The Strategic Plan
The first thing I want to say in regards to the Strategic Plan is that I want to be on record as supporting it. I know it caused some divisions between our current school board members, but this plan holds dear to everything I believe a school system should be conceptually. It really does take a City to raise our youth, and for one shining moment, the work done on the Plan brought together people of all ages, races, sexes, backgrounds, and incomes working for one common goal... The future of our youth. A lot of people put in a lot of hours, blood, sweat, and tears all with an eye on the future of Michigan City.
For those who have not seen the Plan, here are the eight strategies which it looks to accomplish.
STRATEGIES
STRATEGY ONE:
We will put in place processes and learning opportunities to ensure that each student progressively creates and achieves his or her unique individual education plan (UIEP).
STRATEGY TWO:
We will provide all necessary support for each student to achieve his or her educational and personal goals.
STRATEGY THREE:
We will ensure that 100% of children will succeed in early childhood experiences.
STRATEGY FOUR:
We will ensure for each student a seamless transition from school to career regardless of vocational or educational goals.
STRATEGY FIVE:
We will create professional learning communities dedicated to the success of each student.
STRATEGY SIX:
Parents will be engaged in all aspects of their child’s education.
STRATEGY SEVEN:
We will create an open exchange of information and ideas, both internally and externally, to accomplish the mission and objectives of the Michigan City Area Schools.
STRATEGY EIGHT:
We will make our community an integral part of the Michigan City Area Schools.
I do want to comment on my feelings about a few specific phases of this plan, as well as the overall big picture in relation to the Plan.
First off, as I stated in some of my other comments, I believe the involvement of the entire community is the key to reviving not only the school system, but the entire City. Tenants #6, #7, and #8 go directly to this ideal. The more people are involved, the more likely all parties are to be held accountable for the results that occur in our school system, and the more likely they are to go looking for answers when the results are not satisfactory.
Tenant #4 I believe to be not only the most vital, but one of the things that from a long term perspective, might just be the best measurement of our success as an educational system. I know I have said it before, but it bears repeating... Kids must be prepared to be life-long learners. Technology moves too fast in the 21st century for high school graduates not to be able to learn a new career, and to learn it quickly. Gone are the days where a 4 year high school education can prepare you for a life-long career, which means our job as an educational system is harder than it has ever been. We know that changes in the workplace are the only constant we can anticipate in the future. What we have to do is instill in our children the ability to learn and adapt. Beyond that, all we can do is give our kids the basic skills that will always be in demand, such as solid communication skills, familiarity with technology, basic math skills, and the like.
The 2nd tenant of the plan has also taken on a new prominence with the unwanted headlines that have been coming out of the High School recently, and that specifically is regarding a safe school environment for our children. The Plan specifically identifies 18 points for making the system safe, but only few of them actually go to the core of the problem that has been unspoken in our system for too long, and that is violence at our schools. Some have spoken of a gang problem, and others have said that because we don't have inner city gangs, that we do not have a "gang problem". No matter what you identify it as, kids who commit violent acts, have no place in our school system. Kids who commit violence, whether it be against kids, teachers, or staff, need to know that there is a zero tolerance policy from their first offense, so that they learn the lesson early that violence is not a solution to their problems. We must ensure that our children, as well as the teachers and staff are safe in their workplace. I can think of no other environment where violence and worse would be tolerated with a small smack on the wrist, and I do not think a school should be an exception. As a matter of a fact, when you are talking about a situation that is literally the biggest determining factor of a child’s future, I think we owe it to our kids to lead by example and show them that violence will not be tolerated. Especially at the high school level, I believe if a child commits a violent act, the proper authorities should be involved, and they should face civil and criminal charges, just like they would if the acts had occurred in anywhere else but in a school building. As an adult their are consequences for all actions, and this is no exception.
Tenants #1, #2 #3, and #5 all kind of fit together as they all go setting goals, giving the tools to make those goals, and then acheiving those goals. I believe the committees did an excellent job of identifying many of the specific goals, and offering many great ideas on how to achieve them. Goals are the first and most important step towards clearly defining what our expectations are for our children. I do believe that his is an area where we as a school system have lagged historically, and it is an excellent move for us to start clearing up the fog that has traditionally existed here. Next up is determining what we need to give the children in order to achieve these goals, and I believe that this is somewhere that we really must lean on the expertise of our educators. With them being on the frontline and seeing first hand what the students bring to the classroom, they are the ones who have the best idea of what is needed here. The final thing is achieving those goals, which obviously starts with the first two steps which I talked about.
