Superintendent's Blog

The Four Pillars of NHS – Scholarship, Leadership, Service, and Character

by Robert Pritchard, Ed.D. | Dec 15, 2017 | Updates

Last year, I wrote about why participation the National Honor Society (NHS) is an important element of a healthy school culture; that each student is more than the sum of his or her component parts (The National Honor Society Student: A Mighty and Noble Force of Nature, December 2016). I still believe this to be true and admire the commitment that each of our NHS students makes towards something that is greater than themselves.

On Monday, December 11, 2017, we celebrated the success of this year’s inductees into the Tappan Zee High School National Honor Society (NHS). The new inductees are:

At the induction ceremony, we honored the accomplishments of these students in the areas of Scholarship, Leadership, Community Service, and Character. The school and community recognized and expressed its gratitude for the choices, and oftentimes the sacrifices, that each of these students has made.

The four requirements for membership in which each excelled: scholarship, leadership, community service, and character were not chosen randomly. These “Four Pillars” are the basis for a meaningful and purpose-driven life.

SCHOLARSHIP is a person’s ability to find meaning in the world around them. This pursuit goes far beyond the grades each receives in school. Our NHS students are curious and strive to see how the world outside of school connects to the work they do in the classroom.

LEADERSHIP isn’t just getting people to do something that they would otherwise be reluctant to do. In order to be a leader of others, our NHS students have demonstrated that they are capable of leading themselves. It takes hard work to succeed, and the NHS students have shown the strength and persistence to do what is required.

As part of the National Honor Society application, community SERVICE hours were counted – outside of this context; there is rarely any need to count the hours that are volunteered serving others. The satisfaction of volunteering is not found in accumulating hours to satisfy a graduation requirement or for scholarships – it is because our NHS students realize that service builds character, it is a learning opportunity, and it really does make the world a better place.

Lastly, and most importantly, character.

CHARACTER is the most elemental quality that a National Honor Society member possesses. A person’s character isn’t measured at one instant in time but along the continuum of one’s life.

The right decision is rarely the easy choice one must make. Our ability to make difficult choices is the truest measure of ourselves. Character is something that we must practice with utmost fidelity. True character is being able to accept responsibility when we fail and, in doing so; pave the way for future successes. Former Head UCLA basketball coach John Wooden once said:

“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are. The true test of a person’s character is what he or she does when no one is watching.”

I would like to thank our NHS students and their advisors, Ms. Nicole Farish and Ms. Nicole Lai for their service to this community – their commitments to Leadership, Scholarship, Service and Character are shining beacons for the rest of us to follow.

Community Involvement through Robotics

by Robert Pritchard, Ed.D. | Dec 8, 2017 | Updates

Four students from Tappan Zee High School Robotics Club – Joanna George, Logan Tabor, Joseph Blanchet, and Mitchell Jacobs – presented their latest enterprise (a semi-autonomous robot) at the weekly South Orangetown Rotary Club meeting on December 6 at the ’76 House in Tappan.  Don’t get me wrong…the robot was great. However, what impressed the audience the most were the students themselves who ventured forth into the community in search of sponsors and funding for their FIRST Robotics Competition. In addition to dazzling the Rotarians and invited guests with their technical talents, the club members (team competition name: SO BOTZ, Team 6911) demonstrated their qualities as productive members of society. We witnessed students who are articulate, persuasive, collegial, insightful, forward-thinking, and passionate. These students are leaders who clearly communicate their vision.

In the presentation, one of the students remarked that she really didn’t know what she “was getting into,” and that she initially saw this as something that might look good on a college application. But what she hadn’t expected was that robotics had turned into a starting point that allowed her to realize her passion for marketing and project management. Sure, she learned some coding and mechanical skills required to work with robotics. Beyond this, she soon realized that the marketing and community outreach aspects of the FIRST Robotics Competition are what compelled her to take her involvement to the next level. Another student commented on the value of leadership towards moving the project forward. Every member of the team has a role and the leadership function becomes obvious if the team expects to make progress – not typically an easy lesson to learn in a traditional classroom setting. Another unexpected outcome was the realization by the students that communications across different technology platforms are critical. While the team uses social media to fundraise and search for sponsors, standing in front of a live audience, face-to-face, is a fundamental element of a successful communications strategy. The students’ presentation to the Rotary Club was well-planned, rehearsed and provided for an essential two-way dialogue with prospective donors and sponsors.

The team probably describes themselves best when they write:

“We are a diverse group of students from Tappan Zee High School with a passion for inventing and innovating. With the help of advisors, mentors, and other supporters, we push the boundaries of our imagination to produce a robot, compete, and have fun!”

