Capitol Visit Update

On February 18, 2015 I traveled with three other superintendents from rural Minnesota to St. Paul.  We set up a pretty aggressive agenda to meet with our local legislatures as well as education leaders.

We met with the following legislatures:

Rep. Mary Murphy – Education Finance DFL Lead

Rep. Peggy Bennett – Education Innovation Policy Vice Chair

Rep. Ron Kresha – Education Finance Vice Chair

Rep. Jenifer Loon – Education Finance Chair (met with her conference aide)

Rep. Sondra Erickson – Education Innovation Policy Chair (canceled)

Sen. Charles Wiger – Education Committee Chair

Sen. Alice Johnson – Education Committee Vice Chair (canceled)

Sen. Julie Rosen – Local Senator

Rep. Tony Cornish – Local Representative

Sen. Sean Nienow – Education Committee Ranking Minority Member

Rep. Carlos Mariani – Education Innovation DFL Lead

The topics we discussed were as follows:

Additional Money on the Formula – As a district we would like to see more money added to the formula so that we can use discretion as to what it is spent on.  We do not need any added mandates with earmarked financial allocation or unfunded mandates.

Access to Alternative Facilities Funds to Maintain Buildings – The largest 25 metropolitan districts have access to alternative facilities funds to maintain their buildings.  Rural Minnesota districts are not allowed access to these funds.  In order for us to properly maintain our buildings we would like to see equitable treatment in this area.

Teacher Shortage – Reality has set in and we are facing a teacher shortage in several areas of education.  The State of Minnesota must do something to attract and retain people to education.  One of the first steps they could consider is to revise the Minnesota Teacher License Exam (MTLE) to make it more realistic for folks to pass.  In addition to this, the State of Minnesota should consider and embrace more alternative pathways to licensure.  Creating reciprocity with neighboring states would also help attract people to Minnesota.  Lastly, we need to be provided a decent increase to the funding formula so that we may provide our teachers with acceptable income. 

Local Control over the School Calendar – Districts in the State of Minnesota need to be given local control over their learning year.  Each individual district should have the right to work with their students, families and communities to create a school calendar that fits their needs.  Right now, school districts are required to wait until after Labor Day to commence the new academic year. 

If you would like to discuss this information at greater length, I encourage you to contact me through the Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton District Office at 507.234.5181.

Crossing Guards

For many years the Trinity Lutheran School (TLS) has provided outstanding crossing guards for our students to cross main street and 4th street.  They have always done an outstanding job to ensure our students from TLS and JWP make it to their destination safely.

Citizens have asked why we do not have crossing guards at main street and 3rd street.  In a distant past, there were crossing guards there but with the restructuring of our district they were eliminated.  Now that we house all students in the Janesville building, we have started exploring ways to bring those crossing guards back.

Mr. Erler has worked diligently in researching the process of providing crossing guards.  He has contacted TLS, the Janesville Police Department, the Janesville American Legion and others to begin developing a plan of action to bring the crossing guards back.  It is always our priority to ensure the safety of our students, families, and staff.  When final details are developed and implementation is imminent, we will be sure to communicate with all of you.  Thank you for your continued patience and understanding.

A Path to Eliminating Paperwork for our Families

Over the past three years at Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton I have heard from many of our families that the amount of paperwork they fill out at back to school conferences is exhausting.  This year, we have started studying various ways to eliminate some of the paperwork families are asked to complete.

To start the study off, I emailed superintendents in the area to share their processes for back to school registration.  I have gathered this information and compiled it into a database.  Recently, the elementary secretary, elementary principal and myself met to go over the paperwork we have families fill out.  From there, we have identified what paperwork can be eliminated.  What we have realized is that an abundance of the paperwork filled out is already listed in Infinite Campus, our student information system.  However, some of this information is not housed in Infinite Campus.  We have contacted Infinite Campus to find out if there is a way we can have new script written so that families do not have to continuously provide information we should already have.

Our hope is to provide an efficient process that will meet the needs of our families, students, faculty and the Minnesota Department of Education.  As always, we take feedback from our families seriously and are always looking for ways to improve our processes.  Thank you for providing us feedback to ensure we are on the path of continuous improvement.

Governor Dayton's Initial Budget Released (Specific to Education)

Governor Dayton recently released his budget for the State of Minnesota.  On Tuesday, January 27th the Commissioner of Education provided superintendents in the state with a summary of how the budget may impact education.  This blog will highlight the information and will provide an initial synopsis of how this may impact the Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Public School District.  We are still early in this legislative session and the Governor's budget may look different when an omnibus bill is passed and signed by the Governor.

