The Newest Member of the PEAB for Eastern Washington University....

...is me!

I've been thinking a lot lately about the interplay between the schools of education and the K-12 system writ large, so I'm excited to be a part of this process.

Should be fun!

(What's a PEAB? This is a PEAB.)

Read more here, if any.

Eastern Washington University to Reid School: Drop Dead!

I’ve written before on the ongoing debate about what to do with the Robert E. Reid Laboratory School. It’s located on the campus of Eastern Washington University but operated by the Cheney School District under a joint agreement. It’s also a building sorely in need of some upgrades that EWU doesn’t want to provide.

And it’s frankly obvious that Eastern doesn’t know what they have in Reid. Consider these comments from David Rey, a spokesman for EWU:

But the university no longer sees Reid fitting into its educational parameters as a resource in training teachers. Most of the university’s education majors get their classroom experience at other schools within the district, or other nearby districts. Rey said only 12-15 students use Reid for such training each year. Furthermore, economic conditions make it impractical in spending $4.3 million – more with inflation factored in – to fix up a facility used by 116 or so students.

“I know there’s a lot of passion about Reid school,” Rey said, adding that many people have put lots of time and energy into making the school a little “jewel.”
But Eastern faces other needs that are more relevant to its mission of providing higher education, such as renovations to its major classroom building Patterson Hall, as well as future expansions to on-campus residence halls, and the Science Building.

“The property it’s (Reid) on is of much more use to us than the building itself,” Rey said.

And there, in the last paragraph, you see the real reason why Eastern doesn’t want to support Reid the way they should. If this is a land grab it’s a profoundly stupid one; they’d be better served to go after some of the dilapidated apartment buildings that ring the campus, or build up by the Red Barn and the football field where there is plenty of open land.

The piece that’s really annoying to me is the giant opportunity that Eastern is missing here. If they look at Reid as only providing training for 12 to 15 student teachers a year, then they’re certainly not getting the full picture. Reid also hosts practicum students, students who need their observation time, and whole classes of beginning teachers who can sit up in the crow’s nest and watch instruction take place. For any student in the education department, it’s a great tool to have so close.

Consider, too, the synergy possible when the ivory tower is so close to the primary classroom, like to see with Reid. A professor of education at Eastern can walk out of their office and walk to the Reid School without ever stepping out of doors—the buildings are adjacent and connected. There are opportunities there for intervention and authentic action research that you’ll find nowhere else, and just because the school hasn’t been used with the efficiency that it could have been is no reason to disregard it entirely.

A decade ago the education department at Eastern was floundering. The department chair was woefully unsuited for the position, the Dean of the college was on his way out towards retirement, and while there were some excellent professors (Marilyn Carpenter) there were others who were so clearly disconnected from what really happened in the classroom that their classes were rendered meaningless.

I’ve seen a turnaround, though, from a number of perspectives. As a teacher who hosts practicum students and student teachers in his classroom I’ve been gratified to see the emphasis that Eastern has been putting into getting the kids more authentic classroom time. As a student in their Masters and Administrative programs I’ve been impressed by the leadership that I’ve seen from people like Les Portner, Jane Liu, Harvey Alvy, and many more. They’ve turned the corner, and they’re on their way.

So celebrate that fact! Tear down the old Reid School and build a new one, two stories tall. Staff it with the best teachers you can find, create the ideal classroom environments, put in all the special programs you can, then step back and see what happens. There is no other Education program that I’m aware of that has a laboratory school in such close proximity—this is a perfect opportunity for Eastern to get itself on the forefront of the reform movement and make a splash with the potential to resonate for decades down the road.

The direction that they’re moving towards with their Education Department is to make it just one more program in the University. Why not try and make it something special?

Read more here, if any.

Failed the Morals Clause

In my most recent principal’s certificate class I got an A on the major paper, an A- on the major presentation, and nailed the final, too.

I’m rather sad that they threw me out of the program.

Read more here, if any.

I Saw It Coming, But That Didn’t Make It Any Easier

Longtime readers know that I’ve been enrolled in a school leadership program this year with an eye towards maybe, eventually making the transition from classroom to the principalship. I’ve done well in my classes—I’d recommend Eastern’s program to anyone—but there’s been a nagging fear in the back of my head for a while now: my union work.

The circumstances that lead to me becoming president of my local are colorful, and when I’ve managed to get some more distance from the situation I’ll probably spill exactly why I took the office. At the end of the day, though, it’s left me in a position where I’m the union president, the lead negotiator for our open contract, and the political action coordinator for my local Uniserv council—I’m in it up to my neck, and that’s OK because I really like my union work.

