Oklahoma Centennial High School

OCHS
The Oklahoman ran a article about the school where I teach this Sunday. It's a fair piece. I get quoted quite a bit. I hope that the school gets some attention of the right sort through it.

What we need is a place for those students who are unable to perform in a regular high school environment so those who want to be there can learn.

"Oklahoma Centennial High School: Succeeding in a Place of Failure"

Why OKC Schools Lack Academic Progress

I wrote this letter to Oklahoma City councilman Skip Kelly after I read an article in the Oklahoman about the frustration the city council expressed over a lack of academic progress in the Oklahoma City public schools.

Dear Councilman Kelly:

I read the article in the paper concerning the frustration the city has with the lack of progress you have seen in the Oklahoma City Public School district. The reasons for this are many and complex, but if you ask most teachers, we will tell you that a big contributing factor is that we have to spend enormous amounts of time and energy managing our students as opposed to educating them. Every day, teachers, and I speak mainly about those teaching middle schools and high schools, have to try to keep their students in line, keep them from disrupting the class, keep them from talking to their friends, keep them from getting into fights, keep them on task, or simply keep them awake, so that we can do our primary job: educate them for their futures.

We have very limited resources to deal with these problems. We can contact parents, who are often absent from their children’s lives, and enlist their help. When this does not bring a change in our students’ behavior, we can assign detention, which few are inclined to serve. Our last resort is to refer the student, commonly known as “writing a referral”, to an administrator who typically can only suspend the student, taking the student out of classes, for a period of time. When I assign detention, frequently I have to fall back on writing a referral because the student does not show up for detention.

The result of all this is that administrators find themselves overwhelmed with student referrals, which they cannot process in a timely manner. Thus teachers must put up with disruptive students in their classes who rob their fellow students of their right to an education in a safe and orderly environment. Thus the education of all students suffer. Thus parents feel they cannot send their students to our schools and opt to leave the district, especially after their children’s elementary school years are finished and the students are ready for middle school and high school.

I can say with a fair amount of confidence that nothing will change in the OKC school district until some type of alternative arrangement can be made for students unable to perform in a traditional academic setting. I feel confident in saying this because this is my 16th year in the Oklahoma City district, and I have yet to see much improvement in student behavior. Year after year, I and my colleagues wear ourselves sick in trying to maintain order in our class so that a modicum of learning can take place.

The city and the district may build all the outstanding buildings they wish, but if the teachers in those buildings have to focus primarily on managing their classes as opposed to educating their students, it will be all for naught.

I appreciate your frustration with our schools. It is more than matched by the frustration of their teachers.News Article: Oklahoma City Council Frustrated With Academics in City Schools

Back to School Today

The ice has melted finally. The streets are better. So off to school we go!

Should OKC get the REDS out?

Monday night, the Oklahoma City school board had its regular meeting and, in addition to the problem of weather related school closings, discussed how to meet a $4 million budget shortfall caused by reduced state funding. Various items were discussed including the sale of some closed school properties, such as old John Marshall High School, and "realigning the support and certified staff in the central office."

One area of administrative expense needs to be addressed by the district: the six Regional Educational Directors, or REDS as they are often termed. These are six "super-principals" who oversee schools in six different regions of the school district. These are administors who administrate other administrators. They do not have direct contact with students in the classroom.

Frankly, most of the rank and file certified and support staff cannot fathom what these people do other than create another layer of meddlesome bureaucracy as well as administrative expense. If the district wants to make cuts in personnel, many teachers point to these offices as a way for the district to save a considerable amount of money, perhaps as much as as a half-million dollars or more.

Personally, I do not know if this is a wise move, but it is something constantly discussed among teachers whenever the subject of staff reductions comes up.

If the district chooses to hold on to these positions, it should explain to teachers and staff faced with the possibility of reductions why these positions are retained while those who have more direct contact with students face reductions.

OKC School Board Talks About Money Saving Options

School Wide Assembly Kicks off "Heart of a Champion" Character Education Initiative

Some of my students showing off their "Elevators UP OKC" T-Shirts
Today we had a school wide assembly put on by "Elevators Up OKC," an initiative sponsored by Coca Cola to foster character education through the "Heart of a Champion" program. We had a radio and TV personality named T-Rock MC the proceedings. Also in attendance were OKCPS Superintendent Karl Springer, Lt. Gov. Jari Askins, 5 members of the OKCPS school board, two of the Thunder cheerleaders, and executives with Coca Cola.
Oklahoma City Public School Superintendent Karl Springer and Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Jari Askins attended the event
from l to r, Oklahoma City Public Schools board members Gail Vines, Phil Horning, Lyn Watson, and David Castillo
Students Cheering during the assembly
Our students took it all in quite well and seemed to have a good time.
One of the Thunder cheerleaders giving out free tickets to an OKC Thunder game
I am one of the teachers who is responsible for teaching the "Heart of a Champion" curriculum. Wish me luck. The first character quality I am teaching is going to be "Committment."

