Safe and Secure Environment

Building administrators bare a large amount of responsibility to keep the school campus safe and secure during the school day. This has never been more true than today, when school shootings are on the rise, mental health concerns and rampant amount student populations, family dynamics become more complex, and building sites require more maintenance as they age.

I was able to shadow one of our site administrators earlier this week as we ran a fire drill on our campus. It was enlightening to witness this drill through the eyes of an administrator instead of a teacher. Students and teachers need to know where to go, everyone needs to take attendance, and office staff and administrators must have access to a binder of protocols and a walkie-talkie to communicate when we are out of the building. Teachers must remember to bring a folder with green and red papers, and an updated roster. Students must all be accounted for, and if not, they must be reported to the site administrator or counselor so that all students and adults are found before we re-enter the building. This is easier said than done, and in a middle school, where some students might have gone to the nurse between periods, or be in the bathroom, it is harder for teachers to know if the student should be with them or not if they haven't seen them yet that school day.

Teachers and students in our building tend to not take these drills too seriously. They meander out of the building, forget their folder, don't take attendance, or don't partake in the drill at all (some teachers on their plan are known to staying in the building to make copies or just go about their plan periods as if nothing is going on). In these cases, it is the responsibility of the school administer to teach all staff and students the appropriate protocols, and emphasize the importance of taking the drill seriously. However, the administrator must be tactful, as teachers already do feel pressure and stress around security and safety drills due to school shootings and other violent acts that are happening now more than ever on school campuses. These drills are stressful, and staff can become defensive or hysterical if they aren't taught methodically and with care, what to do in case of an emergency.

This is merely one example of many that the school administrator is in charge of facilitating, training, and educating on site. Unfortunately, the reality of keeping a campus safe and secure is a growing challenge for any building staff member. The rules around propping doors and windows, wearing safety security badges, engaging/not engaging with frustrated family members, and many more ensure that all staff and students can achieve the number one goal every day: to feel safe enough to learn.

Environmental Factors

As a student, some environmental factors that impact my learning are noise, variable seating conditions, and choice. When I'm working independently, I really like having music playing. I work in the library, often with many different individuals meandering around doing their own thing. I find music brings a friendly tone or a calming tone to the large space. I can't listen to music with words when I'm trying to write or collect my thoughts, so I often listen to instrumental music. Students who tap or repeated squeaking sounds, which are frequent in the library with all of the carts on wheels, make me crazy!

I like to stand when I work, sitting makes me fidgety and uncomfortable. I also like to have a fair amount of personal space, so sitting too close to others to being jammed in a tight space makes me less comfortable. I work all day standing up and it's a big focus I make in the furniture we purchase for the library: there are places to lay, lounge, sit, stand, and kneel in our library. This is to allow all types of movement that is good for thinking and brain development as a person works. Additionally, I very much prefer working in a room with natural light over artificial light. Every August, when I'm back in the building after being outside all summer moving my body all day, I immediately notice how bad my body feels when I sit all day, and when I'm in artificial light instead of natural light. Working at computer all days exacerbates these feelings I think, especially after a summer of not working at a computer.

Choice is key to me as a learner. If I have to do an assignment that has many barriers and seems convoluted, it is very irritating to me. I like to have an authentic purpose, I like to connect my learning to other things in my life, and I like to choose how I can share my learning with others. Additionally, when someone else is lecturing or I'm in a big meeting, I prefer to doodle and take notes rather than sit idly.

As a teacher, I'm acutely aware to noise- I've already mentioned repetitive clicking and tapping. I'm also irritated by fidgeting more than I wish I was: I know fidgeting is an important option for many learners, including myself, but as a teacher trying to facilitate, it totally gets to me. This is something I have to bite my tongue on when I'm teaching so I don't stop the movement in the classroom I know is so important for my students.

