Board of Ed Roundup - October 2022
Building council plans, NYS assessment rankings, Dehn/Schaertl debate for a while, Superintendent search update!
In Brief:
Public Comment [00:01:59 - 00:03:27]
Using Data to Improve Student Success with Quinn Simmons [00:09:08 - 00:29:12]
New York State Assessment Rankings [00:06:18 - 00:07:06]
Building Council Shared Decision-Making Plans [00:29:18 - 01:07:07]
Elementary School [00:29:12 - 00:43:40]
Middle School [00:43:40 - 00:52:21]
High School [00:52:21 - 01:05:34]
Dehn Addresses Concerns from Matt Schaertl [01:07:07 - 01:45:30]
Defined Measurements and Results with Transparency [01:08:12 - 01:25:42]
Scholarships [01:25:42 - 01:33:31]
Homecoming (and a community member is scolded like a child) [01:33:31 - 01:45:30]
Superintendent Search Resolution [01:59:50 - 02:02:49]
Personnel Report [02:02:49 - 02:12:17]
I added a complete audio recording from the meeting. I used a simple hand-held recorder, so the sound quality is imperfect. Timestamps are provided in section titles so that you can scroll through the recording and find the pieces you want to listen to. (For example, [00:01:59] refers to zero hours, one minute and fifty-nine seconds into the recording.)
The Board of Education (BoE) met last month on Wednesday, October 12th. The evening began with some casual Executive Session, where secret things like personnel, disciplinary and legal matters are discussed. Oddly, before executive session had ended, someone came out of the cafeteria and called CSE/CPSE (Committee on Special Education/Committee on Preschool Special Education) Director Kristi Curtin into a side office, closing the door behind them. A few minutes later, Curtin left the building. A few minutes after that, the cafeteria doors were opened, signaling the end of executive session.
Public Comment
BoE meetings open with public comment. Jen Luecke (loo-kee) spoke, saying that she had been made aware of a letter relating to events surrounding April 1st that was sent to the members of the Board. She did not specify who wrote the letter or say anything about its specific contents. She only said that she did not receive her information from a Board member:
“April 1st was an extremely traumatic event for our community. In particular, our school community, as you all know. When such an event happens, we must go through a larger and longer grieving process, as there are so many people involved. It can be very difficult to manage, and I appreciate that.
“It has been brought to light that a letter with great detail of the events leading up to April 1st was sent to the Board. Before I go further, I would like to make it clear that I did not hear this from a Board member. I have had nothing but respect for all of you and the way you have presented professionalism to me whenever I have had the opportunity to interact with you. Fortunately or unfortunately, a letter with such information does not stay quiet in such a small town – any small town.
“I bring this up to you tonight to tell you that I trust you. I trust, as a Board, you have the best interests of this entire community in mind as you process through the next steps from this.
“As I said before, I have great respect for all of you and I have faith in your ability to see the bigger picture. I also have faith that you will find ways to help the school community start to gain back trust and security after such a harrowing experience. Thank you.”
Her address to the Board was a simple plea: the community is aware of detailed information which you also have, and trusts you to use this information to make decisions that are in the community’s best interest. We are watching. We are waiting.
[Author Disclosure: Jen and I are friends. We discuss, debate, agree, disagree, and inform one another’s point of view all the time. I sat next to her at this meeting. We both make a habit of showing up. To her credit, she did not disclose any details of the letter to me, even in confidence, before the letter was shared publicly.]
The Board received Luecke’s public comment with thanks.
Using Data to Improve Student Success with Quinn Simmons
The next items on the agenda were several presentations by school staff. The first, titled “Using Data to Improve Student Success,” was by third-grade teacher Quinn Simmons, who has spearheaded an effort to bring a new academic assessment system to the elementary school.
According to Simmons, the Elementary School started tracking student data in 2020 with the creation of “benchmarking” spreadsheets. “We use these sheets to track student academic growth and progress from the beginning of the year to the end of the year,” said Simmons. “They are Google Spreadsheets, and each teacher has their own, so we are able to look at data on a grade-level basis, on a classroom basis, teacher basis, student basis.” Assessment data is entered into the sheets, which then show teachers how students are progressing with respect to grade-level expectations. iReady and Fountas & Pinnell (F&P) Reading Level assessment data was used in 2020. She noted that the school still uses iReady assessments, but has moved away from F&P, saying “it is currently not backed by evidence and research and it’s no longer a widely-accepted measure of student achievement – it, frankly, doesn’t tell you anything other than a letter.”
In 2021, the elementary school adopted a new K-5 ELA program called Collaborative Classroom, which Simmons says brought consistency to ELA instruction “mostly at the whole-group level, but there is also a small-group component,” but that the program lacked assessments and left teachers no way to monitor individual progress. In spring of 2022, Simmons became the first Red Jacket teacher to complete her Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) training. LETRS is a year-long professional development course that trains teachers in “the science of reading.” (Read more about LETRS and the Science of Reading here.)
“The science of reading is really an up-and-coming hot topic in education,” said Simmons. “It’s a growing body of research that tells us how it is that kids actually learn to read. There’s not really an opinion anymore on how reading should be taught. There is no argument. There’s evidence – MRI brain imaging – that tells us how kids learn to read.”
