Weekly News & Notes

Another week, another snow storm.

These weeks are making life very difficult for classroom teachers in terms of building and sustaining momentum. Between weather, assemblies, and scheduling, there are no doubt challenges - and with vacation coming, there are a great many distractions for our students!

Coming Attractions

We have a faculty meeting next week scheduled for Tuesday. Also, we are planning to hold an optional meeting for professional status staff who are in year one of their process to outline expectations for the evaluation portfolio. Ideally, we can provide some tips and ideas for staff to make these more ongoing, so as to avoid cramming come May!

We have a tight scheduling timeline for these next few weeks, with the goal of being able to give more specific ideas to staff and students before school lets out. From a timeframe, we meet with the 8th graders the week after vacation, and we hope to have their course selections in March, which puts us several months ahead of schedule.
 
For those who plan far in advance, March 18, 19 and 21 will be the MCAS tests in English. A schedule for that will be coming next week. On one of the days, to avoid the same classes being impacted consistently across the week, there will be a change in one of the days' schedules/period sequence.

Scheduling Assemblies

For those of you who may have missed a scheduling assembly, one of the key points that was reiterated throughout was the concept of the developmentally appropriate schedule. There has been a concern raised from some students that five AP classes should be enough for a schedule, while other students have been vocal with us about the tension they are feeling in comparing their desired schedules to that of their peers. There is no one-size-fits-all version of scheduling. We want students to make appropriate schedules. But we also want students to build schedules that aren't designed to cause more stress than it's worth - or to pick classes because a friend took it, a parent suggested it, or because they believe it is next in the progression.

In short, make the best recommendations you can for your disciplines. At the macroscopic level, counselors, students and families will have to determine what is best for the student.

Finally, keep in mind that if a student does not agree with your recommendation, there is an override process, and we are explicit about the ramifications of that override - classes can't be "tried out," and then dropped if it isn't liked.   

 

Disciplinary Stats

We have been working over the past two years at simplifying and cleaning up the disciplinary statistics in MMS, which were often difficult to track because of repeat codes, complicated language, and other nuances that created more complexity in both tracking and reporting offenses. For example, in years past, the only suspensions that we were required to report to the state were those that involved so-called substance, criminal or violence complaints - tobacco, alcohol, drugs, weapons, vandalism, fights/assaults - or those that involved special education students, regardless of offense. Now, in anticipation of new laws governing school discipline (more on that to come), we are required to report all suspensions to the state, regardless of class of offense or student classification.

In short, the numbers are fairly consistent, with the exception of some outliers. For example, in 2010-11, there were 32 reports of vulgarity directed at staff, while last year that number was 20, and this year, the number stands at 8 at the mid-year point. An area where we have had a noticeable dip is the number of extracurricular/athletic chemical health violations, which was at 19 at the mid-year point last year, and is down to five thus far this year.

Some tips for writing referrals:

• Focus on the who, what, and when.
• The section of the referral that asks for a description of what occurred is the most important. Here it helps to think like an attorney: If this incident happens to result in some sort of legal action, the narrative will be the focal point of the inquiry. Write neatly and clearly and create a specific description of the behavior you witnessed. What you write should be factually correct and void of emotional statements such as, "this was really a stupid thing for Tom to do," or "Bobby is nothing but a liar." Also, avoid pre-judgment. The statement should read: "Bobby was not in class but marked present," not "Bobby cut class." In some cases (not all), the student did have a viable excuse as to his/her location - nurse, counselor, administrator, even a mistaken dismissal.

• Be factual, to the point and unemotional!
• Timing is important too: the sooner the problem behavior is discussed and consequenced, the greater the chances for an effective outcome. It is similarly helpful to refer problems one at a time -- not all thrown together in one behavioral lump sum.
• In terms of interventions that you can handle - the single most important ally we have is the parent. Parents would much rather hear about misbehavior or an issue first-hand from the teacher than third-hand from us. If you want to conference with a student, the parent of a student, or both together, and you want support - we are happy to have that conversation, frequently with the counselor present as well. That team approach frequently has better results!

Most of our students do not find their way to the office. Some find their way to the top of write-up slips more frequently. If we see a pattern, which individual staff won't notice, we will try to identify an opportunity to meet with multiple staff, to ensure that we have some consistency in dealing with those students! Ultimately, it becomes the handful that cause us the most consternation - and the best way to deal with them is through cooperation, with student, family, counselor, etc.

If you have specific questions, just ask. If you need specific support, just ask. And if you run into a consistent issue with a parent, or want to script or practice a conversation, just ask! 










Next week, we have the Snow Ball Dance on Thursday evening (7-10). Remember to check the calendar on Doug's blog, the Student Activities Website, and the High School website if you are looking for ways to support the school beyond the classroom.  

Finally, the high school website (and district site) changed over, and we are really trying to get everything back and updated. Unfortunately, not everything moved from old site. It's quite frustrating, but it will get there!