141 Davis Street
Greenfield, MA 01310
413.772.1300
413.774.7490 (fax)

2008-2009

Week #20: Begins, November 10:
(Introduction to the Superintendent Journal)

Sunday, November 16, 2008: GHS & the Envirothon; 3rd Grade Children and Violin

GHS & The Massachusetts Envirothon

On Wednesday, Greenfield High School students will participate in the Massachusetts Envirothon. I was glad our new science teacher wrote to mention this.

Susan,
Yes, you should write about Envirothon! Here is the website http://www.maenvirothon.org/ 
In May, five students from the Plants and Environment class will compete at Envirothon.
The Massachusetts Envirothon is a year-round Environmental Education program with an ecological approach including forests, soils, water, wildlife and a current issue topic. The Massachusetts Envirothon competition will cover a three-day period. The first two days are "field competition" days. The third day is finals. All teams will select one of the field competition days when they register. The four highest overall scoring teams from the combined field competition days compete at the Finals.
Although only five students from GHS are able to compete, the entire class will study the curriculum.
This year's topic is renewable energy. Students are engaged and enjoying the topic. On December 4th, our class will walk to the Energy Park, NESEA, the Solar Store, Greenfield's Market, and the community gardens--all places (with the exception of the garden) that use, sell, or educate about renewable sources of energy.
Angie

From the website: http://www.maenvirothon.org/

What is the Massachusetts Envirothon?
The Envirothon is America's leading natural resource education program for high school students. Teams comprised of five students represent their school or organization in a statewide competition testing their knowledge of: aquatics, forestry, soils, wildlife, and current environmental issues.

The Massachusetts Envirothon stresses the interdependence of various natural resources within the environment, emphasizes hands-on, team-oriented problem solving and community involvement. There are opportunities throughout the year to receive resource materials for use in the classroom, to attend workshops geared to both teachers and students, and catch to environmental professionals in action.

Free Violin Lessons and Greenfield Students

From a parent:

Hi Susan,
I want to help Mary Kay Coffman at Artspace with grant applications to support the "Strings for Kids" program.

It's amazing that in the midst of all this upheaval, my daughter is able to take free violin lessons in the Greenfield public schools! When I think of it, we have all kinds of little gems that make this town a well-kept secret. Pioneer Valley Symphony is one….

There is no string program at the middle school or high school yet but many people are interested in creating a youth orchestra here. A youth orchestra, in time, could feed the Pioneer Valley Symphony which enriches the community, making it more desirable for families and business to locate here.

Do you know where we might look for the $19,000 that Artspace wants to raise to fund the violin program?

[Suggestions welcome]

---

November 14th and 15th. #40,000, The 2008-2009 budget; Energy Audits of Schools, Greenfield High School: Accreditation and Facility; A Home Sewn Idea that Costs--$3,000; Proverbial Follow-up

Virtual Messages Lost
On the 14th and 15th, detailed journal postings were sent from an off-location computer. Alas, they did not reach their destination for posting. Gone forever. Here's a redo.

The 40,000th Reader
Sometime in the next week, reader 40,000 will sign in. Please let me know who you are and I'd be glad to take you to lunch. Journal postings are written almost always late at night or weekends and do not interfere with other work. Carol Holzberg, who posts the journal, and I joke about this late-hour effort. She notices that I send posting after 1:00 a.m. and I notice that she posts these just after 4:00 a.m.

Update on the 2008-2009 Budget
Thursday evening the school committee received a line item budget for the 2008-2009 school year. This document is months of typical budget work generally done by whole administrative teams. We managed this basically in 5 weeks. Many of the schools' several hundred employees were reassigned from one school to another. It will take another 4-5 weeks to review and correct all the personnel accounting codes.

Greenfield schools were voted $14.6 million to administer public education. Dozens of positions were eliminated. The schools were opened without a viable line item budget. Certainly we did not want to use the line item budget from last year.

