Everything Old is New Again

Students were ready!

Blizzard Bags.  For Worthington, they worked this week like taking an umbrella.  Staff was ready.  Students were ready.  Families were ready.  Then, for what seemed like the first time this year, Old Man Winter went easy on us!  Yea!!  It actually looks like we will have another full week of school… Two weeks in a row!

In school is exactly where we want to be.  Consistency of instruction and learning is important for our students.  However, every now and then, circumstances beyond our control require the cancellation of school… for days… again and again.  School officials are left to make decisions about make-up days and alternate learning options.  Last week, Worthington Schools moved forward with both of those decisions including scheduling school days for April 18 and May 30 as well as implementing “Blizzard Bags” in the event of another school cancellation.

“Blizzard Bags” are alternate learning assignments.  Maybe sent home in a bag… maybe not.  In this digital age, many blizzard bag assignments are online.  Blizzard bags have received a lot of media attention this winter because of the extensive number of school cancellations.  One would think that this is a very new concept, but it’s not.

If you are over 40, you probably remember the energy crisis well. My childhood memories of the energy crisis include my father closing off a portion of our house with plastic sheeting and the open (heated) part was still very cold as we did all we could to conserve energy in our home.  These memories also include completing school assignments at home…  “Blizzard bags” if you will. Gas shortages during the winter of 1977 required school districts to make very difficult decisions and get creative in providing continued learning outside of schools.  My parents received this memo from Worthington City Schools informing them of the “Emergency Learning Plan” that had students attending school for 1/2 day per week (for me, in the Thomas Worthington HS auditorium) and completing assigned work at home between class sessions.  We remember this winter as the year we had “school without schools.”

Ideal, no.  We WANT our students at school learning in person from those who are best equipped to provide them with the instruction, feedback, support, and guidance that will maximize their learning.  However, thoughtful planning and support from families can make “blizzard bag” assignments great learning experiences and, from some of the creativity I have seen, quite exciting!

As students entered school on Monday, some were disappointed that they didn’t get this very new (but really quite old) learning opportunity.  We, on the other hand, were elated to have them here – in person!!    We’re all hopeful that our blizzard bag preparation is all it took to end the madness and keep us in school for the duration.  Old Man Winter, we’re ready for you!  You can’t stop learning in our Fine, Fine School in this Fine, Fine School district!  Think spring everyone!

Administrative “Snow Day”

Worthington Schools are closed today. Children are excited to have an extra day of holiday fun (even if it IS too cold to play outside in the snow).  Worthington staff members are happy to work from home in their jammies and have a little extra time to catch up on paperwork and explore some teaching materials and ideas that there is often way too little time for. A few braved the cold and snow to work in their buildings (including multiple edugators @ Granby!). 

Worthington administrators are busy.  Central office administration had the stressful task of determining last evening that Worthington would begin with a two-hour delay this morning and then another very early morning deciding what was SAFE FOR CHILDREN.  Deciding school delays and closings is never easy and a task that I am happy belongs to someone else.  You can read more about how these decisions are made by reading Dr. Bowers’ most recent blog post, Oh the Weather Outside… .

Building administrators (principals, assistant principals, and athletic directors) reported to school as soon as they were able and have been busy posting the school closing to social media outlets, fielding “Are you closed today?” phone calls, checking to make sure the system override for the new door buzzer/unlock system worked to keep our buildings secure, returning emails and phone calls, catching up on paperwork and tasks that are sometimes difficult to get done during busy school days, drinking an extra cup of coffee from the Keurig (or maybe that’s just me) and much more!  It’s very quiet and for someone like me who thrives on personal interactions, a bit lonely.  However, days like these are quite productive and bring renewed organization and appreciation for the hum of a building filled with children and adults actively engaged in the learning process.