OKC Public Schools Amends Its Bullying Policy

The Oklahoma City Public Schools voted last night to add "Sexual Orientation" to its anti-bullying policy. My friend Joe Quigley has fought a long battle to extend protection to GLBT students in our district. I am glad to see his work pay off finally.

Angela Monson and Gail Vines Sworn-In as School Board Members

Angela Monson takes the oath of office as the newly elected chair of the Oklahoma City Public School Board
Monday evening, former state senator Angela Monson was sworn in as the 3rd chairman for the Oklahoma City Public Schools, Board of Education in a ceremony at the school board auditorium before a large and enthusiastic crowd. Ms. Monson challenged those attending to "get involved" in the district. "This is just the beginning of our journey to create a school district that serves the needs of all our students," she told those present. Monson won her position in an election against incumbent school board chair, Kirk Humphries. She is the third person to hold the position of chairman since the office was created by a the Oklahoma legislature.
Gail Vines takes the oath of office for School Board District Two Representative
Also sworn in were Lynn Watson who is the newly elected representative for District One and Gail Vines who was unopposed in her bid for a second term in District Two.

Oklahoma County Judge Vicki Miles LaGrange administered the oath of office to all the officials.

Angela Monson upsets Kirk Humphries in OKC School Board Race

new OKC School Board Chairman Angela Monson
Angela Monson, who only decided to get into the race for Oklahoma City School Board Chairman on the last day of the filing deadline, defeated incumbent chairman Kirk Humphries 57% to 43% on Tuesday. Monson was a former member of the Oklahoma House and Senate. Oklahoman News Article on the race
This win is satisfying on many levels. First, Angela is not a part of the corporate power structure that has rule the district for many years now. She is a friend of working families and their children. She is also willing to listen to the teachers who have direct contact with the kids.
Congratulations, Angela.

Setting Up My Classroom

Oklahoma Centennial High School
Today was my first day back at Oklahoma Centennial since last June when I came in for a couple of days to help move some items in.
View from the school looking north
One thing I am going to enjoy is the view from our school. We have very wide vistas. We are on one of the higher points in Oklahoma City with very little blocking our view. You can see the state capitol from our front lawn.

We have one of those fiberglass bison in our foyer. Don't know if it has been named yet.
My classroom
This is what my classroom looked like when I got to it. Boxes and boxes of books.
Windows in my classroom looking west.
I have a nice view from my classroom also.

School starts in a week!

Karl Springer Talks With AFT Building Leaders

AFT President Ed Allen, left, with new Oklahoma City School Superintendent Karl Springer, right, addressing the AFT-OKC Worksite Leaders
New Oklahoma City School Superintendent Karl Springer spoke at some length on Wednesday, August 6th, to a gathering of American Federation of Teachers Worksite Leaders. The Worksite Leaders, who are the primary representatives for OKC-AFT Local 2309, met in the union's conference room to discuss their responsibilities for the coming school year in their respective school buildings . OKC-AFT is the bargaining representative for all certified teachers in the Oklahoma City Public School District.
New Oklahoma City Superintendent Karl Springer
Mr. Springer talked about his goals for the district emphasizing the need for "responsibility" and "transparency." He stated that while he will delegate authority where necessary, "I can never delegate responsibility. When that happens, all you get in finger pointing." When one teacher asked Mr. Springer about the problems the district has had with previous superintendents, Springer stated, "When I am driving, I find it is best to always look through the windshield. I cannot be always looking in the rearview mirror." Mr. Springer outlined his strategy for building relationships in the community which is to maintain complete transparency. He also promised that he will also set aside time on a regular basis to visit building sites.
Worksite Leaders and AFT President Ed Allen listen to Superintendent Karl Springer
Mr. Springer seemed to impress the teachers present for the meeting. Said one veteran teacher, "The best thing about him is that he talks like a teacher." Mr. Springer emphasized his years in the classroom before becoming superintendent of the Mustang School District, his last assignment before accepting the job in Oklahoma City following the resignation of superitendent, John Q. Porter who served only a few months as superitendent of the district.
AFT President Ed Allen and OKC Superintendent Karl Springer pledge their best effort for a successful school year.

Today School Begins

Oklahoma Centennial High School
Well, not classes, but summer is bascially over for me. Today, I will be getting into my class room to set up things for the coming term that start August 21st in our district. Tomorrow and Wednesday are workshops for the new textbooks we adopted. Then we have workshops for our union building leaders, and so on and so on until classes begin.

I am looking forward to this year. New building, new school, new attitude.

