Additional information from Tuesday’s School Board Retreat

Since Tuesday’s School Board meeting and retreat took up a combined five hours, there was obviously a lot of good information that I couldn’t include in my article.

The board meeting began at 1 p.m. and lasted until around 2:45 p.m.

John Clark, an attorney, was the only community member present to take advantage of public comment. He welcomed Chris Belcher, saying his assignment as superintendent was “our second chance for a fresh start in 15 years.”

Clark also expressed strong opinions against the board’s position on how to proceed with its Field Elementary School project. He suggested the board “involve the people who are going to be affected.” This idea of community involvement was later reiterated by the board throughout its retreat.  (To read more about the board’s aim to improve community participation, read the published story here.)

Notable comments regarding actions items the board discussed:

• The board rejected a proposition to add addendums to teacher contracts.  Mary Laffey, assistant superintendent for human resources, said, “It is also ill-advisable for us to advise the board to guarantee to tie its hands for compensation due to the current narrow budget.” Conversely, Board Member Ines Segert  said, “I don’t see it (adding the addendums) as a big risk.” Karla DeSpain, board member, said, “I would like to put everything we can into salaries, but we want to make sure we can operate the salary schedule for next year.” Susan McClintic, Columbia Missouri National Education Association president, thanked the board for reviewing the the issue so thoroughly.
• The board also approved a proposition that changed the evaluation cycle for tenured teachers from every three years to every five years. Laffey said the state only requires tenured teachers to be evaluated every five years, so the change would give evaluators more one-on-one time with newer teachers. Superintendent Chris Belcher said, “The principals have supported this as well.” Laffey also noted that every single employee will still have his or her own improvement/personal development plan each year.
• Segert presented a project that would convert Field Elementary School into a special needs school. She said, “This is a very preliminary first step for this project.” Segert also noted that this was the first time the board has seen the proposal  and that it would  not be deciding on the issue within the next month.

David Lineberry, associate executive director for education and training of the Missouri School Board Association, presented a slide show outlining major goals the board should keep in mind during the 2009-10 school year. Many of the goals were based on laws or policies.

Lineberry began his presentation by reviewing that student achievement is the central function of public schools. He also reviewed the ways a successful district operates: The superintendent operates the school system daily based on policies developed by the board. He then said the board should made these policies based on what the community wants, which means the  community is actually in charge of the district. Lineberry said a disjuncture occurs when the board is unaware of the community’s preferences.

In its meeting before the retreat, the board had discovered this problem when presenting an idea about how to develop Field Elementary School. Board Member Michelle Pruitt said that considering the way the board handled the distribution of information about the issue, she  predicted the community’s reaction.

To better increase the flow of information, the group agreed that Belcher should distribute a weekly news summary each Friday. The group also  addressed how individual board members should react to questions from community members and the media.

Lineberry added that the board president should speak for the board. “You are the mouthpiece for the conclusions the board has made,” he said to Jan Mees, School Board president.

Overall it was a long afternoon, but the information provided by Lineberry and the board’s discussions were insightful to anybody interested in learning more about the inner workings of the district’s board and administration.

D.A.R.E. What are we losing?

This week I did a story on the D.A.R.E program elimination from the Columbia Public School System. After completing interviews with several people, I found that, more likely than not, what D.A.R.E. teaches about drug abuse will be in the 5th grade health curriculm.

I understand the need to cut back. I also understand that research has been done on both sides about the effectiveness of D.A.R.E.

Like I’ve mentioned before, I work at Starbucks on campus, leading me into the coffee talk scene. Considering I do have regulars, customers will often ask me about what stories I’m working on. I mentioned the D.A.R.E. elimination, and a lot of people were pretty hurt.

For instance, I mentioned it to a full time employee, who remembers when her son won a contest, and he still has his award to this day(he’s in his 20s).

However, when I mentioned it to a friend while out at dinner who graduated from Hickman, he said “Good, it’s about time they stopped wasting their money on a program that doesn’t work.”