Staffing the school system has to address all local, state, and federal requirements and also keep in mind the children we are educating. The 'lemon' (the 1+ million in overspending last year) is still with us. We have those same expenditures this year, all squeezed into the $14.6 million appropriation. Of course, squeezing our lemon into the budget means 1.3 million (primarily in faculty) squeezed out.

During October I've worked with the school and city financial officials to reorganize and reformat the actual line items of the school system's 2008-2009 budget—cutting out superfluous line items and consolidating problem areas for better management.

After several years of cuts and freezes (not spending what is budgeted or needed), it's difficult to know what the schools really need. Usually you refer to what was spent in the prior years to consider needs in the next year(s). But if the school system keeps freezing expenditures (e.g. texts and supplies) year after year, then whatever you spent last year doesn't at all indicate what teachers need. We have to rebuild all this information this year.

Closer communications with the city have increased understanding of the school system and its budget. $250,000 is now recommended to be transferred to the school system to restore the high school program. The $250,000 transfer will come from a large funding balance (available from health insurance savings because so many school faculty were eliminated). This is a sad way to replenish the budget but it's the financial reality. The school committee (with mayor and city treasurer) had a work session with high school staff. They learned how many courses were cut, how many students are in study halls instead of courses, and how many elective classes and other services were cut.

We have other needs in nursing for handicapped children, courses at the middle school, and administration, but the immediate concern is restoring high school courses and services. Not to restore these puts the high school's accreditation at risk. An accreditation official visited the high school on Friday—the High School's accreditation status is being reviewed now.

Energy Audits
In the last few weeks, energy audits have been completed for all the school buildings. Windows and ceiling insulation are the big energy guzzlers. The city is helping to figure out how to get insulation in the ceilings of school buildings.

Greenfield High School & Renovation Approval
A complete request for high school renovation was submitted (2006) to the Massachusetts School Building Authority in Boston. The request was rated "HOLD." That means "no—not now." But when?

The due date for submitting a reconsideration request was November 15th (Saturday). This year the requests are all submitted online . It's more difficult to submit information because every little section and question has its own place for responding, entering, and saving. This year there are new questions to answer, like everything that's been done to the facility since 2006. The city treasurer offered to help me with these details. We worked until about 10:00 p.m. Friday night submitting this 'please reconsider' request.

In the last few weeks we've had an energy audit of the high school and also a structural engineer look at the interior and exterior walls. The school building is sturdy but really needs renovation. There are 15,000 square feet of single pane windows so fragile a good wind takes one out. Bathrooms need updating as does all the plumbing and heating. The roof is new (replaced). Built in 1957, everything is 51 years old. How many homeowners make no changes to plumbing, heating, and electrical after 51 years? We cannot even get parts for some of the electrical and heating repairs needed.

This year's new questions imply that School Renovation Approval decisions will be made based in part on whether or not the facility needs relate to health and safety. Well, if a window blows in on someone's head, that isn't good for health and safety.

Not the mention that 15,000 square feet of single pane windows is an awful lot of heat expense literally blowing out the window and this money could be better used for educating students. It almost seems like the amount we are wasting on inefficient energy use would pay the annual cost for a renovation.

We'll see if our submission is accepted and moves to "yes—it's time" from "no—not now." A city with 20,000 people is always going to have a high school. It makes no sense to keep spending so much on unnecessary energy expenditures. Updated bathrooms make lots of sense since the high school is used as an emergency shelter, for elections and town meetings, and fabulous county concerts.

Speaking of Conserving Energy & The Dollar Club
As soon as the Dollar Club has its first $3,000, it can invest in its first $3,000 school project. This weekend I thought how we to blend different needs and ideas and into one super $3,000 project.