The forecast heading into early next week looks to be very snowy and even colder.  It’s too early to know whether or not we’ll have more snow days next week, but it’s never too early to make family plans for how you’ll manage if there are.  Do we want students to be in school learning?  You bet!  But not at the expense of their safety.

Please keep warm and safe this weekend everyone.  And to our hometown Buckeyes, good luck tonight from everyone at our Fine, Fine School and Fine, Fine District!  GO BUCKS!!!!

2013 in review

As with many New Year’s resolutions, my resolution to blog more in 2013 didn’t really come to pass.  But if you’re reading this, chances are you’re a faithful follower and for that I am grateful.  Hopefully, you are following all of the amazing things going on at Granby via Facebook and Twitter as I seem to be much better at updating those social media outlets.  At any rate, it’s been a truly remarkable and busy year at Granby including celebrating our 25th Anniversary, the retirement of several staff members and multiple staffing changes, TWO district-wide Warrior Runs (spring and fall this year), full implementation of Common Core and State Standards, transitioning to our new teacher evaluation system, multiple grant awards, installation of a beautiful new brick paver patio, upgraded instructional technology, new security features, and the opening of our very own Gators Bike Park!  And this just scratches the surface of what occurred at Granby in 2013!

For me, this has truly been the most amazing year of my career.  I absolutely LOVE what I do and feel deeply blessed that I have the honor of working with the most amazing children, families, staff, and district.  Just when I think it can’t get any better, something new and amazing happens.  2013, you were good to us… Thank you!  2014… Bring it on!  I look forward what the future holds for Granby and know that it’s going to be AWESOME!!!  Have a fine, fine New Year everyone from our Fine, Fine School!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,500 times in 2013. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Happy Boss’s Day! Edugator Spotlight: Jennifer Wene

As a result of the reconfiguration of administrative “Communities of Practice” (COPS) groups to allow for feeder school administrators to meet and collaborate monthly, I have a new “boss” this year! Jennifer Wene, Director of Academic Achievement and Professional Development, is my supervisor and oversees all things Granby. This change in bosses has been a very smooth transition for me and for the Granby staff.

Jennifer leads this COPS group. She is pictured above in black with white dots.

I have known Jennifer for a long time. She has held multiple roles in our district including Special Education Director, Principal at Slate Hill (opened that building and still claims it as hers), and others that I can’t remember because her history goes back way too far. Jennifer is one of the few administrators in Worthington that has been with Worthington Schools longer than I have. She has a myriad of talents and has stayed with Worthington because she loves the community and is fully invested in the students, staff, families, and residents that have high stakes in the excellent education provided by Worthington Schools.

Jennifer has been a teacher and mentor to me since I began my administrative journey back in 2000. As a classroom teacher, I began my Master’s degree and administrative licensure program simultaneously. Jennifer, along with Gerald Prince and several other district administrators, were our “professors” for most of the graduate classes we took in-district. I have many fond memories of evenings spent in the Sutter Park library listening, learning, collaborating, and really having my thinking about leadership challenged. Those classes were the beginning of my quest to understand and develop leadership qualities that would have an impact on student growth on a broader scale. (Just so you know, I am still on that quest and always will be…) Jennifer had a significant impact on my development as a leader and she still does.

Jennifer Best and Jennifer Wene at the Warrior Run

Jennifer has a really tough job. All things relating to student achievement (testing, data, curriculum, professional development, and the list goes on…) fall under Jennifer’s responsibility and it is a responsibility that she does not take lightly. She constantly seeks the right information, resources, opportunities, instructional materials, etc. that will have the “biggest bang for the buck” in helping students grow and learn. Jennifer also understands that we are educating children who have a wide range of skills, interests, talents, and dreams. She appreciates the diverse opportunities available to our students, both in and out of the classroom… something we hold very near and dear to our hearts at Granby. She is passionate about students and refuses to provide anything less than the best for our kids.As a “boss,” Jennifer knows that building principals need support… she has walked a mile in our shoes. She is there for me whenever I need her just has she has been throughout my leadership journey. Jennifer understands that it is important to connect with others and have fun along the way. She’s a good sport!