I went through the D.A.R.E. program in 5th grade, and I thought it was a fun break from the normal class day to hang with a police officer. It was one of a million childhood memories, but when it comes to its effectiveness, I am not sure.

I just hope that whatever replacement education method is used in the schools, that it meet the same or raises the standards on effective drug education.

Curious George is coming to Columbia!

Come “hang” out with Curious George at the YouZeum, 608 E. Cherry St., tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Bring your camera to get a picture taken with the curious monkey.

General admission includes all of the day’s fun activities and exhibits.

Curious George’s visit is made possible by the University of Missouri Children’s Hospital.

My Favorite Field Trips

To read about the School Board’s decision to eliminate field trip funding for the Columbia school district’s elementary and middle schools next year, click here.

The following is a short synopsis of a few of the most memorable field trips from my childhood. These memories do not portray the educational value of a day spent in an environment outside of school, but rather that a day experiencing the real world results in some of the most wonderful memories a child can make.

Child prodigies—of crafts. I remember taking a class field trip to Hallmark’s Kaleidoscope event when I was very young—probably around first grade. I’ve always been a self-proclaimed artist, and for all I know this could have been the springboard to my creative side. I specifically remember drawing a picture on a plain piece of white cardboard that was placed into a “fancy” die cut machine, transforming it into a homemade puzzle.

All I have to say is, “Why?” My second grade class visited a mushroom packaging factory. Why, you may ask? I have no idea. Maybe they explained the history of the assembly line or the recent technological advancements in robotics. I’m only sure of two things: 1. They gave each of us a giant, free sticker—which was really just the nutritional content packaging label. 2. I touched something I wasn’t supposed to, which resulted in an oil-stained hand. I hid my hand in my pocket until I got home because I was afraid of getting in trouble.

Cow poop on my Mary Janes. The summer between my second and third grade years, my parents moved us from Joplin, Mo., back to where they grew up: Lowry City, Mo., population 728. And wouldn’t you know that back in the ’70s, my great-grandpa sold some of his land to the school district so a new, consolidated high school could be built. By the time I got there in 1997, the facility was K-12. Apparently every year the two third-grade classes walked over to his old dairy farm, which my great-uncle still maintains.

When I woke up that day I somehow forgot all about the “trip” we had been talking about nonstop for the past week. I remember being so excited about wearing my plaid jumper and black Mary Janes. Bad decision. The second I walked into class all my friends looked at me like I was an idiot. So I walked to the dairy farm in my little schoolgirl outfit and tried not to step in cow poop when we were in the barn. On the walk back, we took turns shaking a container of cream. By the time we got back to school, a chunk of butter was at the bottom of the container. We spread it on some bread and ate a proud snack.

The bear and the bull. In fourth grade, my gifted class participated in “The Stock Market Game,” which was a statewide competition among students who bought and sold shares in a mock stock market. We had to check our stocks weekly and keep records of every transaction. It’s nauseating just to think about it. A couple of older sixth-graders placed at the state level, so we all got to attend the awards banquet at a fancy conference center in Kansas City. I remember sitting though some speeches during dinner, and I’m sure the speakers must have been important. The best part was that we got to stay up past 10 on a school night. My best friend Mallory and I snuck out sugar packets that we ate straight out of the package on our way home so we wouldn’t fall asleep.

That’s art? Our gifted class teacher was both eccentric and eclectic, so naturally in sixth grade we visited the Nelson Atkins Art Museum in Kansas City. This was my first time experiencing real art in person, and I absolutely loved it. I could have spent days in that art museum, but we were only there for a few hours. My most vivid memory of that day was when Mallory and I discovered a huge canvas. One half of it was painted black, and the other, white. We asked our teacher what it was all about. I remember she told us it cost the museum $500,000  and then suggested if we looked at the piece from a different angle it worked like an optical illusion. We looked at it a lot. It just looked like a big canvas that was half-black and half-white. I guess we didn’t get it.