There are six more RJ elementary teachers currently going through LETRS training, which, according to Simmons, is already required for teachers in about 13 states and will likely make its way to New York soon. Elementary School principal Jeff McCarthy has also completed the administrative equivalent of LETRS.
Over this summer, Simmons and McCarthy worked together to develop an improved benchmarking system. Applying their LETRS knowledge, they refined the data points they will track for students, decided on new assessments (three per school year), and created a physical bin for each teacher. Every bin has a folder containing completed past assessments and all of the blank, yet-to-be-completed assessments for each student in the class (students now have folders of assessments that will accompany them at least through elementary school). The assessments, based in the Science of Reading, will track the same metrics (as they become applicable) year-over-year for all K-5 students, meaning that they will have comprehensive and cohesive evaluation data over six years of instruction – a powerful tool for elementary teachers and parents alike. The data will be used to “code” students into four categories: below grade level, approaching grade level, at grade level, and above grade level. The goal of this system is to allow teachers to understand where specifically students are struggling and to guide their teaching approaches to better fit student needs. “This allows us to make much better-informed instructional decisions,” said Simmons. “Especially at the primary grades and elementary grades, we spend a significant amount of our day in small groups working on foundational skills. A teacher simply can’t know what to do with a group of students in a small group without knowing what they know and what they don’t know. Without something like this and without a system like this to give us this in-depth type of information, we’re kind of guessing as to what’s best for the student and that’s a terrible approach to use, instructionally.”
The system will produce more data of higher quality than the District has ever had before and will also allow the district to identify trends. For example, the Elementary School identified phonics as an area of weakness, consulted with Pam Kastner, and has obtained phonics-specific instructional techniques to assist students. Simmons quoted Kastner in closing, saying “The whole idea is, when we know better, we can do better.”
Assessments include:
-iReady (reading and math)
-BAR (Being a Reader) placement assessment (tied to Collaborative Classroom)
-Letters, phonics and word-reading survey
-Oral reading fluency (timed oral reading)
-PAST (Phonological Awareness Screening Test) assessment
-HFW (High-Frequency Word/Sight Word) assessment
-Spelling screener (Simmons: “You cannot read a word that you can’t spell.”)
-Unit assessments (for higher grade levels; shift from “learning to read” to “reading to learn”)
-Comprehension assessment
-Maze assessment (also comprehension)
New York State Assessment Rankings
Superintendent Dehn and elementary principal McCarthy shared Red Jacket’s ranking from state assessment testing for grades 3-5.
“Despite a large number of students who opted out of testing,” said Dehn, “literacy results from elementary school NYS assessment were very good, especially compared to other districts.”
Out of the 26 districts in our region, Red Jacket ranked:
#2 in 3rd grade ELA
#17 in 4th grade ELA
#5 in 5th grade ELA
#6 in 3rd grade math
#1 in 4th grade math
#3 in 5th grade math
Building Council Shared Decision-Making Plans
The next item on the agenda was a series of presentations by the school principals where they discussed their building-wide plans for the academic year. Each summer, building councils consisting of teachers, staff, students, parents and/or community members meet to set goals and plan initiatives for the following school year. Here is what they had to say. (To read the full building plans, follow the links embedded in the school names.)
Elementary School (←click for full building plan)
Principal Jeff McCarthy presented the Elementary School building plan. The plan includes three goals and an initiative. This year, the elementary school plan is focused on supporting academic achievement and character development.
Academic goal: 80% of students who are below current grade level expectations, will make their individualized annual typical growth on the iReady Reading/Math Diagnostic. Students who are at or above grade level, will be monitored to ensure grade level proficiency and continue to progress toward their individualized annual typical growth by the end of the academic year.
Strategies for achieving goal:
Administer iReady assessments in September, January and May
Use PLC (Professional Learning Community) time to analyze assessment data to drive instruction and intervention
Incorporate personalized learning in all subject areas
“The most consistent thing we had was iReady (Math and English assessment) to be able to set a goal from,” began McCarthy. This year’s academic goal is for “80% of our students in English and Math will meet their individualized annual typical growth on iReady.” Students are assessed in September, January, and May. A student’s performance on their beginning-of-year assessment will determine how much growth they are expected to make. “What we’re looking for the kids to do is to make that individualized growth by the end of the school year,” said McCarthy. “It’s a pretty lofty goal.”
The elementary school’s Classroom PRIDE goal is to implement a program called “Character Strong.” Each month, a positive character trait will be emphasized in the school. At the end of the month, the student from each class who most exemplifies this quality will be awarded a certificate of recognition and have their picture posted outside their classroom. A teacher will be chosen as a winner, too. Winners will be announced on ParentSquare.
The elementary school also has a PRIDE goal to promote good behavior in the cafeteria. (This goal was suggested by the support staff who monitor our rowdy children.) “The support staff get to select a classroom at each grade level that has shown the most PRIDE in the [cafeteria],” said McCarthy. “They bring the trophy… the class gets the trophy, they bring the trophy to lunch with them, they set it over here on the heater. They take it back every week.” In this way, one class from each grade will be recognized every week. At intervals, the classroom with the most wins will be rewarded with extra time at recess or snacks.
Other strategies to achieve these PRIDE goals include setting consistent PRIDE rules and expectations, and using “Character Strong” curriculum to teach social emotional learning.
