Getting the Max from the Media

NATIONAL SCHOOL BOARD ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE, San Francisco

I attended this session on Friday and it was a fascinating, informative program presented by Barbara Hunter, NSBA Communication Director and David R. Voss, President of Voss and Associates. Ms. Hunter and Mr. Voss offered a very professional, interactive, and enlightening presentation on how to handle the media. Whether you are a board member from a small district or a large district, they taught you how to be in control and confidant when dealing with the local newspaper, radio, television and much more.

One of the most important recommendations, in my opinion, was P-A-M. Prepare A Message. The media knows what message they want to portray but you can counteract their tactic by preparing a message of your own. What message do you want to get across? Here is four basic steps to prepare your message.

1. What is your goal?
2. Who is your target audience? (narrow, not just parents)
3. What is the format? (print, radio, TV, meeting)
4. What is your theme or message (soundbite)

In addition we learned the 10 B’s of getting the max from your media…

1. Be Realistic
2. Be Aware
3. Be Prepared
4. Be Accessible
5. Be Honest
6. Be Quotable
7. Be in Control
8. Be Liked
9. Be Innovative
10. Be Assertive

And one final piece of advice…
Never screw up on a slow news day :)

Blogging from San Francisco

Good morning everyone. I will be blogging from the National School Board Conference in San Francisco for the next few days. I arrived here Thursday afternoon after a 14-hour trip from LaPlata. This is my first time in California and must say it is very interesting. Upon first entering the city, I was in total awe at how they build and stack all these colorful, shoebox looking houses on the side of a hill. (I forgot my USB cable but I’ll try to post some pictures when I return.) I
finally arrived at my hotel in the South Market District, which is the Artsy section of town, and especially intriguing.

After settling in, I went for a walk and checked out the Yerba Buena Gardens and Center for the Arts. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and everyone was outside in the gardens enjoying the fresh air and sunshine.

On Friday I checked in at the conference and attended an all day session called Getting the Max from the Media. You can check out my notes in the next post (You can also check out my notes, as well as other board members at the conference blog site. In the late afternoon, I took a cable car to Fisherman’s Wharf. Needless to say the cable car ride was my first and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I got to view Lombard Street, the “crookedest street in the world”, and look forward to trying to ride down it another day. I enjoyed a leisurely stroll down by the piers with views of Alcatraz, Treasure Island, and the Golden Gate Bridge. (Sorry no pictures yet).

All in all, I like San Francisco and I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.

A Moment of Truth

A generation after white flight, districts continue to face awkward discussions and painful choices in an attempt to achieve diversity. The American School Board Journal addesses this issue in it's April issue.

A 37-year veteran of the Senate, Chambers has views that could hold sway in the final outcome of this debate. And, unlike many lawmakers, he’s doesn’t sugarcoat his opinions. For instance, he dismisses outright the arguments of the NAACP and other civil rights groups that condemn LB 1024 as segregationist. He says he’s not interested in talk of segregation -- or integration.

"I’m interested in quality education,” he says.

That message strikes a chord with more people than education policymakers sometimes like to admit. Despite polls showing strong support for school diversity efforts, the decisions parents make about where to enroll their children suggest otherwise. Many white and affluent minority families aren’t interested in integration, Orfield says. Their interest is simply in the best educational opportunities for their children. That opinion also holds sway in minority communities, where black parents remember that their peers were usually the ones bused across town in the name of integration. Today’s rallying cry is neighborhood schools.

Read more HERE.

Maryland Receives Grant for Student Board Member

Maryland is one of three states to receive a grant awarded by the National Association of Boards of Education through the Student Leadership Initiative, funded by the MetLife Foundation. The other states also receiving grants are Massachusetts, Montana and Tennessee.

The $2,000 grant will assist the state Board of Education student member, Brian Frazee, to communicate with county and local student leaders.

Childhood Obesity & School

According to the American School Board Journal, the childhood obesity battle faces hurdles, hiccups.

"Walk into any fast-food restaurant these days and you are confronted with a host of healthy choice alternatives, a sign that the “Super Size Me” era is finally coming to an end. But how are efforts to curtail childhood obesity coming along, and what are the dangers and risks ahead?
It depends on whom you ask. But based on the flurry of reports and news articles during a one-week period in January, it’s obvious schools remain at the center of the food chain. And that comes as no surprise, given that about 17 percent of U.S. youngsters are obese and millions more are overweight. "

Click HERE for the complete article.

