WEEK 8 at #cpsreds

What an eventful day Friday was.  I started the day watching Nance students getting a new pair of shoes.  What an event the band, cheerleaders, and football team showed up to celebrate.  Next up was a trip to Shawnee to watch the Lady Reds participate in the state volleyball Tournament.  They represented #cpsreds with pride but came up short.  Congratulations on a great year ladies.  Next Elgin for a football game.  The Reds were impressive in a 34-7 victory.  I was also impressed with the Red Tornado band's pregame performance.

Tuesday and Wednesday was OTA at the Cox Center in Oklahoma City.  Encyclomedia, as some call it,  is a conference for librarians, technolgy, and other educators.  I was able to attend Tuesday.  CPS had many presentation during the conference.  If you presented thanks for representing CPS.   I attended and presented at the USSA conference Wednesday in Broken Arrow.  As CPS continues the journey into the 21st century it is exciting to see that wherever we are other educators are hungary to learn what we are doing.

Next week is a 3 day week.  I hope you all have plans to unwind and have an enjoyable 5 day break.  

WEEK 7 at #cpsreds

I can't believe it is October already.  Time flies when you are having fun.  I have the greatest job in the world because of the great leadership team and teachers I work with every day.  Add working in the greatest office on earth and an awesome maintenance crew and you can see why I love my job.

Since #cpsreds is a growing district all of the data used to calculate our funding is collected in October.  I am sure some feel I am obsessive about the collection of data.  October 1st is the day the state takes a snapshot of our records to deterime the many of theweights we will be paid for the 15-16 school year.   October 15th is the day we turn in our first quarter enrollment numbers that deterime our Average Daily Membership.  The highest day for economic disadvantage in October is used in numerous formulas to deterime dollars we are funded.  Just remember, if someone hands you a form or asks if you have completed various forms, these forms are what seperate CPS financally from schools that do not have smart boards, sound systems, ipads, chrome books etc.  I appreciate everyone working so hard to keep us fully funded for 2016 and years to come.

Great news the Lady Reds volleyball team traveled to Tulsa and qualified for state.  Great jobs ladies you are awesome.  Their first game is Friday at noon in Shawnee.  Good Luck ladies we are so proud of you.

Make sure you are following our webpage to keep up with all the awesome events planned at CPS.  If you use twitter #cpsreds is worth following.

Thanks again for being a part of our team.  It takes admin, teachers, parents, students, and the community to make a great school.

Week 6

The week ended with a great win for the Red Tornado football team.  Anytime you start district play with a win it awesome, but it is ever so sweet when you knock off your arch rival.  Great job guys!!  Clinton 17 Weatherford 14.

The Lady Reds softball team was awarded a #1 seed heading into regionals.  Although our ladies have to travel to Tulsa, I am excited about their chances of advancing to the state tournament.  Ladies, congratulations on a great season and earning the #1 seed.

CPS Parent Teacher Conferences are in full swing.  We are always excited to see parents.  One of the most important goal we have at CPS is "We will make parents a full partner in the educational process".  Special thanks to all of you who work hard to make our conferences successful.

The MakerSpace movement has been running rampent at CPS.  I am so excited to see our students get a chance to be innovative and creative in our Maker Labs.  As we continue to develop these labs I challenge everyone to visit and share the experiences of a MakerSpace.

It was another week of the Clinton Daily News sharing some of the great things happening at CPS.  Congratulations to those who have made the paper and thanks CDN for sharing our success stories.

Week 5

This week I attended the Fall ASBO (Association of School Business Officials) Conference.  As president elect of the organization I had commitments and duties Wednesday thru Friday.  The keynote speaker for the conference was Sam Glenn "The Attitude Guy".  My favorite quote from his presentation was "Your attitude is either in your way or leading your way"

Amazingly although I was out of town I was able to follow school events thru #cpsreds.  I am amazed how many awesome things are being shared.

Monday included school wide celebrations of the numerous winners Clinton Schools had a the recent Custer County fair.  We had winners in art, pottery, upholstery, and as always,  had many grand and reserve champion animals.  Also on Monday, Mr Stringer and Mr Meget  shared CHS students making roller coasters in the high school makerspace.

Tuesday was Dot Day at SES.  Flores, Paul, Marshall, Gifford and other classes participated in Dot Day activities.  Thanks Mrs. Hime for helping to organize these activities. Mrs Guant and the NES teachers started Tech Tuesday this week.

I challenge you to search #cpsreds and follow the remainder of the week.

Saturday Ms. Pool and her students invited the community and other schools to join them for International Observe the Moon Night.  They had moon rocks, telescopes and numerous activities for those who joined them to participate.

My challenge to you for the week is ask yourself every morning "Is your attitude in your way or leading your way?"

Week 4 at CPS

Week 4 at CPS was fair week.  What a great job our students did at the fair.  I always enjoy seeing all the animals and witnessing first hand the enormous amount of work students put into the care of their animals.  We also had some tremendous entries from our FCCLA group at the high school.  From an upholstery project to baked and canned goods.  Mr. Miller's ag classes and Mrs Johnson's FCCLA classes as always, impressed me with how talented our students are.

At the Middle School Joy Badillo was named the state's Middle School Art Teacher of the Year. What an impressive and deserved award.  As someone who can't draw a stick man I realize you do not have to be an artist to realize how lucky CPS is to have teachers like Mrs. Badillo.

