Joshua A. Chudacoff

February 12, 2021

On Monday of this past week, our Board of Education unanimously voted to bring our students back for four days of instruction beginning February 22nd and then to consider bringing all students back for five days of in-person instruction beginning as soon as March 15th. The momentous and impactful decision created many emotions among staff, students, parents and guardians, and community members. As we continue to wade through the pandemic and the impact the Covid-19 has had on our schools, we do so without a completed blueprint. From the beginning, our goal has been to provide our staff and students with a responsible plan for teaching and learning to occur. At this point, thousands of hours have gone into planning mitigation procedures, creating synchronous and asynchronous lessons, contact tracing, and trying to support and engage students that have very little physical connection to our building. In retrospect, we have come a long way since the state-mandated school closures in March of 2020. We have learned about the pathology of Covid-19 and how it impacts schools, staff, and students. We have learned what is most effective in stopping the spread of Covid-19 and what are areas and situations in a school that we must carefully watch for and guide against. We have learned quite a bit about technology and how to use technology to support learning in a way that could not have even been imagined a year ago.

As we move into the next phase of providing our students and staff with a responsible plan for teaching and learning, I know that we will continue to have an accelerated learning curve. What will our halls, classrooms, lunchroom, and other learning and non-learning spaces in the building look like? We will find out! We will continue to focus on the three "W's" that we started off the year with:

1. Wear a mask over your mouth and nose

2. Wash your hands

3. Watch your distance

While our social distancing will look different with more bodies in the building, we will still do our best to provide students and staff with a learning environment in which they feel comfortable. Other schools around the country continue to be in the same position we are and are in all different stages of operation including fully virtual instruction, blended learning, and in-person learning for all students five days a week. We have been very successful to this point, with virus numbers in and from our school occurring at a much lower rate than our surrounding community. We are on the precipice of having a portion of our staff who wanted the vaccine to be fully vaccinated with more opportunities for vaccines to be distributed to staff in the near future. Hopefully, we can continue to make progress as we inch closer to a return to a traditional school day and schedule.

January 23, 2021

As the global health emergency continues, there does seem to be an end in sight. Vaccine distribution continues around the community, nation, and world. And though some will choose not to be vaccinated and some will not have access, hopefully the growing availability of a vaccine will help stem the tide against Covid-19. From a school administrator's perspective, the pandemic has created many operational challenges that we have worked through to find solutions that best meet our school community's needs. We have learned quite a great deal along the way and managed to keep the numbers of students and staff who have become ill relatively low compared to the greater community spread.

One of the more difficult challenges for me as a leader has been trying to find a balance between support and accountability for students and staff. Regardless of what is going on in the world and the challenges we face, the world has expectations for us. We have jobs to do and deadlines to meet. Someday, I may go to a doctor who was in high school during the pandemic; I sure hope they met all their learning objectives in their Biology class! On the other hand, our students and staff have experienced a type of isolation that no other current generation before has ever known. Our students had to rely on themselves for motivation and figuring out what to do when they didn't know what to do. Some of our students had to help with younger siblings and take on more employment hours than they were ready for to help with a family's financial situation.

Some kids flourished in this environment; my own 14 year-old son has taught himself to cook, developed a schedule and a process to get his schoolwork done and done well, and has devoted hours to researching, planning, and executing his own fitness regime. His ability to discipline himself and manage his own affairs will only help him later in life. Without being forced into the pandemic, it would have taken him years to develop this sense of personal discipline and responsibility.

Some kids have struggled in this environment; unfortunately I have seen too many students who were unable to log in to virtual classes consistently and did not have the ability to work from home with minimal adult support. Some students are going to have the equivalent of a missing year in their education that I fear will be reflected in upcoming state assessment data. For students who had little stability prior to the pandemic, the long-term school closures have been devastating. It will be our job as educators to mitigate the impact of a lost year of traditional instruction and find ways to close gaps for already marginalized student populations.

Part of this mitigation will need to be starting to hold students more accountable. Throughout the pandemic, we have been forgiving on assignments, grades, due dates, and deadlines. Students were allowed to take less than a full course load and last spring they were allowed to drop courses throughout the trimester without penalty. We did what needed to as a school to keep our kids engaged and now as we start to look forward to the end of the pandemic, we need to help our students to return to a normal workload and expectations. This return expectations and accountability, like the end of the pandemic, will be gradual and we will probably not recognize that we have returned to normal until well after that return is complete.