There’s the problem, though, and it involves the administrative internship that is required before you can get your principal’s certificate. During the internship you need to make the transition from teacher to administrator, to be able to look at situations with an administrator’s eye, and be able to take part in the functions of the school from a completely administrative point of view. As union president, though, I can’t do that.

As an example, let’s consider disciplinary actions. Recently in my school we discovered that one of the paraprofessionals (parapros) had a folder on her computer where she was storing some racy, racy pictures that she’d found on the internet. They were discovered by the tech when he was doing routine maintenance. The para and the superintendent met that same day with the PSE president, the para was out the door that same afternoon, and she was out of a job within just a couple of days. This all happened under the watch of the administrative intern I have in my building now.

Now consider if that was a teacher. What’s my role in the room: administrative intern, or union president? Here you truly can’t live in both worlds, because those two worlds are in conflict. It doesn’t work.

So on Wednesday before class I met with the two men who run my program, and they laid it all out on the table: either quit your union work, or quit the program. I told them that with negotiations having begun the day before I simply could not do that—not only would it be unethical, but when word got around that Ryan quit on the members so that he could go play administrator any chance that I would have to lead the teachers from a moral viewpoint would be completely ruined. People would understand me moving into administration; people would not understand me leaving them in the lurch to pursue my own interests.

So I had to make a choice, but there was only one choice to make. I’m going to have to give back the state-funded internship grant that I received from the Association of Washington School principals, and after I complete the class I’m in now it’s game over. Maybe the year will come where I’m out of my involvement with the WEA and where I’m not representing the people in my district, and then I can look at making the shift.

As for now, though, this will need to be a dream deferred.

Read more here, if any.

Taking the Leap

I’ve decided to begin an administrative program this fall.

It’s sort of been an evolution. When I went into teaching I never would have figured myself as the guy in the principal’s office, but as the years have gone by a lot of the people I work with have said that they could see me doing it. My work with the Association has shown me, too, that the best way to represent your school is to have a seat at the table, and I’m hoping that I can do a lot of good for my school and my kids by taking that next step.

It’s also a tough decision, because of the Union. I like being vice-president of my local. I like being involved in my regional Uniserv office, and going to the WEA Leadership Academy next week may well be the highlight of my summer. I think that if I stuck with it I could have a shot at getting more leadership roles higher up, which would be a neat thing.

This is also our open year for our contract, so next summer we’ll be hitting the bargaining table again. That’s going to take a lot of my concentration, because there are some big issues that have presented themselves in recent years. It’s also a tough position, to bargain for the teachers while at the same time making plans to not be one of them any longer, but I think that people have enough faith in my character to know that I’m going to fight for the membership every bit as hard as I would otherwise. It’ll be fun!

The final deal-breaker was looking at where things could be going with my daughter. If the insurance says no to the cochlear implants, we may have to go it alone. She starts at the HOPE School, our area school for deaf kids, this fall in their toddler group, an expense that is covered by the county social services office, but there’s still a cost involved in the days that I’ll take off, the childcare, the transportation, the other extended learning opportunities that have shown success with deaf kids, etc. To provide the kind of life that I want to provide her, I have to step it up somewhere. The principalship seems like a good means to that end.

Frankly, it’s also an exciting proposition. Setting the agenda, leading the charge, helping a whole school be successful—I really like that idea. I doubt that I’d get a job right out of the program, but having the credential would give me options, and that’s always a happy thing.

I decided to go with Eastern, which was an easy, easy choice after speaking with Les Portner, who runs their leadership program. My Master’s degree was through EWU, so I’d already taken many of the classes required for the administrator’s certificate. With 5 classes and an internship, to be done in the 2008 – 2009 school year, I’ll be legal.

The classes look pretty interesting, too. Should give me a ton of fodder for the blog!

Read more here, if any.

A Little Love for the Alma Mater

Was in Cheney the other day to do some banking, and it’s incredible to see how much the town has changed in even the ten years since I showed up in the fall of 1996. It used to be that Cheney started with the McDonalds and the car wash, but now with the new hotel and the Safeway store and the Starbucks it’s looking more and more like a soulless berg of the damned than a small college town.

(Just kidding, Cheney! I kid because I love!)

Anyhow, at the bank they had a stack of The Easterner, the campus newspaper for EWU. Under Stephen Jordan the college grew and grew, and to my mind one of the biggest upgrades can be seen in the form of the school paper—it’s filled with real journalism, and it just plain looks good. It actually looks better than the Cheney Free Press, which says a lot about both newspapers. Their website looks great, too.

Good Job, EWU!

Read more here, if any.