We already have a tax cap!

It seems you can’t turn on the TV, open a newspaper or your favorite internet news site without hearing or reading about tax caps on public schools and local government budgets.

The proposals for these tax caps vary from 2 percent to 4 percent with a great deal of intricate, complicated and confusing legislative language that most of us cannot even come close to understanding.

In my albeit humble opinion, the tax cap talk (as it pertains to school districts) is political propaganda, preying on citizens who are being led to believe that they have no control over how much money their school district spends.

This is completely false.

School districts already have a tax cap; it is called a budget vote. The third Tuesday of every May, school districts in New York State place the decision on how much they will spend in the hands of the residents of that district. In fact, school district budgets are the most democratic of any government spending State, local or national.

Do you get to vote on the State budget?

Do you get to vote on your City or County budget?

No.

The only budgets that are placed in the hands of the voters are those of our schools. And every resident over the age of 18 has the right and the responsibility to vote on their school’s budget.

Last year 94 percent of school district budgets in New York State were approved by voters. This fact illustrates widespread voter approval of the way schools are spending money.

The key term in that sentence is “voter approval.” It is important to note that voter turnout for budget votes is very low. Some opponents of schools might say that this is because holding school budget votes in May is a trick and that the votes should be held in November. To that I say, “Fine!” If we do our job and put out a responsible budget that balances the needs of our students with our community’s values and ability to pay, it makes no difference to me when the budget is voted upon. In fact I wish more people would get involved.

While I have resigned myself to the fact that we will have some type of tax cap in the coming years, I think it is important for our citizens to realize that they already have a say in how much or how little schools spend.

A new year brings opportunity

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.”
Edith Lovejoy Pierce

As we approach 2011 most of us sit back and reflect on the year past, ways that we could have done things differently. We also take some time to look forward to next year and develop resolutions on how we can improve. I particularly like the quote above and how it equates the coming of the new year with opportunity. As an educator, I’m always on the look out for opportunities to improve the work that we do for our students.

At 2010’s close, our district has decided to, once again survey our community, faculty and staff to hear how you feel we are progressing toward our mission of inspiring, educating and challenging every student, every day. We will use the results of the survey to help develop our resolutions as a district for 2011.

The surveys have been available on our web site and I thank the many of you who have participated. Over the holiday break, we will be compiling these surveys and analyzing the data/information that your responses give us. We will use this data to develop our resolutions (results will inform our policies and practices and allow us to make adjustments in areas where we need improvement.)

Conducting this survey is a great opportunity for us to “take the pulse” of the entire Watervliet City School District community. I will be sharing what we learn with the Board of Education at our January meeting and with all of you via this blog and our school ’s web site.

Thank you again for working with us as we take advantage of the opportunities that 2011 brings. I look forward to reading your survey responses and continuing to make our mission a reality in 2011! Keep an eye on this blog for updates on our progress toward our New Year’s Resolutions.
Happy Holidays to all!

Sometimes, the students say it best

We are well into our new school year and this is a time when I would usually blog about our opening day and how many great things are going on in our schools. But instead I thought I would let the recent editorial from our Junior- Senior High School newspaper, The Watervliet Chronicle, speak for me.

“The attendance rate is up. Disciplinary referrals are down. Students are smiling. Teachers are smiling. Principals are smiling. Wait, now I know something weird is going on!

Change is all around us. Most obvious is the construction project. But does anyone else notice the change in attitude? Are we all just in a better mood this year? All of a sudden it seems like much of the drama that we faced last year has been washed away. After asking several students about this phenomenon, I’ve come to a few conclusions:

• First, many are excited about the new “stuff” we have this year. And that excitement will continue with the opening of the new gym this winter.
  
• Secondly, and probably more importantly, many students want to be successful. Sure, there are some who are apathetic or who spend their time counting the minutes until the bell rings, but most of the students I asked said that they have made their education a priority.
  

I encourage all students to make school success a goal. One of the biggest obstacles we face is believing we can do well. If you are struggling in a class, ask for help. Your teachers want you to be successful. Just think of how much easier it will be to walk into this building every morning if you know that you will do your very best.”

I think that our student editor said it best. I look forward to continuing this momentum throughout the entire school year!

A challenge from “Coward’s Corner”

On September 9, 2010 a comment published in the Troy Record’s Sound Off column (also known around town as the “Coward’s Corner”) stated that the Watervliet City School District emphasizes athletics over academics. The anonymous critic went on to challenge me to name “just one academic area where students have excelled, " and added, “we don’t mean the watered down exams put out by the state education department.”

Anyone who knows me knows I enjoy a good challenge, and while I don’t make it a habit of replying to critics who are too cowardly to attach their name to their criticism, I feel that I must respond to this “challenge” on behalf of the students, faculty and staff of the Watervliet City School District.

Our academic achievement is measured by both the State and Federal Education Departments using the results of these “watered down" exams. But there is a lot of other data and information I can use to illustrate our positive growth in my five years with the district.

Since our anonymous critic stated that we overemphasize athletics, I will start there. Research has shown that there is a definitive link between participation in extra-curricular activities, graduation rate and student achievement. Here in Watervliet, we require that our student-athletes be held to a higher standard and that academics are a top priority. This is evident in our athletic code of conduct and the academic requirements for participation in extra-curricular activities. Due to these requirements we saw ten of our varsity athletic teams recognized as scholar athlete teams by the New York State High School Athletics Association in both 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. ( To earn the award, a certain number of athletes on each team must average 90 or better in the classroom during a particular season.)

That piece of information alone could answer the challenge set forth by our anonymous critic however, there is a lot more for us to be proud of here at WCSD so I will continue.