Here's the $3,000 puzzle. How could we combine the following 8 ideas:

1. making little, warm, elementary school in-vests for students, particularly the little children (Mary figured the cost for fleece yardage to be approx. $1500 retail),
2. turning the heat down a degree or two to conserve energy this winter,
3. restoring electives at the high school,
4. restoring a textile/sewing lab at the high school,
5. teaching about entrepreneurial business,
6. encouraging intergenerational communications,
7. enlarging some rooms at the high school to restore labs, and
8. fundraising to sustain innovative programs.

Hints: The city has talented seniors and adults who are expert sewers and knitters (clear from visiting the senior center craft fair). The high school has students who work on building projects. The sewing store owner says new sewing machines can be purchased for approx. $200 and lots of people have machines they do not use.

Some schools now have organic farms and sell homegrown produce. Mary Link suggested a school could consider "home sewn" and not just "home grown" (she sews). Could we have a working textile lab and school store? Could we make In-vests for New England children?

A colleague's daughter went to college for textiles, clothing design, and manufacture. She studied sewing and is making a career of designer clothing. Is this a good Dollar Club idea?

Parents as Partners
A few parents and teachers from Federal Street volunteered this weekend to organize this school's library. They had spent all Saturday volunteering at Federal Street. There are no librarians in the schools at the moment, except for part-time in the high school. Books were piled up and needed to be sorted and put back on shelves.

It's great how people pull together for their schools. Wonderful community here.

Proverbial follow-up:

From a parent:

Hello, Susan,
Proverbs 16:18 - "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." Thanks for your blog, we really appreciate it.
Mary

From a teacher:

Susan,
Yes, the quote is from the Bible. It is also used as a point of focus in the children's book Johnny Tremain. Quick synopsis. It is actually used as foreshadowing in the book. Johnny's grandfather (or elderly gentlemen in charge of the house he lives in) reads daily from the Bible to the boys who live there and are employed as apprentices. This quote is read. Johnny is pretty cocky about his talents. He is full of pride. In the end, Johnny sneaks off to finish a piece of silver on the Sabbath (against colonial law) and injures his hand. No longer a good silversmith. Bottom line--he falls from grace. Ends up on the streets. Story continues from there.
Carolyn

---

Thursday, November 13, 2008: Comments from Readers; Budget is Finished

Our Readers Write:

****Teaching About Veterans and Veterans Day

From a teacher at the Middle School:

Susan:
I noticed your thoughts about Veterans in your recent journal entry. Just to let you know that the Vets are not forgotten. Every year my students do activities to learn about Veterans Day. One year we earned $500 for the GMS library through the local Veterans chapter for participating in a program with them. This year, I encouraged my students to attend the Veterans Parade and many did. They have been writing their thoughts on what a veteran is and illustrating images that come into their heads. In Advisory, we are also spending a few moments each day this month reading a primary document written by a former POW (who is still alive). Our middle school coordinated a major all school program to bring in local Vets to tell their stories. Just thought I'd pass this along.

****Wishing For A School Makeover Show ("Move That Bus!")

From a faculty member:

I saw on your journal that you were wondering if Extreme Home Makeover does schools? Last spring they did have a contest for a school makeover. I contacted a recommended GHS teacher (Mark Leonard) to assist a student(s) in applying for a GHS makeover. After all, what would be more appropriate than having a green makeover done at "Greenfield"? An application was submitted for GHS.

Unfortunately, we were not chosen. I would have loved to see us win, but I guess it wasn't in the stars.

***** Teaching About Financial Literacy

From a Newton Parent who offered financial literacy education.

Susan:
I am extremely excited to let you know that the Financial Literacy Program we discussed months ago is moving along and is just great. I am currently working with Newton and Federal and soon will be working with 4th and 5th grades at the Middle School. I met with 21 or so students today at Newton and it was wonderful. The students were so excited with their new calculators, piggy banks and check registers. I brought in a nice supply of stickers; the students were very focused on making their books very colorful. They thought it was great decorating their books. They were enjoying all this and then you should have seen their faces when I told them that Freedom Credit Union was giving them all $5.00 for their first deposit! Today the students at Newton colored a piggy bank and wrote some thoughts down on what they would save for. One little girl in the class said that she wanted to save for a new home for her family. They are just amazing.