In conclusion I believe that the absolute most important thing about the strategic plan is that we follow through on it. As I said the plan itself was a monumental achievement in bringing together a community, but it is a complete waste of people's time if we don't hold people accountable, and make sure that these ideas become practice. We need to have periodic assessment meetings where we bring in people to testify to what is currently being done to achieve our goals, where we are following short, and where we are succeeding. We must stay with this plan in order for it to work. Keeping up to date on the Plan will also allow us to change things to better fit where we are headed as a community and as an educational system.
The Strategic Plan
The first thing I want to say in regards to the Strategic Plan is that I want to be on record as supporting it. I know it caused some divisions between our current school board members, but this plan holds dear to everything I believe a school system should be conceptually. It really does take a City to raise our youth, and for one shining moment, the work done on the Plan brought together people of all ages, races, sexes, backrounds, and incomes working for one common goal... The future of our youth. A lot of people put in a lot of hours, blood, sweat, and tears all with an eye on the future of Michigan City.
For those who have not seen the Plan, here is are the eight strategies which it looks to accomplish.
STRATEGIES
STRATEGY ONE:
We will put in place processes and learning opportunities to ensure that each student progressively creates and achieves his or her unique individual education plan (UIEP).
STRATEGY TWO:
We will provide all necessary support for each student to achieve his or her educational and personal goals.
STRATEGY THREE:
We will ensure that 100% of children will succeed in early childhood experiences.
STRATEGY FOUR:
We will ensure for each student a seamless transition from school to career regardless of vocational or educational goals.
STRATEGY FIVE:
We will create professional learning communities dedicated to the success of each student.
STRATEGY SIX:
Parents will be engaged in all aspects of their child’s education.
STRATEGY SEVEN:
We will create an open exchange of information and ideas, both internally and externally, to accomplish the mission and objectives of the Michigan City Area Schools.
STRATEGY EIGHT:
We will make our community an integral part of the Michigan City Area Schools.
I do want to comment on my feelings about a few specific phases of this plan, as well as the overall big picture in relation to the Plan.
First off, as I stated in some of my other comments, I believe the involvment of the entire community is the key to reviving not only the school system, but the entire City. Tenents #6, #7, and #8 go directly to this ideal. The more people are invovled, the more likely all parties are to be held accountable for the results that occur in our school system, and the more likely they are to go looking for answers when the results are not satisfactory.
Tenent #4 I believe to be not only the most vital, but one of the things that from a long term perspective, might just be the best measurement of our success as an educational system. I know I have said it before, but it bears repeating... Kids must be prepared to be life-long learners. Technology moves too fast in the 21st century for high school graduates not to be able to learn a new career, and to learn it quickly. Gone are the days where a 4 year high school education can prepare you for a life-long career, which means our job as an educational system is harder than it has ever been. We know that changes in the workplace are the only constant we can anticipate in the future. What we have to do is instill in our children the ability to learn and adapt. Beyond that, all we can do is give our kids the basic skills that will always be in demand, such as solid communication skills, familiarity with technology, basic math skills, and the like.
The 2nd tenant of the plan has also taken on a new prominence with the unwanted headlines that have been coming out of the High School recently, and that specifically is regarding a safe school enviornment for our children. The Plan specifically identifies 18 points for making the system safe, but only few of them actually go to the core of the problem that has been unspoken in our system for too long, and that is violence at our schools. Some have spoken of a gang problem, and others have said that because we don't have inner city gangs, that we do not have a "gang problem". No matter what you identify it as, kids who commit violent acts, have no place in our school system. Kids who commit violence, whether it be against kids, teachers, or staff, need to know that there is a zero tolerance policy from their first offense, so that they learn the lesson early that violence is not a solution to their problems. We must ensure that our children, as well as the teachers and staff are safe in their workplace. I can think of no other enviornment where violence and worse would be tolerated with a small smack on the wrist, and I do not think a school should be an exception. As a matter of a fact, when you are talking about a situation that is literally the biggest deterimining factor of a childs future, I think we owe it to our kids to lead by example and show them that violence will not be tolerated. Especially at the high school level, I believe if a child commits a violent act, the proper authorities should be involved, and they should face civil and criminal charges, just like they would if the acts had occurred in anywhere else but in a school building. As an adult their are consequences for all actions, and this is no exception.