Today is Boss’s Day. A day to recognize and thank bosses for all they do. Thank you, Jennifer Wene, for being a great boss to me!

Back to School… Ready or Not?!

I think this is my favorite time of year…  Back to school time!  I’ve always loved the anticipation of a new school year including back-to-school shopping for new clothes, school supplies, etc…  Today, my youngest son, Colin (the baby of the family), will head off to Kilbourne for the start of his senior year.  It’s unbelievable to me that this is the last year for our family to have a child in Worthington Schools.  It’s making me sad because it’s been such a good experience for us.  Our sons have received a top-notch, well-rounded education that have allowed them to pursue their post-graduation dreams.  We even managed to get a daughter-in-law (and grandbaby on the way) from the journey as our son, Danny, met his wife, Caity, at Kilbourne.  And who knows what this year could bring?!

Today, some of our Granby families will bring their oldest child (at the ripe old age of 5) to “Meet the Teacher Day.”  They are filled with anticipation and excitement as they begin their educational path with Worthington Schools.  They are about to embark on a most amazing journey with an awesome school community…  and we are READY!!

Granby is very much a school that rarely sleeps.  All summer long, custodians have been cleaning to refresh our building for the start of the school year and it looks great!  Many of you will notice maintenance and landscaping changes to the exterior of the building as our light poles are freshly painted, overgrown bushes have been removed, brick walls have been given a new “cap”, and Granby PTA’s 25th Anniversary brick plaza was installed.  It looks fantastic!!  In addition, our new security camera/intercom/buzzer system is in, several new SMART Boards have been installed, some new furniture has arrived, and two new 15-unit laptop carts are charging and ready for use.  I won’t bore you with some behind-the-scenes improvements, but know that there are improvements that you can’t see.  And Sheri Fitz, our new school secretary, has been working tirelessly to make sure that all of our ducks are in a row (and I can tell you that as hard as I might try, I’m not a whole lot of help).  She’s a gem!

All of these things are great (some are necessary) and will make our school a nicer place to be.  However, the best improvement is the learning that has occurred over the summer with our amazing staff.  Our Edu-gators have spent countless hours attending inservices, completing coursework, reading professional material, collaborating with colleagues, and prepping their classrooms for the beginning of the BEST SCHOOL YEAR EVER!  The amount of extended learning for our teachers is at an all-time high and I am so proud of their dedication and commitment.  All that they have learned this summer will translate into student learning beginning tomorrow.

We are READY!!  Are you?  Welcome to the 2013-2014 school year everyone! And a special welcome to our Fine, Fine School new kindergators!  We are glad you’re here!

It’s About Family… The Worthington Tradition Continues (Part 2)

2013 has been a banner year for the Schlaegel family!  Just a little over a week ago, my oldest son, Tommy, married his one true love, Emily Huckaby.  For those of you who are counting, that’s the second wedding for us this year.  (You can read about the first wedding here: https://pschlaegel.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/its-about-family-the-worthington-tradition-continues/)    As the mother of four boys, getting TWO daughters-in-law (both absolute gems) in the same year is a VERY big blessing!

Last summer, Emily made the move from Dayton to Columbus to be closer to Tommy and seek a teaching job in the Columbus area.  Just a day or two before their engagement, she accepted a job with Worthington Schools as the Title I teacher at Wilson Hill Elementary (completely on her own merits, I might add… without anyone knowing she was connected to me  🙂 ).  Emily knew right away that she was very fortunate to have joined the Worthington Schools family and I knew that Worthington was very lucky to have hired her!  It’s been fun watching her form friendships with some of the same people I have had the pleasure of teaching with over the years.  She is very happy to be entering her second year with Worthington, teaching sixth grade math this year.