Finally, the Elementary School will be promoting “family engagement and social-emotional learning” by hosting three events for families. The first event, Fall Festival, was held on Friday, October 21st. This event featured crafts, games, light snacks, farm animals, and an egg drop competition run by McCarthy. The winter event will be “Family Matters” night, and the final event will be an ice cream social.
Middle School (←click for full building plan)
According to the Middle School building council, this year’s middle school goals are aligned to more or less match the elementary school plan: “He [McCarthy] did a lot of work for us, so you’ll see that the middle school goals are aligned with the elementary goals,” said middle school principal Karen Hall.
“A lot of our goals are the same as what they always were, we just kind of made it align more with the elementary school,” said Ashley Powers, middle school social studies teacher and building committee member.
Academic goal: 80% of students will make their individualized annual typical growth on the iReady Reading/Math diagnostic, which is the average annual growth for the student at his/her grade and baseline placement level.
The middle school’s academic goal for its students this year is the same as the elementary goal: for 80% of students to meet their individualized typical growth on iReady. “Our goal used to be centered around the percentage of students at each level,” said Hall, “whether at grade level, below grade level, etc. We really wanted to shift to the individual growth model because then every student can attain that, especially toward 8th grade when more of our students are in algebra, they sort of test out or they get really high in the end, but it still gives them an opportunity to participate in this goal.”
To achieve this goal, teachers will administer iReady assessments in September, January and May and bi-weekly iReady “growth monitoring measurements.” This data will be analyzed to drive instruction and intervention. Personalized learning will be incorporated into all subject areas and teachers will use SMART goal-setting strategies.
PRIDE goals:
Red Jacket Middle School will utilize MTSS (Multi-Tiered Systems and Supports) to support student academic, behavioral and social-emotional needs
Consistent PRIDE language related to school-wide expectations will be posted and utilized across all areas of the school. These expectations will be explicitly taught in the beginning of the school year and reviewed throughout the year
“We transitioned to the MTSS, Multi-Tiered Systems and Supports, to support students’ academic, behaviorally, and social-emotional needs,” said Powers. What is MTSS? Here is an explanation from characterstrong.com: “MTSS is a needs-driven, equity-focused service delivery framework designed to ensure each student receives the experiences and supports they need to be well, engage fully their learning experiences, and acquire and apply critical competencies that enable school and life success.”
Still confused? Me, too. Here are more explanatory things from Character Strong:
Now that that’s all cleared up…
The administration and staff will “use consistent PRIDE language throughout the building.” At the beginning of the school year, all middle students were taken on a walking tour of the school to listen to different speakers talk about “what PRIDE looks like.” According to presenters Hall and Powers, behavioral issues became a problem in the aftermath of Covid. This prompted the school to put more emphasis into setting expectations and teaching students about PRIDE.
“We really saw our behaviors change a lot during the Covid years because of everything else that was already in place, that when we came back, we really needed to get back to basics,” said Hall.
Family/Community engagement SMART goal: Red Jacket Middle School will plan for increased opportunities for engagement through the school year by hosting events, consistently seeking input from students and families, and encouraging effective two-way communication in a variety of modalities.
The middle school hosted an informational session for parents who wanted to learn more about Google Classroom and Parent Portal on October 14th. They will also be implementing a quarterly coffee with the building council, wherein once every three months, the building council will be available on a Saturday to speak with or answer questions for anyone who is inclined to stop by. The school will also be making an effort to gather more feedback from parents by sending out digital surveys. “We said twice, but we’ll probably do more,” said Hall. “I’ve already done one for open house feedback, so we’ll just do that continually to see… what ideas they have for future events.”
The building culture goal is to “mindfully plan and implement activities targeted to improving our climate and our culture in the middle school.” As a part of this goal, each teacher and staff member has a “get to know you” cards outside of their room, which Hall says everyone seems to enjoy. The school will also be holding once monthly breakfasts for their staff, and faculty meetings will rotate between classrooms this year so that teachers can “get to learn from each other’s spaces and environments.” All faculty meetings will begin and end with a celebration of some sort, and meetings will include “fun games” and “teacher-led PD” (Professional Development). A staff shout-out board will be placed in the office, and themed Fridays will be established.
High School (←click for full building plan)
[Note: Before I get into the details of the high school building plan, I want to take a moment to provide you with some important context. Principal Bryon George was formally appointed principal at the August 10th Board of Education meeting and began his tenure sometime between then and September 12th. Jodi Roberts, school psychologist and co-presenter, began her tenure on August 31st. I want to acknowledge upfront that this team has only just walked onto the job and so were not allowed much time at all to establish their plan. Red Jacket started working with a contractor called Education Elements earlier this summer. Ed Elements is coaching district staff on personalized learning (PL) instructional techniques and practices. As you will notice, many of the high school’s goals this year are closely tied to Ed Elements. Also, the “SMART” in “Smart goal” stands for Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic, Timebound.]
Academic goal: Working in collaboration with EdElements, 75% of the staff at RJHS will regularly use up to five personalized learning (PL) strategies within their instruction based on a teacher feedback form in June.
Strategies for achieving academic goal:
Work with EdElements and PLCs (Professional Learning Communities) to turnkey the lessons
Provide PD (professional development) on EdElements lessons
Gather baseline data from staff – who used personalized learning in their lesson plans?