Meeting “celebrities.” When I was younger, I loved to read. I’d stay up late hiding in my closet with a flashlight reading the Babysitter’s Club series and other such childhood nonsense. My elementary school library participated in the Mark Twain Book Award Reading Program.

Each year, some state literary group chose 20 books that were written or illustrated by Missouri natives. To my recollection, if you read five of the books you could spend a day at Central Missouri State University (now UCM) where many of the authors gave presentations and signed personalized autographs. It was a bookworm’s fantasy. I met my favorite childhood author, June Rae Wood, multiple times. I remember thinking, “These people are celebrities! I’m so lucky I get to meet them!”

71 position cuts took effect Wednesday

I have a story coming out in the paper tomorrow on the 71 position cuts made in the School District. Here are some additional interviews and excerpts I would like to share:

Tom Rose:

When speaking with Tom Rose, vice president of the School Board, he mentioned the importance of the cuts.

“We were trying to balance the budget,” Rose said. “We needed to make a certain amount of reductions.”

He also mentioned the Fellows program, a system designed to provide newly-graduated MU teachers with a position out of college for experience. Normally, they hire these teachers back for a second year or on contract, but they only hired nine for the 2009-2010 year.

Rose also explained, when I asked about schools like Ridgeway Elementary, that the largest effect will be felt on the smaller schools, but they must try to see the broader picture.

“You have to look beyond that and what is best for the district.” he said.

Denise Parker:

When speaking with Denise Parker, a literacy coach for 18 years, she talked about the importance the coaches played in interaction with teachers, calling her role a “co-teacher.” She said she could swoop into a situation and fend for the “younger kids and what they aren’t getting” in the classroom.

Linda Quinley:

Linda Quinley, business director for Columbia Public Schools, said that even though the cuts last year came with a lot of surprise and rebuttle, a lot of those whose positions were cut were soon to retire anyway. Depending on if the next taxy-levy passes will determine if another $3.5 million to $4 million needs to be cut in order to begin operating a salaries raise schedule.

Sally Beth Lyon:

Sally Beth Lyon, chief academic adviser, mentioned the optimistic side of the position cuts: The experienced teachers moving back into the classrooms after their math and literacy positions were let go.

“On the bright side, we’ll have great teachers.” she said.

Lyon also explained that without the coach positions, their responsibilities will be spread among the teachers, teacher heads and administrators. These individuals have begun training for this in elements, such as learning how to provide proper assessments.

Kim Weber:

Kim Weber, the president of the CPPTA, had this response for the board about the position cuts:

“Just keep an open mind and ask for input from the teachers and staff that are directly connected each day to our student learning.” she said.

Sarah Read:

“Difficult decisions need to be made when funds are tight, and we need to think carefully as a community about how we are going to fund our schools. Good schools are part of the lifeblood of a community, contributing to economic development, maintaining property values and providing our youth with the kinds of opportunities that they need to succeed.  We have a great asset in our schools and we need to work to protect and preserve it.” Sarah Read, president of Columbia Parents for Public Schools, wrote in an e-mail.

Laura Sandstedt, CPSEO president wrote via e-mail:

“Anytime positions are cut it adversely impacts our students. In addition, it creates additional tensions for all CPS employees. I am optimistic that CPS is on the road to recovery. Although we have had drastic budget cuts during the 2008-09 school year and now the 2009-10 school year, we know CPS must operate a balanced budget in order to best meet the needs of today’s students as well as students in the future. I think the BOE and administration did a much better job this year of letting staff know about potential budget cuts (especially the 71 positions) so that we could plan.

The process was transparent and obviously went a lot smoother than last year. That does not mean that teachers and staff haven’t felt disheartened by the cuts. Seeing people leaving our buildings is hard especially when we have seen first-hand the positive impact they make on the lives of our students. I anticipate next year being far more stressful on teachers and staff as we “cover” the responsibilities of those 71 positions. It is the nature of people who pursue a career in education to always want to do what’s best for kids!