October 23, 2020

2020 has been a stressful year for all of us. With many forces pulling at our attention and so many unknowns, it is easy to get overwhelmed and let the stress and anxiety build. Imagine a balloon that you keep putting more and more into and keep hoping that it won't pop. At some point, even the most elastic and largest balloon will pop if you don't let some air out. There have been many articles and posts about how to destress, and below are some of the one's that I find helpful to let a little air out of my balloon so it doesn't pop:

1. Exercise - This has always been my go-to to destress. Whether it is lifting weights, practicing martial arts, riding my bike if the weather cooperates, or going for a run, working up a good sweat always makes me feel better.

2. Gratitude - When you focus on what you are thankful for, it helps you to see the good things and appreciate what you have as opposed to what you don't have. Jason Mraz, one of my favorite artists, has a line in one of his songs, "if there's a silver lining, you still have to find it." It takes work to be grateful in tough times, but it always seems to help me get back to center.

3. Realistic Optimism - We often talk about being optimistic, especially when we think of gratitude. That being said, sometimes we can go overboard. Times are tough right now and we need to recognize and appreciate that many are struggling. Just putting on a happy face won't fix everything because some things just can't be fixed. On the other hand, we have all gotten through challenging times before and have found the strength to do it. Find your optimism by tapping into your strength. Remember some of your previous tough times you got through and remember how you did it. If you made it through before you can make it again. What is your source of strength?

4. Focus on what you can control - This destressor is another one that takes discipline. It is hard for us to accept that ultimately the only person we can control is in the mirror. We cannot control what is going on around us, only how we react to what is going on around us. We control our perspective and lens; we control what we say and do. Let go of the things that you worry about that you can't control.

5. Sleep - Sleep is the one that sometimes gets away from me as I try to fit in work, family time, and personal time. I am fortunate in that I have no problem falling asleep when my head hits the pillow, but sometimes I wind up staying up too late and then can't believe that the alarm on my phone is already sounding when it feels like I just hit the hay minutes ago. Try and pick one of the weekend days and sleep in. Schedule a nap when you get home from work or on the weekend. When we get more sleep, we allow our body to recharge, our brain to rewire itself, and our immune system to do what it needs to do to protect us from all of the illness that seems to be everywhere in 2020.

6. Stay connected with friends and family - Since March, I have been trying really hard to stay connected with people. Whether it is an outdoor socially distanced gathering around a fire or even in a garage, a group Zoom call, an ongoing group-chat through your social media of choice, or even an archaic practice like picking up the phone and calling a sibling or my parents, I make the decision as to whether or not I am connected to the world or isolated from the world.

7. Turn it off - For many of us who now find ourselves working in a mostly virtual environment, it has become harder than ever to disconnect from work. There are always emails to answer and tasks to complete and we think that if we just get one more thing done we will feel so much better. The truth is, that task list and email inbox is never-ending and it will always be there for you the next day or on Monday morning. Let it go for a while and take care of yourself and be present with yourself and the people (and pets) that are most important to you in your lives. Our jobs are just that, our jobs. When we look at our jobs as more than that, we create ideals about who our "work self" is that we will never be able to live up to. Yes, we all have times where we need to arrive early, stay late, and bring work home, but be careful that we do not do this all the time, just when we absolutely have to and/or want to.

September 25, 2020

Today was our first full day of professional development. We are fortunate to have five full days throughout the school year for staff to grow and learn as professionals through presentations, book studies, guest speakers, and most impactfully, collaboration time with peers. This morning we took some time to talk about assessment in a blended environment. With our students split into three separate groups with some attending only virtual classes, some attending in-person Monday and Tuesday and still others attending in-person Thursday and Friday, assessing students' progress as well as evaluating the efficacy of our model is both challenging and more important than ever.

We discussed some of the challenges to assessment in a blended environment and how they can be distilled down to four main areas. First of all, there is the challenge of maintaining academic integrity. When taking assessments at home are kids using resources such as the Internet or study materials in an inappropriate manner? Are kids providing assistance to one another during assessments that are meant to be taken as individuals? Are kids copying ideas from other students and claiming them as their own? We would like to assume that kids are doing the right thing until we know they are not and we need to put them in situations for assessment that maintain the fidelity of those assessments. The second challenge we discussed is one of timing. How do we plan for the same assessment to be administered to different cohorts of kids attending school on different days and still keep a class in sync with learning activities and objectives? The third challenge we discussed is how to support some of our striving learners who need extra support. Students with disabilities, students who are English Learners, students with health needs, and students who may receive at-risk programming all might need extra supports that are challenging to provide when students are doing the bulk of their assessments from home. The final challenge we discussed was one of differentiation. Some performance-task assessments are only possible at school so how do we find the time to create assessments that might cover the same material and are given in different modalities for kids who are at home?

