School Culture #SAVMP 27

     One of the reasons I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the #SAVMP project is because I get some pretty amazing ideas from the project and all of its contributors. The most recent assignment was posted by @gcouros, and George describes a story of how he made just a few changes to the front foyer at his school when he was a principal.

     Well, I am officially bootlegging one of his ideas! Since I became Principal last year, we have made several changes to our front lobby by: 1) Adding a lovely image of a cheetah (our mascot) as painted by our talented art teacher; 2) Adding a Digital Frame that scrolls with images of our Student of the Month winners; 3) Adding a copy of our Mission and Vision Statements (see below):

     And...we added a group picture of the faculty and staff. BUT...after reading George's post about how he made the lobby an area of student focus, I think we will move the portrait of the adults to the lounge, and we will put the art work of our students in the lobby. This post by George was called: The Little Things and School Culture, and he shared how just making that one change made such a difference:

"That little change and focus on them (students), set a tone for so many other aspects of what happened in school with students.  Sometimes we do not notice the little things in our school that are just “fixtures” on the wall but promote a very different culture of what we are trying to create. "

     The aforementioned, talented art teacher and I just recently selected the student winner of the school's 5th grade art contest where the student's artwork will adorn the school folder for the coming school year. We will certainly need to think about putting that STUDENT artifact in the front office after we move the picture of the adults to the teachers' lounge. 

     Great ideas get me excited about the work I do....I can't wait to implement this change!

My Chat with the Senator

     Last summer I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with our local senator, Senator Don Gaetz. He was a former school Superintendent, so I felt I could share my frustrations with him about our current state accountability system. Don't get me wrong. I am an accountability girl. I have seen the advent of accountability cause an elevation in our ability to improve student achievement like never before. But I did share with the Senator how our state’s “safety net” embedded in the accountability system reduced the urgency necessary to turn around schools demonstrating a downward trajectory in regards to student achievement. I shared the story of how I took over a “B” school that was really, by points, a C school with only 9 points keeping it from a D. But the community, the district, and even the school staff were not acting with a sense of urgency due to the “B” which camouflaged our downward trajectory.

     During our chat, he was very insightful, and I took away some awesome quotes from our visit. He said, I needed some “hard chargers” to help with the reform…referring to the teaching staff.

     When he responded to my visit by sending me a personal letter, he said, “I was intrigued by your analysis that the current school grading system – “buffered” grades – turned out to be a disadvantage to you in developing a sense of urgency among your faculty and parents and district staff.” When I read his letter, I knew that he had genuinely listened to what I had to say.

     And now….FLASH FORWARD….a year later. This spring, the Senator has worked with others in the government to remove the safety net and to create a transparent grading system. I was thrilled when I received his email newsletter that described the changes.

     I firmly believe that the Senator listened to my heartfelt concerns. He probably heard similar concerns from across the state, and he listened. This summer I will reply to his letter with thanks. All in all, this was a worthwhile experience, but the Senator’s responsiveness and time taken to send me a letter seemed to make it even more gratifying.