Kitsap Education

Two potential staffing changes in North Kitsap schools have some local folks stirred up. There’s a school board meeting tonight at 7 p.m. at the district office, 18360 Caldart Ave., in Poulsbo. Folks who are concerned are promising to turn out in large numbers.

The first concern has to do with counselors and librarians at Breidablik and Pearson elementary schools. There’s a proposal in front of the NK Citizens Budget Review Committee and the Budget Advisory Team (it’s made up of administrators) that one counselor and one librarian be shared by the two schools. Each school now has a full-time counselor and a full-time librarian. NK Board President Tom Anderson said all options for budget cuts are on the table right now. The citizen committee and the BAT are set to make presentations of their recommendations to the board on June 24. The board won’t make a decision in the near future, though it will have to be this summer as the budget must be finalized by sometime in August.

NK Education Association President Pat Pearson told me today that the proposal, if adopted, would overload the counselor and the librarian and make them less effective with students. “Kids don’t have a crisis only on Monday, Wednesday and every other Friday,” he said. The counselor and the librarian would be responsible for 600 students between the two schools – about 200 more than the district’s largest elementary (Poulsbo.)

I’ve also heard from folks upset that long-time, beloved French teacher Keith Johnson might not be back at North Kitsap High School in the fall. Johnson was featured in a Sun story in April about a visit to NK by French students.

He has been teaching at NKHS for 40-plus years. I haven’t been able to talk with him today, but North Kitsap Education Association President Pat Pearson said that it’s true that Johnson will probably not return.

He retired a few years ago and returned to his old job under the retire/rehire system. Most local folks are familiar with retire/rehire after the controversy in Bremerton where then-Superintedent Bette Hyde retired and then was rehired a few months later. Not much was known by the public about the system until folks began to realize that Hyde could collect her state retirement and also a paycheck. It was viewed as unfair by some, though many defended the system as critical to filling education positions that were short applicants (especially in special ed, science and administration.)

Different districts deal with retire/rehire in different ways. Last year, the North Kitsap School Board indicated that the district should strictly interpret the rules around retire/rehire. People in retire/rehire positions must re-interview each year for their job. If no other applicant is found to be more qualified, the retire/rehire applicant can be hired. Pearson said it seems these rules apply to teachers but not to administrators.

NKHS mom Jessica Breitbarth called me this morning to tell me her son, Max, called upset by the news. Breitbarth said Johnson has inspired her son to learn French and to want to travel. Johnson is “unusually good and unusually inspiring,” she said. “I mean he is phenomenal!” Whatever the rules are around retire/rehire, Breitbarth said the bottom line is that kids clamor to get into Johnson’s class. If he’s gone, she said, “the kids are the ones who will suffer.”

The Central Kitsap School Board played to a full house tonight, with many interesting folks in the packed seats. There was Dave Pevovar – famed physics and computer science teacher at CKHS – (he has his own Facebook fan page) and Paul Birkenfeld, another beloved CKHS science teacher. Elizabeth Blandin and JD Sweet were there too. Sweet is a long-time (30-plus years, I think) history teacher at CKHS and leader in the local African American community. Blandin teaches English and works in the library. The pair recently won a Washington Education Association award for their project working with kids on diversity issues. I saw other familiar faces whose names I can’t quite put my finger on right now (my bad!) – suffice to say most of them were from CKHS.

While I was there initially to find out more about a proposed capital projects levy CKSD may put on the February 2011 ballot, staff members packed the house to talk about class sizes and staffing for the 2010-11 school year. CK was the only district locally to lay off staff this year. This has made for some very difficult situations in the district. The good news, from HR director Jeanie Beckon, is that two of the 13 teachers (one math and one science, both at the secondary level) who were laid off have been recalled to their jobs. CK leaders hope to give back more jobs – probably at elementary – before the end of the school year.

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A story in the Tacoma News-Tribune recently highlighted a Tacoma Public Schools teacher who will be reassigned from his current position at Mount Tahoma for the next school year. It’s a good look into how seniority, enrollment and union rules drive how teachers do their jobs and where.

