A Reader Writes... (Texas School FInance Situation - Part 1)

In response to the 3/24/2011 post, “Texas School Finance Situation,” a LYS Principal writes:

Sean,

Thanks for putting your thoughts down on paper for us. I've been wondering what would be your read on the finance mess. Thanks for recognizing what Cypress-Fairbanks has done. By the way, I saw your tweet about Lee and Hairgrove. Duryea was also recognized as a National Distinguished Title I school today. I don't know if you consider us an LYS school or not, but I know I learned a lot from you and Dr. Jim Davis in your work with us last year.

SC Response

There is no question that Duryea is a LYS School. I hope you saw that I corrected the announcement oversight later on. That’s the liability of Twitter (and social media in general), though you are getting breaking news, you aren’t getting all the news and all the facts aren’t 100% accurate. However, we were able to share the success of Duryea (by name) and all the LYS schools, as a group, with the U.S. Department of Education. Their primary interest - why did the LYS schools have an increase in commended performance levels when the state, as a whole, experienced a decline.

As for the finance issue, what we are witnessing is the intersection of political ambition, an anti-public school agenda, bad policy and voter apathy. This train wreck has been a long time coming. The only reason why we didn’t feel this pain two years ago is that the governor and the legislature were able to hide the severity of their screw-up by using federal stimulus dollars. Interestingly, these are the same stimulus dollars that they claim to be the source of our nation’s ills. The hypocrisy of it all turns my stomach. And for the life of me, I can’t understand how anyone can reconcile protecting the unborn while at the same time systematically dismantling the protections provided for their born siblings? At what point does the future of a child no longer remain important? I know – it must be age 4. That’s when children should be ready to go to work and quit being a burden to society instead of perpetuating the welfare state by attending Pre-K. But I digress.

Keep pushing the envelope and as always, if you need us we are just a phone call away.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

Coming Soon! "The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction" www.TheFundamentalFive.com

Follow Sean Cain on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

Upcoming Presentation Schedule

June 11 (TASB) - The Fundamental Five; Improve Now!

June 15 (TASSP) - Improve Now!

June 16 (TASSP) - Conference Breakfast, hosted by E. Don Brown (LYS travel tumblers for the first 1000 attendees, last year we ran out); Fundamental Five; Tech Tools for the 2.0 Principal

June 17 (TASSP) - PowerWalks

June 18 (TASB) - The Fundamental Five; Improve Now!

A Reader Writes... (Game On! - Part 2)

In response to the posts referencing “Game On!” a reader asks:

“What is Game On?”

SC Response
Game On is the LYS professional learning community on steroids. It structures the entire campus in a way to motivate students to work hard every day and provide the staff an opportunity to conduct continuous action research. This entire structure is disguised as a game. Think of Disney World, the kids are fully engaged in the task at hand, while behind the scenes every “magical moment” is entirely purposeful. Game On teachers simply work differently than their peers, but it isn’t like flipping a switch. Instead of “walking the walk,” Game On teachers are “running the run.”

And Game On works like nothing else: Here’s just a small sample of what the Game On Campuses achieved this year.

Houston - A dead school walking, two years ago it was announced that this Title I school would be closed at the end of this year (a freeway was built 100 yards from the campus). They are closing the door as Recognized (without TPM).

Austin – This Title I school, with a rookie late hire principal and a rookie late hire AP, is Exemplary for the first time.

McFee – This Title I school with the reputation of having some of the toughest students in its district is solid Recognized (without TPM).

Lee – This Title I school is Exemplary for the first time (without TPM).

Hairgrove – This Title I school (second poorest out of over 50 campuses in its district) has scores in the top 5 in its district. It too is Exemplary (without TPM).

If you are interested in Game On for your campus, just send me an e-mail and I’ll get back to you, but for now I’ll close with a Game On! Principal quote, “If we got our rating due to TPM, we wouldn’t give it back, but we would put an asterisk next to it.”

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

The Poster Contest Recap

Two quick reader’s comments from the poster contest:

“How awesome to see Holbrook as a winner! I taught there for 10 years. Congrats to all the winners!”

And

“SC,

Will you be sharing the winning posters with others in the LYS network?

Thanks,

MS”

Now for the recap:

The 2nd finalist was Holbrook Elementary.

The first finalist was Hairgove Elementary.

And the winner was Lee Elementary.

The Lee poster and some pictures from the staff lunch (35 large pizzas) are above.

Again, thanks to every school who submitted a poster and we will have another contest in early January.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...