School-Wide System of Support

I have worked in a school with PBIS (positive behavior interventions and support) and MTSS (multi-tiered systems of support) for my entire career. The successes of this program are many, in my opinion. The first success is that more students are able to receive targeted support because every teacher in the building is essentially a part of the support team for all students. We have "Bobcat Bucks" at our school and teachers use these buck to reward good behavior. On Fridays, students can use the "ROAR store" to buy small trinkets and items, so there is some superficial motivation for students, especially our 6th and 7th graders. One of my favorite aspects of our PBIS program and the Bobcat Bucks is that we have a holiday ROAR store. Students come to the holiday ROAR store to purchase gifts for their families for the holidays. We even have parents and student volunteers who gift-wrap for students. Some of our students come from families who struggle financially, and it is truly special to watch these students purchase real gifts for their families based on the bucks they earn by being good students and school citizens. We also have a video productions class and we air daily announcements through this program. We use this class to motivate and for "positive subliminal messaging" of good ROAR behaviors. This helps support our schoolwide goals to encourage and expect the best from all of our students. We have academic support classes as a part of the MTSS work our school does, so students who are academically low in ready and math are double-dipped in those intervention classes each day to gain more than a year's growth and climb back to grade level. We also offer classes before the school day for this reason.

Some drawbacks to these programs is just how intense they are, and the amount of time and energy it takes to be thorough and successful. I said this is a good idea because it means more students receive support. However, schools of high need, like ours, have many more students who need tier 2 or 3 services than resources or time to offer this support fully. Our MTSS team has way more referrals than they handle during the times of their meetings, and we definitely don't have enough staff hired to support the specific needs of our students (many of whom has experienced trauma or live in high poverty homes).

Schoolwide expectations of students and staff require a clear vision and focus from the leader, and it also requires accountability. The school leader and teams of support must be ready to have tough questions with staff who aren't seeing through the vision to their standards, and must always adhere to the schoolwide policies themselves. This is easy to say, and hard to do, especially since schools have so many key stakeholders and vested interests that help drive decision-making every day. Additionally, the school leader must make sure that these schoolwide expectations are equitable and that the doors to access and success are open to all students. Again, easier said than done.

Conflict Management and Resolution

I have worked at the same school for almost my entire career. Throughout this time, I have experienced successes and failures when it comes to communication. I've found that being an educator and working in a school is an emotional career path, and as such, sometimes things can get emotional with colleagues or an advisor. 

One of the most difficult interactions I have had professionally was with an assistant principal of mine who was also a personal friend. I actually got the job based on her recommendation to our principal, and for several years we enjoyed partnership and a positive collegial partnership. However, when our personal friendship went through a rough patch, it made my work environment and any meeting I was in with her feel very difficult. As I began to take more leadership roles in our school, I sensed that she was jealous of the praise offered by our principal and collective boss. The hardest part of all of this was that she would approach me during the school day to discuss our personal relationship. I found this to be very unprofessional, and it left me in a personal funk in the middle of my professional work. This friend ended up leaving the school I was at for another job, and I was honestly relieved. We tried to keep in touch, but drifted apart, and I fear that while it was lovely for years to work together, I also sort of blame it for the ultimate loss of our friendship. 

I have learned from this experience that being a colleague and a friend can be difficult. Personally I have thought about the school I currently work at, as my principal is near retirement, and I ponder whether I would ever want to become an administrator in our building. After this experience with my friend, I've decided that as administrator, it's very important to separate personal and professional worlds, and therefor I wouldn't want to become an administrator in a school I have worked in as a teacher. It just seems too close to too many people, and it can get messy if clear relationship boundaries aren't established. Administrators have a different role in a building than teachers, and without clearly defining the relationships and roles for each, feelings can get hurt inadvertently.

School Budget- Challenges

I interview our principal's secretary- she is the financial secretary in our building. She has been doing work with this title for 13 years in our district at many different schools, so she seemed to be a great person to get a true perspective on these issues.

I asked her about our school budget and how it was decided. She said that it's all about revenues, expenditures, and enrollment. The biggest criticism she made about the school budget, the most challenging part, is how to equitably provide finances to all schools in our district.

