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Sup’s Blog

Our Kids

Dear Granite School District Families,

Over the last week, many parents and employees from across the district have shared their concerns with me regarding the brutal killing of George Floyd in Minnesota. I am reminded of holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel’s warning about remaining silent:

“When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy….wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must – at the moment – become the center of the universe.”

I was born only five years after my mother immigrated to this country, having fled her home twice – once when it was reduced to rubble by bombs and once for political reasons. I was born here in America and served in the United States Army, including a deployment in Europe during Desert Storm. I am fiercely patriotic and a loyal citizen of the United States. My own story is not very different from many people across our great country, including many here in our school district.

Part of my pride in the United States is our fundamental constitutional commitment to provide equal protection to all under the law. It is unlawful and inappropriate for children in schools to be treated differently from other children on the basis of status of any kind. There is no such thing as “our kids” and “their kids” or “those kids.” All kids are “our kids.”

More importantly, I am concerned that any of our students, and in particular at this time, our African American students, have feelings of discomfort or danger. We have made many strides over the years to create a safe learning environment and are committed to providing the services all of our students need to be successful.

I continue to call on all of our employees, teachers, and administrators to let no student feel that they are somehow second class or at risk of losing something because of their race, national origin or any other status. We have a unique opportunity in the history of our nation to be able to listen and offer empathy and understanding to those who unnecessarily suffer. We will provide needed strength and assistance through the power of education and we are committed to be bold and creative in this effort.

I encourage parents, patrons and community members to do likewise.

For any help or assistance with your child’s education, please do not hesitate, even during the summer break, to reach out to your principal directly, or to the district itself at 385-646-5000.

Thanks for your continued help and support.

Dr. Martin W. Bates, Superintendent

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A Heavy Lift

Welcome to the latest Superintendent Snapshot. To submit a question, send an email to supsblog@graniteschools.org

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Thank You

Hello all!

For quite a few years now I’ve sent a letter to everyone the last week of school, trying to express a sincere “thank you” to each and every one of you. I want to do that again today, a little early, but everything else is off schedule so my letter can be too.

A couple of weeks ago when the Governor said we’d be doing distance learning through the end of the school year, a couple of my daughters, both classroom teachers, texted that while they expected this, they were crying a bit. They never got to say goodbye to their kids and that was really sad. I know they aren’t the only ones who felt and still feel that way. Those feelings do you great credit – I honor each of you, whether a teacher or support person, for your love and concern for your students.

Now, a little different from other end of year emails, I want to answer the question everyone keeps asking me – at least give the best answer I can. What will happen in the fall?

Here we go: On the one end of the spectrum, let’s say the Governor declares everything green and we throw open our doors and welcome everyone back. Even in that scenario, I suspect that 10-20% of parents will say, “our kids aren’t coming back yet.” On the other end of the spectrum would be a declaration continuing our current status. I suppose in the middle are models where only half the kids can be in the building at a time – although I think that gets really messy.

So, if we land somewhere on that spectrum, what would we do? We’ve spent quite a bit of time wrestling back and forth with these and I want to share our thinking.

First of all, keep in mind that when a school loses students, teachers leave to different schools. If the district as a whole has fewer students, teacher (and other employee) positions are eliminated. So, no one should say “It’d be great if 10% of the kids left, we’d have smaller classes.” No, class sizes would be the same, schools would have fewer teachers. And I really hope no one is saying this to themselves, but someone might be thinking “I’ve got more seniority than lots of other teachers, I don’t care if someone loses their job, just so long as it’s not me!” Please remember, we are in this FOR the kids, but we are in this WITH each other. So, if 10% or more of our kids are choosing to stay home rather than come to school, I think it would be best to serve those kids through the schools, but in a distance modality.

I need to go off on a quick tangent and tell a story. For almost 20 years I have been teaching a distance course for Utah State University. USU wanted to be on the leading edge of distance education so they got a bunch of us to teach from our desktop computers with (then) cutting edge technology. I would sign on every Thursday afternoon and teach just as though I was in a classroom – with 20-30 students. The students would sign on from wherever they were (one semester I had a student in Finland – he would get up at 2 in the morning – his time – to sign on to the class). About 10 years ago now, USU told me that it was all well and good that students could sign on while I was teaching, but they wanted me to redesign my class so students could take it asynchronously, those who wanted to sign on when I was on could, but they didn’t have to. They wanted me to organize my class into modules that were posted at the beginning of the semester and post all kinds of things way ahead of time. Frankly, I strongly considered just quitting. But I took it on, and the initial lift was heavy, it was a lot of work and I did not enjoy it. Now however, I truly find that I have become a much better teacher, I’m much better organized, kids (my students are graduate students but they are suddenly all younger than I am) do better on assessments – I can clearly see that they are mastering the material more solidly than they were before because I am more focused and deliberate in my instruction.

Ok, tangent over. As we’ve tugged on this problem from lots of angles, here is what makes sense. Let’s presume that we are all back in our regular work locations and teachers are teaching in their classrooms, but not all the students are physically present. The teacher’s lessons for the day are recorded in whole (in part, or not at all), and correlate with materials and instruction that are accessible synchronously or asynchronously for students who are not physically present. This model presents two obvious and great challenges: (1) the initial heavy lifting to plan and organize all the materials and (2) the headache of doing everything twice (once live and once distance).

