Wednesday at Houlihans: Feb 1, 11:30

Another open gathering at Houlihans for those that are interested. I have been a bit too busy to specifically invite individuals, so I am hoping that a blanket invite pulls in at least two other people. Lately, another group has reserved the table we usually sit at, so you might have to look around for us.

Some possible topics of conversation:

• Magnet programs
• Identifying/isolating the “big” issues with Unit 4 (which should lead to action items if done right)

Anything else burning on your mind?

Registration/School Assignment: getting technical again

This post is going to be a little technical. You have been warned.

 

So I have an online database; I am not aware of anyone who has written any queries against it other than myself (have not yet built the functionality to save and archive input queries). My overall goal is to 1) move responsibility for the “computer program” and relevant data away from Massachusetts and into Champaign, and 2) create a catalyst that results in provoking Unit 4 to be much more transparent about this whole process than they are now. That word “transparent” means different things to different people, so here is where I am coming from – basically, put as much information online as possible. Let people see what is happening. Sure, ok, remove names and addresses, I am cool with that.

 

In order for that to happen,

Registration: What’s the big deal (part 3)

Continuing from previous posts (1 & 2).

Just to reiterate, the title of this series is not meant to condescend at all. Rather, it is a look from the ground-up about this mystifying registration process. And actually, I could almost conclude this post with the simple statement that Registration has become overly complex for no good reason.

What if

Reflection on the Jan 26 School Assignment Community Forum

Here is a letter I sent to various Unit 4 Administrators and a Board Member:

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,

The video is a huge hit! It is such a huge improvement over the previous forms of communicating information. It is exciting to see Unit 4 and the FIC moving in this direction.

While several of us were talking after the presentation, several things came up – specifically about getting information online and maybe even making a couple posters:

1. put edulog online
2. while #1 is being talked about, I have a google maps + javascript solution that gets pretty darn close
3. Show people a map with the school district boundaries and the location of each school. Maybe a 4′ x 3′ posterboard and people can insert pushpins (I have done this elsewhere with great success).

Jamar, Orlando and Judy asked for the URLs for my projects. Feel free to share these

Rose & Taylor Community Forum: Economics, Feb 26th

I had the pleasure of visiting Rose & Taylor this afternoon; Tino Hines gave me a much needed haircut, and did quite well at it. I must admit to feeling slightly awkward being the only white guy there, but they were an affable and congenial group. I remarked on how well the first Community Forum went, and Tino said they had received a lot of positive feedback. I also found out from Chris (Williams?) that the next community forum is slated for February 26th and will be on Economics. It sounds like they are changing the format just a little to give more folks a chance to speak a little, but also a panel to pick the brains the of the lucky few sitting up front.

 

We talked a little about

New School Assignment video is up on registration website

Here is the URL:

http://fast.wistia.com/embed/iframe/57f6eaeb23?videoWidth=630&videoHeight=354&volumeControl=true&playerColor=3853a4&autoPlay=true&endVideoBehavior=reset&popover=true

 

You can get there from the new registration website:

http://www.unit4registration.org/

 

They did a really swell job with the video – very impressive! I wish they spent a little more time explaining why the one parent did not get any of her 5 choices since that kinda sticks out like a sore thumb, but there is the implication that the parent finally get in via the waitlist. Proximity is described in much better detail, which helps. I still wait to see an online map and real-life examples.

 

Trevor Nadrozny has short outtakes in many of the sections (the “process flow” from the website), and does a lot of the explaining in the longer video. The repetition of the three R’s does indeed drive home the point of what one does, and I appreciate that Trevor acknowledges the pain points.

 

I am pleased that Unit 4 found someone to do such a snazzy video on such short notice. I hope they look to supplement the video and website with even better stuff for next year.

Recap: Wednesday @ Houlihans, Jan 25th, PTA Tech meeting

Today we were honored to have G David Frye with us (Beth Van, Chuck Jackson and myself). We were not able to move to the point of actually having “Create websites” for action steps because we took a significant diversion.

So here is a question to let your subconscious chew on while you read the rest of this. How do people share ideas and information with each other? You and I probably represent somewhat of a niche in that regards in that I am writing a blog post and several of you are reading it, either via an email subscription, rss feed, google hit or syndication. There are many other forms of communication that we use today.

G David has been involved with Unit 4 on the PTA and tech side for quite some time (going to hit a decade in a couple short years ). He gave us

A look at an alternative to the Kindergarten Lottery

Here is some insight to how Urbana does School Assignment:

http://www.chambanamoms.com/2012/01/24/urbana-school-redistricting-meeting-poorly-attended/

 

I was keen to read about the ideas they had concerning “community schools” and “sister schools”. In fact, the latter almost sounded similar to the Academy Prep idea in Unit 4.

 

PS – the problem described by the author seems endemic to most community meetings I have witnessed.