Each school is given money based on the three above-mentioned factors. However, there is not consideration from school to school on the community, family, or student need or access to resources. Some of the schools in our district can raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in PTO fundraising money, while others (like mine) are lucky to fund raise $10,000 in a year beyond our district/state allocation. One interesting thing I learned from this conversation was a district policy around fundraising. If a school uses funds from a fundraiser to pay for personnel (if you are able to raise hundreds of thousands in addition to standard allocation, it makes sense you would hire more personnel to support school goals and learning), you must deposit 10% of funds raised in a district "pot" to be re-allocated to schools that aren't able to raise those kinds of funds in a year. This is one noteworthy way our district is trying to even the playing field a bit. However, 10% of 100k is certainly not the same as 100k, so schools that are able to raise money through powerful PTOs and rich community sources are absolutely at an advantage, no matter how you shake it.

Additionally, she mentioned that it is difficult to predict the special needs of our school site to set budget money aside. For instance, last year the math team requested several thousand dollars to purchase assessment and intervention online program. This year our LA team needs to purchase new books. I asked her how our administrators determine priority of need and she said that it must relate back to students and learning. Additionally, it special funds are allocated, it impacts the budget in other ways like we can't spend the same amount of money on supplies if some money gets taken up for a special and valuable request from a teacher or department. If the request comes late in the school year, often a deal or agreement is made for allocations of special resources to be put in the place the following year: this allows our principal's secretary to have a bit of foresight and plan better for what the budget allocation needs to be. And, above all, if the budget isn't flexible and there is no more money fundraised, the special requests for improving learning that comes from a teacher or dept. will be denied.

Resource Allocation, Financial Planning, and Budgeting

My district does have a budget policy. It is located here: https://www.bvsd.org/businessservices/Budget/Proposed%20Budgets/2018-19%20Proposed%20Budget%20Book.pdf.

It is a comprehensive plan, with over 300 pages of information. It starts with financial awards and documentation of excellence. Then it shares an executive plan, who is on the School Board, how decisions are made, what the mission/vision is and how the budget is established based on that. It also outlines district-wide FTE and student enrollment numbers, demographic overview, programs and services, personnel trends, budget development process and funds overviews ("2018-2019 Proposed Budget," pg. 5, 2018). 

Next, it outlines the organization section. In this section, there is a profile of the government, budget decisions shaped by goals, budget development and timelines, type and description of funds, and a strategic plan. 

Further in the document, it entails school district organizational structures and operating departments. Then it lists every school in the district in its own section, a financial section, special revenue funds, debt service funds, capital project funds, internal service funds, feduciary funds, and an informational section. 

Outside sources for input include tax payers as we have several mill levies and bond measures that our district has passed in the past or will hope to pass in the future. Additionally, we have the State of Colorado and governor policies that inform some of the budgeting requirements and considerations in our district. 

This document seems extremely comprehensive. One area that I would give a recommendation is that each school be given special consideration for funds per their individual needs, programs, and demographics, vs. a one-size-fits all model for district funded school programming and infrastructure. 

Reference

2018-2019 Proposed Budget (Rep.). (2018). Retrieved September 26, 2018, from Boulder Valley School District website: https://www.bvsd.org/businessservices/Budget/Proposed Budgets/2018-19 Proposed Budget Book.pdf

Adequacy, Equality, and Equity

An adequate allocation of resources to public education doesn't necessarily mean that all students are getting the same access or opportunities. Adequate is the bare minimum, the must-do. In my opinion, this is not enough to sustain or enrich the education of many students in our communities. 