I anticipate that the strains of the budget cuts of 08-09 and now 09-10 are going to make it physically impossible for us to do everything we’ve done in the past because of the collective support of the now 150 positions we are left without. For myself, this creates an emotional strain because what my heart knows is right to do is not physically possible — I can’t be in two places at once. The CPS staff is a talented and dedicated group of professionals and we will band together to do our level best to make sure that all students receive the highest quality education possible — for many of our staff, this will mean increased duties with less pay.

We understand that the economic conditions in our country and in our community are forcing many businesses to do more with less. It is my hope that in the near future, we can begin to plan for a fiscally-responsible future that will support our students with the resources they need to be competitive and productive members of our community now and in the future. With our communities continued support, we can and we will continue to deliver world class education to the youngest citizens of Columbia, MO!”

Larry Jones, principal at Two Mile Prairie Elementary School, via e-mail:

“We will miss Heather tremendously.  She was an integral part of helping our teachers and staff become even more confident and knowledgeable about teaching ALL children and helping teachers grow professionally.

She had a significant impact upon our school in supporting teachers who were interested in and willing to learn about effectively teaching ALL students, mentoring new teachers, providing workshops and in-service training for teachers, leading book discussions, attending conferences with other TMP teachers and then leading rich and high quality discussions and follow-up support which allowed teachers to implement the new learning, and she did a lot of model-teaching for others.

She was an invaluable resource for our building.  Her leadership, knowledge, coaching skills, and professionalism are a major loss to our school and our instructional program.  The Literacy Coach and Math Coach positions were an integral and important part of our school improvement plans.”

Overweight children are negatively influenced by weight at a young age

A new MU study found that overweight children, especially girls as young as kindergarten, show more anxiety, depression and loneliness than children who were never overweight.

MU researcher Sara Gable, associate professor of human development and family studies, used the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten Cohort to look at the social and behavioral development of 8,000 children from kindergarten to third grade.

Even though the students are young, they are still negatively affected by their size, the study found.

Teachers in the study reported that girls who were approaching/had reached being overweight acted out more than those who were never overweight.

Although a solution is yet to be found, future studies will need to investigate other ways to categorize children’s weight and create intervention programs, the researchers said.

It’s not just about the weight and how it changes physical appearance, but the idea of all children understanding the importance of how to live a healthy lifestyle, researchers said.

To view the release:

http://munews.missouri.edu/news-releases/2009/0701-gable-overweigh-kids.php

Behind the Scenes with Chris Belcher, New CPS Superintendent

The following are some fun extras about Chris Belcher from my interview with him Tuesday morning.

To read the published version of the story, click here.

Q: What was your favorite childhood book, and what was a book that influenced you as a teen? –Sarah Read, Columbia Parents for Public Schools president

A: Well, I grew up on Curious George books. Those are what I can remember. I’m not sure they shaped me, but I just remember Curious George all the time. I was, and I still am, a veracious science fiction reader, and so I was shaped by the robot series by Isaac Asimov in high school, IRobot, and the whole situation.

Q: What is your favorite weekend activity? –Michelle Pruitt, School Board member

A: I like to bike on my bicycle. I biked last night for the first time (since moving  to Columbia); I got on the Katy Trail. I found, sort of, the safest way to get there from my house, and of course the nice weather helps on that. And then I read — not when I’m biking.

Q: How many miles have you put on your bike so far this summer?
–Susan McClintic, Columbia Missouri National Education Association president
A: Well, I sort of had a down-time because of the move, and plus it was 95 degrees and humid the first week we were here. I did a lot this spring. I did 150-mile trip in two days across the Katy Trail, and then I usually log about 60 miles a week when the weather’s nice. I think I did 20, 25 last night, which is only about an hour and 20 minutes if you’re biking at a decent speed. If you’re on hard surface, it’s not that much, but if you’re on soft stuff it’s a little bit tougher. The problem, of course, with my job is just the time to do it.