We shared how staff will need to make some decisions about what will be assessed as they will be unable to assess everything that is taught. Even when we are all in school for full days there is not enough time in the day or year to always meaningfully assess it all. Staff need to reflect on what material will prepare them for the next unit or the next level of a sequence of courses. They can consider what ideas might endure beyond one lesson or unit and continue to resurface throughout the trimester. Standardized testing is also a consideration; what is assessed on the ACT, Aspire, AP Exams, the Accuplacer, and college entrance exams? Our students are working hard and we want that to be reflected on standardized testing for their benefit. Finally, teachers can consider concepts might students see across disciplines and grade levels as assessment-worthy material.

To accomplish all of these different goals through assessment, our staff need variety! Today we discussed tests through online platforms such as Google Forms and Moodle. We also discussed having kids take assessments from home in a Google Meeting with cameras on to provide some virtual supervision. When students are using district-issued Chromebooks, teachers are able to monitor Internet activity through our security software GoGuardian. We talked about written assessments using tools such as turnitin.com and Draftback to monitor academic integrity. For assessing whether students are completing smaller reading passages and articles, we talked about using open-ended questions and graphic organizers for students to complete that are based on student ideas and interpretation in place of recall type questions. If you want to know if someone understands a concept, ask them to apply it to a real-life situation as opposed to regurgitating information to the teacher. Kids could do this through project-based assessments by creating posters, infographics, videos, slide-shows, websites, podcasts, research papers, and even a children's book. We talked about using tiered assessments where students are able to earn a higher grade based on the complexity of their performance task. We also discussed rotating open-ended assessments through different classes or different groups within classes to help prevent teacher overload.

After our all-staff meeting, we then offered some breakout sessions for staff to attend or else they could take advantage of collaboration and planning time. As a parent, I recognize that it can be difficult to plan for kids when school is not in session due to professional development. That being said, we cherish the time we have with our staff to give them the training and support they need to maximize their potential and transitively, the potential of the students they teach.

September 9, 2020

So far so good! We are a few days into the school year and we are happy to have welcomed students into the building for in-person learning. Our learning looks a lot different in classrooms as it has previously as many of our teachers have a Google Meeting open and students at home are able to interact with students in the building. The classrooms are a little less than half full and hallway traffic feels light. So far, our students have been making the responsible choice for themselves by wearing face coverings. Students seem to enjoy their lunch even more than usual with the opportunity to take a break from wearing their face coverings while eating and drinking. Kids are learning curriculum and beginning to develop relationships with their teachers. We have even had our fall sports teams start practices and competitions and we hope we are able to keep all of our athletes and coaches on the field and in the gym by following responsible guidelines from all of our local and national health organizations. We do have some growth areas that we are working on as we are still ironing out the kinks with attendance for our virtual students. Infinite Campus set up a robust system of tracking attendance and organizing students into different cohorts and we are learning the nuances of the system as it applies to Kaukauna High School. We are also asking a lot of our staff having them be prepared to teach students virtually and in-person simultaneously four days a week, so we will continue to provide as much time and professional learning opportunities for them as possible. We are grateful to the families, students, staff members, and the community at large for their support and are excited to be off and running in the 2020-2021 school year.

July 31, 2020

By rough count, we had 256 of our seniors, or 88% of the graduating class participated in our walking graduation this week. It was truly a thrill to be able to provide our seniors with some closure and bring them back on campus. For some of our seniors, this was the first time they were back on campus since March 13th. Graduation is always one of my favorite events of the year as it gives me an opportunity to congratulate and shake the hand of every senior before the head on stage to receive their diploma and be recognized by the school administration and the Board of Education. Though I didn't get to shake hands this year for obvious reasons, I was able to have an opportunity to wish each student well and was able to announce names for the second half of our ceremony. I wish our seniors the best and know that we are in great hands for years to come; we certainly have many challenges to face as a nation, but our young leaders will rise to the task and continue to problem-solve and overcome obstacles.