Read more here.

I’ve been thinking about and writing about over the past few days the potential that some teachers in our region will be laid off this year. In that process, teachers can become abstract. I’ve talked with administrators and union reps about numbers and salaries and figures and budget cuts etc. But of course these are people. A couple things brought me back to that today, thank goodness.

This email came from the sister of a Central Kitsap teacher. It read:

I am writing this as my brother (Brandon Brown) just found out today after teaching for 10 years at Olympic High school that his job is more than likely going to be RIF’d for next school year. Brandon teaches all the technology and computer related classes at the school and is very well respected by current and present students as well as all staff members. I thought I submit this in hopes that you guys at the Sun could do some sort of article to bring awareness to this issue. This is a direct result of lack of state funding and budget shortfalls felt throughout the state right now in education.
As of right now only a miracle can save his job or if he can get enough students to register for his classes next year would it be saved.

Jennifer Valencia

And then today I read a column by Kathleen Parker, who just won a Pulitzer Prize. This column is not be missed, especially if you recall a special teacher in your life.

I get emails a lot – not daily, but at least a few times a week – from PR companies or educational product promoters trying to get press for the latest gadget or fad in education. Often I discard them, but recently I got two that I thought might interest Kitsap Education readers.

The first embraces technology. Larry Rosen is a psychologist from California who studies the effect of technology on people. His previously authored ”Me, MySpace and I: Parenting the Net Generation.” His newest is “Rewired: Understanding the iGeneration and the Way They Learn.

From the book description: Look around at today’s youth and you can see how technology has changed their lives. They lie on their beds and study while listening to mp3 players, texting and chatting online with friends, and reading and posting Facebook messages. How does the new, charged-up, multitasking generation respond to traditional textbooks and lectures? Are we effectively reaching today’s technologically advanced youth? Rewired is the first book to help educators and parents teach to this new generation’s radically different learning styles and needs. This book will also help parents learn what to expect from their “techie” children concerning school, homework, and even socialization. In short, it is a book that exposes the impact of generational differences on learning while providing strategies for engaging students at school and at home.

The second embraces exercise and movement. Teachers – good ones – are always looking for new and different ways to help kids learn. I know of a couple local teachers who have embraced exercise and incorporated it into their classroom because they understand how physical movement can stimulate kids’ brains. One teachers takes his kids for a run around the playground every day. Another teacher and his students hit golf balls a couple times a week for the same reason.

A new book, The Kinesthetic Classroom, takes the idea further. It offers lots of practical suggestions for incorporating movement into actual lessons and into every subject. Here’s a press release about it:
RTC LAUNCHES TRAINING PROGRAM FOR TEACHERS: THE KINESTHETIC CLASSROOM

Gives Practical Suggestions for Incorporating Movement into Learning

Randolph, NJ (March 24, 2010) – Teachers have always known that some children learn better by doing. A new training program co-created by teachers Traci Lengel and Mike Kuczala now gives teaching professionals the practical tools they need to reach these children. This groundbreaking course is now being offered by The Regional Training Center (RTC), a leading provider of professional development programs for teachers in NJ, PA and MD. The course, which is titled The Kinesthetic Classroom: Teaching and Learning through Movement also led to the recent release of a book that is co-published by RTC and educational publisher Corwin.

“While educators have long been aware that there are children who learn through movement, kinesthetic learning is getting more attention as a result of concerns about childhood obesity, and the fact that many children who are kinesthetic learners have also been misdiagnosed as ADHD,” notes Lengel.

These children are often fidgety and distracted in class and are easily bored. Teachers find these students challenging because their behavior can impact the entire class. While some instructional courses have briefly touched on the subject, this course is among the first to focus specifically on the issue.

The new training program is based on sound research in neuroscience and cognitive psychology, and gives teachers practical suggestions on how to incorporate movement into all kinds of learning activities at every grade level in a way that will benefit the whole class.