"Chocolate War" Creates a War of it's Own

According to the Examiner, the ‘Chocolate War’ will be cut from Harford County schools’ curriculum due to parents protesting the book's language, depictions of violence and references to sex. Have any of you read this book?

“The Chocolate War” will no longer be required reading for Harford County freshmen, after numerous parents took issue with its violence and strong language.

Superintendent Jacqueline Haas will go before the Board of Education on Tuesday to announce that Robert Cormier’s 1974 novel will be pulled from the mandatory ninth-grade “living in a contemporary world” class, despite a review committee’s unanimous ruling that it should be kept.

“The controversy that has occurred over ‘The Chocolate War’ has left it unusable at this time,” Haas wrote in her decision, released on the schools’ Web site this week. “While the Superintendent would want to make the decision … on the merits of the book, the divergent views of this work make it difficult to continue its use at this time.”

Read more HERE.

Teacher Takes a Long View of Sex-Ed

A Montgomery County pilot program is a part of the movement towards greater openness in the sex education curriculum. An article in the Washington Post today takes a look at the issue from a teachers perspective.

Susan Soule was a sex education teacher for decades before she ever had a student identify herself as gay in front of the class.
It was in the late 1990s, and by then the subject that Soule began teaching in 1973 as little more than a guarded anatomy lesson had been buffeted by the emergence of AIDS, test tube fertilization, the gay pride movement and other earthquakes of the sexuality landscape. A few days into a class discussion that Soule had led countless times before, a sophomore at Montgomery Blair High School raised her hand and matter-of-factly declared that she was a lesbian.

Read more HERE.

College Acceptance Eludes Some of the Best Students

According to an article in the Washington Post on April 6th, the battle to win the nod of a top college is escalating. Will it get better when the current bulge of baby-boomer children gets out of high school at the end of this decade?

The U.S. Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics says the number of graduating high school seniors will peak at 3.3 million in 2011 and decline only slightly to 3.2 million by 2016. Most educators predict that the percentage of those students going to college -- now about 67 percent -- will increase and make the application process even more stressful. Undergraduate enrollment, for instance, is projected conservatively to increase from 15.2 million this year to 16.6 million in 2015, the center says.

Read the complete article HERE.

UPDATE - Education Legislation

Below is some of the education legislation and their current status.

• GEOGRAPHIC COST OF EDUCATION INDEX FOR SCHOOLS (Require that future budgets provide additional money for schools in areas with high cost of living) Stalled
• TUITION FREEZE (Freeze tuition at public universities) Approved by both chambers and included in budget
• SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION (Provide $400 million for school construction) Approved in House and Senate capital budgets
• TUITION FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS (Provide in-state tuition at public universities to immigrants who graduate from Maryland high schools) Approved in House
• APOLOGY FOR SLAVERY (Express "profound regret" for Maryland's role in the slave trade) Approved by both chambers
• TRUANCY (Prevent habitual truants from getting a learner's permit to drive) Different versions pass in House and Senate

Redistricting - Someone is Going to Be Upset

From my experience on the Board, no matter where you draw the redistricting lines, someone, or a group of someone's, will not be happy.

The redistricting proposals and recommendations (links below) for Neal Elementary are an item of contention for a group of parents living on Hawkins Gate Road. The next Public Forum will take place on Thursday, April 19th at Thomas Stone High School 7:00 pm. The Board is set to discuss at it's next work session on April 23 at 7:00 pm, which also includes a public forum prior to the start of the meeting.

• Redistricting Committee Report
• Redistricting Overview
• Redistricting Proposals

The BayNet wrote an article on this subject on Wednesday.

In addition to all the objections received via email, fifteen speakers from those three neighborhoods spent an hour making certain that Superintendent James Richmond understood why they didn’t want to leave their current school district. To Richmond’s credit, participators told The Bay Net they felt like the school administrators were actually listening.

The McConnell family summed up a number of points the objectors have in common. They are concerned about the safety of the main road to the school with all the construction traffic in that area. They love the quality of education at Matula Elementary; some of the affected families recently moved to their La Plata homes specifically to attend Matula Elementary.

Study Shows Fancy Tools Don't Raise Test Scores

According to a study by the U.S. Department of Education, technological tools really aren't significant in raising test scores.