July 13, 2020

One of the continuous hot-button issues in public schools is that of grading and grading reform. In traditional grading systems with which most adults are familiar, each assignment, whether it be homework, in-class work, quizzes, projects, or tests, are given a point value and then a percentage value based on points earned. A teacher might then add the grades up and determine an overall grade for the student based on a percentage value. Many teachers might also use categories in this system and weight some categories more than others so they would amass more points. In Kaukauna, we use a traditional scale that is based on a 100 point scale:

A- to A+ = 89.5 - 100

B- to B+ = 79.5 - 89.4

C- to C+ = 69.5 - 79.4

D- to D+ = 59.5 - 69.4

F = 0 to 59.4

In the last four years, we have had some lively discussions about how we might reform our grading practices. Probably the biggest question we have examined is what contributes to a student's final grade? Is the grade strictly about their performance on classroom tasks and assessments or does it also include things like behavior, getting work turned in and completed on time, and participation? We have discussed things like extra credit and how grades should reflect late work and redone tests and quizzes. Some of the more recent research in grading reform has also pointed out the inadequacies of the 100 point grading scale and the weight it gives to early work in a grading period when a student is still learning and developing skills. Do we want to have a measure of a student's achievement that is a reflection of how they have done along the way or what they the end result is when they have had time to practice and master the skill? The 100 point grading skill also gives a lot of weight to work that is not turned in. If a student has a missing assignment that is is heavily weighted early on the grading period, sometimes it can take the entire grading period to recover.

To help grade more on skills attained as opposed to behaviors, most departments have now moved to weighting summative assessments more heavily than formative and practice assessments and activities. In theory this practice seems like it would support student growth, and in some cases it certainly has. On the other hand, some students have developed the mindset that the practice and formative assessments are not important because they are not graded. This mindset has led to some students either not doing those growth activities at all or putting in little effort and may have actually hindered the students' long term growth. Other districts and schools have added an additional set of grades that specifically address behavior and on-task growth and measurement. While the second set of grades provides more information to the student and parents, because they are not included as a part of the "bottom line" families often do not see these grades as important. Additionally, the increased reporting categories combined with elements of standards-based grading adds a significant amount of time for staff to assign student grades. The extra time takes away from instructional planning and opportunities for staff to interact with kids outside of the classroom to support individual learning.

Ultimately, there is no perfect way to grade in all schools. If there were, there would not continue to be countless studies and books written about grading reform. I believe each school and district needs to determine the most effective grading system and standards for themselves based on community needs both within and outside of the school. The good news for Kaukauna High School is that grading and grading reform is a topic that we continue to talk about and listen to staff, students, and families while reviewing the most up to date research. Grading reform is an area that will continue to evolve over time to meet current needs and the work will never truly be done. I look forward to our continued growth and development into the future.

May 21, 2020

As we near the end of the school year, many parents are preparing for their kids to graduate from high school and leave the nest. With some of the current challenges due to COVID-19, that might look a little different in the beginning of their independence and adulthood, but they will still be headed out into the world at some point. As a parent of a current senior in high school who happens to be my oldest, I am going through this experience myself for the first time. Often our children ask us why we continue to bother them about curfews, homework, and grades and wish that we would get out of their business. My response has evolved over the years, but ultimately we, as parents, want them to be as prepared as possible when they reach independence as we will not always be there to bail them out of trouble.

One of the most challenging things as a parent is to watch your kids struggle. Kids might struggle with friends, grades, siblings, loss, anxiety, and of course school. As a parent, it is natural to want to come in and fix things for your kids; they are your kids and it hurts to see them hurting! What we need to keep in mind is that to truly equip our kids to be successful as adults, they have to learn how to fail. They have to learn what it feels like to put in an honest effort and come up short and then come back the next day with lessons learned and more resolve. If we fix everything for our children, they will never learn how to fix things for themselves. In the book I am currently reading by Dave Hollis he writes, "Much of what my kids need to become the people they are meant to be requires them to endure things they may not like." The struggle makes the success that much more meaningful and teaches kids that they can persevere when the going gets tough. I do not advocate being absent from supporting our kids as there are adult-size problems that they may need to learn how to respond to and fix and will not be able to do so without guidance and mentorship from a parent or guardian. And they are still kids and sometimes they do need us to fix the big things. That being said, if we can find times for our kids to try, fail, and learn from their mistakes we are instilling in them a confidence that will serve them for a lifetime.