School are burdened with much more than providing adequate chairs, tables, and white boards. The bare minimum that is provided by state funding is simply not enough. Schools that are located in high socio-economic brackets and neighborhoods reap the benefits of this, and their schools are better: they have more resources, better access to technology, more opportunities for extra-curriculars, and richer libraries, etc. I work in a school in one of the best districts in the state: Boulder Valley. However, our school is in East County, and has a lower socio-economic neighborhood, more diverse population, and many more needs than other schools in our district. We get adequate funding to keep our lights on, to keep the water running and the doors open. However, many of our neighboring schools get much more than adequate funding because they have PTOs that raise sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars more than us a year. Our largest fundraiser of the year garners us around 5k or 6k. At schools 10 miles away, they have fundraisers that raise over 100k. So, no, I do not believe an adequate education is enough because it is not equitable: some students, families, and communities thrive while others in the same district scrap and scrape. 

I don't believe in equality. I believe in equity and justice. Equity is differentiated support based on the needs of a group of people or person, realizing that every individual might need different supports to attain the same goals. And, to me, justice is finding ways to remove systemic barriers that keep certain individuals or groups of people from having the same access to achievement and opportunities so that future generations can realize success on a "more equal" playing field. 

I find this quote from "Politics, Adequacy, and Education Funding," to be particularly apt:

"A 'quality education' is defined differently by different actors. These two variables do not have a linear relationship. Perhaps this question is more appropriately answered by John Stevens in his October 22, 2010 blog, “The Relationship Between Education Funding and Quality,” when he stated that when one asks this question, one is really asking two questions: 1. Can we improve the quality of education by improving the efficiency or the priorities with which educational funding is spent, instead of increasing the funding? 2. What quality of education should the public pay for, and at what point is additional quality the responsibility of the individual student or family" (Ikpa, pg. 472, 2010). 

The second question is particularly important to me. It seems to me, from personal experience and national trends, that the neighborhoods with more needs put more weight on schools (and other social programs) that in wealthier neighborhoods are supported by family units. What is the line of what a school is supposed to provide in order for kids to have an "adequate education" and are the responsibilities of families? We do a hell of a lot more than provide 7 class periods a day, in some cases we provide clothes, two solid meals a day, and safety to students who otherwise don't get this in their family lives. Decisions administrators, school board members, and politicians make deeply impact these populations the most and if education in America is to move forward, we must think about the restructure of some of these social paradigms. 

Reference
Ikpa, V. W. (2016). Politics, adequacy, and education funding. Education, 136(4), 468-472.

Module 1 Discussion

I have an MA in Information and Learning Technologies, and I used to teach technology elective classes, so I feel that I have a good amount of experience with blogging and the idea of using blogs to communicate with a wide audience. I have a library blog for our school that I maintain, and I used to also teach a blogging class, so I helped students manage their own personal blogs and learn the key skills of website design and online communication.

I think that a school leader would find blogging a very effective way to communicate with many stakeholders in the school community. The multimedia aspect of blogging allows a leader to communicate through words, pictures, videos, and infographics in a really dynamic and up-to-date way. Blogs can be read on multiple devices, which makes it accessible to many members of a community. Additionally, it can be updated in seconds, which makes it constantly edit-able and update-able.

Barriers of blogs exist in getting your users to regularly use and check the blog. Communication to key stakeholders about the blog, how often it will be updated, etc., is a key piece of having a blog. Additionally, some individuals in our school community still don't have consistent access to the Internet. Many of our students come from multi-lingual or monolingual non-English speaking families, and so this might also present a barrier when using a blog. The opposite side of this is that some blogs have add-ons to translate the page from one language to another, so it may be a barrier, but may also break down some barriers. I think it all depends on the administrators intention, how frequently they post, and how they communicate with stakeholders to place value in checking the blog.

Finally, a leader who uses technology and a blog to communicate and share school news, shows that he/she values education as a tool for learning and communication. According to the Dept. of Education and Educational Technology, when a leader uses technology in their practice, "They model tolerance for risk and experimentation and create a culture of trust and innovation" ("Reimagining the role", 2018). Teachers will be more likely to risk-take and innovate if the leader of a school models and values this behavior.

Reference

U.S. Department of Education. (2017). Reimagining the role of technology in education: 2017 national education technology plan update. Retrieved from https://tech.ed.gov/netp/