Our innovative reality – the future is NOW – Change or become Obsolete.

“A leader must inspire or his team will expire.”
– Orrin Woodward, L.I.F.E. Living Intentionally for Excellence

As readers of the blog know, I find Twitter to be an instant and powerful source of learning and inspiration. One of the really cool and powerful things I just came upon is a tweet of a video showing the evolution of the desk from 1980-2014.

Video Link

This short video resonates with me and my life’s experiences and my philosophies as a school leader as I support change for others. My aim and our District’s aim is to Engage, Inspire, Empower.

As I reflect on the video, I guess for my generation we don’t need to “keep up” with changes – we simply live and breathe change. I guess for my life’s experiences, I understand the video and the migration of “stuff” over the years. I guess I understand that no one really sends faxes anymore because we don’t have to. I guess I understand that when I want to look up a word, I add an extension to my browser and my device becomes a dictionary, for example. I guess I embrace progress and improvements in our world because I have lived in the most provocative communication, information, and transformation time in human history. I guess I like gadgets and gizmos because they allow me to learn, grow, and inspire in ways not imagined in my grandparent’s day.

I guess my maternal grandfather who emigrated to the USA in 1907 at age 15 enjoyed flying in an airplane across the USA in the 1960’s as opposed to riding a horse or driving a Model T or taking a train or a boat – all transportation options in his time – because flying from Chicago to Richmond made more sense than the other options. He did not fight progress, he embraced it. My grandfather’s life exposed him to amazing advances in transportation, technology, etc. He chose to progress and grow with the times. He did not have an airplane take him to the USA from Romania – but he did take an airplane to see his family across the country when an airplane was available. he changed with the times.

In 1980 I was 12 years old, Ronald Reagan was just elected U.S. President,The Washington Monument from the WW II Memorial and the world was in for a renewed sense of purpose, power, and jingoistic spirit. In addition, it seems that the past three and a half decades have also provided the most significant transformation of society – communication – information – education – etc. In 1983 a report from the National Commission on Excellence in Education came out and called the USA to action for our nation’s need to improve public education. Since 1983 there have been many transforms, reforms, changes, initiatives, plans, programs, progress, etc. in education. None is more disruptive or powerful in my estimation than the information explosion called the Internet.

Another powerful link is “The Internet in Real Time”

I guess I like the fact that my children will inherit a world made better by advances in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; I guess I support my children’s educational systems changing to embrace and reflect my children’s future – not my or my grandfather’s past!

It’s time to put away the paper dictionaries and get a Chrome extension – the future is now! I guess the time is to use the resources districts like ours have – the digital age is the age in which we find ourselves – embrace the possibilities and enjoy the modern progress – Engage, Inspire, Empower.

Community support, engagement, outreach – in the news

“We cannot hold a torch to light another’s path without brightening our own.”
– Ben Sweetland

When it takes a village, our village supports published in the Deerfield Review on 9/24/2014

In District 109, we are so fortunate to have individual community members and organizations that strongly support our schools. This school year, the community connection has been stronger than ever. Here are a few examples:

Parent Organizations: On September 16, digital media expert Dr. Devorah Heitner led a parent education program “Raising Digital Natives in a 1:1 World.” (The program will run again on September 30 at Caruso at 7:00pm.) The program was funded by all of the parent organizations that serve our schools: Deerfield Parent Network, Deerfield Education Foundation, and the six District 109 Parent Teacher Organizations.

Response to Surveys: The District relies on honest, thoughtful input from community members to make decisions. This year, we are asking for a great deal of input from staff, students, parents – and all have responded! At the start of the year, we conducted a staff culture survey; results show that, overall, District 109 is a great place to work! We currently are conducting a baseline survey on the impact of technology on teaching and learning; we will survey parents, staff and students again in the spring to measure our growth as we fully implement our 1:1 transformative environment. In a few weeks, we will conduct a thorough climate survey of parents, staff, students and community members. In addition, we launched Let’s Talk! for anyone, anytime, to share ideas, thoughts, complaints, compliments, or questions. The District’s promise for all of the time stakeholders are giving is transparency and response. We will share what we learn, and we will act on what we hear.

Volunteers: We actively seek community involvement to help make decisions about facilities, curriculum, and organization. Last year, the 140-member Superintendent’s Task Force for Middle Level Education laid out recommendations for changes. The Social Emotional Group recommendations are implemented in part through Rachel’s Challenge, a new social-emotional program launching this fall; the STEM and Exploratory groups’ work is evident in the state-of-the-art STEM, communication media arts, and science laboratories. The District is currently seeking community members to share their expertise with students by joining the District 109 Volunteer Pool. Teachers will call on volunteers to join in teaching their students. Community members can sign up at http://tinyurl.com/109volunteer.

Activism: Many District 109 residents take time to educate themselves about the legislation that impacts schools and students. Current legislation that has passed the Illinois Senate (Senate Bill 16, or SB16) will move to the Illinois House in November. If passed, SB16 will have a tremendous impact on the financial status of our District. Our schools would lose more than 50% of the state funding we currently receive, or $1.3 million a year. We know that many community members already have educated themselves about SB16 and have contacted their legislators to express their opinion.

