Weekly Happenings Aug 31 to Sept 4

Here are a few things that are going on this week in WISD:

• Westphalia Girl Scouts will be having their first meeting of the year on Tuesday, September 1 at the Westphalia Religious Building. Brownies, Juniors, and Cadets (girls in grades 2-8) will meet at 6:00pm. Daisies (KG-1 grade) will meet at 6:30pm. Forms are available in the office.
• The Falls Education Cooperative will be conducting STEEP testing for all students on Wednesday. These brief math and reading tests last one to two minutes and are designed to test the fluency of a student's math and reading. This is a baseline test and will be used by teachers in their classroom.
• The Westphalia volleyball teams will compete in their first game of the season this Thursday, Sept. 3, at 4:30pm. The Bluejays will be hosting St. Louis. Come and support our ladies as they attempt to continue the tradition of excellence!
• The Westphalia football team will also be competing in their first game on Thursday. The boys will be hosting Brenham Christian at 5:00pm. Good luck guys!!!

Message of the Week: Strive for quality in everything you do!

Have a great week or not, as always, the CHOICE is yours!

Reflections on the First Week

Well, we are rapidly approaching the end of the first week of school, and (knock on wood) I have to say that I'm very pleased with how things are going. When people have asked me this week, I've told them that the cafeteria never ran out of food, so no one went hungry, and that we didn't have anyone miss a bus or left at school by parents. Overall, I would say that is a good start to the school year.

As we start looking forward, expect a challenging year. We want to continue our excellence both inside and outside the classroom and build on our recent accomplishments. I'm excited about the possibilities, and I hope you are too!

Curriculum Changes

As mentioned yesterday, one of the things I'd like to do this week is discuss some of the changes for the new school year. Probably one of the biggest changes, at least for teachers, is a new curriculum that is to be used. WISD will be using an online curriculum program called C-SCOPE. For those who don't know, a curriculum covers both the scope (what is to be taught and to what depth) and sequence (order) of the different subjects that will be taught.

One might ask why Westphalia, an Exemplary school district, needs to change its curriculum? One of the main reasons is that the new curriculum will serve as a resource for teachers to ensure that they cover everything that needs to be covered during a school year. Also, C-SCOPE is replete with a variety of hands-on activities and example lessons. These lessons include all the core subjects (math, science, social studies, and English) and can be used from the first day of school until the last day. Districts that have used C-SCOPE in the past have reported good gains on achievement testing, and we want to continue to challenge our kids to achieve more. It was great to hear teachers talk about how they are going to use these example lessons and activities with kids.

One of our biggest focus areas is science. WISD and its employees have invested a lot of time, energy, and money into bringing a more hands-on approach to science. We've stocked our storeroom with science supplies and materials that will be used throughout the year at different grade levels. Our goal is to develop one of the best science programs in the state.

If you get a chance, talk to a teacher about how the new curriculum is going to effect what they do in class. Hopefully, you will get the same excitement from teachers as I do when I talk to them.

2009-2010 Budget

I thought I'd spend some time this week highlighting some information about the new school year. One of the main things that I do over the summer is work on the school budget, so I thought I'd talk about it on my blog. Here are some facts about our adopted budget:

• The total amount of revenues (state, local, and federal) is $1,482,254. This is an increase of nearly $200,000 over last year's revenue. The largest portion of that increase is approximately $93,000 in revenue from the state that was earned in 2008-09. You see, schools are actually paid from the state based on the previous year's student count. In 08-09, the state projected a lower enrollment than what we actually had, so the state will have to "settle-up" for what we were to be paid last year. This "settle-up" works both ways - in years past the state has paid us more than what we should have received and WISD has had to pay the state back. This year, however, we are owed money from the state, therefore we will receive additional revenue. The remainder of the additional revenue comes from addition funds provided by the state in the new school finance legislation and some additional federal revenue.
• Expenditures are projected to be $1,426,642. This includes a state-mandated pay raise to teachers and staff, the addition of new personnel, and increases in expenditures for supplies for students. One of the main instructional focuses for the district is science and there is an increase in the budget for science supplies.
• In the end, there is a projected budget surplus of approximately $55,000 that will be used to replenish the district's fund balance (savings account). WISD has needed to use fund balance over the last several years to cover expenses. This year should allow us to save money for future years.
• For local homeowners, the property tax rate is set to $0.90 per $100 of valuation. This means that the average homeowner in the district, with an average homestead value of $43,324, will pay $389.92 in taxes to the school district. WISD has maintained the same tax rate since 2007 and has actually reduced the tax rate 27% since 2005.

For more information about the budget, please see the "Budget Summary" link under finance on the WISD homepage. This budget summary compares last year's budget to the newly adopted budget and will provide more specific details about different funding categories in the budget. Also, you can contact me in the office and I will answer any specific questions about the budget.

First Day of School

I always love the first day of school. The kids are always dressed their best. They are enthusiastic about seeing old friends that they have not seen all summer, so there is always a lot of laughing and talking that first day. There is also a strange sensation of anxiety and hope in the air…anxiety about the unknown and hope that the new school year will be the best year ever.

Although the first day of school sometimes begins with tears (mainly KG parents), the tears are simply the outward signal of the pride that parents feel about their children. Enjoy that feeling.

The best part of being a teacher is working with the kids, and I for one am happy they are back. This has been a long summer and I can’t wait to get the new year going. I’m looking forward to a great 2009-2010 school year!

No Magic Bullet

I was watching one of my all-time favorite shows the other day, Seinfeld, when a classic episode came on. The episode centered around former Major League Baseball player and former New York Mets star Keith Hernandez. In the episode, Kramer and Newman accuse Hernandez of spitting on them after a baseball game. Consequently, Jerry parodied the famous scene from the movie "JFK" where Kevin Costner's character explains the "Magic Bullet Theory." In true Seinfeldian style, he ends his monologue with phrase, "Now that is one magic loogie!"

I am not a conspiracy theorist, but from what I have gleaned from the facts and what experts say, the "Magic Bullet Theory" has been debunked and it has been scientifically proven that Kennedy indeed was killed by a lone gunman.

Now, I bring this topic up not to get into a historical debate on the Kennedy assassination, but to share the idea that there is no magic bullet in education. One can hardly imagine the number of mass mailings and emails I receive on a daily basis claiming that some program, some book, or some manipulative will provide instant results to increase student achievement. I'm here to tell you today that those programs do not work. If they did, schools would simply invest in those programs and all the troubles in school today would be gone.

Student success is based on smart, hard-working teachers, working with smart, hard-working parents, working with hard-working students. WISD is very mindful on what we spend tax payer money, and any programs we purchase are meant to help teachers and students who are working hard...not meant to be a substitute for hard work. I'm as big an advocate for technology in the classroom as you'll find, but I realize that it is the "magic" that teachers do--their daily interactions with students, their caring smiles, their willingness to go above and beyond with students--that makes WISD a success.

So, if you get a chance, thank a teacher for the "magic" they perform everyday but know that there is a lot of hard work behind that magic.

The Tomato Garden

Seeing as today is officially the first day of summer, I thought I'd give a funny story forwarded to me by my wife's grandmother:

An old Italian lived alone in New Jersey. He wanted to plant his annual tomato garden, but it was very difficult work, as the ground was hard. His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament:

Dear Vincent,
I am feeling pretty sad, because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over.. I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me, like in the old days.
Love, Papa

A few days later he received a letter from his son.

Dear Pop,
Don't dig up that garden. That's where the bodies are buried.
Love, Vinnie

At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left. That same day the old man received another letter from his son.

Dear Pop,
Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love you, Vinnie