An article in the Washington Post reports on the study...

Educational software, a $2 billion-a-year industry that has become the darling of school systems across the country, has no significant impact on student performance, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Education.
The long-awaited report amounts to a rebuke of educational technology, a business whose growth has been spurred by schools desperate for ways to meet the testing mandates of President Bush's No Child Left Behind law.

Do You Know A Special SECAC Teacher?

The Charles County Special Education Citizens Advisory Committee is seeking nominations for the second annual CHarles Count SECAC Teacher and Staff Appreciation Awards.

The committee is looking for people who have contributed to the success of a child who has special needs.

The awards ceremony will be held at 7 p.m. May 16th at the Waldorf Jaycees.

Nomination forms are available at the Charles County Parents Center located at the F. B. Gwynn Center on Radio Station Road. For more information, call 301-934-7456, fax 301-934-6839 or email mailto:pfc@ccboe.com. All nominations are due by April 25.

NSBA National Conference

The 2007 National School Board Association Conference will take place in San Francisco April 12th - 17th. Many of your Board of Education members will be attending to learn from their peers, share their own successes, and get re-energized for the upcoming year. The NSBA Conference enables us to reach higher, with innovations and proven approaches to inspire student success.
The 2007 conference promises fresh perspectives with practical, applicable sessions and workshops. Not to mention the opportunity to network and share solutions with colleagues from school districts across the nation.

Please feel free to visit the site above to find out more about the conference.

Here is a list of some of the seminars I will be trying to attend and of course reporting back my findings via this site and the NSBA Blog. All topics are clickable for a brief synopsis.

UPDATE: It was brought to my attention that the links below are not working. I am currently at the conference and have limited internet time. To view the program descriptions, please click on the conference link above and search the workshops. Sorry for the inconvenience.

• Alignment of Standards, Performance, and Accountability for the Board and Superintendent
• Parent Centers: How to Open Doors and Get Parents Involved in Your Schools
• The War Against Boys: Is It Real in Our Schools?
• Conflicts over Sexual Orientation in Public Schools: How to Find Common Ground
• Open Meetings/Open Records: How Much "Sunshine" Is There in Your Evening Meetings?
• Arts Education and 21st Century Skills
• Engaging the Community in a New Schoolwide Wellness Plan
• Smart Choices for Healthy Kids: A Systems Approach to Addressing School Health Issues
• Selling What You Do Everyday -- Marketing and Public Relations Strategies That Work for School Distr
• Dealing with Difficult People -- Don't Take It Personally!
• A Board-Driven Public Engagement Model
• High School Reform: Redefining Rigor for the 21st Century
• A Future Envisioned by Improving College and Workforce Readiness and Success for All Students
• SchoolTalk200: A Community Engagement Process That Works!
• No Textbooks! Moving into the Future where Students Learn with the Tools of Today's Workplace.
• Stepping Toward the Future: Let's Leave No Parent Behind
• Developing and Maintaining a Positive Working Relationship -- School Board and Administrative Team
• Graduation Project: Increasing Academic Rigor for All Students
• Regulating Communications from Outside Groups Without Violating the First Amendment
• You've Got E-mail -- Rules for Board Members, Sunshine Laws, and Public Records Issues
• The Fourth General Session: Jamie Lee Curtis, Speaker

P.S. If you know of any must see places in San Francisco, please forward :)

Student Offenses...Concealed from the Public?

According to an article in the Washington Post Montgomery County schools are working to report student offenses in more detail aimed at a tendency to conceal cases from the public.

"Starting with the 2008-09 school year, Montgomery County parents can expect a clearer picture of the kind and amount of crimes and other suspension-worthy offenses committed by students in and around schools.
Officials have started work on a comprehensive School Safety Report, a document that should offer the public a running tally of student offenses involving weapons, drugs, sexual misconduct and violence, among other categories, at every school. No such report exists now; the nearest equivalent is an annual report from the state that lists offenses by school across several broad categories but without enough detail to render it very meaningful to parents or policy makers."

No Blogging Allowed

Yep. That is the title of a wonderful article from the BayNet on Tuesday.

CCBoE Attorney Eric Schwartz, at one moment, advised the board that the First Amendment protects Ms. Abell’s freedom of speech. In the next moment however, Schwartz advised Chairman Wade that one method of punishment would be to “overlook a board member during meetings by not calling on them for comments.”