Tenants #1, #2 #3, and #5 all kind of fit together as they all go setting goals, giving the tools to make those goals, and then acheiving those goals. I believe the committees did an excellent job of identifying many of the specific goals, and offering many great ideas on how to achieve them. Goals are the first and most important step towards clearly defining what our expectations are for our children. I do believe that his is an area where we as a school system have lagged historically, and it is an excellent move for us to start clearing up the fog that has traditionally exsisted here. Next up is determining what we need to give the children in order to achieve these goals, and I believe that this is somewhere that we really must lean on the expertese of our educators. With them being on the frontline and seeing first hand what the students bring to the classroom, they are the ones who have the best idea of what is needed here. The final thing is acheiving those goals, which obviously starts with the first two steps which I talked about.
In conclusion I believe that the absolute most important thing about the strategic plan is that we follow through on it. As I said the plan itself was a monuemental achievement in bringing together a community, but it is a complete waste of people's time if we don't hold people accountable, and make sure that these ideas become practice. We need to have periodic assessment meetings where we bring in people to testify to what is currently being done to achieve our goals, where we are are following short, and where we are succeeding. We must stay with this plan in order for it work. Keeping up to date on the Plan will also allow us to change things to better fit where we are headed as a community and as an educational system.
My interest in MCAS school board
As a canditate for school board, I can get up and site a litany of reasons why I want to serve you all. The biggest reason is simple, I believe Michigan City deserves to be a first class community, and I believe that I can contribute something to help return us to that top notch status.
If you ask anyone who has lived in Michigan City for more than a generation or two, and they will instantly harken back to the days when not only were we a beautiful tourist destination, but we were a destination, period. Not only were jobs plentiful and our town was considered safe, but our school systems had an excellent reputation attached to it. There is plenty of blame to go around for this decline, but I think the time for blame has passed, and now is the time to revive our school system, if for nothing else than to give our children a better shot at living a quality lifestyle in the 21st century.
Remember it is our children who have the most to lose here with declining test scores and increasing class sizes. We owe it to our children to give them tools that they need to become lifelong learners, as it is vital to their future success. If kids are graduating without the ability to learn, we have failed them as a community, and as a school system.
I believe with my work history, my love of Michigan City, and my connections to the youth of Michigan City that I am a perfect fit to aid the school board in their desire to fix our system.
Personal bio
I was born in Michigan City, coming into this world at the old Memorial hospital. Pretty much outside of a couple of small stints in a couple of different places, Michigan City has been my lifetime home. I went to St. Paul's up until 8th grade, then switched into the public schools, graduating from Elston High School in 1992. For college I went to Manchester College until 1996 where I received a wide ranging Liberal Arts education, majoring in Economics. Currently I am involved as an adult volunteer for Cross Current Ministries, as well as an unpaid volunteer at the MC YMCA, refereeing youth sports and serving on the building committee.
My work life has seen a few different stops, early on working in retail at both of the malls in Michigan City, then moving on to my true calling, working on the legendary trading floors of Chicago. There is no working envoirnment quite like trading, and one thing you can always count on, is being extremely quick and decisive on your feet, and not being afraid of any situation. High pressure and high intensity situations are a part of every workday for myself, as are having to answer for every decesion which I make. I am currently employed at the Chicago Stock Exchange (CHX) as a trading floor liaison where I settle trade disputes between the customer firms, and the specialist who make markets for the CHX. This requires me to be a quick study on the specific rules and regulations, while being able to negoitate and mediate with multiple parties at the sametime.
My family life is also deeply rooted in Michigan City, as I am married to a teacher here in the Michigan City school system, who was also born, raised, and graduated from/in MC. We recently had our first child, a beautiful daughter back in November, while buying our first house, right here in MC, a few months before hand.