April 3, 2020

At the end of the work day today, we will officially have arrived at Spring Break. Over a year ago, my family planned a trip to the south to see my parents who are retired and live in Florida. We had been anticipating sunshine, walks on the beach hunting for shells, afternoons spent poolside, and evenings watching sunsets, sports on television, and playing games with the three different generations of my family present. Those expectations have changed quite a bit over the last three weeks. Next week may still see some sunshine, but I don't think we will find any shells in our neighborhood on our daily walks with our dogs. The pools were closed, all of the sports have been cancelled or postponed, and the beaches in Wisconsin in April just don't have the same draw as those along the Gulf of Mexico. Instead of Palm Trees framing the sunset, we will have the still-barren Maple Trees in our backyard in the evening as the foreground to the setting sun. With all that being lost, it would be easy to dwell on the negative. Instead, I choose another perspective.

The last few weeks have allowed for our family of four to spend more time together than we have in months. No one is running off to work or practice. While my kids, my wife, and I have all still found ways to stay connected to our friends electronically, our primary social time has revolved around our family and it has been refreshing and revitalizing. While we all have our own work to do throughout the day, we are able to come together for a mid-day break for lunch and then again at dinner time. We have played basketball, football, and gone for walks together. We have cleaned out closets, played board games, watched TV shows and movies that we can all (well most of the time at least) agree upon, and planned and cooked meals together. We have been on Zoom calls with my extended family from Illinois, Michigan, and Florida. We have also maintained text chat groups with friends from college that we don't often get to see. We have been very intentional in cultivating and maintaining our relationships with the people that are the most important to us in our lives. I am grateful for our relative health as a family and the time that we have together. At this point, there is not a lot that we as individuals can control, but how we use our time, how we treat each other, and how we respond to one another are things that are all under our own control and I choose to be grateful for my family, friends, and this time together.

March 16, 2020

How quickly things change in a week! It seems like we went from monitoring COVID-19 as something happening elsewhere to something that is now the driving force in almost all decisions we are making as a country. A school closure is difficult for all of us due to the loss of instructional time and delayed or missed milestones for some of our students. My own daughter is a senior and missing out one her senior dance recital, and is nervous about events like prom and graduation. As a school community, we all felt for the seniors on our winter sports teams who didn't get to finish their seasons and are hoping that resolution will come soon to our nation so games, concerts, competitions, and life can go on as normal. Ultimately, those decisions will be made for us at the highest levels of government and we are all left to focus on what we can control and make the most of things.

As human beings, we are by nature social beings. We rely on the companionship of others to normalize our own behavior. Our bodies are built to be around others. Oxytocin is the naturally-occurring chemical in our body that produces feelings of friendship, love, and deep trust. This chemical can only be produced in the presence of others. It is central to our long-term relationships and gives us the feeling of safety and belonging that we all crave. With the extended absence from school, work, and peers, it will be important for families to pull together and provide each other with that stability and feeling of calm. With current technology, we are able to connect via social media to keep our relationships open and prevent isolation, but for those in our households it is important that we go out of our way to create as many opportunities to be together in meaningful interaction. Play a game, prepare and eat a meal together, go for a walk or play in the back yard while still observing social distancing guidelines. In challenging times, people's character comes out and we learn about hope and compassion in others when it matters most.

Take care of each other and stay safe!

February 21, 2020

When adults reflect back on their educational careers, they almost always have an adult in school who was there for them and made a difference. Typically, that adult is a teacher which makes sense as it is often the teacher who inspires, challenges, and leads students on their journeys from a child to an adult.

One of the key groups of staff members in our building that is sometimes overlooked is our support staff, specifically our educational assistants. On any given day, we have twenty-five adults in the building providing students and staff day-to-day support that they need to succeed. We have educational assistants who help students one-on-one with class work and homework, taking notes, writing papers, and completing assessments. Some of our educational assistants help our lower functioning students with daily skills such as eating, using the bathroom, and communicating if our students are non-verbal. We have educational assistants that serve our visually impaired students by guiding them through the building and translating all of their course material into Braille. We have educational assistants that support students in school-to-work job sites, monitor online classes, transport students with limited transportation, and help kids learn how to cook, clean, and do their laundry. Our educational assistants supervise lunches, study halls, and can be seen before school and after school on bus and commons duty. Our educational assistants support our students at evening functions such as band and choirs concerts. We have educational assistants who work with our most behaviorally-challenged students and show patience when a student is at his or her most raw. They start each day with a smile on their face and develop deep bonds with our students. Our educational assistants celebrate successes, graduations, birthdays, and many other milestones with our students. Sometimes, our educational assistants are the first adults our students see in the morning and the last staff members they see before they leave for the day.