Karl Springer named as Superintendent of OKC Public Schools

Karl Springer has been named to be the next superitendent of the Oklahoma City Public Schools. He has served as superintendent of the Mustang Public Schools. Mustang is a fairly affluent suburb of Oklahoma City. Mr. Springer fulfills at least part of what I believed to be a requirement for the next superitendent in that he is a local person. He is not what I call an "Insider." I am not certain at this time how much experience he has had with urban schools like those in OKC, nor do I know what kind of "blue water" experience he has had in the classroom.

All of that will come out soon, I'm sure.

My concern is that he knows that working in an urban school district won't be like working in a suburb like Mustang. One problem he will have is gaining the trust of teachers who have seen the superintendent's office become a revolving door. A lot of the attitude will be, "I've was a teacher before this guy came here, and I'll be a teacher after he has gone." He won't gain trust by simply ordering folks around. That's not how a democratic school system works.

from The Oklahoman Springer named OKC schools superintendent

At the Technology Conference

HuiChen Durley taught the blogging workshop
Right now I'm at a technology conference run by the district. At this moment I am taking a workshop on how to use blogging in the classroom. Since I alreadyhave a "Blogger" account, I am going to use this blog for the activities the teacher, HuiChen Durley, is trying to teach us.

Goodbye to Old John Marshall High

Today was the last day of school in the building where I have been a high school teacher for 14 years. For 13 of those years, I was on the faculty of John Marshall High School. This last year I was a member of the Oklahoma Centennial High School faculty. John Marshall is in a brand new facility on NW 122nd Street. But for me, this building will always be John Marshall High School as it has been since the school opened in 1948 when it replaced Britton High School.

Next year we will be in a new building, actually a remodeled building. However, I feel it is good to pay tribute to a building that has educated the students of Oklahoma City for 60 years.
Good bye, John Marshall High.

Kirk Humphries Selected as OKC School Board President

Kirk Humphries, newly appointed chairman of the Oklahoma City Public School District School Board
Former Oklahoma City Mayor Kirk Humphries was selected as chairman of the Oklahoma City School Board last Monday. While mayor, Kirk helped to pass the "MAPS for Kids" bond issue and sales tax that has been used to do a massive building and remodeling project in the city's schools.

The first big task facing Humphries and the rest of the board is to find a new superintendent to succeed John Q. Porter who resigned after a brief time of leading the district following allegations of financial impropriety.

Kirk is well connected with Oklahoma City's business community. This, plus his service on the Putnam City School Board, are his chief assets. His chief liablity from this teacher's standpoint is that he doesn't have much experience dealing a democratic urban school district. He believes in the "school is a business" [false] analogy as evidenced by his statement:

"I believe the customer is always right, and in a school district, the customer is every family in our district with school-aged children."

The problem with this model is that, in a school, sometimes the customer is wrong. For example, if a parent believes that her child should remain in school due to his "special needs" when that child is disrupting class for all his classmates and making it impossible for a teacher to do her job, the parent/customer is wrong.

Let the Countdown Begin!

A fellow educator once told me that teachers often end up wishing their lives away. We wish for the weekend to come. We wish for the next holiday to come. We wish for the winter break to come, then the spring break, then summer. Finally we wish for retirement.

I try not to do that, especially wishing for summer at the end of the year because I do not want to ever stop being a teacher. But when we get to the last two or three weeks of school, it is hard not to be conscious of the fact that soon the much needed long break is going to finally arrive.

Too many teachers go into a kind of holding pattern during the last two weeks. When you teach high school, especially seniors, it's hard not too because seniors have so many distractions and interruptions happening.

I'm going to try to teach a component on research during this time. I want them to have some experience with things like documentation and using sources before they leave my classroom. I especially want this for those going off to college.

I plan to give them most of the material they will need to write the essay. The essay will be on Immigration since this is such a hot topic in Oklahoma and in the United States. I will see what I can get done with them. At least, they won't be sitting around waiting for it to all be over. Doing nothing is the worst thing a teacher can ever do.

I have my schedule for next year now

All of the high school teachers got our schedule for next year. Of course, this is never final till the beginning of the year, and sometimes, not even then.

I have to admit that I have a good schedule. I am responsible for the English 11 and English 12 classes. I was disappointed. Actually, I was quite upset that we will not be offering Advanced Placement English classes next year. The district does not see the value of AP classes because no enough of our students who take the AP exams pass the tests. (Last year, I did not have any student pass the exam. This was the first time that had happened.)

I find it interesting that our football team was 0-10 last year and 1-9 this year. However, no one has suggested that we eliminate football at our school even though it costs far more than offering Advanced Placement classes.