Prepare kids to be life-long learners
If there is one constant I have observed in the years since I graduated from Elston High School in 1992, and entered the work force in 1996 after college, it is that the work force is in a constant flux. Twice in ten years I have been a victim of technology in the workplace, having a new inovation eliminate the need for my job. The one thing that has kept me a viable member of the workforce throughout these changes is that I had it instilled in me at a young age to never stop learning.
One thing we must do as a school system is to teach this all important value to our children. With the incredible leaps and bounds being made by technolgy on a seemingly daily basis, the world we are educating our kids for today, won't exsist in 20 years from now. Just as important as any math or science class we can give these kids is the ability to learn. Just think back to a generation ago to when kids graduating high school looked forward to a 30 year stint at a factory like Joy or Jaymar Ruby, with a comfortable salary and a pension to live off of after retirement. Today both of those companies are long gone, as are the jobs that were filled there. History dictates to us, that there will be occupations and jobs that we look at as "safe" today, which will be gathering dust by the time my baby, who was born late in 2005, is entering the workforce.
We also must realize that not all children in our school system are going to be college bound, and we must adjust for those students. We have to have quality programs for those students for whom, no matter how hard they try, will never make it to college, so that they too will have the ability to find employment that they can support a family on.
Labor Management relations
Another area that the MCAS needs to look at closely is how the administration works with the teachers and staff in our system. For years now the relationship between the teachers and the administration has been on the rocks. Just recently a contract was finally worked out with the teachers after years of not having anything, but honoring a prior agreement. This new contract barely scratched the surface of the fact that the Michigan City teachers make a lower salary than just about all of their local peers in northwestern Indiana. On top of the small raise, it also got a significant amount of teachers positions eliminated, which means only one thing for the kids, larger class sizes. Repeated studies have shown that past a certian point, the larger the classes, the worse the quality of education will be for the individuals in those classes. Now if you add in lower than competitive salaries and growing workload to an accrimonious relationship with management, you begin to run into a real problem with attracting and maintaining quality labor in any field, let alone in the education field. This has become very evident in Michigan City as we have had real problem attracting and maintaining the top talent in the area. Even if we manage to bring in young and talented teachers, after a short period of time being underpaid and seemingly unappreciated by their bosses, they quickly go looking for greener pastures in surrounding school systems, if they aren't forced to leave by cutbacks from above.
No workplace can meet their potential levels of productivity when they are constantly having to recruit and train new employees to replace the ones that were seemingly just hired. Michigan City needs to be able to offer itself as not only a quality place to send your kids to school, but to be a top tier educational system, you need top tier educators. You aren't going to attract top employees with a bad reputation, poor salaries, and a hostile relationship with the administration. The hatchet needs to be buried and stability instilled in the teaching pool.
Leaders need to lead... By example
In the business world the success of most companies starts at the very top. If you have quality leadership, you have made one big step towards being a premier operation. In this respect, Michigan City has really been a huge disappointment.
The Assistant Superintendant of the MCAS, Eugene Sweeney made his now infamous statements regarding Michigan City and its teachers.
Link to article Specifically, Sweeney complained about the districts low test scores saying, “Half of me wants to point my finger at teachers and ask what the (expletive) have you been doing?” He went on to say, “I won't tie my family to this community until the attitudes of the teachers in this community change.”
If Sweeney had been the Vice President of a Fortune 500 company he would have been walking the unemployment line, instead he served a suspension and kept his job. My question is why doesn't he responsibility for lackluster results lay with the administration here? Also remember Sweeney's backround as a man who left his former postion under strained circumstances as well. He also has refused to move out of his all white town, and into the diverse community of Michigan City. In other words he is too good to live here or send his kids to school here, but Michigan City is good enough for a paycheck.
One school board member was recently arrested under suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. As the police officer was asking him questions, he actually used the excuse of school board business as to why he was out late, and seemingly legally intoxicated while driving. So far this member is still serving.
The school administrator, formerly in charge of hiring, was suddenly and without explanation given a two week, unpaid suspension. Upon her return she was stripped of her duties for hiring, which were taken over by the Superintendant. When the Superintendant was asked about what caused the incident, all he would offer is that it was an internal matter, and was being handled as such.