Our educational assistants are a crucial part of the services we provide our students. Many are parents of former and current students and care deeply about the students, school, and school community. We could not provide the high quality experience that we do without our educational assistants and I am deeply grateful for their work each and every day.

The speakers ranged from local practitioners to national speakers such as author and educator Salome Thomas-El, who frequently appears on CNN, C-SPAN, and National Public Radio and teacher Brian Mendler. Of the many speakers, Brian Mendler was one of the most impactful for me. He shared his story of being labeled as a student with severe behavioral disabilities in school and how he spent many days in a self-contained classroom as the school was unable to handle his behaviors. He talked about his problems with addiction to cocaine and gambling as a young man and the hard work it took to get sober and stay sober. He currently is an educator who works with students who have some of the most severe behaviors in his school. In his presentation, he was honest and at times, challenging to the audience encouraging us to move beyond traditional practices when working with our students who have the most struggles with behavior.

Mr. Mendler talked about the root causes of student misbehavior and boiled it down to six different causes with ideas for supporting students once you understand the causes of their behavior. The first cause of maladaptive student behaviors according to Mendler is attention, which he broke down into two different categories: those who don't get much attention at home and those who get too much attention. For the first category, the best strategy to assist students is to give them as much positive attention as possible, especially at the beginning of a class period. The other category of attention seekers are those that are used to having too much attention and have often been enabled by well-intentioned parents or guardians. For those students, an educator can attempt to ignore the misbehavior until they stop misbehaving and then praise them that they stopped misbehaving.

The second and third cause of student misbehavior is power and control. Students who are power seekers often argue with staff when given directions and directives. The best way to interact with those students using is by using only questions and staying away from telling the kids what to do directly. For kids whose root cause of behavior is a need for control, it is important to find ways to give those students choices as much as possible.

Some students may misbehave due to a lack of competence. There are some very specific skills that help kids to be successful at school and some kids just don’t have those yet. We need to transition kids and help them have success where they are at and work through a progression to build competence which will lead to confidence. Mr. Mendler used teaching kids to hit a baseball as a metaphor. We don't start a five year-old off by throwing him a 95 mile per hour fastball and admonishing him when he will inevitably swing and miss. Instead start him off by hitting a baseball off of a Tee until he is proficient. Then move him to balls that are thrown by a coach with the goal of throwing pitches that the youngster is able to hit. Eventually, the speed of a pitch is increased until one day, the youngster is facing an opposing pitcher who is throwing pitches that he or she does not want the batter to hit. However, the batter has been brought along on a progression and is ready to try and put the ball in play and confident in his abilities.

The last two root causes of misbehavior are a lack of belonging and a lack of awareness. For students with a lack of belonging, they do not know where they fit in and how their strengths and abilities will contribute to the world around them. We need to teach them that they do belong in the school environment and help them to see that they have many positives to offer. For a student lacking awareness, sometimes it is as simple as just asking them to stop their behavior. Mr. Mendler shared an example of a student who might have a habit of tapping a pencil on their desk. That quiet noise could be disruptive to others and cause frustration over time. If the student cannot stop the behavior, then the educator can problem-solve how to help the student become aware or could help mitigate impact of the behavior to others. In the case of the pencil tapper, a small square of soft material such as a piece of carpet on the corner of a desk or table might fix the issue.

As I reflect on the conference I attended, one of the other benefits I had was to network with other Associate Principals from around the state. We were able to share ideas, listen to each other, and find support in one another as we talked about the ups and downs of what it means to be a school administrator. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to attend this conference and I look forward to more professional growth opportunities in the future.

January 3, 2020

After a long and restful winter recess, we are back at it at KHS! This weekend marks one of the highlights of the winter sports season, the Cheesehead wrestling tournament. For two days, 462 wrestlers from 33 teams haling from eight states will send their best to try their best to earn a spot on the podium. It is not a stretch to say that if you win your bracket at the Cheesehead, you will probably be in contention for a state championship later this winter. We run twelve mats between the Fieldhouse and Indoor Practice Facility. Wrestling begins tonight at 5:00 pm and then continues tomorrow throughout the day. If you have never witnessed one of the best high school wrestling tournaments in the country, I encourage you to come down and check it out. Also, thank you to the many volunteers that put hundreds of hours into making the Cheesehead a success year after year. The meet is a success because of the people that work hard to make it happen!