Ms. Thompson says that she has not given up on offering Advanced Placement. I understand where she is coming from. Our students have great needs, and simply adding AP courses will not meet those needs. I am willing to go along for now and grow the program we will be offering, but I do not want Oklahoma Centennial High School to become a virtual alternative high school for the school district. If we do not offer AP classes, then how will we ever attract the brighter students to our school?

I plan to attend the AP Conference in Tulsa this summer with my wife. I hope I can find some answers from the Advanced Placement people running the conference to our schools situation.

OKC School Board Votes for a Seven Period Day

This evening the Oklahoma City Public School District's Board of Education approved a proposal by the administration for middle schools and high schools to operate on a 7 period a day schedule. Two schools, Classen School for Advanced Studies and Northeast Academy, have been exempted from this change.

This will mean that we will see our students every day during the term rather than on alternating days as in the present schedule. Teachers will have 5 classes each day, a "planning period", and a "collaborative period" reserved for meetings, professional development and tutoring.

I have been advocating a daily schedule for some time. The present block scheduling doesn't work for our students. However, I am a bit leary as to what the district has in mind for the collaborative period. My fear is that the district will want to require us to use it to remediate failing students, especially those taking the core subjects of Language Arts, Math, Social Studies and Science. Since every teacher has a "hard core" group of students who perform poorly in class, usually because they won't do their work, this "tutoring" could turn into a 6th class for us to teach.

The district says it is willing to work with the our union, the American Federation of Teachers, to resolve potential problems, but I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts. And this may turn out to be another Trojan Horse.

Testing Begins Today

Today is the first day my students take their mandated state tests or End of Instruction tests (EOI). Today, my juniors take their English writing tests. Wish them good luck.

Will Our Planning Time Be Cut in Half?

A Teacher's Responsibilities

On Monday a group of Regional Education Directors will present to the Oklahoma City School board a plan to lower high school credits from 28 to 26. This is being done in order to implement a 7 period day as opposed to the 4 period a day “block scheduling.” The Regional Education Directors, REDs for short, are "super principals" who oversee the high schools and their "feeder patterns," the schools that send their graduates onto the high schools.

Presently, high schools use block schedules where classes meet every other day for around 80-85 minutes. The new schedule would call for 5 instruction periods, one planning period, and one "collaborative" period. It's the last part of this proposal that has me fuming, but first, I need to address the move away from block scheduling to a daily schedule, which I favor.

I've never thought that block scheduling is good for high school students. In the modern, "over-stimulated" world of adolescents, I find it difficult for them to remember concepts we have covered during a class period much less those covered the day before yesterday. It is also difficult to schedule tests to see how much the students have learned in a unit since invariably some students miss a class and complain that they did not get a chance to cover the material being tested. Also when they miss a period, they have missed at least a day and a half of instruction.

Meeting students daily is more difficult and stressful for teachers, but far better for students. We get to review daily. Scheduling homework and tests can be a matter of routine. You can tell your students to expect homework during the first part of the week and a test during the latter part (or even vice versa), and the students will know what to expect. Since one has less class time, students can be focused on one or two concepts to be taught and reinforced on a daily basis. I applaud the idea of going to daily classroom instruction.

I oppose having half my planning time being taken away from me without so much as a "by your leave." When I first taught in the district, we were on a 6 period day with one period being my planning time when I had no classes. Planning time is needed to grade papers, contact parents, set up instruction, catch a breather, and, oh yes, plan lessons. Going to block scheduling increased my planning time and decreased my daily instruction load by two classes. Good for teachers, bad for students, in my opinion.

However, with the 7 period schedule, the REDs want us to teach 5 classes in 45 minute periods (a bit short in my opinion), have one planning time, and one hour for "collaborative" work. Usually, this would mean a period for department meetings, committee and team meetings, and professional development. However, the devil, as they say, is in the details. Principals could use this period in any way they feel they can use it such as for doing hall duty, detention duty, or covering and teaching classes. More teachers may be needed to implement this schedule change, and in light of state budget problems, we may face greatly increased class sizes come fall.

Some principals have said that they would not abuse the collaborative period in their buildings, but they may not have a choice given the fact that they may not be given the staff to handle their school's increased responsibilities. And that is hardly the point. The point is that the REDs (one person who works at the Admin building told me the REDs are "running amok" in the absence of a real superintendent) want to cut teacher's planning time in half and increase our load and stress.

I would be more than willing to have 2 of the 5 collaborative periods be used for meetings and professional development opportunities. However, using all 5 would be tantamount to adding an extra period of instruction and/or responsibilities to our day. Classroom teachers are under increasing stress due a host of state and federal mandates, most of them woefully unfunded. The district should not "collaborate" to heap more stress on our workload.

The school board needs to look closely at the details before they unloose this devil on the classroom teachers in this district.