideas and
• To serve as a network for interaction among local parent groups, students, teachers, administrators and the Loudoun County Public School System and
• To secure for all students in the Loudoun County Public School System the highest advantages in academic, vocational, physical and social education.
  

The Loudoun Education Alliance of Parents (LEAP) is a non-partisan network that promotes interaction between parents, teachers, School Board members and members of the Loudoun County Public Schools Administrative Team.