Give time for staff to implement lessons which can be discussed during pre-observation
End-of-year survey
A checklist of personalized leaning strategies will be provided
Anchor staff into the differentiation standard on the NYSUT (New York State United Teachers — teacher’s union) rubric
This year’s academic goal for the high school is “75% of the staff at the high school will regularly use up to five personalized learning (PL) strategies in instruction based on teacher feedback.” Success will be measured by teacher feedback surveys at the end of the academic year. “A big portion of what we’re going to be talking about is teacher feedback,” said Roberts. “We really spent a long time, really in just the first few months, of really collaborating with teachers, getting teacher feedback and working extensively in order to align, kind of, our vision and getting feedback in order to create these goals and the mission.”
“When you look at personalized learning, differentiation, specially-designed instruction, all three of these really do align with each other,” said George. “And just through observation and talking to staff, and listening to conversations, we felt that we can really get our best bang for the buck when it comes to the personalized learning strategy, is helping our teachers grow with and meet the needs of all our students. And how we came up with that number, 75%, is we want to be realistic. Talking about a SMART goal, something that is obtainable. So, we talked about this with our building councils. We talked about four staff members: if we can reach three of those four staff members by the end of this year, and then we can start to target that individual staff member who still hasn’t bought into this yet. Then we know who we can target moving forward.”
Communication goal: Stronger channels of communication (3.5 or higher) and interactions with all stakeholders based on the survey generated by Ed Elements will be implemented.
“Stakeholders” refers to anyone who works with students, but especially teachers, explained Roberts. “We have lots of stakeholders involved with our students, so we want to make sure that we’re in continuous collaboration, communication and we’ve really spent a lot of time – you’ll see us in the hallways – Mr. George has really made a big point of making sure that we are visible for our students. And really, seeking that collaboration, communication, and making ourselves visible so that we’re always getting feedback. And really making sure that it’s parent feedback, teacher feedback, and making sure we know what’s happening in the best interest of our students.”
The school needs to identify what it is already doing well and what can be improved upon, said George. “How can we become better communicators?” asked George. “How can we also use social media? What are our strengths? What are our weaknesses? So that we can learn how to grow, know what we need to improve on. So we can start, y’know, learning ourselves.”
“So, how we came up with that number, 3.5 or higher: that’s a rating that does also come from Ed Elements,” said George. “Ed Elements had to do a data collection last year through parents, students, and staff surveyed. And they felt like the communication at the high school level was at the lower two’s. So, we brought this to building council, we showed them data points, we showed different ways of communication. They said we should be at 3.5 or higher by now. I’m like, is that really attainable? Is that really realistic? But the reality is, we need to make it realistic because it’s about making sure that everybody knows, understands, y’know, what’s going on.”
George mentioned social media, mailing and ParentSquare as important methods of communication that, together, can help the school to maximize its reach.
Culture goal: 90% of students and staff perceive RJHS as a positive school community which is measured by perception survey data.
Progress toward this goal will be measured by “perception surveys, data measured by Education Elements,” according to the presenters.
Administration has put together a roadmap plan to improve building culture that includes increasing staff strength and knowledge, as well as providing staff with additional skills needed to teach students. The roadmap includes things like self-awareness of triggers, understanding the functions of behaviors, maintaining a restorative mindset, teaching with poverty in mind, and doing trauma-informed instruction. Disciplinary consistency will also be important.
Attendance goal: The number of students who are deemed chronically absent will decrease by 2% yearly for the next four consecutive years for the 9th grade cohort (2026).
Currently, 16% of the ninth-grade cohort are chronically absent, meaning that they miss at least 18.5 days of school. The high school is hoping to bring this number down to 8% by the time they graduate.
Behavior/Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Smart goal: 80% of staff will become experts with implementing restorative practices when presented with conflict based on decrease in disciplinary referrals.
“This is something that we have been heavily, heavily implementing in the high school and really trying to re-frame people’s thinking of function-based thinking, really getting teachers to kind of change their way of thinking about what behavior is, what it looks like, and take more of a social-emotional lens,” said Roberts. “And we are starting to see some of those changes already, but it’s going to take time.”
George spoke about the philosophy behind this goal, saying that “whatever harm is done, it’s got to be restored.” He used the example of a student wanting to leave a classroom and noted that not only would such a student fall behind academically, but that the student’s relationship with the teacher would suffer. “How can we then restore this, so this doesn’t continuously happen? It’s about using these strategies, learning these conversations, and really just trying to change that overall mindset. To have the skills, but also for the teachers to have the strategies to use when they work with all of students.” (Emphasis his.)
Dehn Addresses Concerns from Matt Schaertl
Earlier this year, around the time that he assumed his position on the Board, Matt Schaertl emailed a 10-page document to the rest of the Board and Superintendent Dehn. In the document, he outlined a number of concerns and items that he wanted to Board to address. Superintendent Dehn took the opportunity to speak to a few of these items at this point in the meeting.
“I wanted to follow up with, regarding Matt’s document that he provided to the Board the day before the reorganizational meeting,” said Dehn. “We’re trying to embed the information that you [Schaertl] want into the agendas where it’s appropriate.” This evening, she addressed Schaertl’s concerns regarding “the defined measurements and results with transparency,” scholarships, and homecoming.
