Digging into the data..

There are many studies when it comes to education and just as many opposing opinions on these studies. Two examples of different views on the same study can be found here: (Globe and Mail) and (Ottawa Citizen)

I'll dig a bit deeper when looking at data as a trustee. We can not just accept one interpretation of data but we also must not blindly accept the data as accurate. Alberta Education recently conducted the second part of "Tell Them From Me Survey" . In this research, they ask questions of school children about their education, their home life and how they feel about both. Perception is reality, BUT when you look at the psychology of children, you quickly realize that their understanding of questions and more importantly how quickly that perception changes, you realize that the data is merely a snap shot of one moment in time and that answers may not be truthful, just what the child perceives at the time. We can't read a lot into the data. We must tread carefully when making decisions based on this data.

In my experience designing survey's and conducting them, bias can make a survey almost irrelevant. The order the questions are in, the wording of the questions and most importantly the person who conduct the survey can all add bias.

I'll use a question my son told me was on this survey. He is 12 and in grade 7. The question was, do you have 100 books? Do you think a 12 year old counts, or cares how many books he may have? I can tell you as an adult, that he does have 100 books, but he said no. Why? Because at his age and his reading level there are only a few books he now reads. So in his perception, those are the books he "has". He reads quite often on the internet and many of his textbooks are online. Add to that, the teacher bias. This survey took 50 minutes in his class and the teacher was often asked to help if the student didn't understand the question. The minute you have a person interpret a question, you have bias. When I administered survey's we were told to simply repeat the question as stated. I am fairly certain, that teachers use this as a teaching moment and may explain the question.

So when this data comes forward to the board, it is important to understand how the data was collected and for what purpose.

Fighting the good fight?

My initial reaction to the Calgary Board of Education coming out against the current teacher collective agreement with the province was WOW, that's out of character, standing up for what they believe in. Then you read the linked release and see what it is that they stand for. They say "Benefits for students are conspicuously absent from the agreement. Based on our analysis, we conclude this is not a good deal for students." but do not address any issues that affect students.

They say "We are concerned that the proposed agreement gives individual teachers exclusive control over their professional learning." also "Excellent teachers benefit from the support of visionary leaders who see the future of education. These leaders connect teachers to a vision through professional learning, which is at its best when it exists as a collaboration among professionals. If individual teachers solely direct what becomes their personal learning, how does a school district advance a common vision for student success? " Reminds me of a book I read in school called "Animal Farm".

Today, Don Braid of the Herald wrote an excellent column I encourage you to read on these issues and what they reveal about the Administrative culture at the CBE. I would like to discuss the culture of the Board of Trustee's. The comments I quoted above show a clear willingness of this board of Trustee's to follow the will of Administration. Chair Pat Cochrane said in a Metro article by Jeremy Nolais "she wasn’t worried about local relationships being impacted. She added a “one size fits all” approach may not work for Alberta school boards." But Frank Bruseker of the teachers association said in the same article “They’re making some pretty direct comments and I would say this kind of letter is not helpful,”.

They are fighting to keep administrators and are willing to throw the front line teachers under the bus to do so. The board decided to not support this agreement in a private meeting and I suspect it was not unanimous? Therefore individual trustee's, running for election in October, are not on the record for their own beliefs about this agreement. So are we fighting the good fight? Against the Government who is the sole source of your funding and against the teachers who are the front lines of delivering education to students, and for the bureaucracy. That is the question I would ask myself as a Trustee.

I had an opportunity to ask my current Trustee a question last evening at the North East Community Presidents meeting. "Now that you have come out against the agreement, what happens next?" She replied "That's the thing, we don't know"

UPDATE: News surfaced last night that indicate the board during this same private meeting voted 5-2 for raises to upper and middle management. Another clear statement by the board.

Is Vision a skill you want in a trustee?

Yesterday I spent the day proudly working with my beloved Deerfoot Soccer Club at a registration event at Renfrew Community Hall. I like to refer to them as my Deerfoot family and more importantly, many of them now call Deerfoot a family. It was at this same hall 5 years before, a decision our board made lead to a big day today for our teams this weekend.

When I started as President at Deerfoot Soccer, we had one girls team and it was at the Under 14 age group. As I gained experience as a coach I spoke to many about why were losing girls from our club. I presented to our board what I thought may have been the reason. As an under 8 coach I noticed that the 7 year old girls were starting to stop enjoying playing with boys. At that time we offered Under 10 boys, Under 10 girls and Under 10 mixed rec. league options. We never had enough girls to field a girls team and there were many girls in the mixed rec. and after speaking to several parents, noted that girls would end their soccer experience the next year. Comments like "she's tired of soccer" or "she's not into it anymore" would come my way. So we decided that we would not offer Under 10 mixed, so that girls played with girls and boys played with boys at Under 10 and up. It was a risk but we felt it was the best if we were to have a chance of keeping our girls playing long term.