Q: Is there anything else that you would like to share that I, nor any of these people, asked you about?

A: Well, I’m a known blues fan. I think that has come out in other things. I’m really excited about being so close to The Blue Note. All the good shows that come to Kansas City and St. Louis pass through Columbia. I’m excited about that because ,when we’re in Kansas City, I’d have to drive 35 minutes, park in the city and walk to the venue, you know, it was an outing. Here, it’s just so much more convenient. So I’m excited about that opportunity, and then their blues festival this September; I’m really excited about that.

The following is a nearly complete transcript of the approximately 40-minute interview I conducted with Belcher Tuesday morning.

Q: Did you play an instrument or participate in sports in your school career? –Kim Weber, CCPTA President

A: I played football, basketball and track in high school, and I played in band until my ninth grade year when I figured out that I wasn’t very good. I played the trumpet. The band instructor told me, “You know Chris, not everyone is meant to be a musician,” and he was right. I love music, but I didn’t have the skills. I was the student council president my senior year, the different clubs, that kind of stuff. We had a thing called the “K” club, which was a sort of athletic club. The science club. I’m sure there are other ones as well. I was on the yearbook staff and the journalism group where we got to write the sports articles on the school sports in the paper.

Q: Do you have any sports-related experience that has helped prepare you to meet the challenges of being a superintendent? —Jim Whitt, School Board Member

A: I coached football and track when I was a teacher at Blue Springs. I had also coached for a couple years at Holden, which was where I first started teaching. I also coached basketball there. I had a 20-year involvement with track and field as an official starter, as an official there. I’ve served on a variety of committees.

I have a pretty extensive sports background. I wouldn’t say I could coach again because it’s been so long. I probably don’t even know what you should coach, but I have a pretty good feel for the relationship that exists between a coach and a parent, and a coach and an athlete. Those oftentimes are your most politically divisive issues going on in the school district. That’s just because the society gives that such a weight of importance to the extracurricular program.

Q: What book is currently on your bedside table? –Susan McClintic, Columbia Missouri National Education Association president
A: Well I had a book given to me from the Career Center, and I’m trying to think of the title of it.  It’s the Art of Hospitality, or Leadership of Hospitality, and it’s about a gentleman that had worked in the food industry about how to treat people so that you’re successful. That not only works in restaurants and retail, but works in all walks of life, in a story. So that’s what I’ve been working on. I just — What is the book I just finished on vacation? Oh, it was Be Cool (laughs). That’s one of my favorite authors, Elmore Leonard. He wrote Get Shorty and Be Cool, and a bunch of other ones.

Q: What kind of value did your family place on education while you were growing up? –Kim Stonecipher-Fisher, Columbia Public Schools Foundation president

A: Both of my parents were just high school graduates. My dad worked on the Ford motor assembly line down the road, and my mom was a bookkeeper for a local, well, it was local then, it’s Ferrellgas now. It’s a large propane distributorship. I think my dad put a value that he wanted me to do something different than what he did. When they saw that I liked school and was successful they gave me a lot of support, you know, “You need to go to college.” But it wasn’t intense. It was sort of like, “You make the decision, but you can choose the life you live.” I still remember when I started school down here, you know, I just got in the car and drove down and found my dorm and all that stuff. You know, my parent knew nothing about college, Like my daughter, I take her to the tech center, I buy her a computer, we show her where the dorm is, all that stuff. You know, my parents didn’t have a clue about any of that stuff, but they helped me and supported me to get that done.

Q: What ideas do you have to help close the achievement gap? —Kathy Ritter, Rock Bridge High School principal

A: I just came back from a conference on the minority children achievement network in Detroit, which was a good conference. If I had the answer, we all would, and the achievement gap would be closed. So there’s not an answer, but I have some strong beliefs.

No. 1, is the quickest and most powerful thing we can do to close the minority achievement gap and the income achievement gap — there are several gaps –is to increase pre-k through second grade vocabulary development, because here’s what has happened: We’ve got a low-income family or some families of culture that don’t have the same white, middle-class language that we have.