Defined Measurements and Results with Transparency
Before explaining Schaertl’s concern about measurements, results and transparency, she began speaking about the District’s work assessing student progress, creating benchmarks, comparing similar data over multiple years, and adjusting curricula and instructional strategies to improve academic achievement. She also spoke of the difficulties schools face given the ever-changing state standards, tests, and grading criteria, which make gathering consistent and reliable data difficult. “Many districts, including ours, have moved away from placing too much emphasis on the state assessment results when making data-driven decisions to construct meaningful and accurate instructional plans to improve student performance,” she said, citing an increasing number of students opting out of state testing as a key factor. “The small sample size of students who actually take the assessments is not representative of the entire population at each grade level. This also is the case for every other school in New York State,” said Dehn before noting that for this reason it is also not possible to reliably compare results between districts. “Instead, we use multiple measures to make informed decisions at the individual student level, which is much more effective.”
Dehn said that all NYS assessment results are published and publicly available at the NYS Department of Education’s website “as well as on a link on our school district website.” She claims that regents exam data going back to 2013 is also available on the district website. I was unable to find either of these links on the school website (not for a lack of trying).
The system of individual evaluation currently in place was specially designed for RJ, says Dehn, targets individualized instruction and continuous improvement, and is “the crux of personalized learning and social emotional learning and, in part, why we brought Education Elements to Red Jacket as a support system for our teachers and administrators.”
“So, Matt provided the Board and myself with these… opinions,” said Dehn, who then read four separate comments from Schaertl.
Schaertl Comment 1: I feel that developing a dashboard graph of standardized test results showing trends of our school, as compared to the other 17 school districts in the region, would be an honest method of evaluating ourselves. The results would be researched back to a minimum of ten years to establish a snapshot of where we were, where we are, and where we are heading.
Dehn’s response: “We do have that information and everyone has that information if they go onto the data dashboard and look up the school district information. And we have used that in the past, but, like I said, -- and we still do, and I shared a little bit of that earlier today, with where we ranked with other school districts. But we don’t put a whole lot of faith in that.
“The use of the word ‘transparent’ implies that the district is not being transparent, which is false,” said Dehn, because the district includes student assessment data in presentations made at Board of Education meetings. “For obvious reasons, we do not publicly share individual student progress results, however, we focus our attention on individual student data within our schools.” Here, Dehn appears to have interpreted Schaertl’s appeal for more transparency on a district level as his having asked for access to individual student data. She then reiterated that Red Jacket academic data is available on the school and NYS Dept of Ed websites.
“Red Jacket is currently and always has been a district in good standing, demonstrating success in all New York State Education Department’s student performance goals. This is also public information and has been shared with Red Jacket parents.” She pointed to Red Jacket’s recent rankings, 31st in the Rochester Metro area and in the top third of New York State schools. She talked about Covid learning losses impacting test scores. She talked about this year’s graduation rate (92%). She talked about the summer learning clinic. She talked about striving to do better. (“We do have some work do to, obviously.”)
Schaertl Comment 2: The dashboard, good or bad, would be posted outside of the office areas and inside the teacher lounge. The additional emphasis on a non-subjective measurement of all schools will help everyone understand where we stand in comparison to other Finger Lakes schools.
Dehn’s Response to 2: Since teachers have their students’ individual assessment data readily available, Dehn did not see any benefit to posting RJ’s regional ranking anywhere in the schools. “Posting assessment results outside of rooms places a lot of pressure on individual teachers, not to mention concerns over the validity of the results.” Rather than relying on information from a single test score, the district is using – and will continue to use, according to Dehn – multiple measures “to make decisions about interventions, curriculum and instruction.”
“We care about our employees and we want them to feel psychologically safe and supported in our school,” said Dehn, who believes that posting test scores by teacher/class may have the opposite effect.
Schaertl Comment 3: If we see a success pattern from another school, we should talk to them and duplicate lesson plans. If/when we see a pattern where we are exceeding, then those teachers should be given more flexibility and less oversight, which would allow for more support being provided to the underperforming staff. Results based on test results, not administration or parent speculation.
Dehn’s Response to 3: Regional schools coordinate and collaborate through BOCES, regional instructional counsels, and a superintendents group. Through BOCES, teacher exchanges have taken place.
Schaertl Comment 4: I would not be opposed to additional monetary rewards for those teachers and aids that maintain a three-year average of being in the top three school districts regionally for each standardized test. For teachers that have elective classes such as AP (advanced placement), there should be an incentive based on the percentage of students enrolled. Taking or teaching a more difficult class should not be a financial penalty, even if the results are mediocre.
Dehn’s Response to 4: “Monetary rewards for performance need to be negotiated with union leadership,” said Dehn.
Schaertl then offered a clarification: “When I mean ‘transparent,’ I mean ‘more transparency,’” said Schaertl. Although records are available online, they can be difficult to find and even more difficult to make sense of. (Test scores are reported each year by grade level and examination. Data from the previous two years is compared to current results, but longer-term trends can only be identified by scouring the data and entering each data point, by hand, into a spreadsheet.) “The thing is, should we make people dig for it, or should we just put it out there as easy for them to assess it as possible – or see it? Because, you’ve got to call attention to everything, or else, there’s just way too much information that’s out there already. You have to put it in front of people’s faces every day.” He compared the district ranking stats to dashboards that employers provide to their employees to help them make meaningful goals and stay on task.