November 27, 2019

I am precariously close to heading out of the office for my own Thanksgiving break as I add this message to my website. As is the tradition for many of us, I will take this time to reflect on what I am thankful for. I must begin with my family, both my family at home and my KHS family. Family supports each other no matter what and are there for the good times and the challenging times. I am fortunate to have my family at home and my family at school that have helped to see me through thick and thin, have provided me encouragement, feedback, laughter, and support. My family also provides me with motivation and inspiration to do what I do day in and day out. I once read how people don't get burned out in their professional life because of what they do, but instead they forget why they do what they do. My family reminds me of my "why" everyday and I am more grateful than anyone can know for that beacon.

I also think during the holiday season it is important to remember that not all of the students I work for have a happy home to go to on a break. Some students are not looking forward to their three days off of school as their home life is unstable and challenging. As I was talking with one of my students this week, she told me that she would prefer to be at school as she has adults that are predictable, supportive, trustworthy, and care for her. For me to have the opportunity to be able to help create an environment for our students that is their safe space is a humbling honor that helps me not think twice about staying late or checking email one more time before heading off to bed at night. Knowing that some of our students don't have those same opportunities for nurturing relationships that I have with my own children currently and that I had with my parents growing up only makes me more grateful for what is special in my life and the opportunity to make a difference for our kids that need KHS for more than just an education.

I wish you all a happy and warm holiday season and hope that you have some time to reflect on what makes you grateful. If you are in a fortunate situation, pay it forward to those around you who are less fortunate. If you are struggling socially, emotionally, financially, or physically, please find hope in that there are others out there who care about you and want to help. There are always possibilities to change your narrative. Happy Thanksgiving!

November 8, 2019

As the end of another busy week draws to a close, it is a good time to reflect on how I manage my work day and find personal time for myself and my family after the workday is finished. Typically, my days begin well before the school day starts with some personal time at the YMCA. To make it to school on time, that means I usually need to be at YMCA starting my workout when it opens at 5:00 am. My typical workday usually starts around 7:20 with supervision in the commons. That generally starts a very busy day spent in many different types of meetings, processing behaviors with students, completing staff observations, lunch supervision, supervision in the halls during passing time, and time spent on the phone and on my computer communicating with stakeholders. This week, I was a part of our weekly building administrative team meeting, a meeting about summer school, a meeting about state reporting in Infinite Campus, our weekly building consultation meeting with our student services staff, a meeting about accommodations for state testing, two IEP meetings, four meetings with students and parents who are interested in online learning, and I facilitated a meeting regarding the implementation of the laude system at Kaukauna High School.

As an administrative team, we processed 26 behavior incidents involving 22 students over the past week ranging from relatively minor incidents of tardiness and cell phone violations to more serious incidents that involved student conflict and disruptive classroom behavior. Some of the incidents may take only minutes to process while others may take hours. I completed three formal evaluations that were each roughly an hour in duration and then followed up for post-observation meetings with those teachers. I made 18 parent phone calls, sent 96 emails and received 347 emails. I was able to cross 29 items off of my "to-do" list (this post will make number 30) and helped coordinate a visiting group of Vietnam Veterans that shared their experiences with our students ahead of Veteran's Day to close out the week.

When I began my role as an administrator, I had a goal to try and find some work/life balance. Over the years, I have realized that balance may not be attainable given the amount of responsibilities on my plate and instead I strive for harmony. My work is important and it makes a difference for those I serve in the school community and therefore that is where most of my energy is focused. That being said, harmony comes from finding time to carve out for myself and my family. This week that meant lifting weights with my son, attending karate class with my wife, helping with cooking, cleaning, and walking the dogs at home, and even a night out with my wife. In any profession, if you want to be effective and supportive of others you need to also find time to care for yourself and those around you that you love. I am fortunate to work in a building where I am supported in finding that harmony as the days and weeks of the school year move forward.

October 21, 2019

Of the many responsibilities that I have throughout the day and into the evening, one of the most challenging is that of supporting student discipline. In every classroom, we want all students to be able to learn the material and complete learning activities and all teachers to be able to focus on the learning objectives. Clear classroom behavioral expectations and a solid working relationship are the foundation for a well-run, orderly classroom. Unfortunately, even in the best-run classrooms, at times some students may cause distractions or disruption. Our first response is always to try and redirect and re-engage the student within the classroom environment. Staff can redirect through simple steps such as changing their proximity in the classroom or quietly asking the student if they need any help or have any questions. Sometime, more of a conversation is needed and staff can speak with the student privately in the hall or a corner of the room to clarify expectations and find out if there is anything that is bothering the student. More often than not, student behaviors are corrected after these steps and instruction can continue.