They don’t come to school with the same language. It would be like you and I going to a school where they spoke mainly French. We’re just as smart as everyone else, but we can’t understand what they’re saying, or we pick up just bits and pieces of it. So we seem to be slower delayed, and then that tends to get translated by teachers and staff into, “Well, this child’s not quite as on the mark,” and it has all sorts of ramifications that are just untrue.

The problem is, how do you get to the pre-k vocabulary development when we don’t have the students? But the literature is very clearly that, and I can’t give you exact numbers, but kids from upper-income environments or certain cttlures come to school sometimes with five times the vocabulary of other students.

Now remember, vocabulary is not a sign of intelligence; it’s a sign of experience. If your parents talk to you more, you have more language, and just anybody. My vocabulary started later in life when I started “real” life because my parents worked a lot, and I don’t think I was around adults as much. My daughter is an only child; she’s been around two college-educated people her whole life. We just talk to her; her vocabulary is much more advanced at an early age than mine was. So it’s an issue of experience.

I think we have to identify the most important words that all kids should know at certain grade levels, and there’s all sorts of research out there on that, and we need to just bust everything we can to get all kids to have those vocabularies. Some will have to learn more words. Some will already have it. But if you want to level the playing field and give everyone equal opportunity and access, we have to start with vocabulary. A lot of that is that preschool aspect that’s tough to conquer.

I think another good thing about Columbia is this MAC Scholars program. It is a program that encourages and pushes minority students to enroll in advanced placement courses and to prepare for college. They have early college experiences so they can get on a college campus, which is great in Columbia, and see what it’s like, and talk to people like themselves that talk about how they got there, so that they can truly believe that college is for them. Then they get support and are mentored through a variety of programs. They (the program) have had great success in getting minority students involved in advanced placement courses and preparing for college. So I’d want to continue to push that real hard.

The third thing that’s really difficult to get at, I’m trying to figure out how to say this, schools run under the rules of white, middle-class people. That’s what they were developed by. That’s 80 percent of our population. The teachers in schools are white, middle-class females. They have hidden rules, and if you grew up white and middle class, you sort of understand the rules because, you’re not stating these rules, you just know you’re supposed to behave this way or do this.

If you didn’t grow up that way, you come into an environment where all of a sudden the rules are different, and your behavior, which was maybe normal at home, now is seen as being disruptive or aggressive or, whatever, in that school environment.

The same thing can be said of males in elementary schools. The majority of discipline is for males. Why? Well elementary schools are run by females who tend to think “sit down and be quiet” is more of a norm, whereas boys need more space and more room because of their developmental issues.

So how do you get to the teachers, the white, middle-class teachers, and to get in them an understanding of the cultural differences of behavior and expression?

We know we’re classifying more black males in special ed. We’re classifying more black males for discipline, and we know that that can’t be true. Somehow, the perception we’re getting is causing that to happen. It’s not because they’re more problematic; it’s just that they’re behavior sticks out because it doesn’t fit the norm of that culture …

So I think the first thing we do is very concrete: the vocabulary. The second thing is you really support the currently successful programs, the MAC Scholars, the other things that are working to bring a collaborative sense to the school. The third thing is you’ve got to start having some courageous discussions about that there are differences. We are treating students of color differently, probably. We are probably treating males and females differently in certain situations, and we have to become aware of that before we can even think about providing an environment that is more equal …

The academic side of this coin is my forte, and the thing that excited me about Columbia was I want to close the achievement gap. It’s not been done very many places. I love a challenge. I want to end my career feeling like I’ve done something valuable

I went to Kearney, and we took average test scores and produced some of the highest in the state. I knew we could do it, and I’m coming to Columbia hanging my hat on we’re going to find a way to close this achievement gap, and it’s not going to come at the expense of the kids that are already achieving. It’s going to raise all chips. That’s just the way it works. When you start to raise the expectations and increase the lower-scoring population, always what follows is the upper-scoring kids even start to perform better. The whole culture changes to a more academic and intense focus.