Basically, Schaertl was trying to convince the Board to put district-level information in front of teachers on a daily basis to indicate to them how the district as a whole compared to other districts in the region. Dehn insisted that this was unnecessary because teachers already have their students’ assessment data, which they can access at any time.
“There are only [57] schools in the region,” said Schaertl, so ranking 31st means that “we’re in the bottom half.”
“That’s 31 out of the whole…” said Dehn uncertainly.
“Yeah, 31 out of 57 that were ranked,” said Schaertl. “And the bottom ones were ranked at the bottom because they didn’t submit any data.”
“We were in the top third across…” replied Dehn, again trailing off before she finished her sentence.
“In that regional report, we were ranked 31 out of 57. We are ranked in the top third [across the state]. In the 2016 newsletter for Red Jacket, we were in the top ten percent,” said Schaertl. “So we’ve actually dropped.”
After a little more discussion and significant confusion on the part of the Board about what exactly Schaertl was proposing, Dehn said, “I don’t think I need to put that information in front of teachers. So, I’m gonna just say ‘no.’ […] That data is not as important as the individual student data. It’s not.”
Schaertl brought up an article that he recently read about Red Jacket District, saying that the report was generally favorable, but “there are some areas we can improve on.”
“That’s why we have goals,” replied Dehn. “That’s why we set goals.”
“They need to be more visible to everyone. To parents as well,” said Schaertl. “If a ELA score from the fourth grade in 2018-2019 was 26% [proficiency], I would think that would be a big concern for the parents of those kids.”
It was 26%. But in case you think Schaertl is being ridiculous, here is the grade 3-8 ELA state assessment data that I gathered. (To be proficient, a student must score at least 65%, or a 3 out of 4, on their test.) All the caveats that Dehn has mentioned do apply: the tests change frequently, as does scoring, and significant numbers of students do opt out of testing, especially middle schoolers.
After a beat, Dehn replied, “I think the individual information is more important for the parents of those individual students. I’m going to move on.”
What do you think? Is individual data more important? In a sense, it certainly is. But in another sense, only having easy access to your own children’s data is also isolating and fails to give you a picture of your school’s overall performance.
Scholarships
Schaertl’s Comment: There was a year when our graduating students hauled in almost $500,000 in scholarships. Those dollars have tapered off to half that for a variety of reasons. Once the academic results become acceptable and residents begin to feel like the school is in partnership with the rest of the community, I am confident that the residents will support a very successful scholarship as a sign of appreciation.
“So, that information is not correct,” responded Dehn. “The Board Clerk maintains the scholarship records. The scholarship fund has increased over the last fifteen years. In 2007, the scholarship account had $351,000 in it, and, as of June 2022, the balance is $536,600. The average total amount of the scholarships given to graduates per year has been about $96,000.”
The Board of Education clerk, Kim Brown, tracks community and memorial scholarships, but doesn’t track scholarships offered by colleges or private entities. This is mostly because these scholarships are not necessarily reported to the high school, so it may not be feasible to track them accurately. Some students may also prefer not to be recognized for their scholarships. The decision about whether or not to read college scholarships at graduation is made by the high school principal.
Schaertl clarified that he was tallying all scholarships, not just those tracked by the Board Clerk. The local Chamber of Commerce (of which Schaertl is a member) typically documents each scholarship that is announced during graduation ceremonies. “This year, we did not because they did not read off the college scholarships of the graduates. But it is – it is almost certainly over $300,000 almost every single year. And I gave you the recap of two years, that I have here, of who won the awards, how much the awards were, and what those totals were.”
“We’re only keeping track of community and memorial scholarships,” replied Dehn. “And so, we’re not tracking college scholarships.” She mentioned that the memorial scholarships have increased in the past, by $12,000 each year between 2007 and 2015 and expressed gratitude to the community for its generosity.
Scott Van Aken tried to help explain that it might be difficult for schools track scholarships from colleges using his daughter as an example, but Schaertl was too flustered by that time to take his meaning and wound up bulldozer-ing his fellow Board member.
“That would be difficult to track,” said Van Aken. “My daughter is an example of that, right? There is a significant amount of money my daughter got from college that [the school district is unaware of] – ”
“Yeah. Every dollar counts,” interjected Schaertl.
“I don’t know if I – ” started Van Aken.
“The kid doesn’t care where the dollar comes from.”
“Right! So what if I had – ”
“But $351,000 in 2007 and $536,000 in 2022, if you include the interest rate, it’s only gone up like $22,000.”
“This is the general – ” This time, it was Dehn who was interrupted.
“And the cost of an education,” Schaertl went on, “has gone up way more than the rate of inflation.”
“In my – ” Dehn tried again.
“What I’m saying is that if we track those – if we advertise better results, and if we track these results, it’s easier to go to the 101 businesses that are members of the local Chamber of Commerce and say, ‘lookit: this is what these kids are doing,’” said Schaertl. “There are people that live here that have additional funds that they could focus in on the school instead of the humane society or end-of-life hospices or things like that.”
Dehn again stated that the community scholarships are generous and mentioned the annual walk-a-thon that supports scholarships. “I’m really proud and appreciative of the generosity of our community. And we only keep track of the community and memorial funds. It’s too difficult, and – ”
“If there was an easy way to do that, I wouldn’t disagree with you, Matt,” said Van Aken. “But it does make it difficult – ”
“There is an easy way to do it,” Schaertl argued. “You sit at graduation and you write it down. Obviously, it’s already written down because the principal reads it off!”