“Current research shows that children who learn through movement retain more and perform better in school,” notes Lengel. “Kinesthetic learners, for example, do well in things like chemistry class where they are participating in experiments, or in athletics where they are playing a sport, or in music class where they are singing or playing an instrument. They remember things by connecting a physical activity to a subject.”

The RTC course, however, takes physical activity beyond PE lessons, special classes and lunchtimes to show educators how they can integrate movement as part of classroom teaching and learning and subsequently improve attention span and help the brain master new information. Moreover, the course is taught kinesthetically, so the teachers themselves learn better.

Founded in 1993, RTC is a unique provider of educational training programs for K-12 educators that improve their knowledge and classroom teaching skills with both graduate degree and non-degree continuing education.

RTC’s courses are unique in that they teach educators how to teach, rather than what to teach. The courses are led by teaching professionals who facilitate a highly-experiential, peer-to-peer learning model. Based on the best practices of fellow teachers, this type of hands-on training is designed to give educators additional tools and strategies to create an optimum learning environment for students.

For more information on The Regional Training Center and the Kinesthetic Classroom: Teaching and Learning through Movement course, please visit www.thertc.net or call 1-800-433-4740.

Layoffs of teachers in local school districts are almost surely coming in the next few months as the state budget is cut yet again. As in past years, the teachers “last hired” will be “first fired.” Blogger and teacher Heather Wolpert-Gawron has written another interesting take on how that system might be changed. She proposes a multi-pronged approach to the evaluation of teachers, a more honest and deeper way to measure success. It’s an interesting approach and definitely something more substantial than slinging around blame for a troubled education system. Often I hear critics of public education just blame the teachers unions for all that is wrong. Like most things in life, it’s just not that easy. To her credit. Wolpert-Gawron doesn’t let teachers off the hook but her call to accountability is much more nuanced.

From her article:

And for the teachers out there, I have a message for you as well. We are blamed for the broken system because we are not making it a priority to speak out from the trenches. Society will listen to those with the loudest voices, and ours aren’t even yet heard at a whisper. Share what works in your classroom. Share the victories of your school with your community. Share your ideas about better teacher policies. We can no longer give our tacit permission for those few who are the weakest among us to dictate our reputation. If society is to respect our profession, as it deserves, we need to write our own stories.

A new book published by a Harvard senior lecturer looks at the numerous studies done on AP classes over the years. The book’s conclusion finds that the classes, which allow high school students to take college-level courses and in some cases get credits, aren’ t the educational magic bullet. This is probably something to consider as more and more local high schools add AP classes at the insistence of students and parents.

Read more about it here.

It can be frustrating for me as a reporter to have to cut off the flow of information for a story because of space constraints or time. Last night after the North Kitsap School Board meeting was one of those times.

First, we only had so much space set aside in the paper for the story. (The paper version has about 5 inches less copy than the web version so I would much prefer folks to read the online story. ) Second, the discussion about this issue ended about 10 minutes AFTER my deadline of 9:30. Super-duper Sun Night Editor Jim Thomsen gave me extra time and I handed the story in at about 10:35. You can read what made it into the story here.

Here are some tidbits that did not make it:

Two parents, Linda Berry-Marist and Suzanne Christman, told the school board that their older children, who are now in college, took honors classes at NK schools and greatly benefitted from them. Honors classes, which were phased out three years ago, provided more challenging assignments and a deeper examinationn of subjects, they said. Both Linda and Suzanne now have younger children who are heading to high school in NK. They worry that those students won’t get the same education their older children enjoyed. Suzanne said plans for “honors designation” asterisks on transcripts are fine, but that she’s more concerned that her daughter won’t get the actual honors instruction she needs to then be successfully prepared for AP classes later in high school. Linda is worried that accelerating younger students into classes with older students won’t be a good mix.