The admin team continued sharing positive events with the paper and parents.  There are miracles happening at Clinton Public Scools everyday.  Make sure you are sharing them.

Week 3

Week 3 started by  issuing a challenge to the leadership team. Share positive stories with teachers, parents, students, and the press.  The Clinton News joined in and had numerous articles and pictures in the paper telling our stories.  The story of CPS and #oklaed has been in the Daily Oklahoman,  Clinton News, Facebook, Twitter, and other networks. One of the most exciting stories was that Nance Elementary Students will each be getting a free pair of shoes. Those responsible for this act are wanting to remain anonymous.

The second challenge issued to the leadership team was to share positive stories with parents.  It was exciting to hear how many parents were shocked the school was sharing the good news.  We really need to work on our relationship with parents.  CPS cannot be successful unless our parents are full partners in the education process.

While visiting all 5 campuses this week the common theme was how great the year has started and the unbelievable attitude of the students.  Hats off to the parents, students, and teachers of CPS for being so awesome.

Miracles are happening everyone day at Clinton Public Schools, share them.

Week 2

This week  started early.  Sunday night CPS Admin, teachers, parents and students met at the NES MakerSpace.  We were moderating the #oklaed chat at 8CST.  Admin, teachers, parents and legislators from across the state joined the chat as we discussed and periscoped makerspaces.

Monday-Wednesday I was able to visit all five school sites.  Walking through the halls watching students and teachers working together, moving forward  and embracing  innovation and creativity was both exciting and rewarding.

At the end of the week I attended the Annual OSSBA conference.  The conference was opened by OSSBA president and CPS board member Dr. Floyd Simon Jr.  Dr Simon had the honor of introducing the CHS choir under the direction of Ms Roulett and I spent the next two days getting showered with praises of how awesome they were.  So proud to be a RED TORNADO.

Saturday CPS Tech Director, Ms Richert and I were scheduled to speak at 9 AM.  We were going to talk about the Innovation and Creation taking place at CPS.  We decided to talk 10 minutes and let CPS students demonstrate a Maker Space.  Watching our elementary students show Tulsa Public School superintendent Dr Gist how we use Osmos was incredible.  Leadership team members Tonya Gaunt, Mark Moring, Tyler Bridges, Nathan Meget,  Ann Beck, Stephanie Hime and Beth Richert and families on a Saturday created a Maker at the Cox center and shared it with board members and administrators from across the state.  I will say it again, I have the best job because I have the State #1 leadership team.  The conference closed with a dynamic speaker Dr. John Draper.  My takeaway from the keynote "If you are not telling your story someone else is" so I challenge each and every one of you to tell a positive story weekly about CPS.

WEEK 1 at CPS

Thanks to the hard work of all of our faculty, staff members, families, and students, the first week of the 2015-2016 school year has been a smooth transition from summer vacation to classroom learning.

When I walked around our buildings, I saw students smiling, engaged, and eager to learn. I saw lively discussions, hands-on activities, and focused attention.

A very big thank-you is due to both staff and parents. I know this successful week would not have occurred or even been possible without the groundwork laid not just since our teachers returned to work in August, but throughout the summer break.

Thanks again to our staff for their commitment to ensuring our students receive the very best education, and thank you to our parents and families for the support, encouragement, and patience during the first week.

Looking Forward to Week 2!

Teacher Shortage

I have been pushing for #oklaed to have a one issue legislative session.  I believe the only issue we should be discussing until  fixed is #teachershortage.  Recently looking at SDE documents I noticed #oklaed employed almost 60k teachers in 2008 and a little more than 52k in 2014.  Mathematically it looks like we should have almost 8K Teachers looking for a job but we started 2015 over 1000 teachers short.  We are setting records for alt certs and emergency certifications every year. Why is my issue so much more important than yours?  What is your issue?

Testing; In a recent survey conducted by our State Superintendent elect, testing was the first issue she needs to address.  How many teachers have left our profession because they feel students are over tested.  If teachers are indicticating in a survey that testing is the #1 issue how can we fix teacher shortage without correcting our testing problems.

Teacher Pay: Ask the governor or any legislator how are we going to fix teacher shortage and most will mention teacher pay.  So instead of starting with teacher pay start your discussion with teacher shortage.

Teacher Evaluations: Does anyone think VAMS, SLOs, SOOs, are any other acronym are good for teacher recruitment and retention.  Without fixing our evaluation system we will continue to struggle with recruitment and retention.

Teacher's Retirement: Just the threat to change scares current teachers.  If they change the system it will have a negative effect in the present climate.  I hate to be against an idea until I know what the idea is but change  today when teachers have zero trust for those proposing the change will not help teacher retention and recruitment.

School Funding: Have you looked at Texas, Arkansas, or Kansas school buildings lately.  Recruiting teachers based on facilities if a non starter for #oklaed. When you are 49th in school funding teachers find another state to work.

RSA, A-F,  and other REFORMS are all legislative burdens that have landed in the middle of teachers desks and hamper teacher recruitment and retention.

There are other issues that will come up during the legislative session but we need to get our A game together and fix #teachershortage.  During the 2015 session when talking #oklaed before you pick a side ask yourself will it help or hurt teacher recruitment and retention.