Q: How do you plan on extending opportunities for advanced students in elementary and middle school studies? –Christine Roberson, Columbia Area Career Center Laboratory Technology Program

A: I think our gifted program is very strong. And realize I would love to expand that, but the financial realities that we deal with in Columbia are that we’re going to have to deal with the same funding that we’ve been dealing with. So I think the gifted program is a good program that’s already in place.

I think you also start to look to support the after-school clubs that are academically based. I think those probably vary from building to building, teacher to teacher with who happens to have that interest in that building. I think at the upper level we continue to expand and push the AP program. I’m a big believer in AP, in that it’s a rigorous program. I think the more kids we get in that the better.

Finally, this is a new piece, the legislation, just this year, passed a bill that allows all public high schools to offer online courses. I had the only waiver in the state. In Kearney, Mo., we offered online psychology. You had to have a waiver because the state didn’t allow it.

I think that we need to aggressively pursue online courses for the juniors and seniors that show good discipline, good GPA and good behavior, and start to give them the experiences they’re all going to have in college anyway. Online courses make you become a much more independent and responsible learner. I think that’s a way that really motivated juniors and seniors can have the opportunity to really push themselves at a different level.

For example, my vision is, say I’m a senior in high school. I’ve had a good career. I’ve done everything well. I should be rewarded. Then I’m going to take my first, second and third hour online, so I don’t come into school until 11:3o. Or I may say, “I’d like to take fifth, sixth and seventh off,” and I come after lunch. It’s a different world, and you don’t have to sit down in a chair to learn. We need to start providing opportunities.

Also, you can take the stress off the car traffic coming in. You can allow kids to develop their independence, which, the first time I had an experience with an online course was in Warrensburg. We offered a summer course in personal finance. We got a waiver. That was five years ago, and we had probably about 30 percent of the kids fail. They didn’t complete the assignments. They didn’t get online and log in like they were supposed to. It’s not for everybody, but certainly it’s for a lot of kids that don’t necessarily have to show up and have seat time and have that teacher sit there and direct them through.

We all know that success in life goes to those that are independent learners and can function on their own.

Q: What kind of planning do you think can be done to operate the salary schedule for teachers next year? —Terry Alexander, Douglass High School government teacher

A: When I look at the budget, it looks like roughly almost $3.5 million will have to be found in order to operate that salary schedule. When I say “found,” there’s not money lying around. It will have to be redirected in one way or the other. This can come from redirecting a program; maybe the state budget will come in a little stronger.

My intent is to turn over every rock and to see what we can do that doesn’t harm students or the educational program and operate that salary schedule. Two years being on a frozen salary is just unacceptable.

Q: What is the biggest challenge you think you’re going to face during next year? –Michael Corey-Yares, Hickman High School Student Council president

A: I think the economy and its impact on our budget will still be a profound issue. However, it is likely that we will be looking at bonding for a third high school in the spring. That’s certainly going to be a challenge to line up all the information and get the information public, and to get that done in the spring. Building a third high school, or actually, a fourth high school, because we have an alternative school, is a two-year cycle. It impacts the economy of Columbia; it creates lots of jobs.

My excitement about that, though, is with that new high school we will increase participation in extra-curricular events by high school students by over 30 percent. There’s a lot of kids that don’t participate simply because there’s too many, and we need to get as many kids participating in extra-curriculars as possible.

Q: What are your goals for your first 100 days in office? –Susan McClintic, Columbia Missouri National Education Association president

A: I think one is to start the strategic planning process and to establish strong district goals within the first 100 days. No. 2, to visit every building and talk with every staff in a face-to-face meeting.

Three is to outline a list of programs that need to be examined at a critical level because, if we’re going to look at redirecting funds, we have to look at the programs to see which ones are successful and which ones aren’t. Four, establish some strong relationships with the board of education, and we have a July 7 retreat where we’re going to start to do that.