Upon arrival at the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding, Emily asked me where she was supposed to sit… perfect!  I told her to find her name.  Her eyes filled with tears when she discovered the desk plate that I had made for her with the Worthington Schools logo.  Although I know that she was filled with joy to see her new name, I know that she also has a deep sense of pride that comes with being a part of the Worthington Schools family.

Worthington roots run deep in our family.  My parents raised their family here.  My husband and I chose to do the same.  My son, Danny, and his wife, Caity, are following in our footsteps with the recent purchase of their first home in Worthington Schools.  I have been blessed with a wonderful career with Worthington Schools and Emily is off to a great start.  She and Tommy will be house-hunting soon and although they won’t get any pressure from me (I don’t want to earn a reputation as a monster-in-law), it wouldn’t surprise me if they landed in Worthington.  They both know that Worthington is a great place to raise a family because of the excellent schools.   Emily knows that Worthington’s high expectations for teachers translate into high expectations for student learning.  Tommy knows that Worthington provided him with an excellent foundation, allowing him to graduate from Ohio State’s Fisher College of Business and secure a job in the accounting department of a successful law firm.

It was an absolute joy watching Tommy marry the girl of his dreams.  It was also a delight to watch him have fun with his groomsmen…  all of whom (with the exception of his three brothers) are childhood friends from Sutter Park and Worthington Hills that reconnected at McCord and Kilbourne. They were fast friends as classmates during school, teammates after school, and they are a tight-knit group of guys who will, undoubtedly, remain lifelong friends.  Again, the Worthington roots run very deep…

Emily Huckaby Schlaegel is a fine, fine addition to our Fine, Fine School district, and our fine, fine family!  Congratulations, Mr. & Mrs. Tommy Schlaegel!

Emergency Medical Authorization

Good news for our families!  Read Dr. Bowers’ blog for very easy-to-follow instructions on updating your child’s information online.

Emergency Medical Authorization.

“Whatever you need!” Edugator Spotlight: Aaron Pound… Update!

The longer I am at Granby, the more impressed I am with the amazing level of commitment from our staff to “go the extra mile” for students.  One of our staff members that consistently demonstrates this is Mr. Aaron Pound.

Aaron is one of our wonderful special education assistants who provides support to students with special needs.  He has a clear understanding that in Worthington, we value EVERY child and work tirelessly to help ALL students learn and grow.  Every day, Aaron demonstrates a commitment to those values and jumps in wherever he is needed to do that for any Granby Gator.  He’s worked collaboratively with our 6th grade team to support having our 6th graders implement Project MORE (a one-on-one reading tutor program) with our younger Gators.  He’s often the first to volunteer if we need someone to “fill in” for a special task, monitor students, stay late to help out a fellow staff member, or do something special for kids.  He does all of this because he cares about kids.  ALL kids!  He doesn’t want any special attention or recognition and when I’ve thanked him for stepping up to fill a need, he just responds, “Hey, whatever you need!”  What a team player!

Aaron is a certified Physical Education teacher and has a heart for promoting wellness in our school.  I recently had the opportunity to watch Aaron in action as he jumped in to help Rick Armstrong, our Wellness for Life teacher, lead the Granby Bike Club in skill development.  Since then, he’s joined them on their rides (including one very cold, rainy ride through Worthington Hills).  I’m heading out the door shortly to check in our Bike Club as they head out on a beautiful Saturday ride from Hills Market to Antrim Park and back.  I am guessing that Aaron will be there with bells on (okay, maybe a helmet instead…  I don’t think he’d be feeling the bells) to help lead our Gators.

I’m sure that I will continue to uncover some more quiet Gator heroes as I discover them.  For now, kudos to you, Aaron Pound, for “going the extra mile” for our Granby Gators.  You are a fine, fine addition to our Fine, Fine School!!

Keep an eye on this young man.  He’s got a bright future in the field of education!