When the recommendations were presented, Superintendent Rick Jones gave quite a long introduction.  He pointed out that the impetus for these changes goes back to 2002 when NK’s Secondary Guiding Principles were created by a district task force. The vision of those principles was to move away from tracking students into certain academic funnels (regular academic classes, honors classes, AP, career and technical ed etc) and toward a system that ”de-tracks” and sends all kids into a variety of classes. Jones said that philosophy was something that drew him to apply for the superintendent job in NK. He was hired in 2008. Jones then touched on the professional learning communities model, which he said has not been very well understood or very well implemented. Despite that, Jones said he and most staff support the PLCs and hope they can help improve teaching.  

A new plan for improving the education of the AGATE (or gifted) students is coming soon. The plan for high-achieving students is separate from the plan for AGATE kids.

I included quite a bit of what NK School Board member Kathleen Dassel had to say in my story. She brought a new perspective to the discussion around the plan for high-achieving students. Her ability as an attorney was pretty clear last night too. She asked pointed questions and then asked them again when she didn’t feel they had been properly answered. She will be an interesting board member to watch.

NK Assistant Superintendent Shawn Woodward shed a little more light on what he and other educators refer to as “differentiated instruction.” The technique “can seem like a nebulous thing,” he said. But as a teacher, differentiated instruction gives you a menu of ways and techniques you can use to teach the same topic. Not every child learns in the same way or at the same pace so differentiated instruction gives teachers ways to accommodate all students. This is at the  heart of the district’s strategy to teach all levels of learners in the same classroom and is part of how district leaders believe they can teach kids who might have formerly been in an honors curriculum in a regular classroom with other students who aren’t working at such high levels. Teachers should not be “teaching to the middle” if they are properly trained in differentiated instruction, he added.

NK Board President Tom Anderson and member Ed Strickland had a few comments at the meeting. Strickland, a former teacher, said PLCs are the best thing the school district has done in his six years on the board. Anderson said he supported the high-achieving recommendations, but also recognized that the emails he receives about the subject from parents run four to one in favor of a return to an honors curriculum.

NK parent Ron Turley, who has been a spokesman for the group that wants a return to an honors curriculum, was very disappointed last night by the recommendations. He echoed earlier comments that an honors designation does not mean a student is getting instruction at the level a true honors class would offer. However, he also said he believes NK’s attempt to increase its AP offerings is “definitely a positive.” He also “loves the concept” of professional learning communities. But promises of enrichment activities for high-achieving students during the time the teachers are in PLCs training have not been met.

It was very interesting to read the comments prompted by a story by Tammy Adamson-McMullen about the January term at West Sound Academy,  a private school in North Kitsap. “Jan Term” offers WSA students the opportunity to take different classes: belly dancing, for example. Read Tammy’s story here. There were commenters celebrating WSA’s forethought to offer classes to kids that would spark their interests beyond regular academic pursuits. And there were folks who found the whole idea frivolous.

It made me think again about watching the food science classes at Ridgetop Junior High (a public school) in Central Kitsap. I spent most of the late morning/early afternoon today watching the eighth- and ninth-graders working in teams to create special dishes as part of the school’s second annual “Iron Chef” competition. Basically it was a lot of organized chaos with food sciences teacher Kathryn Wilkie in charge. The kids worked in three teams to create some amazing dishes: apple mulligatawney soup; apple-brined pork loin; chicken liver and apple pate; green apple chutney; apple cake with caramel sauce; homemade baguettes etc.  You can read all about it in this story.

The one thing that stuck with me throughout the time that I watched these kids was their level of enthusiasm. Everyone had a job and everyone was very focused on doing it well. These teen-agers spoke enthusiastically about making ice cream, brining meat, using a crockpot. Justice, the student assigned to clear all the plates, did so with flourish. They were all really into it.

So here’s my question: Are these classes, these “Jan Term” efforts, worth it?

Terri Messing, a teacher at Cedar Heights Junior High in Port Orchard, has been named the Washington state Civic Educator of the Year.

Read more here about Messing’s award and two other area teachers who will be honored.