The former President of the School Board offered up this quote when she refused to let a woman continue speaking past her alloted 3 minutes during an open public question session.
“The board's public meetings are just that, a meeting of the board in public,” she said. The board meets to do the public's business in public, she added, but not necessarily to have lengthy discussions with members of the public.
This is an eyeblinking statement from someone who does work for the public. It is our tax dollars that put these people into office, and run these schools. If we want lengthy discussions with our public officials, we should have them. They should be happy that there are members of the community who are willing to take the time to come out to these meetings, and ask the questions they do ask.
Finally the process of selecting a person to fill the vacated term of Tom Domkowski was another headscratching example of the school board to fulfill its basic tenant.
Even after having 12 people (including myself) take the time to write in letters, testify before the community, and answer board questions, the board completely failed when it came time to choose one person to fill the slot. The editor of the local newspaper took the board to task saying basically if we were paying the school board to make decesions on our behalf, and they were not able to make decesions, then they should all resign, and find people who could make decesions. Most importantly the editor pointed out that the Board probably was in violation of public meeting laws by conducting their debates and votes in private, and then on top of that, never making them public.
Folks, this is the leadership structure running our school system right now. There are many changes that need to be made at all levels of the MCAS, but one that has been discussed barely, if at all, is change at the top. We need leadership who idenifies with Michigan City as a life choice, not just a paycheck, and we need leadership who wants to work with the public as a peer group, and not inspite of them.
Involve everyone
A great way to boost morale and interest in the education of Michigan City's young is to involve as many people as possible in the process. The more people that are involved at any level, the more of a personal stake that there becomes for people hoping to see our kids succeed. For people who aren't involved it is easy for people to become nameless and faceless. When people are involved in things as simple as ideas for the future, it sparks an interest for what is happening in our school system, and it begins to make these kids a reality, instead of an article in the local newspaper. Even for adults who do not have kids in the MCAS, getting them involved plays a vital role, as it then becomes more of a challenge to give them a stake in the future. The Strategic Plan was a masterstroke at involving people at every level of Michigan City. The key is that we cannot let the passage of the Strategic Plan be the end of the story. There needs to be follow up and critique done of the progress we as a school system are making with the Plan. If things aren't working or fitting anymore, we need to adjust. The things that are working need to be recognized and praised.
The most important factor in education
Get the kids into the classroom. It sounds so simple, yet it is so profound. You can't educate a kid that is not attending classes. When I looked at previous years No Child Left Behind stats and saw that Michigan City had schools fail simply because of attendance rates being too low, that just astounded me. I believe that there is a role for every community member to play in the education of our kids. One of the most important things that we need parents to do is to make sure that their kids are getting to class. Kids who are not in class obviously have zero chance at graduation, which is the first step on a life long journey through learning and career. According to the US Department of Labor in 2002 a person who did graduate High School earned on the average about 50% more per week than a person who did not complete High School.
($616/wk vs $421/wk) When a person attends some college that figure jumps about another 20% ($732/wk) and finally a person finishing up a college degree earns on the average about 250% of what a high school dropout earns a week ($1089/wk vs $421/wk).
A child who is not in class has zero chance at graduation, and is instantly handicapped in their earnings ability throughout the rest of their life. 30 years ago the jobs that a high school dropout could walk into and support a family on, today require college experience. Those same jobs just don't exsist today for the people who are not educated.
What makes a City?
3 basic cornerstones are what any family looks for in choosing a community to lay down roots in...
#1-Quality of schools
#2-Quality of jobs
#3-Relative safety/crime rate
With the incredible physical and natural resources that Michigan City pocesses, there is no reason that all 3 of these factors cannot be held to an elite standard. We sit with beachfront access to Lake Michigan, with easy interstate and train access to the city of Chicago. These are all bonuses that many communities can only dream of. Where Michigan City has fallen down is that our school system has consistantly underpreformed the rest of the state of Indiana, and even area school systems. I also believe that the first cornerstone becomes the most important factor in an area, as study after study has proven that education is the one thing that can help a person overcome a lower socioeconomic status to put them into a quality job and safe community.
