Well... Since we again have the town library on peripheral part of our minds, whenever the discussion for voting is brought up for budget, let me discussion here the school's libraries. I am certain that those of you whom have children in the system know that state of the libraries at the individual schools. Depending on your view point I will say that as a whole they are from a parent's perspective ‘functional’- books come in and they go out. And the kids seem happy about it and not too upset that they can't occasionally get the books that they may really want. They know that they can go with their parents to either the town library (mind you supposedly) or to the book store to get the book or books that they really do want to read. The point and bottom line is that they want to read and that they are doing just that, and to that point I whole heartedly agree.
Now, what I know from personal experience, and I at this point, I am going to give a HUGE shout of CREDIT to all of those coordinators, volunteers, parents and anyone that goes in and helps to keep these facilities running year after year for our students. It is a thankless job and we do it for our kids and everyone else's kids. Truthfully, many times if we as volunteers are not, then library just does not happen. And I can say from being one of the mom’s and coordinators that helping the kids to find something that they want or discover something interesting is just as much fun as seeing them at a toy store – more so.
Yet, year after year the line item in the individual school budgets have been whittled away at, if not flat out cut. It is to the point that there isn’t even a library supplies line item for the school. What goes into the library supplies? Books, book pockets, library check out cards, book coverings, repair supplies, stamps & ink pads, and even copier paper as this year has even shown. I know from the school I am at the PTO is depended upon to cover most if not ALL of the costs for the library at least for this next year. I question the feasibility of this assumption on the part of the District to be able to fund this even on a one off school or even two schools that the PTO supports.
The two points to this are the District should be funding the four Elementary libraries equally –period. The not at all is not an option either as the condition of the collections are not great in regards to the curriculum that they are being taught and referenced. If these libraries are not funded at all, the only libraries that some of these children will see are the ones where they can’t find what they want, can’t reference what they want, and can’t even use a book that is in functioning condition. Some of you may think I am being dramatic, but really I am not depending on the school we are taping books together.
So again I ask why is it that 2 of the 4 Elementary schools ask for library supply line items and get it? Then the other 2 do not? Then of course there is the ever present not functioning AMS’s library… another whole issue for discussion that has been open and not dealt with for two plus years. How are our students to be prepared to enter AHS to use the state of the art library if they have no information sciences training?
There needs to be at minimum some level of funding for the libraries at the schools, especially as the town’s library is in question. Good school libraries tie into good MCAS scores. The cohesiveness of the curriculum to the student’s ability to use the information sciences resources in the library / educational process is going to be critical to their future in the global market.
Friday, April 24, 2009
An observation regarding strategic plans...
It's been approximately a year since I last ran for School Committee and I followed the whole process of "changes" and "improvements" that were to happen. I do understand that such undertaking take time and that they need a leader to give direction... And here is the point to this entry, about half way through this year we had both- the new Superintendent, which I feel has been a good choice for us, and welcome her back. Then we had the the Strategic Plan that was already 'supposedly' being worked on to be implemented'.
I do understand that time is needed for change, yet according to the community who came together to help create it, based on the Strategic Plan as it states from the Community direction there are needs that are not being met. I wonder why there is not further movement on that plan. Dates have seriously slid, and the accountability column is too generic- Lead, Implement, Support. There should be key people assigned and to whichever of these groups are in charge of the Actions to be accomplished. Then if an Action is too large or too complex then break it out to be manageable in a timely manner for that group. It's less about blame and more about problem solving to attain the goals.
Within that plan- the Strategic Plan that the Auburn Community, created with the School District, outlined 7 core plans that would give us direction, initiative, and set the level of achievement for everyone in our educational buildings to standards that we as a community want for our children. None of us should have to be settling for "this the way it is" or this is what we have" instead we should be going into this asking " how can we raise the bar and meet this level to fulfill the academic needs of each and every one of these students for the 21st global market place.
The 7 plans I keep mentioning are the Strategic Plan, that has recently been updated (make sure to ask for the correct version), Curriculum Plans (K-12) for the District (MA is looking to do changes to the Curriculum Framework requirements in the near future), Professional Development Plans for Staff and Administration, Technical Development Plan , Technical Curriculum, Facilities Master Plan, and the Community Outreach/ Relations Plan.
How would I change any of this? By making things timely, accountable, broken into steps that are set into objectives that are attainable in a consistent manner, by communicating through multiple ways to the community as their involvement will be critical, and being proactive towards getting ALL of these master plans completed so that we as a District have direction and agreed upon goals.
I do understand that time is needed for change, yet according to the community who came together to help create it, based on the Strategic Plan as it states from the Community direction there are needs that are not being met. I wonder why there is not further movement on that plan. Dates have seriously slid, and the accountability column is too generic- Lead, Implement, Support. There should be key people assigned and to whichever of these groups are in charge of the Actions to be accomplished. Then if an Action is too large or too complex then break it out to be manageable in a timely manner for that group. It's less about blame and more about problem solving to attain the goals.
Within that plan- the Strategic Plan that the Auburn Community, created with the School District, outlined 7 core plans that would give us direction, initiative, and set the level of achievement for everyone in our educational buildings to standards that we as a community want for our children. None of us should have to be settling for "this the way it is" or this is what we have" instead we should be going into this asking " how can we raise the bar and meet this level to fulfill the academic needs of each and every one of these students for the 21st global market place.
The 7 plans I keep mentioning are the Strategic Plan, that has recently been updated (make sure to ask for the correct version), Curriculum Plans (K-12) for the District (MA is looking to do changes to the Curriculum Framework requirements in the near future), Professional Development Plans for Staff and Administration, Technical Development Plan , Technical Curriculum, Facilities Master Plan, and the Community Outreach/ Relations Plan.
How would I change any of this? By making things timely, accountable, broken into steps that are set into objectives that are attainable in a consistent manner, by communicating through multiple ways to the community as their involvement will be critical, and being proactive towards getting ALL of these master plans completed so that we as a District have direction and agreed upon goals.
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