Governor Dayton has proposed a 1% increase each year to the per pupil funding formula over the course of the two years in the upcoming biennium.  This would raise the per pupil funding formula from $5,831 per pupil in 2015 to $5,948 in 2017.  Although two percent over two years is appreciated, it is not enough.  The Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Public School District needs more money added to the formula to continue our pursuit of excellence.

Presently Minnesota is facing a teacher shortage.  In order for us to attract future college graduates to our profession and to keep those here committed, we need to be able to provide a competitive compensation package.  A two percent increase is not enough to attract folks to the education profession and to keep those here committed.  Iowa has recognized this need and their senate recently approved a four percent increase for each of the next two years for education.  You can read this approval by clicking here.

Governor Dayton proposed $109 million over the next biennium to expand public pre-kindergarten education statewide.  We know early education positively impacts student achievement as pointed out in this article.  However, there are unique challenges when opportunities such as this arise.  We will have a need for additional space and teachers.  JWP has made some changes to the building structure to accomodate potential additions.  However, it is difficult to find preschool teachers and our state has rigorous expectations to be licensed.  If this is to pass, we need additional facilities funding and alternative pathways for teacher licensure.

19.4 million has been allocated to eliminate the Head Start waiting list.  At first blush our district is not on this waiting list and would not benefit from this additional funding.  Instead of eliminating the waiting list, we would prefer this money be dispersed to districts for facilities use so that we can expand early childhood programming.

Governor Dayton has proposed 28.1 million to pay for breakfast for PreK-3rd grade students.  It is without doubt that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  However, for the JWP school district, this is not necessarily a priority.  Many of our students have a nutritious breakfast before they arrive at school.  Families also have an opportunity at free or reduced meal prices for breakfast and lunch from the federal government and some from our state government.  Funding for breakfast may not be necessary for our district.

In closing, Governor Dayton has been and continues to be an advocate for education.  His budget has the absolute best intentions for students in mind.  However, we believe his allocation of financial resources can be distributed differently.

It is my job to continually advocate for the Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Public School District.  On Wednesday, February 18, 2015 I will be in St. Paul advocating for our specific needs.  I have the following schedule in place to meet with legislative leaders working to provide for the students of Minnesota.

Time	Member	Office	Assistant	Number	Role
9:00 AM	Rep. Mary Murphy	State Office Building - 343	Cassandra	651.296.2676	Education Finance DFL Lead
9:15 AM	Rep. Peggy Bennett	State Office Building - 507	Nick W.	651.296.8216	Education Innovation Policy Vice Chair
10:00 AM	Rep. Ron Kresha	State Office Building - 531	Lisa	651.296.4247	Education Finance Vice Chair
12:00 PM	Rep. Jenifer Loon	State Office Building - 449	Tim Smith	651.296.7449	Education Finance Chair
12:15 PM	Rep. Sondra Erickson	State Office Building - 479	Ethan	651.296.6746	Education Innovation Policy Chair
1:00 PM	Sen. Charles Wiger & Sen. Alice Johnson	Capitol Building - 205	Katelyn Snyder/Marie	651.296.6820/2556	Education Committee Chair & Vice Chair
1:15 PM	Lunch	Capitol Basement
2:00 PM	Sen. Julie Rosen/Rep. Cornish	State Office Building STE155 139	Jessica/Simon	651.296.5713/4240	Local Senator - District 23 and Local Rep.
2:30 PM	Sen. Sean Nienow	State Office Building - 105	Andy	651.296.5419	Education Committee Ranking Minority Member
3:30 PM	Rep. Mariani	State Office Building - 203	Jamal	651.296.9714	Education Innovation Vice Chair DFL Lead

As always, if you have any questions, please contact me directly via the contact information below.

With Highest Regards,

Bill Adams, Superintendent

507.234.5181

adamsb@jwp.k12.mn.us

Twitter and Tradiciones

Mrs. Oelke's Spanish III students were provided an opportunity to engage in a Twitter Hashtag conversation regarding traditions in cultures.  Students were to review the hashtags and make connections.  Common core aspects were included into this assignment as well.  This is another fine example as to where JWP staff members utilize technology as a learning tool.  It is examples like this and any others that our district can boast a high quality education for all students.