…and with that, I can’t wait to see them in their inaugural (FIRST) competition in March 2018. Best wishes to these students who represent our school district and make us proud!

Officers of the Tappan Zee High School FIRST Robotics Competition Team are:

• President – Kevin Huang
• Vice President – Alex Gottlieb
• Secretary – Amanda Bermel
• Treasurer – Gary Hu
• Public Relations – Joseph Blanchet
• Website Admin – Logan Tabor
• Head of Coding – Matthew Chun
• Head of Electrical – Mitchell Jacobs
• Scouter – Raymond Constancio

The list of “thank yous” will continue to grow, however, let me start by thanking some important people whose caring and commitment to our students has made SO BOTZ a reality.  A great big debt of gratitude to:

• SOCSD Advisors – Mrs. Connell, Mrs. Moore, Mrs. Murphy, Mr. Eckert
• Community and Parent Volunteers
• Generous donations and sponsorship from Orange and Rockland Utilities and the office of Sen. David Carlucci

If you’d like to sponsor the SO BOTZ, contribute financial donations (tax-deductible), get involved, or learn more please visit: http://blogs.socsd.org/botz/

SOCSD Community Addresses the Threat of Substance Use

by Robert Pritchard, Ed.D. | Dec 1, 2017 | Updates

I wish to express a debt of gratitude to the 100+ audience members who attended the community forum on November 30, 2017, at Tappan Zee High School.  Along with a group of expert panelists, we joined together to confront an extremely dangerous threat that affects every one of us – either directly or indirectly:  The threat of substance use in our community that has plagued the lives of so many of our young students and graduates and only appears to be getting worse.  These substances include narcotics, alcohol, inhalants, prescription drugs, marijuana, opiates, and list of dangerous substances that seems to be growing by the day.

Our gathering on 11/30 was an important event.  We agreed that there is not a single solution or a quick-fix to the problem of substance use.  This is a problem that is as complicated as it is life-threatening.  I can say with great certainty, however, that doing nothing is not an option…Remaining silent is not an option.  And while we did not generate any specific solutions at our community forum, the thoughts and ideas we shared are a clear starting point that will generate actions to prevent our children from putting themselves at risk.  In this light, we agreed that our next forum will be a workshop on generating tactics and long-range strategies to address this threat (date to be determined, however, I would like to schedule this follow-on event early in 2018).

The community forum was a starting point for a group of concerned citizens who care about the future of their children.  I was happy to see so many folks in the audience who were eager to listen and learn (to include several of our students…bravo).  I was especially elated at the high quality of questions and contributions made by the audience during the Question and Answer (Q&A) component of the evening.   The topics that were addressed included:

1. Our roles and responsibilities as a school district: We heard audience concern regarding the manner in which we, as a school district, are confronting drug trafficking in and around school property and how we synchronize that effort with local law enforcement.  We agreed that this is a shared responsibility and we all have a role in this.  Our follow-on discussion will be to look for ways to synchronize the effort between the school, families, students, and outside agencies to address this threat. The conversation we had was a good start to help us better understand our roles in this effort.  We are all united in our love, concern, and empathy for students and their well-being and realize that communication is key to our success.  In situations where a student is having difficulty accessing his or her educational program, the role of the school system is clear and there are prescribed treatments and responses that are taken in light of the law and our code of conduct.  However, the home-to-school support system becomes far more difficult to engage when the evidence of substance use in school goes undetected. The problem isn’t always obvious and that is why we need to work together to communicate honestly and openly about the problems that our children face concerning substance use.  Further, we know that this is a problem that affects a wide array of students regardless of socio-economic circumstances, gender, or ability level.
2. Our roles and responsibilities as families:  One of our panelists, Susan Hoerter, MD, Rockland County Department of Health Medical Director, highlighted the importance of communicating with our children.  Dr. Hoerter, a child psychiatrist, provided some valuable approaches to better communicate with students in a way that developed a closer relationship with trusted adults – a protective factor in preventing risky behaviors.  Another panelist, Jon, a community member in recovery, emphasized the mindset of addiction and some of the environmental factors that lead to substance use.  Jon mentioned that the “I guess it could be worse” rationale is a lethal mindset and all families should consider “the better safe than sorry” argument as the best rule-of-thumb.  Jon, along with panelist Terri Klausner Fails illustrated the actions families in crisis can take.
3. Reconciling our own past or present substance use in light of your children’s current situation:  We had a discussion concerning parent behaviors and the impact those behaviors have on children.  An expressed concern was the manner in which we confront student substance use issues when parents may have similarly engaged in dangerous behaviors. The discussion was centered on not allowing adult responses to a child’s substance use be a justification for continued use.  Our panelists had several suggestions on this topic.
4. Evidence of substance use and what are the signs that your student is at risk: Most importantly, we stressed that we all should be open to the idea that it can happen and not ignore the signs.  Being ignorant of the signs is one thing…ignoring them is another. Our forum is a starting point to prevent families from being in a position where “they never saw it coming” because they were not looking at the whole picture.  Our panelists demonstrated their extensive expertise in recognizing the signs of substance use.  We are especially grateful to Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Zugibe and Captain Donald Butterworth of the Orangetown Police Department for providing the scope and magnitude of this crisis and just how dangerous this problem is for our families. 
5. Dealing with substance use is a highly emotional issue:  It is important to remain calm when confronting a situation where someone is at risk.  However, this becomes especially difficult when the person who needs support is a loved-one.  In these cases, parents are often too close to the problem.  Every family dynamic is different and emotional strength and stability may be absent in households where substance use is a problem.  Knowing where to turn when you need counseling or a behavioral health response can prevent reacting in a way that could aggravate the situation. Our panelists presented some good suggestions as to how to respond in a productive manner.
6. Goals for ourselves and our families:  The substance use forum was a great first step in this difficult, but not impossible challenge – if you missed it, don’t worry.  This was the first in a series of forums/workshops designed to engage and empower our families and students. Working together, with a unified voice, over time, we will develop solutions.  It’s important not to get overwhelmed, but understand that this will require patience, determination, and commitment.  We are not going to fix this problem overnight given the complexity of the problem.  This becomes especially challenging given the myriad of underlying mental health issues that often accompany substance use. In future sessions, we will be presenting resources that can help guide families to long-term, sustainable solutions that can address underlying mental health concerns that may be contributing to substance use.  In the meantime, please visit our Community Resources website to gain further knowledge of local programs and services for families needing assistance.  This site is maintained by the district’s social workers as a resource for families.
7. Recognizing addiction in the family and how this may impact on our responses to treatment:  Our discussion at the community forum was a great start to help de-stigmatize what it means to live in a household with someone who is an addict. Many of us have experienced the trauma and stress associated with living with a person who is afflicted with alcoholism, drug addiction, and related life-threatening illnesses and behaviors.  Avoidant behavior, such as deliberately ignoring or failing to recognize the problem because of shame or fear, is not healthy.  Our panelists and audience engaged in a healthy conversation that gave us the presence of mind to deal with this problem in an open and honest manner.    

My experience as a school administrator has convinced me that families that are proactive are better prepared to avoid the all-too-common scenarios where families struggle with substance use.  In addition to being a long-time administrator, I am also the parent of two teenagers and I experience the same fear and apprehension that all reasonable parents face when they send their kids out into the world each day.  We are hopeful that our kids make the right choices when confronted with a potentially risky situation, and we are vigilant to ensure that we have done everything in our power to protect them from harm.  But, a little fear and apprehension is a natural function of being a parent, and we can be more effective at protecting our children when we unite as a community.  In that vein, I am grateful to the distinguished panel of experts who made the evening a success:

Panelists:

• Vicki Shaw (forum moderator), health teacher at South Orangetown Central School District and SOCASA Director
• Michael Leitzes, MBA, Commissioner of the Rockland County Department of Mental Health
• Stephanie Madison, LMSW, President & CEO of Mental Health Association of Rockland
• Susan Hoerter, MD, Rockland County Department of Health Medical Director
• Thomas Zugibe, Rockland County District Attorney
• Donald Butterworth, Orangetown Police Department Captain
• Jon, Community Member in Recovery
• Terri Klausner Fails, Community Member/Parent

Thank you to the SOCSD Board of Education members who were present at the event.

Also special thanks to the representatives from NAMI Rockland, Mental Health Association of Rockland County, the Partnership for Safe Youth, RCADD, Candle Rockland, Samaritan Daytop Village and the Behavioral Health Response Team.  These folks were all in attendance and provided additional information and resources before and after the panel discussion.

The event was co-sponsored by the Family Resource Center, South Orangetown PTAs and SOCASA.

Happy Thanksgiving 2017

by Robert Pritchard, Ed.D. | Nov 22, 2017 | Updates

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues but the parent of all others.”  –  Marcus Tullius Cicero

I would like to wish each and every member of our South Orangetown Central School District Community – students, families, loved ones, friends, and staff – a very happy Thanksgiving. We are dedicated to the prospect that each of our students understands the meaning of “gratitude” as “the greatest of virtues.” This is because being thankful can have a transformative effect on the lives of our students and their families. For this reason, Thanksgiving is a special holiday event and I am hopeful that all of our students and their families will have an opportunity to reflect on those aspects of their lives for which each is thankful.  