Our behavioral data reflects the above statistic as demonstrated by the 92% of our students who have not had a behavior referral submitted to the office. If we look at that number to include students who have had zero or one behavior referrals, that number increases to 97% of our student population. For our students that have only received one behavior referral, the leading cause for a referral is not a classroom behavior at all, but a referral for tardiness as they are having a hard time prioritizing their activities during passing time. It has been my experience that most of our students come to school everyday for the right reasons to complete their work inside and outside of the classroom.

For the students that struggle with behavior challenges, there needs to be two components to how I respond. First of all, there must be some level of consequence so that the student understands that we have limits and expectations that we need to follow everyday. If we deviate from those expectations regardless of if we are a teenager or an adult, there are repercussions. It is important that the consequence has some level of education to it as the students are still learning how to find their way in the world. Even though I may be assigning a consequence, I still try and treat the student with dignity and respect as they have inherent worth as a human being even though they may have made a poor choice. The second component when responding to a negative behavior is the restorative side of discipline. I often ask the question, "who did your behavior affect?" and "how are you going to repair that relationship with that person?" More often than not, that involves a conversation with the person or people wronged that could include an acknowledgment of the behavior, an apology, and a statement about what actions the person will undertake moving forward so the behavior does not continue into the future.

Two notes about the apology piece...First of all, unless the student has very limited social, emotional, or intellectual functioning, I never force a student to apologize unless they mean it. Typically when kids understand that their actions have negatively impacted others, they want to apologize on their own volition. If that is not the case, then we work through the conversation in other ways as a forced apology is an empty statement that is meaningless for both parties involved. The other component I remind students of is that a true apology does not have the word "but" anywhere within. Think how you may have felt when someone said, "I'm sorry but..." The one apologizing is making excuses and trying to explain away their behavior as opposed to taking responsibility for their behavior.

Thankfully, I have the opportunity to help many of our students in many different ways to grow and learn, and working through behavior and discipline is one way to support all students.

September 27, 2019

Homecoming week is drawing to a close. Our students participated in powder puff football, float building and a parade, hallway decorating, a pep rally with class games, and the awarding of the spirit stick. We have our football game tonight against Appleton East, and conclude the festivities with the Homecoming Dance tomorrow. At times like Homecoming, it is easy to look around and see and feel what a special place Kaukauna High School is for so many of its students and staff. Participation in Homecoming activities is high and students are passionate about winning the spirit stick as evidenced by the video below. In some ways, our community is a throwback to a different time in America with our many traditions that have spanned generations and are still relevant for our students today. I am grateful to be a part of a school and a district that is valued and supported by its community. In some schools and communities, Homecoming is no longer important to the students, but here in Kaukauna we are proud of the traditions that make us who we are. Happy Homecoming...It's a great day to be a Ghost!

August, 2019

Kaukauna High School has been a busy place over the summer!

• In addition to the annual summer deep clean, we have had three major construction projects including a new student services office in the D-wing, a new graphics arts lab for our art and technology departments, and new spaces for our business department in the F-wing.

• Summer school took place during the month of June at the high school for the entire district! Almost 1,600 learners of all ages walked the halls of Kaukauna High School.

• We have been working on rounding out our staff and welcoming some new staff members in our English, Science, Family and Consumer Science, World Language, and Special Education departments. We also are welcoming a new part-time Dean of Students to the administrative team.

• Our school improvement planning teams have been hard at work creating building-wide goals in mathematics, literacy, and behavior.

• We held registration in August and are looking forward to welcoming our new students and freshmen on Monday August 26th at 5:00 pm for a spaghetti dinner and orientation. Our Ignition mentors have been training to provide our newest students with a welcoming environment and all the support they need to get off to a great start in their high school careers.

• Our fall sports are off and running. Check out our athletic schedules HERE.

• Personally, I spent most of the summer working on finalizing the building and student schedules, balancing classes, and preparing for implementation state standardized testing in 2019-2020. Students in grades 9, 10, and 11 will have the opportunity to take a full-length practice ACT on September 17th. More details will follow.