Brightprogram2018

Big news in Dayton yesterday.  The DPS school board voted in favor of lowering the GPA requirement for athletic eligibility from 1.5 to 1.0.  Over the last decade, the requirement for participation in athletics has gone from 2.0, to 1.7, to 1.5...now 1.0.  This item was not on the agenda for this week or next week's regularly scheduled board meeting where there could be public comment or questions.  The board or superintendent did not call a town hall meeting with parents or other stakeholders in the community, but opted to schedule a "special meeting" to discuss and vote on this issue.  Only one board member voted against the drop. There has been various arguments from different viewpoints, some supporting (or at least understanding why he board voted for this), and others who are completely against it and view it as a disservice to DPS students. According to DPS' public information office, "student athletes who carry a GPA between 1.0 and 1.99 will have to...

I said what I said. Don't ask me any clarifying questions. Don't ask me if I really mean it. Yes, I believe the justice system is a joke. Take the following from my hometown: A Poland doctor was sentenced Wednesday for hitting and killing an Akron man in a fatal boat crash on the Berlin Reservoir. Mahoning County Judge John Durkin sentenced Dr. Joseph Yurich to 10 days in jail, plus 90 days of house arrest and five years of probation. He must also provide 200 hours of community service — medical care — to those at the Rescue Mission. Yurich will have to pay a $1,000 fine and lose his driver’s license for 45 days. After that, he’ll have occupational driving privileges. “I’m certain some may say that you were given preferential treatment because you’re a doctor…Quite frankly, if you have the opportunity to save even one life while on community control as a result of this sentence, I believe that to be justice,” Judge Durkin said. To read more, click the following li...

Listen yall, I try not to make things a racial issue, I really don't, but a statement was recently made to my friend really has me thinking about how problems will ever be fixed. The statement made to my friend was "it is not your responsibility [educate white people] about their ignorance". The background (quickly told from the perspective of my friend so uses 1st person pronouns) . At my school a term I have heard used a lot is "our population". Now, in my experience in my district, when a few people say "our population", it is code for students of color/black students. Ex: At a high school that use to be predominately white but now has more students of color, teachers have said "Our population has changed so much" or "Our population makes it so that we can't teach". The incident (still telling in 1st person from friend's perspective) While interviewing a recess aide who said she was from a village in Ohio (**red ...

As I create this post, I chuckle to myself a bit because I realize that not many people will see it, which is kind of a good thing because if everyone sees it, I have more people holding me accountable and I am not mentally ready for that. I am a procrastinator at heart. I remember staying up until 4am while I was in 4th grade to finish my science fair project. To say that my mom was upset is an understatement! I promised myself going into this school year I would not procrastinate on my work. And I have stayed true to my word, but in writing this blog, I realize I only stayed true to that word in one aspect: my physical job as a principal intern. I have not kept up with my job of being a student, which is indeed a job. As of now, I do not feel as though I will be able to achieve a "work-life balance" this year. And while this is not a goal, I feel this is the only way I will make it through this year. You see, I can somewhat procrastinate on my school work. It's not ...

I was very fortunate to be asked to participate in "Summer Institute - Teacher Training" with my internship school, United Preparatory Academy - State under the United Schools Network.  It is a charter school that serves K-4 and teachers were required to attend for four weeks prior to the first day of school.  The first two weeks were geared towards year 1 & 2 year teachers.  The last two weeks, the 3rd and 4th year teachers joined the sessions, and a USN network retreat was also required. As a Principal in Training, I was very impressed with the topics covered and was interested in knowing, What types of Teacher Prep and training was done at some of the public schools prior to the start of school and for how long? Here are some of the major topics we covered with our teachers, staff and admin support staff: 1. Operations 2. Teaching Taxonomy - Strong Voice, Narrate the positive, what to do in the classroom, 3. Community Engagement 4. Curriculum, Instruction ...

Why you should define your fears instead of your goals A main theme of our class discussion and learning was around mechanisms we can  employ as educators and administrators to change behaviors. My enduring take-away was that punishments never affect the desired behavior modification on a lasting basis. Using positive reinforcement has the greatest efficacy and negative reinforcements applied correctly can also be used with good effect to modify behavior. If you have just 13 free minutes, watching to this segment would be a great use of that time. In this TEDTalk, Tim Ferris offers some interesting insight in to Stoicism as  "an operating system for thriving in high-stress environments and for making better decisions." "We suffer more often in imagination than in reality"  Seneca the Younger Tim offers a Stoic framework for taking yourself outside of the moment in an exercise he calls "Fear Setting" as opposed to goa...