The most rigorous diploma awarded in New York State is the Advanced Regents Diploma. This requires students to not only pass seven Regents Exams, but also to complete seven Regents courses during the student’s high school career. In 2006, only 3% of our graduates received this diploma. In 2010, 37% of our graduates received this level of diploma.

Another area that I would like to highlight is the increase in the number of students who are attending four-year colleges and universities. In 2006, only 18% of our graduates attended four year schools compared to 42% of the class of 2010. I’d say this is growth that our district should be very proud of.

As for our critic’s feelings about the “watered down New York State Tests,” we here at the Watervliet City School District (as most other school districts) use multiple assessments to measure our students’ growth. One example of this is the Watervliet Elementary School’s use of the Terra Nova Test, which was first implemented as part of our Reading First program. In 2005, only 33% of our students scored at the proficient level. In 2010, this percentage has more than doubled to 67%.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention our art and music programs. Our anonymous critic would simply have to attend one of our Grey or Garnet Band concerts, hear a performance by Delta Force or view our elementary school art show to see that our students also excel in the visual and performing arts. Last year, Watervliet had 20 students involved in the Colonial Council Music festival, including five from the elementary chorus, seven from the middle school band and eight from the high school band.

One last item that the sound off caller mentioned was, “we are building that new sports building.” The gymnasium is only a small part of a larger, comprehensive facilities overhaul that includes new state-of-the-art classroom additions to our academic areas at Watervliet Elementary and Watervliet Junior Senior High School as well as updates to existing rooms and the installation of new, energy efficient heating, cooling, electrical and ventilation systems.

I could go on and discuss many more areas where our students are experiencing sustained improvement and excelling, but instead I would like to invite the cowardly critic to stop in personally for a more thorough explanation of how we are living our mission: to inspire, educate and challenge every student, every day here in the Watervliet City School District.

Yet another reason to be nimble!

In April of 2009 I wrote of our need as educators to be nimble. The recent adjustment in cut scores for the 3-8 tests by the State Education Department is a perfect example of why we need to be exactly that, nimble – quick, light in movement; moving with ease; agile and active.

State officials recently announced that they were increasing the scoring targets (or “cut scores”) on the exams after research showed that a large percentage of New York’s students were not adequately prepared for college. This announcement came months after the exams were completed this past spring. (For background, check out a previous watervlietcityschools.org article on this topic)

For years, all school districts in New York State have been preparing students for state tests using the curriculum adopted by New York State in the belief that these standards were not only rigorous but among the highest in the nation. We now know, by looking at the scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests (the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas) and feedback from colleges and universities that this is not the case. Changes must be implemented NOW. We cannot wait while yet another group of students receives a curriculum that does not meet their needs. We must be nimble!

No one would say that the manner in which this news and the new cut scores were “forced upon us” is ideal, but the data speaks for itself. We could foolishly expend our energy complaining about how “unfair” this is but I think our time and resources will be more well spent attacking the task at hand. Other industries are faced with changing paradigms on a regular basis, their options are change and learn to operate in the new environment – BE NIMBLE - or die (go out of business.)

Education must learn from these industries.

Here in Watervliet, the change in cut scores, the adoption of new standards and curriculum will not change our mission. We are here to inspire, educate and challenge every student, every day regardless of the challenges we are faced with.

We will be nimble and our students will be prepared to be successful, happy and productive individuals when they leave our schools.

Lazy summer? Not so much!

It is hard to believe another school year has come and gone. Summer break provides a valuable opportunity for our students and staff to relax and recharge their batteries in preparation for another school year. But as we roll into the hazy, lazy days of summer, it is important to know that our work in educating the students of Watervliet continues. Upcoming summer days will be anything but lazy here at the Watervliet City School District.

As you can see if you ever travel by our Jr.-Sr. High School building, our comprehensive capital project is moving right along. By the end of the summer we will have a great deal of this project completed. Our students will enter the new wing at the Junior – Senior High School in September and will participate in Physical Education in our new gymnasium in January 2011. We project the new cafeteria will be ready for September of 2011. You can learn more about the project and see a slide show of our progress on our website.

What many community members don’t know is that there’s a beehive of activity that takes place every summer that’s not as visible. Every year we offer summer school for all students UPK through 12th grade as well as offering a transition program and summer enrichment activities for students of various ages and grades. Over 300 students participate in this program which is run entirely by our own administrators, teachers and staff.

The summer months are also filled with a great deal of professional development, academic planning and preparation for our next school year. Throughout July and August most of our teaching staff will be on campus at one time or another continuing to work on our curriculum alignment initiative and taking part in other professional development opportunities.

As an educator, I recognize the importance of rest and relaxation, but I am also committed to keeping our district and everyone in it focused on our mission of educating every student and every day. Around here, that includes summer days too.

Let's finish stong!

Summer is just around the corner and the warm and sunny weather we have been experiencing lately makes it feel like it is already here. As an educator, I worry that it is too easy to let the long days, warm nights and sunshine fool us into thinking summer vacation has already started. It’s important for all of us to remember that it’s only June and school is still in session. In fact, we are approaching the most important part of our academic year.

While even I am prone to summer dreaming right now, it is very important for us all – parents, teachers and students – to remain focused on the academic work at hand and press hard toward the finish line. For Junior-Senior High School students this means bearing down on these last few lessons and exam reviews and studying hard for upcoming Regents and final exams. At the Elementary School level, students should be concentrating on learning the lessons that will ensure they are ready to move on to the next grade level.

Now is not the time for us to let up on our commitment to our mission. There will be plenty of time for rest, relaxation and fun during the long summer break. Now is the time to work even harder and close the year on a high academic note. There is no substitute for “in-class” time with our highly qualified and dedicated teaching staff. I hope students will take advantage of the time left of this school year, because every second counts.