I remember a day 5 plus years ago that young Lindsay Davies and her mother Melissa walked in to the same Renfrew Community Hall to register for indoor soccer. I had remembered coaching a game against Mel in under 8 the season before and we said no more than a few words to each other. They both came over and spoke to me and asked to be on a certain boys team. I told Lindsay, sorry but we don't offer mixed soccer this season and that she had to play with girls only. Her face lit up with excitement and I knew at that moment we had made the right decision. Little did I know that Mel, an assistant coach the year before would become a friend, fellow coach and teammate.  A few season's back, Mel and her assistant Jason Hansen were ready to throw in the towel on this team when we had VERY low registration numbers, I too was worried, but I pleaded patience with them on a daily basis to start the season with the low numbers and we could grow it. Weeks of going back and forth lead to a very lean season. Many losses and overworked girls due to lack of numbers. Jason and Mel worked VERY hard to build this team, one brick at a time and lost many games early on. You truly do learn more from losing, than winning.

It is said that the true mark of a coach is how many players continue to play the game. My first U6 indoor season had Ella Hansen and Claire Popadynetz. My assistant coach was Jason Hansen. That was over 8 years ago. Claire, Ella and Lindsay are the core of Melissa and Jason's U14 girls and Jason is now President of the club. I am so proud of all of them and who they have become and so happy for them today.

I met Kyle Martyn at a U6 parents meeting where we were trying to recruit coaches. Every season we have to work hard to convince coaches at this age group and that year was no exception. Kyle sat to my left and asked pointed, enthusiastic questions. It was clear to me, that this guy was a coach, he just didn't know it yet! We became fast friends. Since he coached under 8, we have had the same conversation, which I am always glad to have with him. He'd say something like "You know I won't be coaching these boys once they surpass my skill level as a coach" and I always say don't sell yourself short, you can grow as a coach just as the players can grow as players. Kyle has attended many coaching sessions and learned from other coaches around him. I have ZERO doubt that Kyle will coach as long as Seth and "his boys" as he loves to call his teams, play. I can see him on the sidelines when Seth is an adult. One U10 season, I joined forces with Kyle as an assistant coach and we had another assistant named John Shiells. John is now our Vice President and goalkeeping instructor. He assists with the U14 boys team of which there are a number of players I have coached. Kyle's assistant today, Steve Popadynetz, was a parent during my very first coaching experience at U6. We often look back to those days in amazement at how far these players have come.

So what happened this weekend that was so special? Well, in chronological order Kyle and Steve coached the U12 boys to victory to solidify a birth in the provincials. Mel and Jason led the U14 girls to victory to earn a birth in the Provincials and John and Mark Harries helped coach Ruben Franise win to earn a spot in the inner cities championships which will pit them against teams from Edmonton. All the players held their heads high, not because they had won, but because they had earned it. I am happy to have had a small part of these victories today and I stress small. The players earned it on the field, the coaches worked for years to get them there, I did the simple things. I encouraged them to develop to their highest potential and made a few decisions along the way. One might say I helped pave the road, they are the ones who had to drive it and make it the best for them.

So why would I ask if Vision is a skill you want in a trustee? What does soccer have to do with being a school trustee? Well in the same vein, the students learn and the teachers teach and deserve all the credit for any successes they achieve. When the Trustee's pave that road the students go down, they must do everything they can to keep that road smooth. I wonder how different a club Deerfoot would be if we still offered Under 10 mixed rec? If Kyle Martyn stopped coaching at U10? or what if we gave up on this team when we had low registrations ? I am sure glad I don't have to answer those questions. We all worked as a team moving in the same direction.

UPDATE: March 17th capped off Deerfoot Soccer's best season in it's history. U14 boys won Silver in Inner Cities championship. U14 girls took Bronze in Provincials in a hard fought shootout where the goalkeeper and top scorer both played through injury and the U12 boys won Gold in a game that was tied with less than a minute left. The little club that could with less than 300 total players have set the bar.

The moving target we call schools.

It has been an interesting couple of days as a candidate. Yesterday I attended a rally for a Middle School to be built in the community of Rocky Ridge. Many passionate parents braved the cold to share their views and listen to speeches. It was clear from the speech of the community Vice President Jeff Walker, that many parents felt the Calgary Board of Education was to blame for dropping the community in the school rankings. Then came the area MLA Sandra Jansen, who spoke very well about knowing the area's youth was growing and that she would advocate for a school for them recognizing there are budget constraints. Then it was on to area Trustee Joy Bowen Eyre. She spoke about advocating for all schools and a new methodology for school ranking would be rolled out very soon. A policy that was conceived and voted on in a private trustee meeting. Many questions were asked of the Trustee and many people were frustrated that they didn't get answers and that their trustee did not say she was going to bat for them.