“It’s not,” said Van Aken.
“It’s not,” affirmed a veritable chorus of other Board of Education members.
“It is! The principal reads it off!”
“It’s not,” said Van Aken.
“If it’s provided,” said Lisa Lombardi.
“My daughter’s was never announced,” said Van Aken.
“As far as I know, this year was the first year we did not announce the college scholarships and we didn’t have any indication of which kids got regents diplomas. ‘Cuz if you read the graduation flyer for this year, not a single kid got a regents diploma.”
There followed a short silence.
“Well, your comment was about the community, and so my response was about – ” began Dehn, before she was interrupted again.
In case you’re wondering, yes – everyone was a little worked up by this point. The conversation continued for a little longer, with Dehn suggesting that Schaertl’s numbers may not be complete, Schaertl insisting that the numbers were complete, and more Board members citing examples of scholarships that they knew were not read at graduation. The consensus seemed to be that it is up to individual colleges whether or not to report scholarships to the high school and, further, that there may be students who do not want their scholarships announced at graduation.
Apparently there was an oversight in the graduation programs this year: the high school forgot to indicate which students had received regents diplomas. All eagerly agreed that this was good feedback and an easy fix for next year.
“All this is about positive community presentation, right?” asked Van Aken, seeking to see the positive side of this conversation. “So, if there’s a positive way we can find the – to do so, I’m for it.”
“I’m trying to respond to the questions, y’know…” said Dehn. “But I’m just saying, y’know, that’s the actual answer to your question.”
Homecoming (and a community member is scolded like a child)
“The other one was on homecoming,” said Dehn. “I would like to thank our staff and students for planning the homecoming. A lot of time and effort and excitement goes into planning these events. They’re fun and traditional annual events. School homecoming events, celebrations, rituals and decisions have always been traditionally made by staff advisors and our students. This is an exciting time for them and one that our students will remember throughout their lifetime. The middle school advisors, staff, principals and students plan their own developmentally appropriate activities and dances. The advisors for both schools collaborate on activities and events they wish to partner on and they do an exceptional job of planning and communicating, executing these school events. They coordinate with me and other administrators and we support them. Matt had five comments or questions.”
Schaertl Comment 1: The community would like to see the continuation of events as it was done last year at the park and the school: bonfire, searchlights, pumpkin walk, dancing, and permanently establish Columbus Day weekend as homecoming weekend so people and organizations can plan for it annually.
Dehn’s Response: “No one from the community has ever reached out to me or a high school principal, past or present, to express their desire for Red Jacket High School to break from tradition and schedule homecoming on school grounds. I did ask Shannon Bodine to just double-check my comments […] and she said the same thing.”
Schaertl said he sent the Board an email last April suggesting that homecoming be scheduled for Columbus Day weekend. The Chamber of Commerce would have taken on some of the costs of homecoming and helped students to earn more money at the event.
However, the scheduling of football games is completely out of the district’s hands, said Board President Barb Gardner, who used to be an athletic director. “We may not even get a home game on Columbus weekend,” she said. “You can always put your name in the hat for it, but let me tell you…”
Schaertl Comment 2: People have suggested float-judging be done at the Friday bonfire and have the floats on display the following day.
“I do not agree with that, by the way, but I am passing the information along,” said Schaertl.
“That’s not for the Board to decide,” said Lisa Lombardi. “But I think that that’s for the homecoming committee, if they would like to do that, that’s great.”
According to Dehn, no one has requested this, either.
Schaertl said that he is personally in favor of returning to the old tradition of driving the floats down Route 21.
Schaertl Comment 3: As has been done in the past, grades 7-12 should be included in the competition, as modified sports do represent the school and should be given the same respect.
Dehn’s Response: “No one has requested this and no one has requested that the middle school students be included in the high school homecoming competition.”
Schaertl Comment 4: Grades 7-12 should be invited to the dance to show community unity across grade levels and make the event more financially viable for the hosting grade level.
Dehn’s Response: “No one from the community has requested that the middle school students attend high school dances. I think that might be a problem for the high school students.”
Scheartl Comment 5: The community would overwhelmingly like to see a return of traditional themes for floats: sportsmanship, discipline, team heritage… In lieu of topics that have no connection to athletics: city names, game shows, cartoons… Also, announce the plans the first week of school so students and parents can plan on resources, like acquiring barns, trailers, materials that are needed.
Dehn’s Response: “I understand, Matt, that it would be easier to have that information earlier. No one from the community has ever told us that the community should determine homecoming floats – float themes – instead of our students and their advisors, who traditionally plan and execute the events and activities. But we can ask our advisors to announce the plans as soon as they can. However, it’s probably not likely to happen the first week because they will be formulating their plans with their students during that period of time. I’ve not received any ParentSquare messages, emails, text messages, phone calls or any in-person comments about any of the homecoming event requests on behalf of the community by any community members. And, as I said before, homecoming cannot fall on Columbus Day weekend because the schedule does not allow this to occur. The scheduling of the league competitions is done by the Section V scheduler for the entire league, and not by the athletic director.”
“I’m just going to, kinda, keep going with my report,” continued Dehn. “Open house. I’d like to thank all of our parents – ”
“Before you go on to that,” said Schaertl...