In District 109, we believe that the public school should be the hub of the community. While in other communities may have different priorities, here in Deerfield, we see proof, every day, that education and the children in our schools are the focus.
Engage, Inspire, Empower

DPS109 STEM/CMA in the News!

“Change your thoughts and you change your world.”
– Norman Vincent Peale

Audio interviews with 7th grade students in real time – working on a STEM science lab:


New labs generate collaboration, creativity in District 109 Published in the Deerfield Review September 22, 2014 by Steve Sadin

A $2.7 million investment in new laboratories at Deerfield Public Schools District 109 is already generating enhanced creativity a few weeks into the new term.

Six new labs, four for science, one for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and another for communications media arts built over the summer will be on display to the public at 6 p.m. Oct. 6 at Shepard Middle School.

Both Shepard and Caruso Middle School got STEM and communications media arts facilities while the four new science labs were built at Shepard. Six labs will be built at Caruso and two more at Shepard next summer.

It did not take long for the children to dig in and start learning. Some have already been asking parents for equipment to do projects outside school while others are learning the life skills of working with each other as they use the new equipment.

“We’re teaching problem solving and life skills so they can apply for jobs (in the future) that don’t even exist yet,” Julie Witczak, the Caruso media arts teacher, said. Both her class and the STEM offering are new this year.

Students in Witzcak’s class, just like Shepard STEM instructor Linda Hruby’s room, work in pairs designing projects together. Students Hailey Abramovitch and Brody Criz, who were assigned to work together, designed a game that any of their classmates can play with a computer link.

“It’s fun because you have to learn to work together,” Abramovitch said. “When we started we had to learn that. Now I explain the game and he keeps the records. And, the game is a hit.”

Their design requires players to navigate a maze using a computer mouse.

Collaboration among students is what the new facilities and exposure to the latest technology is supposed to foster. Superintendent Michael Lubelfeld has been trying to create this environment throughout the district and particularly at the middle school level since he took over just over a year ago.

“This is how education is evolving,” Shepard Principal John Filippi said. “It is very different from what we used to do. The teacher is more of a facilitator instead of the keeper of all the knowledge.”

During a 15 minute stint in Hruby’s class Sept. 19, Hruby did not address the students as a group once while they built robots and bridges and developed flight simulators. She walked among them instead, looking over their shoulders and offering her thoughts as they worked.

The new science laboratories are designed not only for today’s students but also for the children of the future, using Next Generation Science Standards, according to Shepard science teacher Christian Ball. Next Generation Science Standards are a framework for educators that originated with The National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences.

The four new rooms are shaped like an L, with the students sitting at tables in one section working on their computers. In the other area, they use lab tables complete with gas, air and vacuum hookups on the table and water overhead as well as multiple computer screens. There is a movable wall so two classes can work together on a project, according to Ball.

“These are great,” said Ball, who has taught at Shepard for eight years. “Before what we had was just a classroom. We can now work closely with group stuff and individual stuff. The TV (computer) screens let them get help to understand what they are doing.”

There is more than collaboration in Ball’s seventh grade science class. He wants the children to learn how to use what he teaches in everyday life. His current project, helping them study the monarch butterfly, is succeeding.

“Some of the kids are asking their parents for butterfly nets so they can help protect the monarchs,” Ball said. “They are taking what we do in class outside the walls of Shepard.”

While children in Witzcak’s media class have a week to do a project, pretty much on their own, the students in Hruby’s STEM course get two weeks to determine a project to their liking and complete it. The effort, like three students making a robot, is a hit.

“We’re going to be able to operate it from the computer,” Zach Willem said as he assembled tiny parts with partners Dylen Rosenbloom and Danny Leggett. “We’re doing this (project) because it’s going to be very cool to build and see it move.”

Both STEM and media arts are new this year, which required seasoned teachers like Hruby and Witzcak to go from teaching a cooking class to sophisticated computer technology. They are thrilled with the opportunity.

“It’s exciting and fun,” Hruby said. “I learn and learn and learn every day. The students feel the same way.”

“We had training over the summer,” Witzcak added. “We’re learning with the kids which is so cool.”

Creative Learning Systems, a Colorado company, developed the curriculum and trained the teachers for both STEM and media arts, according to district Communications Director Cathy Kedjidjian.

Short video clip of STEM creations:

Reflections from teaching and researching – voice/input/respect – keys to success and growth

“The best index to a person’s character is how he treats people who can’t do him any good, and how he treats people who can’t fight back.”
– Abigail Van Buren

Early in my career I learned that student choice in how they could produce learning increased their engagement levels. I also learned that by teaching students how to think about thinking (metacognition) their understanding and reasoning skills were enhanced. When I was a middle school teacher I believed ALL students could learn and I believed ALL students deserved rigorous, relevant, results focused learning. I was successful as a teacher because I built a foundation based upon trusting relationships and respect. It is part of my mission, passion, and calling to this profession to ensure that all educators believe in ALL students and that learning remain the focus of our business. We are in the business of learning. We produce learners and thinkers.

