Ricci Hall, incoming principal:
status update on how things are going forward
"recognize the importance of this being created as a team...we're going to create this school together as a team with input from the community and parents as well"
"college and career readiness for all...exposed to the necessary content...necessary thinking skills, which I think is sometimes missed"
"how we go about doing business at the school"
"high degree of personalized instruction...very family feel to that school..goal is that students do not fall between any cracks"
teaming, looping, collaboration, advisory program, extracurricular (a real priority for students)
"high degrees of student inquiry'
Student achievement in the broad sense: a certain way of doing instruction
"what are the students doing" in the classroom?
all students as thinkers, as students, and as people
as citizens of school and citizens of world at large
engage both youth and parents...getting word out to parents
door to door to speak to parents
partnerships with community organizations
"too big and too important to do ourselves"
"teachers as activists and learners"
Showing posts with label Hall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hall. Show all posts
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Claremont vote
By now you will have seen that I voted with the majority on the 5-2 vote to impact bargain involuntary transfer of teachers at Claremont Academy.
Because I don't think it's fair to any teacher that he or she end up in a school undergoing radical transformation with new expectations without getting a chance to opt out, I voted for the motion to impact bargain.
I would not have done so without knowing and having great trust in the new leadership and the emphasis Mr. Hall places on collaborative leadership (he's the only principal I know of who insists on teaching as well). Claremont (as Clive McFarlane covered well yesterday) has a history of a new great idea or person coming in with energy, but that having now backup or support from anywhere else, and it then fading away. That's not fair to anyone.
Note (again) that no teacher at Claremont is losing his or her job. They are being asked to reapply to Claremont or to teach at another school in the system.
I understand that this is upsetting for teachers reapplying for jobs at Claremont or elsewhere. Every time we do reshuffling of people into positions--which happens every year--it's upsetting.
It's also upsetting to have a new administration come in with sweeping changes--summer PD, no more tracking--and be expected to simply adapt. That's not fair. If that isn't a system that teachers want to participate in, it's fair that they be given a chance to say "no thanks" and get it before the first round bid list comes out, so they can get the clearest shot of where they'd like to go. The principal gets some choice; the teachers get some choice. No August surprises.
And that's why I voted for this.
I'll also add that there are projected to be jobs lost this year. They're elementary jobs, 19 of them, and it will result in over 50 classes of 27 to 29 kids. That is something that is even more upsetting than any of the above.
Because I don't think it's fair to any teacher that he or she end up in a school undergoing radical transformation with new expectations without getting a chance to opt out, I voted for the motion to impact bargain.
I would not have done so without knowing and having great trust in the new leadership and the emphasis Mr. Hall places on collaborative leadership (he's the only principal I know of who insists on teaching as well). Claremont (as Clive McFarlane covered well yesterday) has a history of a new great idea or person coming in with energy, but that having now backup or support from anywhere else, and it then fading away. That's not fair to anyone.
Note (again) that no teacher at Claremont is losing his or her job. They are being asked to reapply to Claremont or to teach at another school in the system.
I understand that this is upsetting for teachers reapplying for jobs at Claremont or elsewhere. Every time we do reshuffling of people into positions--which happens every year--it's upsetting.
It's also upsetting to have a new administration come in with sweeping changes--summer PD, no more tracking--and be expected to simply adapt. That's not fair. If that isn't a system that teachers want to participate in, it's fair that they be given a chance to say "no thanks" and get it before the first round bid list comes out, so they can get the clearest shot of where they'd like to go. The principal gets some choice; the teachers get some choice. No August surprises.
And that's why I voted for this.
I'll also add that there are projected to be jobs lost this year. They're elementary jobs, 19 of them, and it will result in over 50 classes of 27 to 29 kids. That is something that is even more upsetting than any of the above.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Thank you, Mr. President, but...
Mr. President,
We really appreciate your inviting Principal Ricci Hall down to Washington, D.C. for your speech today on reforming No Child Left Behind. We here in Worcester are also very proud of University Park Campus School, of the work the students there do, of the teachers who inspire them, and of the administration that guides them. We also are always grateful to Clark University for all the assistance they render us there.
That said, Mr. President, you and your administration revealed your perspective today when you called UPCS a charter school.
UPCS is not a charter school.
While UPCS is now among Worcester's five innovation schools, the things that have made UPCS excellent are things the school achieved as a Worcester Public School: answering to a central administration, having unionized teachers, and much else that public education is often beat up about.
Guess what, Mr. President? They've done it, and done it well.
The school has had a vision--not only about kids going to college, but about kids having a well-rounded education on the way there-- and had some leeway from central administration to get there. With a strong assist from Clark, the school is now, as you said, " in the top quarter of all schools in Massachusetts" with a student body that has many of the struggles of urban populations everywhere.
You see, Mr. President, you don't need to toss out publicly accountable school boards, transparent finances, and bargaining rights to get there.
You do, though, have to have a vision, and it has to be for more than test scores.
Respectfully yours,
Tracy Novick
More on the President's plan once I read through it
We really appreciate your inviting Principal Ricci Hall down to Washington, D.C. for your speech today on reforming No Child Left Behind. We here in Worcester are also very proud of University Park Campus School, of the work the students there do, of the teachers who inspire them, and of the administration that guides them. We also are always grateful to Clark University for all the assistance they render us there.
That said, Mr. President, you and your administration revealed your perspective today when you called UPCS a charter school.
UPCS is not a charter school.
While UPCS is now among Worcester's five innovation schools, the things that have made UPCS excellent are things the school achieved as a Worcester Public School: answering to a central administration, having unionized teachers, and much else that public education is often beat up about.
Guess what, Mr. President? They've done it, and done it well.
The school has had a vision--not only about kids going to college, but about kids having a well-rounded education on the way there-- and had some leeway from central administration to get there. With a strong assist from Clark, the school is now, as you said, " in the top quarter of all schools in Massachusetts" with a student body that has many of the struggles of urban populations everywhere.
You see, Mr. President, you don't need to toss out publicly accountable school boards, transparent finances, and bargaining rights to get there.
You do, though, have to have a vision, and it has to be for more than test scores.
Respectfully yours,
Tracy Novick
More on the President's plan once I read through it
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