Taking Advantage of What We've Done

This blog post is mostly directed at the secondary staff of the Pleasantville Community Schools, but there needs to be some history for others not of this district. When I was hired for this position, everyone raved about the four-day week, its advantages and the reasons behind it. I really want to thank the past administration, board and staff who had the courage to try something different.

For the record, the Pleasantville Community Schools does not have school on Mondays during the months of January, February, and March. I’m not sure who came up with this idea but I’m sure Dave Isgrig, former superintendent, was instrumental in its development. What a visionary thing to do. The school day was lengthened to accommodate the “lost time” of the four-day week. We start school at 8:05 am and dismiss at 3:33 pm. By counting the “time” in classes, we actually lengthened the total time from the previous schedule. Many rural schools, like Pleasantville, start around 8:20 or 8:30 and finish around 3:00 or 3:15. I realize that’s a real generalization but those times have been used in previous districts where I have worked. Pleasantville actually added 30 minutes of instruction to the normal school day.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could take this to another level? No, I’m not talking about a three-day week; I’m talking about taking advantage of our 1:1 deployment and combining it with the four-day week. What would it look like if, on the Mondays of those three months, teachers had “office hours” for students to contact them with questions or comments about their assigned work? If we kept track of the number of contacts or even set up Monday activities, this could become a model for the state and possibly the elimination of the dreaded snow-day make-ups.

Individual staff could either sign up for designated “office hours” or entire departments could be online and available at specific times or all day, depending on their preference. For example, as an old (that term is relative) science teacher, think of the possibilities with online labs, discussion groups, heck, even some formative assessments in the way of projects. Think of the “flip” possibilities with the teachers explaining some topic on video and having the kids write a reflective paragraph on it. I’m sure that there could be many different opportunities for kids that we could collectively come up with.

If a snow day should happen to come, we could have posted on our website what the schedule is for the day. I think it would be important that documentation for the State Department of Education be kept, particularly if we want to show the state that there might be a better way to make up snow days. I’m not real sure right now what this would look like but I am certainly open to ideas. I’m thinking of ideas such as showing some sort of percentage of kids who were online doing schoolwork, the number of responses sent in via the Internet and/or assignments turned in on time. This, as you can tell, is not a finished product but rather a call-to-action for the middle school and high school staffs to come up with a viable, working plan on utilizing two very important aspects of Pleasantville Community Schools, the four-day school week and the 1:1 computer program. I want you to know that I am planning on sharing this post with Director Glass from the DE as well. I am very confident that the staffs will put their collective heads together and come up with something new, innovative and certainly in the best interest of the kids of Pleasantville. Thanks for all you do for our kids.

My Transition to a New School

This is my first year at Pleasantville Community Schools in Pleasantville, Iowa as their superintendent. It is, however, not my first superintendency. I had served in this capacity for the previous seven years in a district in northwest Iowa. In my previous district, it was my first job as a superintendent and I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I asked a lot of questions and I feel good about the fact that I left that district better than I found it.

Now that I am in Pleasantville, I feel more confident of how things should be run, at least in my opinion. Here is what I have found in my new district. I have found the teachers and staff to be very warm and welcoming. I did a little exercise this summer in that I spent 20-30 minutes with each teacher. I asked them to describe the district using three words, what two things we need to get better at, what is your biggest hope for the school year and what is your biggest fear. In visiting with the teachers, I truly believe that they feel, like I do, that teaching is a calling, not a job or even a career. They really want the best education for our kids and will be willing to do whatever it takes for them to be successful. That was so reassuring to me.

When asked to describe the district, many staff members used the word “traditional” but also used words like “innovative” and “progressive.” While it sounds a bit counter-intuitive, I understand where they are coming from with their answers. We have a veteran staff, many of which graduated from Pleasantville High School, and we have moved into a 1:1 environment and continue to try new things.

I have found that there is a difference between schools of different sizes. The staffing for a small school is, in my opinion, much more diverse. They are asked to do many more things, other than simply teach their classes. They have more duties, more variety of classes at the secondary level, and more personal relationships due to their added responsibilities.

I have found that certain people within this district have many more responsibilities than I think they should have. We are in the process of re-aligning who does what within our district. People rely on one or two people way too much in my opinion and we have to “spread the wealth” so it’s a bit more evenly distributed and it doesn’t take time away from their primary responsibilities.

Finally, I’m a list writer. The lists are electronic but are lists still the same. Actually, right now, I have three lists going. My first list is about complete and has immediate goals. My second list is a long-range plan but strictly for teaching and learning and my third list is strictly for facilities. I don’t know if my lists will ever be finished for as I cross things off, I also keep adding to them. But, as each list grows and shrinks, I know we are getting better as a district.

Long story short, I love it here in Pleasantville and I truly look forward to coming to work everyday. Thanks.