Today, 5 passionate parents from the Lakeview and Westgate areas spoke at the CBE Trustee meeting about a Community Engagement process over moving grade 5 and 6 children into a middle school as well as French and Spanish bilingual elements. Many spoke about not being heard and that they hoped Trustees would intervene and go to bat for them. Most importantly, they had good solid ideas on how to arrive at a better decision and they felt they were ignored.

2 opposite scenarios with common feelings.

I am reminded how I started down this road to becoming a candidate for Public School Trustee for Wards 5 and 10. The frustration of speaking to CBE administration that all parents felt, from both Belfast Elementary and Mayland Heights Elementary, during the program closure process. The idea that you are not being heard and that a decision has already been made is a feeling I have felt and heard in every process I have come into contact with. When I consulted with parents at Roland Michener the following year, I asked a question to which every hand rose in the air. "How many of you feel you are being sold something here?", I asked. In end, both school's were saved, but after a lot of angst, frustration, uncertainty and lack of representation from our elected officials.

What these processes, rallies and speeches point out to me, more than anything, is that no matter who can solve the problem, who caused the problem and what the problem is, one must first listen. Listen to concerns, listen to questions, answer the questions, listen to possible solutions, give those solutions some respect and share them all to make the best decision possible for everyone involved.

Hey look, it's Library Larry

Today I saw a young lady, now 12, at Cornerstone Youth Centre who I have known since she and my son were in kindergarten together. I was reminded she used to call me "Library Larry", so I thought I should share the story.

When my boy was young, we decided as a family I would be stay at home dad. So when he started going to preschool and kindergarten, I was the happy helper and volunteer parent. Mrs. Fache, his kindergarten teacher sold me on a regular (2 or 3?) day a week job as library helper. I said "sure, sounds like fun". Fun until my first day when Mrs. Fache exuberantly yells out in her best Romper Room, kindergarten teacher voice, "Hey look it's the Library Fairy" as she smiled and looked my way. My chin must have dropped to the ground as she had not previously shared the title with me.

I said, "that's the last day you'll call me that and I am not buying the t shirt" with a smile and tongue in cheek, but I did have some male friends I did not want knowing about this. I guess they know now? So I went about my business helping the kids with their library cards and checking out books. half an hour later I was back home figuring out how I deal with this damage to my male pride.

The poet in me, came up quickly with "Library Larry". That's the winner! The next day I told her I would really be more comfortable with that. Word did get around to former Library fairies and I was offered their wings and wands. It really was a fun job and fun conversations with people when I told them of the bullet I had dodged. So today, a 12 year old still calls me Library Larry and my son still enjoys reminding me from time to time with pride and a smile. After Dad, Library Larry has been one of the most important titles I've had.

Walking the Walk.

Walking the Walk.

I recall shortly after Mayor Nenshi was elected, I attended a talk by him at the Unitarian Church and he said during that talk what keeps him up at night is “how to keep citizens engaged in their city” . When I had an opportunity to ask a question I encouraged him by saying “if you want to keep citizens engaged, continue to walk the walk”

So when I say, “Putting the Public in Public Education” there is a real life opportunity to walk the walk everyday of the campaign and into elected office. This first week I had the opportunity to speak to a wonderful couple who see their community school, the one that one of them attended as a child, having struggles. Their small children attend a private school, but this couple are still looking for a way to help and impact their community public school and Alma mater.

I was asked if I thought they could have an impact and I told them “of course you can!” I wanted to share this story as I think their feelings may not be unique? Do you feel you can have a positive impact on your neighborhood public school? Parents and community members at large can have an outstanding impact on their schools. Did you know that any member of the community, not just parents can attend school council meetings?

But how does one help? There is the complex question. Each school is a unique place, with it's own individual character, parents, students, teachers and administration. Having experienced 3 different principals in my son's elementary years, I can tell you first hand that the Principal has the greatest impact of all the factors. In my experience 3 different principals, felt like 3 different schools. So they are going to meet with the principal to discuss the issues and challenges in hopes of finding an opportunity to help.

I hope to update you with some positive results and details as I receive updates. I am fairly certain that the principal will be open and this couple will find that opportunity to help make the school a better place for student learning and success.

If you have a story or would like to impact your community school in Wards 5 and 10, I'd love to hear from you larry4trustee@gmail.com