On that note, I have included an excerpt from a blog post that I wrote back in November 2015 entitled, Gratitude – the Science of Being Happy.  

“What Good is Gratitude?” by Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at UC Davis

So what’s really behind our research results—why might gratitude have these transformative effects on people’s lives? I think there are several important reasons, but I want to highlight four in particular.

1. Gratitude allows us to celebrate the present.It magnifies positive emotions.  Research on emotion shows that positive emotions wear off quickly. Our emotional systems like newness. They like the novelty. They like change. We adapt to positive life circumstances so that before too long, the new car, the new spouse, the new house—they don’t feel so new and exciting anymore. But gratitude makes us appreciate the value of something, and when we appreciate the value of something, we extract more benefits from it; we’re less likely to take it for granted. In effect, I think gratitude allows us to participate more in life. We notice the positives more, and that magnifies the pleasures you get from life. Instead of adapting to goodness, we celebrate goodness. We spend so much time watching things—movies, computer screens, sports—but with gratitude, we become greater participants in our lives as opposed to spectators.
2. Gratitude blocks toxic, negative emotions, such as envy, resentment, regret—emotions that can destroy our happiness. There’s even recent evidence, including a 2008 study by psychologist Alex Wood in the Journal of Research in Personality, showing that gratitude can reduce the frequency and duration of episodes of depression. This makes sense: You cannot feel envious and grateful at the same time. They’re incompatible feelings. If you’re grateful, you can’t resent someone for having something that you don’t. Those are very different ways of relating to the world, and sure enough, research I’ve done with colleagues Michael McCullough and Jo-Ann Tsang has suggested that people who have high levels of gratitude have low levels of resentment and envy.
3. Grateful people are more stress resistant. There’s a number of studies showing that in the face of serious trauma, adversity, and suffering if people have a grateful disposition, they’ll recover more quickly. I believe gratitude gives people a perspective from which they can interpret negative life events and help them guard against post-traumatic stress and lasting anxiety.
4. Grateful people have a higher sense of self-worth. I think that’s because when you’re grateful, you have the sense that someone else is looking out for you—someone else has provided for your well-being, or you notice a network of relationships, past and present, of people who are responsible for helping you get to where you are right now.

During the month of November, many of us will celebrate Veterans’ Day and Thanksgiving…these events are perfect opportunities that remind us to be grateful, not only on these special occasions but every day in all that we do.

Facilities and Capital Projects Planning

by Robert Pritchard, Ed.D. | Nov 17, 2017 | Updates

On November 9, the SOCSD Facilities Committee met to review proposals from architects for the purpose of maintaining our school buildings.  The primary role of the architect is to capture the vision of the board of education as this pertains to creating safe and productive learning spaces for our children.  In the coming weeks, the SOCSD Facilities Committee will review and discuss the proposals for architectural services and make a recommendation to the board of education for their consideration and prospective appointment.  We are hopeful to have our architects appointed in December to assist us in the process of facilities improvements.  Our Board of Education, staff, and community stakeholders will continue to engage in a planning process that preserves and improves our publicly-owned assets.  This process will reflect an emphasis on safety, long-range fiscal stewardship, cost savings, mission-focus, and design elements that meet the needs of 21st Century Learning.

• Safety:  The scope of work that takes the highest priority are those elements of capital improvements that have a direct impact on the safety of our students.  Each year, the community approves an amount of funding in its annual school budget dedicated for the purpose of addressing capital projects that keep our students and staff safe and healthy.  Our board of education develops this scope of work using input from the Building Conditions Survey (an analysis of our facilities provided by a licensed architect) and the recommendations of the administration.
• Long-range fiscal stewardship and cost: While we may have unlimited wants and expectations, the reality is that we are living in an environment of limited resources that holds us responsible for maintaining long-term fiscal stability.  If you have ever done home improvements in your own homes, you understand that there are costs associated with homeownership and different ways to pay for those capital projects (cash-in-hand, store credit, second mortgage, etc.).  Similarly, we have decisions to make concerning how we finance our capital projects in our school district. For example, smaller capital projects can be funded using our annual operating budget, while larger capital projects may use borrowing through the issuance of a bond.  These are the board of education decisions that are based upon public input through voter referendum and consider the “needs and wants” from a variety of stakeholders.
• Mission focus and design: In order to outpace the demands placed on our students by the 21st Century global economy, we have introduced Learner-Active, Technology-Infused Classrooms (LATIC) as the norm in our school district (Sulla, 2011).  We are creating spaces in our facilities that promote student-driven learning opportunities where students are inspired to create, explore, design, and innovate.  The “factory model” classroom no longer meets the needs of modern society.  This is because changes in technology are increasing at a rate that exponentially exceeds our ability to adapt to those changes in antiquated instructional spaces.  Dr. Culot (Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction) along with myself and Ms. Sandy Winkler (School Business Administrator) recently met with our school principals to gather insight into what contemporary learning spaces might look like and how these ideas may better inform our capital project planning.  Each principal will, in turn, be meeting with the SOCSD teachers to discuss how to transform antiquated and classical spaces into contemporary classrooms that are better aligned with the LATIC methodologies that are presently in practice.  The following table describes the characteristics of antiquated, classical, and contemporary classroom spaces (Jacobs, 2017):