Concerns about where the Administration is going

In light of the new Assistant Superintendent position and the announcement of other positions, and in light of the $15.5 million cash bond issues, I have some grave concerns. Most unfortunately, I have not been able to pull my thoughts together, yet, so right up front I am going to tell you that this is a “get my thoughts on paper” kinda post.

I almost called this post something like “To the readers: what are your thoughts?”. But I figured I needed to seed the conversation first.

“I will start by starting.” (Paulo Freire)

New Assistant Superintendent for Achievement and Pupil Services

http://www.champaignschools.org/news/news_view.php?action=view&news_type=press_release&id_news=229

Administrative Appointment
January 24, 2012

Dr. Laura Taylor has been appointed Assistant Superintendent for Achievement and Pupil Services for the Champaign Unit 4 School District. The appointment will become effective July 1, 2012.

Dr. Taylor holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois, Masters Degree from the University of Miami and a Doctor of Education from the University of Illinois. In addition to her work in public schools, she also serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Illinois, teaching graduate level courses in the College of Education. She is currently the Principal at Urbana High School. During her tenure in Urbana, the high school made the College Board Advanced Placement Achievement List for two consecutive years and was awarded a bronze medal by U.S. News and World Report.

“Dr. Taylor will be a great addition to our District. Her background in secondary education will be such a great asset to our students, faculty and parents,” said Dr. Judy Wiegand, Superintendent.

I am curious about two things:

1) Do we need this position to be filled? I realize we have taken on a lot of interims to fill the void of the previous administrative vacuum, but it is not clear to me that we actually need these positions. Do we?

2) So I am really happy for Dr. Taylor. But what about the community she is leaving behind? Not only a high school, but she is being taken out of the Urbana school district. Is it a good thing to keep moving good people up the food chain, creating little vacuums? Maybe yes – I can see how this creates room for others to grow and improve. But on the other hand, what happens to Urbana High School? I guess we will see if it continues to make the College Board Advanced Placement Achievement List.

Jan 23rd Special Board Meeting

I decided to drop by the Special Board meeting tonight because I heard from Holly Nelson that Wiegand was going to talk about the high school options. For that, I was glad I went. They spent almost an hour on this topic; it is rather unfortunate that more community members were not present; I saw 2 reps from CTF, the NG, about 3 Mellon employees, Centennial Principal, Central Principal, Holly and myself. Lynn Stuckey and Will Kyles showed up a little later. In a way, it is really sad that these Board Meetings have got to the point where they drive people away instead of attract people. I feel like a reporter giving readers a mouse-on-the-floor view.

I am really glad that the high school options discussion was first on the agenda. During the “Public Comment” section

New Registration website is LIVE!

http://unit4registration.org/

 

And it ain’t that shabby. I am reading through it now to see how palatable it is. Feel free to leave comments.

UI researcher looking to interview parents about high school options

From Holly Nelson (nelson.holly.r@gmail.com):

I am a masters student in UIUC’s Urban Planning program and I was a 2004 Central graduate. Given recent discussions in Unit 4 about building a new Central, I decided to focus on the school siting issue for my thesis project. I have been coordinating with the City of Champaign and Unit 4 but I’m also very interested in perspectives of community members. My research focuses on the impacts of choosing various sites (I selected five sites, meant to be demonstrative of a whole range of options), including transportation, social, environmental, and cost impacts. I completed the transportation analysis last semester and will likely be presenting the results at next Monday’s [Jan 23rd] school board meeting.

My goal with the project is actually not to make a specific recommendation (although I’m happy to share my opinion), but to make tradeoffs more explicit. I think we as a community can make a better decision if we know more about potential impacts. No solution is going to satisfy everyone but I think we can all be better negotiators if we can lay out the tradeoffs that must be made in order to reach a compromise.

 

If anyone is interested, please let her know. I am having an interview with her tomorrow (Friday) and can report back.

 

Dr. Wiegand shares on NewsTalk 1400 & Carrie Busey name

First the links:

• NewsTalk 1400  http://www.wdws.com/audio/2012-01-19/dr-judy-wiegand-1-19-12.html-0
• News Gazette  http://www.news-gazette.com/news/education/2012-01-19/prairie-fields-favorite-name-new-savoy-school.html

NG focuses on the potential, possible, maybe new name of the new Carrie Busey building. The NewsTalk feed only covers it for about…. 45 seconds or so. But NG also has a 25 second sound bite from Savoy Village Manager Dick Helton (who has been very involved in the district for quite some time).

Highlights from the NewsTalk show:

Wednesday Houlihans Jan 11th recap

This past week, we had Nathaniel Banks, Chuck Jackson and myself. I learned a bit and I hope I get most of it here.

One of the issues we discussed is the top-down management style prevalent in Unit 4 Administration. An example at Stratton was used whereby a majority of parent’s wanted to retain the longer school day, but the teachers (allegedly represented by the teachers union, the Champaign Federation of Teachers) did not. It sounds like the CFT approached Administration and eliminated the longer days. From what I hear, the parent’s were not involved in the decision making process at all. In another example,