You can see more specifics about this assignment by clicking here.

"Brick by Brick" at JWP - A Good News Article Submission

Head Coach Jerry Kill of the Minnesota Golden Gophers uses the phrase, “Brick by Brick”.  The intentions of those three words is to effectively and efficiently communicate the process in which the coaching staff is utilizing to build the Gopher Football program into a successful one.  At the Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton (JWP) Public School District we strive to be the best and do so “Brick by Brick”.

Over the past three years the JWP School District has experienced positive growth in student learning and the development of all staff.  To support these areas of growth, we will share quantitative and qualitative data.

The quantitative data includes test results of our school district and six surrounding districts.  In 2012 JWP was 7^th in reading achievement.  Over the past three years we have realized positive growth and now rank 4^th in reading achievement.  In the area of Math we were 6^th in achievement in 2012 and were 1^st in 2014.  We are proud of our students’ growth and look forward to a consistent upward trend.

Qualitative data will encapsulate the development of all staff.  This is the area where “Brick by Brick” comes into play.  At Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton we have set the following ‘bricks’ for a strong foundation:

1. Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) – 90% of our certified staff members have been through PLC training.  At these trainings our staff members have been provided with the knowledge to utilize collaboration in improving practice.
2. Evaluations – This school year all staff members will experience high quality evaluations that will provide each individual with an opportunity to set a goal and develop an action plan to achieve that goal.  At the end of the school year, all staff members are expected to develop their professional capacity.
3. Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports – This is a proactive approach to establishing the behavioral supports and social culture needed for all students in a school to achieve social, emotional and academic success.   Staff members at JWP have worked diligently to ensure this program is implemented with integrity.
4. Curriculum Review Cycle – Teachers utilize curriculum as a tool to increase their skill set and to positively impact student learning.  We have implemented a curriculum review cycle to confirm our teachers have current best practice tools to do their work.
5. Technology Development – As you all know, technology changes daily.  This leaves our staff with unique challenges to meet the needs of today’s learners.  At JWP we have started a process to explore the tools we need to embrace and implement practices that will prepare our students for the future.
6. Strategic Planning – Our school board has created a strategic plan that sets a vision for what we want our district to be in the future.  Each year of this plan we recognize growth.  Our school board is committed to this vision and provides the resources to ensure we are a top tier educational institution.
7. Staff Trainings – This year, our special education department has developed trainings to educate staff on the best practices of reaching the needs of all learners.  The information shared is taken into account when staff members plan their lessons to differentiate instruction.

As you have probably gleaned from this article, JWP is committed to doing what is right to provide a high quality education for all learners.  Considering this article is limited to a specified amount of words, we could not highlight all of the wonderful things we are doing.  With everything in life, there are areas for improvement and we strive to attain continuous improvement “Brick by Brick”. 

Cold Weather Decision Making Process

As you might recall, in the past, we had several school days closed due to excessively cold weather.  I am hopeful that we will not experience those extreme temperatures this year.  With that said, I would like to remind our constituents of guiding principles for closing school due to extreme temperatures.

• Our school buses are housed indoors and are in excellent condition.  In the unlikely event that mechanical failure would occur during cold weather, there are back up buses that can respond to lend assistance in short order.
• Wind chill temperature, actual temperature and frostbite time frames are taken into consideration when making a decision to stay open or closed. I utilize the NOAA Wind Chill Chart (see above or click here) as my guide.  If frostbite times are in the 30 minutes range, it will be my recommendation to hold school as planned provided other issues such as snowfall, visibility & road conditions are acceptable.
• I believe that if we operate within the wind chill parameters set forth above, we are putting the safety of students first, but also providing opportunities to continue school on regularly scheduled days.
• I ask that parents pay special attention to proper clothing for their children during the winter season and especially during these very cold conditions.  Whether a child is in Kindergarten or in 12th grade, all students should have proper winter apparel including mittens and hat before venturing out.
• If the decision is made to hold school on days of negative wind chills, it is the parent's final responsibility to determine whether it is safe for their child to go to school.  Throughout our district, we have so many different circumstances with different families that a single decision by the superintendent may not properly respond to the consideration of a particular family.  If parents elect to hold their children home due to inclement weather, the absence will be considered an excused absence. 

Please make certain that your alert system information (Infinite Campus) is up to date as we rely on this system to communicate messages regarding school closures.  If you have any questions, concerns or compliments, please contact me directly.