About 12 years into my career I was fortunate to have the opportunity to pursue and complete post-graduate studies earning the degree of Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in curriculum & instruction. I published my dissertation: Effective Instruction in Middle School Social Studies. One statistically significant finding from my research and studies was in the area of student voice/choice. Statistically significant essentially means that what occurred did so as a result of something other than chance … meaning, the deliberate conditions (in the case of my study student choice in learning assessments) yielded higher levels of student satisfaction. The purpose of the study was to analyze student learning in 8th grade social studies classes with both traditional and constructivist philosophy based instructional settings, and to analyze the impact upon student learning in three areas: achievement, satisfaction, and perception. The findings that were significant refer to satisfaction.

Students took the Student Satisfaction Survey from the Comprehensive Assessment of School Environments (CASE) from the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). The student satisfaction survey used in this study was part of the Comprehensive Assessment of School Environments (CASE) published and created by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). The satisfaction survey applied to the research in this dissertation study was used to establish satisfaction levels for the two comparison groups, the control group and the treatment group.

Research in the literature shows connections between student success and elements of constructivist philosophy. The ultimate implication for the education community, based upon the data presented in my dissertation study, is the social justice implication inherent in research studies designed to determine student satisfaction, perception and achievement. Students are the primary stakeholders, or constituent groups, in America’s classrooms this should not be forgotten or looked over. That these students have opinions and their ideas can be windows into the best and most appropriate educational methods of instruction should not be forgotten. Today’s student may be the same and he may be different from yesterday’s student, but the fact that student success is a just and viable goal for all school systems lends itself to the need for additional research into how best to educate children.

In my current leadership role, in addition to sharing meaningful research (i.e. Hattie’s findings), I also work to implement meaningful ways to impact student and staff learning. Lessons I have learned from personal research as well as from secondary research continue to govern and inform my work. Increasing satisfaction, engagement, happiness, respect, value – and by holding high expectations for ALL – we will continue to show growth!

Financial impact of proposed legislation

“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”
– John Wooden

As a public school superintendent, I am non-partisan and publicly a-political. From time to time I post information about pending or actual legislation affecting our public schools. In Illinois, school funding is a regular source of debate, review, analysis, and concern. Right now there is proposed legislation (SB16) that would change the way the state funds for public schools would be allocated.

With this communication I am sharing factual information with the intent of sharing, educating and communicating.

Last July, the Illinois Senate Education Funding Advisory Committee was tasked with recommending ways to improve public education funding in Illinois. The result of the task force was the creation of Senate Bill 16 (SB 16). If enacted into law, SB 16 will make sweeping changes in how the state funds education. SB 16 does not increase the level of education funding, but changes the way in which limited state funding is apportioned among school districts. All state funding, with few exceptions, would be combined under one funding formula.

Generally, school districts with higher assessed property values (including District 109) will receive much less state funding. Other districts will receive much more in state funding. This is an attempt by the state legislators to provide greater equity among school districts across the state. The Bill does not address the current issue of unfunded obligations to school districts that has occurred in recent years.

How Will SB16 Impact District 109?
The Illinois State Board of Education has calculated the amount each school district would receive next year if SB16, as written, becomes law. Deerfield Public Schools District 109 would lose over 50 percent of its state funding – or $1.3 million per year. The cuts will be phased in over a four-year period. Beginning in year five, there will be a full $1.3 million reduction in funding to the District.

District 109 spends approximately $15,800 per student; only $900 per student currently comes from the state of Illinois in the form of special education reimbursement and general state aid. If SB 16 becomes law, revenue from state sources will be just 2% of operating revenues. It is obvious that with the loss of $1.3 million in funding, District 109 will be put in a position of reducing programs and services to our students. These cuts will likely impact the District’s classrooms and result in a reduction of teaching staff leading to larger class sizes with less personalized instruction for our students.

Many North Shore residents pay high property taxes in part to access high-achieving schools. This proposed law would undermine suburban taxpayers and would significantly reduce the state funding to these high-achieving schools. SB16 will pull state funding away from schools that are successful and would in no way guarantee greater success for schools with high poverty levels. SB 16 takes from some to give to others. A far better solution would be for Illinois to fully fund education, rather than ranking 50th in the nation in education funding.

SB 16 comes at a time when many school districts anticipate a further hit from the state. The pension system that funds teacher retirement is woefully underfunded and attempts may be made to shift the state’s burden to local districts. Deerfield Public Schools would face an additional $2.4 million cost, which would be even more impactful than SB 16.

SB16 has already passed the Illinois State Senate. Click to see how the Senators voted.


What Can You Do?

The House is expected to vote on SB16 in November, following the fall election. If you are concerned about the dramatic effect on Deerfield Public Schools District 109 and the students we serve, voice your opinion on this important education bill. Use the Illinois State Board of Elections search engine to find your Representative (you’ll need your full ZIP+4 zip code). Here is a full list of Illinois Representatives.