Grants/ Superintendent Search Update
By Donald Jaramillo
Cibola County Beacon Managing Editor
December 28, 2012
Despite rumor, "Bottom line is, the school board, together, will select the next superintendent," said School Board President Joel Stewart.
The Grants/Cibola County School (G/CCS) district board received an update on Tuesday, Dec. 18, of their superintendent search.
Just before Steve Joel of McPherson and Jacobson, the superintendent search firm the school district hired months ago started an update to the school board, members Dion Sandoval and William Estevan noted that they had heard the board had already one person lined up for the job.
"That was the talk at the NMAA and NMSBA meetings," Sandoval told Stewart. "If that is the case, I am fine with it, but I think we should know."
Estevan said, "I am wondering why we are spending money when someone says they were promised the job."
President Stewart said to Sandoval and Estevan, "You never brought this to my attention. Now, here you are voicing it publicly. I agree with you 100 percent. I would be concerned also. However, I believe the process we've chosen is legit."
Board Member Richard Jones said, "The rumor is an insult to the board's integrity. I have not participated in any discussions and I don't believe anyone else has. It is sad we are spending time talking about this. I am ready to go through the correct process and pick the best candidate for my district."
Joel followed Jones by saying, "Only you [the board] will prove them wrong is when the final result is tallied. All names will remain private until the short list is provided to the board. At that point the names on the short list will be made public. You are going to be surprised at the quality of candidates."
Joel said he feels good about the number of folks who' have expressed an interest in the position.
As of Dec. 18, six people had applied for the G/CCS superintendent position, 30 to 40 packets had been requested and the firm was having discussions will several interested person who had not applied or were in need of more information about the position.
The short list is expected in mid-January. The week of Jan. 21 interviews are expected to take place and a final decision the following week.
Joel also gave a short update on the five meetings the firm hosted locally for public input.
- "We've had more participation here than any other place," said Joel. "And we've hosted these types of meeting across the nation."
Some of the public input noted by Joel was the district is separated in two parts - Laguna-Acoma and Grants and Milan. "Laguna and Acoma feel detached from the district, a challenge for the board and next administration," said Joel.
Joel also noted challenging demographics, lack of transparency and alleged administrative nepotism.
- "The perception of nepotism was brought up a lot," he added.
The firm suggested that board members be "very" involved in the interviews, to the extent of wives possible giving the candidates' spouses tours of the area. "Someone needs to also sell the wife, or [spouse]," said Joel. "They are just as important."
Joel advised the board to prepare questions for the superintendent candidates' interviews.
At the end of the board meeting, Sandoval said that he has "ill" feelings about the hiring of the superintendent being so close to the school board election.
Feb. 5 is the school board election. Up for reelection are Sandoval, Stewart, and Jerry Smith. All three are being challenged.
Other item of interest:
- New Indian Education Coordinator Bob Tenequer updated the board on the IPP, Indian Policies and Procedures. The project should be complete by January, according to Tenequer.
The coordinator said he's hosted eight meetings throughout the district while creating the document.
- "The IPP builds trust and accountability for one purpose, the education of our children," Tenequer said to the board.
Estevan said, "I support Bob in this endeavor, it is not easy. There is a lot of negativity because a lack of understanding, however, I am proud of Bob for working on the IPP. It is not just for Native American students, it is for all students."
The next board meeting is Tuesday, Jan. 8, in the Grants boardroom.
~~~~~~~~~~
ABQ/ OPINION: Early Reading Initiatives Deserve Support
By Adan Delgado [Superintendent of Pojoaque Valley Schools]
ABQ Journal
Dec 28, 2012
I am a school administrator and have served northern New Mexico for over a decade. I supervised small and medium-sized schools on Native American Reservations, schools serving high populations of English-language deficient students, and students with low socio-economic status. I implemented model turn-around programs and School Improvement Grant initiatives that reformed historically failing schools.
Recently, I attended legislative hearings, school administrator conferences and school board association conferences that have focused on educational reform. With these experiences in mind, I have come to a very clear decision regarding my position on early literacy initiatives proposed by New Mexico Public Education Secretary-Designate Hanna Skandera and Gov. Susana Martinez - fundamentally, I support these initiatives.
For years, we have been mired in divisive decision-making, infused with nebulous arguments that would confuse even the most intelligent non-educator. My position is based on a pragmatic and confounded point of view.
The primary reasons that I support these early literacy initiatives are: N.M. students are far from meeting adequate reading levels by the end of third grade.