Edugator Update:  Congratulations to Aaron who is the new Wellness for Life (PE) teacher at Slate Hill Elementary School!  Although we will miss him at Granby, we are happy for him and know he will be one of Slate Hill’s shining stars.  We wish you all the best, Aaron!!

It’s Go Time!! OAA Testing Week…

For those of you who follow my blog and Granby Facebook posts, it may seem that we do a lot of “playing” at Granby.  That’s quite true.  Gators definitely know how to have fun!  But make no mistake, Gators WORK very hard, too!  All year long, our Edugators have pushed themselves farther than ever before to align curriculum, implement research-based formative instructional practices, analyze student growth data, provide intervention, and much more!  The Granby staff has a strong, clear commitment to academic growth for ALL students.

This week, it’s GO TIME!  The big game!  “Show What You Know” week!  Our third through six gators will be taking the OAAs (Ohio Achievement Assessments) to see how much they’ve learned over the past year.  They are ready!!  Their teachers have been giving Common Formative Assessments (CFAs) throughout the year to monitor their skill development and expose them to test question formats.  They’ve learned how to reduce test anxiety through children’s literature and discussion.  In music, they sang a song about testing and were able to identify some strategies to help them be successful.  And the list goes on…

This week, we will continue the theme that started our school year with our Granby LipDub: “On Fire for Learning!”  “We’re All in This Together!”  Testing week is definitely a team effort requiring “all hands on deck.”  Support staff will provide accommodations for students who need them, office staff will preserve the security of testing materials, all students and staff in the building will maintain an optimal testing environment, and everyone will demonstrate flexibility as the master schedule has been adjusted to accommodate the testing schedule.

As with most mandates in education, there are pros and cons to standardized testing.  Regardless of how we feel about this as individuals, we know that the results of these assessments will provide us with another data point that will help guide instructional decisions next year.  The information we receive will give us some feedback about how well we’ve aligned curriculum, provided differentiated instruction to meet individual needs, and prepared our students for testing situations that they will continue to experience into adulthood.

For more information about OAA testing, you may want to check out Dr. Trent Bowers’ blog post about OAAs here.

We’ve asked our parents to partner with us this week to provide their child with the best chance for testing success by sending them to school well-rested, fed, and on time.  Ham, cheese, and  onion omelets are still known in the Schlaegel house as “proficiency omelets” as they were the breakfast of testing champions for many years.  These were part good nutrition that would stick with them throughout the morning and part mental game… convincing my sons that eating this “proficiency omelet” would help them achieve success on the test.  Before you laugh that off, you should know that all four of them performed well every time!  Self-fulfilling prophecy…  🙂

Going into this week, I am confident that we have done our very best to teach these students the knowledge and skills they need to be successful.  I couldn’t be more proud of the students and staff at Granby for their incredible work ethic all year long.  We have amazing gators and Edugators at Granby that work hard and play hard!  As our students arrive each morning, we will greet them with smiles, hugs, and words of encouragement… nothing new.  They ROCK every day, and every week, ALL YEAR LONG!

It will be a fine, fine testing week in our Fine, Fine School!  GO GATORS!!

Wellness Week… Edugator Spotlight: Wellness Man

Wellness Man was created out of a collaborative effort of Granby’s wellness team four years ago when the staff was brainstorming ways to share healthy messages to the little gators at Granby.  The Wellness Man character evolved from a Halloween costume and the rest, as they say, is history. Sloth (the hooded, admittedly creepy, villain in the series) encourages children to eat junk food and be inactive.  Naturally, Wellness Man comes to the rescue to defeat Sloth and restore wellness wherever he goes.  Over the years, the videos have addressed wellness issues such as healthy eating, physical activity, and bullying.  The writing team of Tyler Hollinger, Todd Korn, and Rick Armstrong take turns each year creating a new story line and sketching out a basic script.  Much of the dialog is improvised during taping which creates a plethora of bloopers (which are very much a highlight of the Wellness Man DVDs).  A variety of Granby staff is involved during taping and several other “Wellness Team” characters have evolved over the years.