Our curriculum department is humming away right now to address both concerns. They are currently preparing distance lesson plans with scope, sequence, assessments, suggested timeline and materials for every course and class for the first quarter of next year. While they use our district lesson design template and pacing guides, the lesson plans are not intended to be followed lockstep (even though they strictly follow the core, they are a tool and the commitment is fidelity to the core, not the tool). I would think of them more as an electronic three-ring binder that you can add things to, replace things in, adhere to as closely or as loosely as you are prepared. But they do all initial heavy lifting, and, if teachers choose to have their distance instruction parallel their classroom instruction, both challenges listed above are mitigated (not absolutely resolved, but hopefully significantly mitigated).

For secondary, these lessons (courses actually) would be on Canvas so you could just load them right over. For elementary, lessons would be usable with google classroom (elementary, we may look towards Canvas as the way to deliver distance learning for all Granite students in the future but trying to make that change for the fall would be outrageous). Now, I could see a team or grade level sitting down with their principal and deciding that each teacher would take on two (or however many) kids, or, that one teacher would volunteer to take on all 8 (I’m making that number up!) for a class or subject. You can work out those details best yourselves. I don’t see this ever becoming our main mode of doing business, or ever picking up a significant market share – but it’s something we need to do to get through this current situation.

If there is something that I think this last month and a half has made abundantly clear in everyone’s minds, distance education is not for everyone. In fact, it is the best modality for only a very few. Now, there are some students who are loving it (very few) and some teachers who think it’s great as well – I have had numerous emails from teachers loving the distance format and asking how to transfer to Granite Online to do it full time. While everyone is more aware of distance learning than we were before, I think we also see that it isn’t the medium- or long-term solution to anything. Kids learn best from present, caring adults presenting in meaningful, relevant, and engaging ways. That’s what we do best.

I’m confident I’ve just prompted a million questions. We will shortly send out materials to principals that will hopefully answer lots of these questions. Please expect to hear from those leaders soon.

In sum, I apologize for a long business email to end the year, but I think it would be terrible to send you home in a few weeks wondering what in the world will happen in August. Please know how much I appreciate every one of you and your incredible work and commitment to kids. Again, whether in the classroom doing the work that is the core of our profession, or in the kitchen, or in the halls with a mop, or driving a bus, or mowing the lawn, or any of a hundred other essential functions that keep us going, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Thanks for all you do,

Martin

Filed Under: Uncategorized

School Lunch Heroes

Today we salute the many nutritional workers throughout Granite School District who are ensuring students receive healthy meals through the student dismissal.

Holiday Greetings

When I told my dad – a career educator himself – that I was going into education, he paused and then clapped me on the shoulder and told me how proud he was, and that there is no more honorable or more meaningful profession.  Some time later I overheard him talking with one of his colleagues about that conversation.  He told his colleague that his first reaction was similar to any parent’s feeling when they see something barreling towards their child – push them out of the way.  He thought about all of the challenges that he faced in his career and those he could anticipate me facing in my career.  That ran through his head during the pause.  The second reaction was the one he expressed out loud: Education is the most honorable and meaningful profession.  Today more than at any time (except tomorrow), we need committed, passionate people serving children and families in increasingly difficult situations.  As I reflect on our kids, I am frequently struck by the thought that for many we are not only their best chance, we are their only chance.  This holds true regardless of their social or economic situations.  The impact of teachers and school support people (everyone other than teachers) makes a difference, and sometimes all the difference, in the lives of the children.  I don’t say this in a fearful way, although the responsibility is awesome, but to reflect my true conviction that we work in the most honorable, meaningful and challenging of professions – shoulder to shoulder with the most honorable and committed of colleagues.  I thank you sincerely for being part of the Granite team in whatever your role may be.

Having said all that, I am so proud of my oldest four children who work in public education – three teachers and one in a support position.  I understand better my father’s pause, but wouldn’t have them doing anything else.  It is heartening as well to think that their co-workers are again, the most honorable and committed people around.  In whatever point we may be in our careers, let us offer encouraging and helping hands, cheerfully passing on what we know to the generations who will replace us.

I don’t know about all of you, but summer was winding down and I blinked and it’s already the end of December.  On the other hand this year has dragged slowly on from one challenge to the next. I’m hopeful that we can all have a significant break where we can rest up and get ready for the charge through the winter and into spring.  I’m hopeful that we get lots of snow over the break so the kids who spray paint on our schools leave footprints we can follow back to their houses.  I’m hopeful that it doesn’t get so cold that pipes break and classrooms flood.  I’m hopeful that the many, many kids whose warm and regular meals come only at school have enough to eat and I’m grateful for so many generous people who are thoughtfully sending those kids home with meals for the break.

In my home we celebrate Christmas and so personally from my family to you, I wish Merry Christmas.  In addition to other celebrations or commemorations over the next few weeks, I wish everyone happy holidays and a happy new year!

Martin