Friday Memo 9/23/16

School Leadership

My oldest son, Roman, is a freshman at Fort Zumwalt North High School. I have the pleasure of taking him to marching band practice four mornings a week at 6:15am. But on Thursday mornings, he doesn't have to be at school early so I get to experience the typical carline dropoff. Yesterday morning as I was dropping him off, I took a picture of his principal, Joe Sutton, as he was waving and greeting all of the students and parents as they were coming into the school parking lot. Mr. Sutton starts each day this way - greeting students and families with a smile and a wave! He has demonstrated outstanding leadership as a school leader in a variety of ways. He "gets" how to build a culture of excellence. I am not sure where Mr. Sutton got his Administration degree, but I was reminded that we have the opportunity to prepare educators to be outstanding leaders. The results to the first year teacher and principal surveys came out this week. We are analyzing the data to determine how we can improve our program based on our graduates' feedback. I was very pleased that we received a very high rating when first year principals were asked to rate the following statement - "I was prepared to effectively communicate the vision, mission, and goals to all staff and stakeholders." We have some outstanding faculty members in the MEA program that I want to encourage as you may not get to see the fruits of your labor. The picture below shows an example of how one excellent leader can make the difference in the lives of students and families. 

Fall 2nd 8-Week Scheduling

Mary Ann Bouas and I met this week to finalize the schedule for the second 8-weeks of fall. New faculty members, please email me and Mary Ann to let us know your preference of classes for spring and summer. Returning faculty members, please email us if you would like something different than what you have had in past years. 

HLC

The Higher Learning Commission visiting team will be on campus next Monday and Tuesday. Dr. Triplett, Julie Fredrick, Dr. David Collum, Genise Collum, and the rest of the team have been working diligently to produce a quality assurance argument and prepare for the site visit. This accreditation is extremely important for our institution and we look forward to a successful visit as the team will have the opportunity to learn about the services we provide at MBU that align with our mission. Amber Henry, Tom Smith, Tim Delicath, David Collum, and I are the division faculty members that will be attending meetings with the team.  However, please be available during your posted office hours and wear your name badge when on campus.

Franklin County Root Beer Float Event

Way to go to those folks at the Franklin County Regional Learning Center! Marsha Tierney sent me these pictures from their Root Beer Float Recruiting Event. Over 200 students attended. Looks like it was a lot of fun and delicious! 

EXCEL

Tammy Cox, Ricki Roth, Susan Hladky, Mary Ellen Fuquay, and I met to discuss the Education Excel course that is being offered in the St. James area to ensure that the course is meeting the same standards as our main campus course. We look forward to working with local high schools that are interested in identifying future teachers and perhaps offering credit for their teacher cadet experience.

Division Faculty Meeting Reminder

As a reminder, we have our division faculty meetings on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month from 10:15am - 11:45am. This year, the 2nd Tuesday of the month faculty meeting will be conducted by me as we discuss university, division, and program issues. The 4th Tuesday of the month faculty meeting will be conducted by David and Alicia for teacher/leader preparation and Clint Limoges will lead the Counseling faculty. 

*** Teacher/Leader faculty report to ADM 202 at 10:15am for Tuesday's faculty meeting. Counseling faculty report to my office FLD 315 at 10:15am for Tuesday's meeting. 

CAEP

Alicia Noddings, David Collum, and I met yesterday to discuss the agenda for the upcoming faculty meeting that includes CAEP work. Tuesday, September 27th, David and Alicia will walk us through Standard 3: Candidate Quality, Recruitment, and Selectivity & Standard 5: Provider Quality Assurance and Continuous Improvement. We will learn about the standards and quality indicators and identify artifacts to support these standards.

CACREP

Clint Limoges and I are working with administration on some of the program decisions that need to be made in order for us to meet the rigorous CACREP standards. Counseling faculty members, full-time and adjunct, please be aware that the program is going to look quite different beginning with the cohort that joins in Fall 2017. We will have a phase out transition plan for those students who join the program prior to fall 2017. 

CEEDAR Webinar

Thanks Susan Hladky for sending out information about the CEEDAR webinar on Practiced-Based Approaches to Improving Teacher Preparation. The webinar was very beneficial as they presented how other programs are utilizing alternative approaches to ensuring we prepare teacher candidates who can meet the needs of all learners. 

DESE webinar

After reviewing questions posed at the statewide business meeting a few of us attended two weeks ago, Hap Hairston, Director of the Office of Educator Quality shared an analysis of the state-wide first year teacher and principal surveys. We will be analyzing our survey data at the October 11th faculty meeting. 

Important Dates to Remember

•  HLC on campus     Monday - Tuesday, 9/26-27
• Employee Birthday Party     Monday, 9/26     2:30pm     Dining Hall
• Faculty Meeting     Monday, 9/26     3:00pm     Performance Hall
• Division Faculty Meeting     Tuesday, 9/27   10:15am                                                              Teacher and Leader Faculty - ADM 201 Counseling Faculty - My office FLD 315

Closing thoughts

As summer officially came to a close yesterday, I have been reflecting on what has been one of the greatest summers of my life. Baseball made my summer great! Our family hosted two River City Rascal baseball players in our home. We were blessed by their talents, and we had so much fun being entertained by their abilities. However, the biggest part of the blessing was not watching them play ball; the best blessing was getting to know them and care for them as young men, just as you do in the classroom!

Thank you for pouring yourself into the lives of your students. They are worth the investment!