Notes from Board Meeting 4/3/07

The below notes are my personal notes and are not intended to be all-inclusive or official minutes for the Board of Education meetings and are provided as a request from my supporters and the general public in a personal effort to be more transparent. Although I have diligently tried to make these notes as unbiased and accurate as possible, I am only human and do make mistakes. Please follow-up for official minutes upon approval. For copies of printed reports presented visit Board Docs.

Public Forum
· Gentleman spoke about the school system in New York. “figures don’t lie, but liars figure.”
· Woman loves the school system. Upset by comment heard at the DI competition. Programs had to be reprinted because Mr. Richmonds name was before the Board members names. Someone on staff demanded they be reprinted. What a waste.
· Gentleman upset over redistricting plan. Referenced Policy 1910 re: transportation, enhancement of feeder school, impact on community, natural boundaries, limiting redistricting. No reason LaPlata residents need to attend Waldorf schools.
· Gentleman upset over redistricting. Against Hawkins Gate going to Neal. Wants children to remain at Matula.
· Woman upset over redistricting. Against Hawkins Gate being moved. Begging for reconsideration.
· Woman concerned over redistricting. Against Hawkins Gate being moved. Would choose Matula with trailers over new school.
· Gentleman thanked the Board for moving the meetings to the evening. Spoe about report cards and how they should contain percentages not just letter grades. Requests the Board consider new report cards for Fall 2007. Offers to volunteer to assists implementation.

Action - Approval of Minutes
*Vote to approve minutes
Unanimous
PASSED

Correspondence/Board Member Updates
· Abell – Informed fellow members she has been notified by Christina Gordon, Director of Communications for the National School Board Association and invited to be a contributor to the National Conference Blog this April. She was also contacted by Craig Colgan of Potomac Planet who presented the seminar on Blogging at the 2006 National Conference and invited to participate as a panel member for the Blogging Seminar at the 2008 National Conference. She has accepted both invitations.

Report – EACC – Bill Fisher & Meg MacDonald
· Negotiations are underway. Focusing on extra-pay, workload and insurance.
· Mr. Fisher was elected to the Maryland State Teachers Assoc.
· Local elections are upcoming for the EACC Board

Report - Student Board Member – Andrew VanWoerken
· Senior Citizens Prom was fabulous
· MASC Convention. Charles County was third largest in attendance behind PG & Montgomery Counties.
· Elections for CCASC is this month. 4/27

Report – Superintendent – Jim Richmond
· Anxious for spring break
· 3rd quarter report cards are this week
· MSA went well with no major incidents
· Moving forward on space partnership
· Walldorf Germany/ Heildelberg Printing Press Dedication 4/27 10:30 am at North Point
· Diggs Dedication 5/4 at 6:30 pm
· Jenifer 20 years celebration 5/20 at 2:00 pm
· Grasmick will present at Education Day sponsored by CISCO 5/23 8-5 at North Point
· BOE televised by Sept hopefully on Channel 96

Report – Redistricting Committee Neal Elementary (S. DiSabantino; G. Barrett)
· Staff recommends Alternative A
· Wise – Possible future development on Hawkins Gate?
· DiSabantino – Yes on LaPlata side
· Wise – Willets Crossing needs 2 buses
· DiSabantino – No
· Wise – has a grandfather clause ever been considered
· DiSabantino – No
· Pedersen – Piney Church Road Upgrades
· Wineland – Only from stadium site to Billingsley Road will go to 4 lanes. Complete the remainder with 2 lanes by next year
· Pedersen – Any representation on subcommittee from LaPlata area
· DiSabantino – Explained process of selecting committee
· Bailey – Doesn’t see where any modifications have been made to the plans since the last public forum. Requests the Board consider Proposal A as a transportation zone and allow Matula enrollment to be on a first come first serve basis from that transportation zone.
· Board discussion to continue at work session on 4/23

Report – CIP – C. Wineland (S. Hagis; B. Law; G. Barrett)
· Davis MS –finish in June
· Smallwood Boiler replacement
· Neal – site is cleared
· New High School – Letters of interest have been received and reviewed. Board will receive proposal next month
· Craik roof. Should have answers next week.