And to become well-known in this community within 100 days. I’ll be at every event. I’ll be there whenever I can so that people know who I am, they have an understanding of my style and personality and that I’m accessible. I think this city needs a superintendent that is visible and that people feel like they know and can relate to.

Unstructured Playtime Best Summer Activity for Kids

The MU News Bureau named unstructured playtime as the best summer activity for children in an e-mail it sent out last week.

The e-mail said, “a lack of unstructured playtime might be the reason today’s young adults have trouble with problem-solving or critical thinking.” The e-mail cited Lea Ann Lowery, an MU School of Health Professions clinical assistant professor of occupational therapy, who explained how playtime encourages the development of some life skills.

The e-mail also noted Lowery’s concern for some of the trends children display while spending their free times with things like electronics that may hinder their creativity. However, Lowery believes unstructured playtime counters this problem by encouraging creativity.

Summer School Visits

I knew it was going to be a good day when I woke up Thursday morning and realized I would get to attend class with fourth-graders. Once the kids started filing in to the classroom, it was apparent we would have an energetic bunch. One of the students asked me if I was “one of the movie people.”

The class knew we were coming and were excited. Many of them wanted to be interviewed and be photographed – a journalist’s dream!

The purpose of the retro recreation class is for students to participate in activities that existed before the inventions of things like Xbox and the Internet. Students do crafts – like tie-dying T-shirts, decorating spinning tops and learning how to play games like jacks. They seemed to develop an affinity for the activities, but when asked, many of the students appreciated living nowadays.

On Friday I visited “The Wave,” a microwave cooking class at Lange Middle School. Students were making spinach con queso dip. I was impressed by their commitment to preparing the dish; many students asked Becky Baugh, the class teacher, if their dip was the right consistency. Baugh shared the recipe with me:

Spinach Con Queso Dip

Ingredients:
½ package (10 oz) frozen, chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 tablespoon margarine
1 teaspoon onion salt
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
1 ½ cups shredded Monterey jack cheese
½ jar diced pimentos
6-oz can diced tomatoes, drained
1 package 10-oz tortilla chips

Supplies:
1 microwaveable mixing bowl
1 mixing spoon
1 set of measuring spoons

Directions:
1. Measure out margarine and put it in the microwave safe bowl.
2. Microwave the margarine until melted.
3. Add the onion salt, milk, cheese and pimento to the bowl and mix together.
4. Microwave the ingredients for 1 minute.
5. Stir together and microwave another minute or until the cheese has melted.
6. Add the can of drained tomatoes and spinach and stir.
7. Microwave for one minute or until warm.
8. Open the chips and enjoy.

Hats off to the chefs

Two Columbia 2009 Rock Bridge graduates, Margaret Hughes and Ben Truesdell, competed Thursday in commercial baking and culinary arts contests, respectively, in Kansas City at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference. They both competed against over three dozen other students from across America.

Both students participated in the culinary program at Columbia Area Career Center and took first place in their categories at the state skills competition.

While Margaret was baking a birthday cake and Ben was poaching his salmon, I spent the day with two post-secondary culinary arts competitors who had competed Wednesday.

With only basic knowledge of the food industry from my years serving in restaurants, they helped me understand the process of the competition and pointed out what the judges would be looking for, such as what exactly makes a chicken frenched and how big pieces of lettuce should be.

Unfortunately, the baked goods display tables were just out of reach of the crowds of people drawn to the area by their noses and they didn’t need anymore taste judges, so I was unable sample the foods for myself, but they sure did look and smell good.

The SkillsUSA awards ceremony will be held tonight in Kansas City at Kemper Arena and will also be broadcast online. http://www.skillsusa.org/events/nlscvideo.shtml

The weeklong conference ended today. The competition was “a showcase of career and technical education students,” according to the organization’s Web site. The event included competitions in different trade and technical fields such as masonry, plumbing, culinary arts, cosmetology and automotive service technology.

Look for the full story covering this event early next week.