- Research is clear in demonstrating that, statistically, students not reading at level by grade 3 are destined for poor academic careers.
- Research is clear that retaining students without adequate interventions is no more likely to benefit students than socially promoting them.
- Adequate interventions are needed to ensure that students reach reading proficiency before the end of third grade, or through retention after third grade.
- The majority of primary grade-level teachers are determined to get all children on track but lack necessary assistance with strategies, techniques, and support resources to teach reading to the lowest-performing students.
- A subset of primary grade-level teachers are reluctant to make change, these teachers need a consistent message of motivation and expectation.
- Research-proven activities included in RtI (more time/small work-group) need more support to be effective.
- Current initiatives to improve reading have not succeeded to an adequate level.
- A dramatic impetus is needed to infuse our system with the necessary motivation and resources to make quantum improvements happen.
Divisive partisanship will not address our reading-achievement deficiencies. This problem will only be addressed through collaboration, prioritization, training and monitoring.
Too often, opponents focus solely on misinformation about "holding students back;" the reality is that retention, combined with early interventions that focus on each student, sets students up for success in their academic career.
No educator wants to needlessly hold a student back; however, it is clear that our current approach is not meeting expectations for students or our state.
I reside in an overwhelmingly Democratic school district; however, this statement is not based on party affiliation, it is based on the needs of children.
Often, legislation is the only method to bring about the necessary thrust for improvement. I am confident that our legislative and executive representatives have the resolve to come to consensus on a mutually satisfactory solution to this very important problem. I stand ready to collaborate with all interested parties in refining the details of implementation, in order to make legislated early literacy initiatives work.
~~~~~~~~~~
Denver CO/ Schools Seek Restorative Solution to Age-Old Truancy Problem
By Karen Augé
The Denver Post
Decwmbwe 28, 2012
The two boys who sat before Denver Magistrate Howard Bartlett in the library at Martin Luther King Jr. Early College seemed contrite, answered his questions politely, even audibly, and sheepishly agreed to return to court in March with a progress report.
So it was the girls, sisters Pamela and Alexis, looking at their feet and mumbling through their truancy court hearing that the adults worried about. Alexis munched on her hoodie sleeve as Bartlett asked whether they understood they had to go to school.
After the hearing, the four kids - whose last names are not being used because they are juveniles - three moms and one dad sat in a circle with social workers, lawyers and staffers from Denver Public Schools and the early college, whose students are in grades 6-12.
In typical truancy hearings, there isn't much time for the "why" of school-skipping. But, typically, the hearings take place in a court, not in a school library. Both the off-site location and the off-the-record counseling sessions are part of a new program, launched this fall by Denver Juvenile Court and DPS to combat the old, often-intractable problem of truancy.
The idea came out of the Mayor's Office of Education and Children - soon to be known as the Office of Children's Affairs - which brought together Denver's Human Services Department, DPS and juvenile court officials, along with youth advocates and counselors.
From those meetings emerged the idea of holding some truancy hearings away from the courthouse.
- "We especially liked the idea of making it more restorative than it had been in the past," said DPS attorney Amber Elias.
That is where DPS restorative justice expert Tim Turley came in. In the post-hearing discussion at MLK, Turley asked each of the four students: "Would you share with us your reasons for not going to school?"
One of the two boys, Armando, whom teachers described as bright and athletic, told Turley, "I've been having migraine headaches."
Next, the other boy, Gadiel, confessed, "I get influenced by other kids who are ditching."
Pamela and Alexis sat quietly, engrossed in their own footwear, until Turley got to them. "I didn't want to come to school because there were girls who threatened me," Pamela said.
Then it was Alexis' turn: "I was afraid of being bullied."
Causes are complex
Ditching school is a practice as old as blackboards.
But it's not the kids who succumb to the lure of a warm spring day who get the attention of school social workers or truancy officers.
These days, truancy's causes are complex and likely to be symptoms of a deeper problem, said Ken Seeley, founder and past president of the Denver-based National Center for School Engagement.
- "Kids who are bullied are afraid to go to school," he said. "In domestic violence situations, kids will want to stay home to protect a sibling or parent. And a lot of kids are used for child care. ... Often, it's not the kid, it's the parent."
- Often, the kids are parents. "On most dockets, there is at least one, and sometimes three or four teen parents," Elias said.
- Doing poorly in school is another reason kids don't go, Seeley said. That issue snowballs when kids miss class, and then, when they do return, they find themselves even further behind. And schools have varying degrees of resources to help them catch up.