Through all the craziness at the beginning of the year it was wonderful to see the students smiling, content and having fun. Little did they know they were learning at the very same time!!! All the great effort that the teachers and the administrative staff have put into getting this program started is wonderful and should be shared throughout or Greenfield Schools.

Budget is Finished
Finally, the line item budget is finished. Subsequent work on the 2009-2010 budget will be less tedious now that details of the 08-09 budget layout are mostly completed. It would be great to feel relieved and have a slight respite, but it's on to the next report--an attempt to ressurect the high school renovation proposal. Two grants follow this, all within 48 hours if possible. For the business manager, the next reports are state reports closing out the 2007-2008 school year. (Everyone will be glad to close out 2007-2008!). Mark and I will free up from our respective new reports in early December.

A weight was lifted today with the line item budget available for distribution and then review. Greenfield Public Schools are coming together piece by piece, report by report, study by study, decision by decision.

Source Documents
Everyone has unique work habit. I rely on source documents. I read the law, the reference, the original report, etc., and so I better understand issues at hand.

Today, asking for an opinion on the State's letter to Greenfield which requires certain votes and actions, someone said: "Pride goes before a fall." What? (I was not familiar with this expression.) "My mother used to say to me: Pride comes before a fall." (So I ask: Could you help me find the source of this quote? I don't know it).

A few minutes later Mike brought me the reference. It's an ancient Hebrew proverb "designed to warn that pride will often cause one to fall or fail." For a moment, I am quiet--pondering this ancient Hebrew proverb and how it applies to the Department of Education.

"You want the source document, right?" (Well, OK. I am curious and will give this another minute.) A minute later Carol brings me the ancient Hebrew Proverb--in Hebrew--and translated. Phonetically, she tells me: Leafnay shever ga-oen ve-leafnay chee sha-loen govah ruach! (I am still pondering, but now I feel the wisdom of the ancients hearing this out loud.)

At Greenfield's school administration, no stone goes unturned. 

---

Tuesday, November 11, 2008: Veterans’ Day at Davis Street

Horoscope for Tuesday, November 11, 2008: “This is an excellent day for study…. You’ll find it easy to concentrate.” I hope so. The office is quiet since it’s a national holiday. Paperwork for this week’s meetings and filings fill my office’s 12-foot conference table. I am envious of the shoemaker whose elves visited in the night and by morning had all the work finished.

Pat Graves was at the office before me today, working on payroll. Late into the evening last night Kathi Titus (special education and grants) and I went through details of personnel and programs in her department. We tried to figure out how to adjust funds to provide administrative help she needs. We continue to consider how to strengthen programs at Green River School.

Today I am interviewing for a second Associate Principal. I am repeatedly aware that the arts are a keen interest of people drawn to the Greenfield area. Yet only a very small % of school administrators has an arts background. Greenfield has fabulous theatres inside its schools and could easily develop more specialization in theatre and performing arts. Of course, this requires funding and community backing. The arts, like athletics, can have events and generate revenue.

I can attest that we turn the heat down on the weekends and holidays. In my new wish list I’ll add a pair of gloves that leaves fingers free for typing. Brrrr.

When important national holidays occur, I find myself wondering if our youth learn the importance of these days while out of school. Veterans Day seems a perfect day to teach about conflict, war, alternatives, songs and art of the nation that held people together through critical periods in our history. Today is a day to remember people in our families and communities who served in the armed forces. Seems like a day to consider our nation’s policies about veterans or to learn the proper way to raise and lower the American flag.

Page last updated on: November 17, 2008

Home

For Web site queries and questions and to report Web site issues, please contact:
carhol1@gpsk12.org

Privacy and Terms of Use