Before Dehn could move on, Schaertl framed his suggestions by sharing that the handful of pictures from this year’s homecoming dance (which was hosted in Budd Park) that he posted to the community Facebook groups garnered more than a hundred reactions in less than a day, with at least one community member saying that having the dance at the park made their children feel more included. “[Social media is] very effective to get feedback from people that were there.” Schaertl estimates that about 1,200 people attended homecoming this year. The PTSA even sold out of hotdogs. “It’s a much larger potential for the kids to earn money by piggybacking onto the Chamber that’s absorbing the cost than to try and do something else,” he said. “It’d just be a smart, easier way for the kids to make money.” Among the advantages of hosting an event in the park are better liability insurance, better traffic control, and more police, firefighters, and adults.
“I think the events at the park and the community events are awesome,” said Dehn. “But I see them as two separate things.”
“But I think this is a way, moving forward, like the PTSA or Booster Club, maybe, if there’s a partnership between, like, the Chamber and those groups who, y’know, can hand it off to our staff,” said Lombardi.
It was agreed that, in the future, efforts should be made to make homecoming advisors and planners aware that the Chamber of Commerce is eager to partner with the school on this event.
A meeting observer from the school added that Columbus Day weekend might not be the best option for homecoming because this would mean that spirit week at school is only four days long. The last time this happened, he said, the students were disappointed.
“The only complaint we got was from a parent because – they missed it because they were expecting a notice to come through ParentSquare that didn’t come through, so their kids missed it,” said Schaertl. “That was the only complaint that we got.”
The awkward silence that followed was broken by Jen Luecke, beside me, in the middle of putting her hair into a ponytail. Her head was tossed back, her fingers combing through her hair, when a small noise escaped her throat. Although it did sound like a small, stifled laugh, it was difficult to tell with certainty because of the way her head was positioned. It could have been the kind of noise that accidentally escapes, unbidden, from time to time. (She was much closer to the microphone than anyone else speaking, which is why the noise is disproportionally loud on the recording.)
“Jennifer, is there something that you’d like to share?” said Dehn, unwilling to let this involuntary response to the absurdity of a parent not being notified of homecoming pass without scrutinizing it publicly. "I mean, you’re, like –“
“I’m just putting my hair up,” said Luecke, startled. She laughed uncomfortably. “I’m sorry. I will stop putting my hair up — give me one second.”
“You were smirking when I said that, so I just wondered if there was a problem,” said Dehn with more than a little contempt objectively present in her voice. (Emphasis hers.)
“I didn’t realize the public could speak during meetings,” said Luecke.
“Well, you’re not supposed to, but it – it’s distracting, and – and disrespectful, that’s all.”
“I – noted. Thank you,” said Luecke.
“Um, open house. I’d like to thank all of our parents and guardians who joined us for open house…” began Dehn immediately, having decided that it would be best to move on as quickly as possible and, in so doing, managing to avoid a discussion about the ParentSquare notification that did not arrive for at least one family.
Superintendent Search Resolution
Here is the resolution as read by Board of Education President Barbara Gardner:
Whereas, the Board of Education of the Manchester-Shortsville Central School District has determined that there is a need to fill the position of superintendent of schools as a result of the resignation of Charlene Dehn, the current superintendent, and,
Whereas, the Commissioner of Education has encouraged and instructed the district superintendent of schools of supervisory districts to assist component school districts in the recruitment and selection of the superintendents, and,
Whereas, Dr. Vicky Ramos, district superintendent of schools of the BOCES (Wayne-Fingerlakes), has advised the Board of Education that she is available to oversee a superintendent search process and that the commissioner of education has instructed her to provide assistance to the Board of Education in the selection of the new superintendent and to provide such other assistance to the school district as may be needed, and,
Now, therefore, it be resolved: the Manchester-Shortsville Central School District Board of Education authorizes the appointment of Dr. Vickma Ramos, District Superintendent of the Wayne-Fingerlakes BOCES, as the lead search consultant for the position of the superintendent of schools, and,
Be it further resolved: that the Manchester-Shortsville Central School District Board of Education authorizes the expenditure of funds directly related to the recruitment and selection of the superintendent of schools for the Manchester-Shortsville Central School District. Such expenses shall include, but not be limited to: expenses for advertisement and publishing the notice of vacancy and related information, postage, mileage, travel, and incidental expenses. All expenses submitted for reimbursement shall be submitted on appropriate requisitions, purchase orders, or claim forms by the Wayne-Fingerlakes BOCES for reimbursement by the Manchester-Shortsville Central School District.
In short, Dr. Vicky Ramos, District Superintendent of the Wayne-Fingerlakes BOCES, has been selected to assist Red Jacket with its search for a new superintendent.
The search will begin with a confidential community survey in January. The survey will help to identify the characteristics the community would like to see in the new superintendent. According to the District’s press release, “feedback will also be collected through community and district stakeholders’ conversations.”
This resolution was passed unanimously by the Board.
Personnel Report
This month, two teacher aides and a school bus monitor resigned; a biology teacher was given tenure; and a school counselor and numerous athletic coaches were appointed.
Very accurate and beneficial. I need to apologize to Scott. Not presented to the public but presented to the BOE and Sup prior to the meeting was an April 8th email from the Athletic DIrector discussing homecoming on Columbus weekend being "a safe assumption."
Very nice job. Greatly appreciated. Will attempt to be more patient/polite.