• Reflects the wishes of the community: After all of these aspects of facilities planning have been considered, the spaces themselves need to reflect the goals and wishes of the community. These spaces belong to the people of South Orangetown and are a manifest of our aspirations for our children.  Over the years, we have heard the public express their ideas concerning green spaces, environmental sustainability, economic feasibility, and programmatic priorities such as athletics and performing arts. All of the voices in our community should be listened to and are welcomed.

If anyone in our community wishes to become more involved, the best place to start is to attend any of our regularly scheduled Board of Education meetings. Here, we will have a standing agenda item that highlights the activities of our Facilities Committee and we encourage members of our community to participate in public commentary.

References

Jacobs, H. (2017). Bold Moves for Schools: How We Create Remarkable Learning Environments. ASCD. Alexandria, VA.
Sulla, N. (2011). Students Taking Charge: Inside the Learner Active Technology Infused Classroom.  Routledge. New York, NY. http://www.idecorp.com/index.php/youll-know-it-when-you-see-it/

Innovative Student Assessment

by Robert Pritchard, Ed.D. | Nov 3, 2017 | Updates

The SOCSD Board of Education, instructional staff, and instructional support staff are engaged in a meaningful dialogue that we are confident will lead to classrooms filled with learners who are characteristically innovative (this includes adults as well as students).  On Monday, October 30, the SOCSD Board of Education and administration had a “retreat” to have an open discussion about our shared vision and commitment to providing an education to all of our students in the context of what our local community considers meaningful in the 21^st Century global environment.  In order to do so, we must consider “deep implementation across systems, structures, and policy (Jacobs, 2017).”

One of those tricky variables that seem to confound educators is the current system of standardized testing.  Scholars, policymakers, educators, advocates, have made a compelling case against the current focus on value-added standardized testing.  According to Heidi Hayes Jacobs (2017) this form of accountability has had a detrimental effect on schools’ capacity to modernize learning environments.  Standardized testing is a misuse of data, time, and money; suppresses innovation and creativity; and discourages teamwork and inadvertently supports teacher/student isolation (Jacobs, 2017).  So…what to do?  By-in-large, New Yorkers have opted-out of a flawed system of accountability, but what should we put in its place?  There are several models for assessing students’ work that allow us to determine whether they have learned the material or not.

What if assessment itself could contribute to the learning process?  This suggests that learning and assessment (testing) need not be mutually exclusive.  Alan November, of November Learning Associates, states that assessment can be used as a process to promote learning and not just serve the purpose of measuring student progress.  In his article, “Assessment for Learning,” Alan November illustrates assessment practices that are more social in nature – that is, students are encouraged to share their results with classmates using an iterative process.  Mr. November states, “the technique involves testing students twice: once individually and once in groups.”  He adds, “it’s something I first saw practiced by Harvard physics professor Eric Mazur, who has redesigned the culture of his classroom to have students own their learning (November, 2017).”

Whatever means we choose to assess student learning, it is clear that the current method of testing needs to catch up with the times, the needs of the students, and the needs of society as a whole.  Most modern day Americans are comfortable using the internet and other “crowd sourced” means to assess the quality of goods and services (e.g., Uber, Amazon, Yelp! Etc.) so it stands to reason that related technologies can help our students assess their own learning and chart a personalized course for future learning opportunities.  Heidi Hayes Jacobs states, “as self-navigators and professional learners, individual students are self-monitoring growth on their personalized pathway day-to-day and year-to-year in a digital-media format (Jacobs, 2017).”  We are looking forward to the exciting opportunities that await our young learners as they collaborate on innovative assessment where they can share their findings with other young learners.

Jacobs, H.H. (2017).  Bold Moves for Schools.  ASCD.  Alexandria, VA

November, A. (2017).  Assessment for Learning.  http://novemberlearning.com/educational-resources-for-educators/teaching-and-learning-articles/assessment-for-learning/