The Duchess of Dairy (Tracy Ruffing), Brock Lee (Todd Korn), and Fruitastic (Tyler Hollinger), joined Wellness Man (who maintains a secret identity) in the cafeteria at lunchtime last Monday.  Since Todd Korn was at a district meeting, I volunteered to be a pitiful understudy for him. We identified children demonstrating healthy eating and rewarded them with Gator Bucks and/or movie premiere passes.  Fortunately, the students were headed out to recess shortly after the visits as nothing stirs up children faster than a giant banana, broccoli, milk maid, and purple-tighted superhero visiting during lunchtime!!  It was a lot of fun, though, and created a great deal of excitement for the movie premiere.

Despite some minor technical difficulties, the movie premiere was a huge success!  Wellness Man V: What Lies Beneath the Hood (a prequel to the Wellness Man series) told the story of how a very active young student named Steve became The Sloth.  The emergence of Wellness Man from a young, uninvolved student named Wayne McGillicutty answers the question, “Where did it all begin?

If you’ve had the pleasure of seeing any of the Wellness Man movies, you know that they are pretty funny.  Particularly if you happen to know any of the actors.  I had heard about these videos and checked some out early in the year.  My first opportunity to watch one of these videos happened to be while I was in the Riverside Hospital waiting room while my father was having open heart surgery in September.  It’s a lengthy surgery and families spend hours praying and worrying about their loved ones in that room.  After a few hours, I decided to pop the Wellness Man DVD into my laptop to watch it with my family.  It was HYSTERICAL!!!  I’m sure the rest of the people in the open heart waiting room thought we were nuts, but we were so grateful for the distraction and an opportunity to break the tension.

Now, those of you who know me well know that it took a great deal of begging and pleading to get me to participate in this year’s episode… NOT!  Actually, I had mentioned fairly early in the year that I really wanted to be a superhero.  I was given the opportunity to play Momma McGillicutty, Wayne’s (aka Wellness Man’s) mother.  Through the magic of modern technology (and my own selfish motivation), I was able to actually take on superhuman powers at the end of the video and officially became a superhero!  It’s doubtful that there will be a run on Momma McGillicutty white terrycloth robes like there has been for Wellness Man capes, but hey…  How many elementary principals have students stopping them in the hallway to ask them to fly?  🙂

In addition to the Wellness Man premiere, students had the opportunity to participate in a Wellness Man coloring contest and demonstrate their knowledge of wellness concepts.  Friday night, we had a huge group of intermediate students brave the 45 degree weather, water, and mud at the Worthington Wellness Warrior Run.   As we gear up for state testing, teaching and learning are intense throughout the building.  Wellness Week provided us with an excellent balance of academic rigor, extra-curricular activities, and a TON OF FUN!!!  We are very fortunate at Granby to have a team of Edugators who consistently go the extra mile to make this happen for kids all year long.

This morning, I had the opportunity to ask Sophia, a second grader, what she liked about Wellness Man.  She told me, “He always tries to get kids to do the right thing.  He doesn’t give up on stuff that he tries to do.  And he always helps everyone.”  That’s a pretty great role model for our gators if you ask me!!  It takes a brave man to step into purple tights and make public appearances (three personal appearances this year… a new Granby record), but he’s all about the kids.  The purple tights are here to stay as they are now firmly embedded in Wellness Man’s identity and the Wellness Man song (written and performed by Granby parent, Gene Castelli):  “We have a healthy hero, His name is Wellness Man, He’ll stop Sloth in his tracks, And foil his evil plan.  So give a hand, to the man, dressed in purple tights…  It’s for wellness he fights!!”

We have an amazing wellness team and fine, fine superhero for our Fine, Fine School!  As Wellness Man would say, “Be active!  Eat right!  Live well!”