Colorado law requires everyone under 17 to attend school. A student becomes what statute defines as a "habitual truant" after four days of unexcused absences in a month or 10 in a year, said Elias.
Parents who keep kids out of school can be fined $25 a day until the child returns to school, said Denver Magistrate Melanie Gilbert, who also hears truancy cases.
Gilbert said fines are rarely imposed, and when they are, it's usually because young children are missing school. She said the law allows judges to put truant kids in jail, but most judges opt for in-home monitoring "because we don't want to mix them with a criminal population."
Gilbert said she sometimes sentences wayward parents to attend school alongside their kids. That embarrasses the kid and inconveniences parents - motivating both to make sure the student gets to school.
Moving isn't the answer
Prior to the Nov. 30 truancy-court date at MLK, Pamela and Alexis had not been to school in six weeks, said Pitou Ireland, the school's social worker.
Ireland had gotten to know the girls and their mother pretty well by the time the Friday hearing rolled around. Never in that time did the fear of being bullied come up, Ireland said.
Their mother, wearing her McDonald's uniform and missing work to attend, said the problem started when she moved her family to Denver from Aurora. She said she planned to return to Aurora, where her kids have friends.
Turley gently cautioned that that may not be the answer. "Sometimes by moving, we just move the problem," he said.
Gilbert was tougher. You need to set the example for your younger brothers and sisters, she told them. By then, Pamela was crying. Both girls promised to be in school the following Monday.
They weren't.
So, true to their word, the adult authorities who attended the hearing swooped down, and before the following week was out, Pamela and Alexis were back in court, downtown this time, and this time in front of Gilbert. She sentenced each to write a paper, one about girls in Kenya who struggle to be allowed to go to school, and another about Malala Yousufzai, the Pakistani girl shot for advocating girls' education.
Most truancy cases never make it to court once, let alone twice.
Nationwide, no one knows how many kids are truant, Seeley said, because districts define truancy differently.
A NCSE study found that in the 2006-07 school year, 20 percent of all DPS students missed more than 20 days of school. A later NCSE study concluded that less than 3 percent of Denver students who were truant ended up in court.
There is limited space in court, Elias said. "So we have to reserve truancy court for the most significant cases, the ones who would benefit most from services."
Pamela and Alexis took a lot of that available space. But in their third court appearance, a week before Christmas, it seemed the time invested was beginning to pay off.
"They're in school, so that's better," Gilbert said after the hearing. "They've both made friends since returning to school. I'm hopeful."
~~~~~~~~~~
Washington DC/ CA Study Shows Kindness Boosts Student Popularity
By Sarah D. Sparks
Education Week [Edweek.org]
December 27, 2012
Mean girls and bullies may sit at the top of the classroom pecking order in Hollywood, but a new study suggests in real life, kindness is linked to popularity among middle schoolers.
In "Kindness Counts: Prompting Prosocial Behavior in Preadolescents Boosts Peer Acceptance and Well-Being," researchers led by Kristin Layous, a psychologist at the University of California, Riverside, observed 415 students ages 9 to 11 in 19 classrooms in Vancouver, B.C., over four weeks. They began observations in the second half of the school year, when most students knew one another and friendships were more solidified.
At the beginning, students reported on their own life satisfaction, happiness, and positivity, and then marked on a school roster the classmates they would "like to be in school activities [i.e., spend time] with," a gauge researchers found associated with peer acceptance. For the next four weeks, students were asked to either visit three places of interest to them-the mall or a local baseball park, say-or to perform three acts of kindness each week for anyone they knew. Often, these acts were simple, from hugging a stressed-out parent to sharing lunch with another student.
At the end of the trial, students again reported on their own happiness, and were again asked to mark a roster of classmates they considered friends. They found both groups visiting places of interest or doing kind acts were slightly happier and more satisfied by the end of the trial, and in both groups students reported wanting to engage with more classmates. However, the students who had performed kind acts garnered significantly more new friends than those who had visited places; about 1.6 new friends on average, compared with 0.7 for the other group. Students were not more likely to list additional friends based simply on increases in their personal happiness.
These findings add to a more nuanced view of adolescent relationships than the stereotypical hierarchy. They build on other recent studies that find the students most likely to bully are those just below the top rung of the classroom social order-the ones with friends, but more insecure about their social position than the leaders of the pack. It will be interesting to see whether actively engaging students to be kinder in general would help build a better school climate and reduce bullying in particular.
|