Report – Technology Update (B. Devkota)
· Demonstration of electronic response system. 30 “clickers” cost $2,000
· Wade – Televising Board meetings; wants consensus. UNANIMOUS

Report – Curriculum – Autism - Judy Estep (M. Charbonnet; T. Robinson)
· Very informative slide show presentation on statistics and generalities regarding autism.
· Cook – Do we refer families to physicians for diagnosis?
· Cook – Mercury in vaccines and autism related?
· Robinson – Depends on which group of scientists you ask. No final decisions as of yet.
· Abell – 1 out of every 150 children have autism and one out of every 94 boys. Are we meeting their needs currently and what is our plans to keep up with this growth.
· Robinson – Partnership with the health department. Cross training professionals. Implementing the Hannan Method. Training for day care providers and families. More teachers being certified through Hopkins. Summer program is available.
· Carrington – Reason for the increase
· Robinson – Again depends on the scientist group you ask. Overall hypothesis is that we are just able to diagnosis autism better now than previously.

Report – Human Resources – Keith Hettel
· Calendar for 08-09
· Pedersen – Do you foresee any possibility of losing Fair Day in the future?
· Hettel – The last Superintendent was ran out of town for suggesting this J
· Pedersen – New people to the county are astounded we take a day off for the fair.
· Abell – Not all learning takes place in a school building. We have a number of students in 4-H, sewing, cooking, etc that participate in the Fair. It is a county tradition and it is good timing to utilize as an in-service for teachers.
· Pedersen Agrees to table discussion for now because it is a political hot button but requests the Board consider the option of doing away with it in the future.

Action – Personnel
· * Vote to accept staff recommendations
Unanimous
PASSED

Unfinished Business
· Pedersen – Dates for What Counts? And invitees. Needs responses from Board members
· Abell – from experience of organizing large events we need more time. Consider having the event mid to late August.
· Board to discuss at work session 4/23

New Business & Future Agenda Items
· Wade – Arrange meeting with CSM Board
· Carrington – ROTC Drill this weekend at LaPlata HS was outstanding
· Abell – Tri-County Board meeting – Richmond will handle arrange
· Bailey – Didn’t hink the other counties were as advanced as we are. Doesn’t feel as though we got much out of the meeting last year.
· Abell – Disagrees. Enjoyed the meeting. We may be more advanced but it was a great time to get to know one another and bounce ideas around.
· Abell – thanked communication department for implementing the email system to announce the board meeting.

ADJOURNED

The State Will Decide...

...on the sex education curriculum for Montgomery County according to an article in the Examiner.

"Field testing has come and gone for the sex education curriculum that’s sparked so much division in Montgomery County.
And now the decision about whether the teachings will make it to all of the school district’s classrooms lies in the hands of Maryland State Board of Education members."

Deal or No Deal?

According to the American School Board Journal, labor-management contracts are the quintessential local issue, and often a complicated legal maze for everyone involved in the negotiations.

"It seems that collective bargaining between school boards and employees has become an accusatory event.
Every few years each side puts up its dukes, points a blaming finger, and claims the high ground. Attorneys conducting negotiations for the school district have a professional and ethical duty to zealously represent their client. Lawyers for the employees have the same obligation in representing the union."

Click HERE for the complete article.

The Issues of IDEA

This month in the American School Board Journal...

From funding to teaching to litigation, a look at what prevents the landmark special education law from meeting its core principles.

In its 31-year history, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act has pushed the complicated realm of special education into the mainstream of K-12 education. The benefits have been tremendous: Countless students with disabilities have reached a potential that even their greatest advocates did not think was possible.
But as with any law, there were unforeseen consequences and pitfalls, and the emotional aspect of special education has no doubt affected the way these have played out.
Here, we take a brief look at some of the pervasive issues that, despite the law’s multiple reauthorizations, threaten the full implementation of IDEA and its core principles.

Click HERE for the complete article.

REMINDER: Board Meeting, Tuesday 4/3/07

Just wanted to remind everyone there is a Board Meeting Tuesday, April 3rd. The Board meeting is a week earlier this month due to Spring Break AND the new times go into effect.

4:30 - Student and Staff Recognition
5:30 - Closed Session (Board and staff only)
6:30 - Public Forum (Must sign-up prior to 6:30)
The remainder of the meeting immediately follows Public Forum

To view the full agenda and the various reports, please visit Board Docs.

Reports include:

• Redistricting Committee's Recommendation for Mary Burgess Neal Elementary School
• Curriculum Report on Autism
• Technology Update
• 2008 - 2009 School Calendar