District Strategic Plan-Technology Plan Gap Analysis

I was recently asked, as part of my MASSP, "Pathway to Leadership" program, to do a review and gap analysis of our Escanaba School District Strategic Plan and Technology Plan.  The following is my analysis of the documents as they compare to the EnGauge Framework tool.

My initial review of our plans revealed a collaborative work in progress.  Both plans involved the unified efforts of various district stakeholders, brought together for the purpose of re-evaluating our school district's mission, vision, and goals, so that they directly reflect the ideas and needs of our students, parents and staff.  The Escanaba School's Strategic and Technology plans are documents that are continuously reviewed by our District School Improvement Committee (consisting of the Superintendent, principals, teachers, parents, students, and community members), as well as final approval and adoption by our Board of Education.

The Escanaba School's Strategic Plan addresses four key areas, including, improving student achievement, effectively communicating with all stakeholders, providing safe facilities, and maintaining fiscal responsibility district wide.  It was the focus of the District School Improvement Team to ensure that each of these goals be measurable, to determine whether or not we were successfully moving toward achievement of that goal.  This strategic plan is re-evaluated every three years under the unified efforts of the stakeholder group, to measure it's progress and re-align the goals to the current district needs.

The Escanaba School's Technology Plan was developed in a similar fashion as the Strategic Plan.  The District School Improvement Committee, under the guidance of the Superintendent, Michele Lemire, and Robert Viau (District Technology Director), developed our 2012-2015 Tech plan by aligning with the needs and goals as established in the Strategic Plan.  The tech plan is guided by the idea that all Escanaba students should acquire the skills needed to work, live, and learn in a technological society.  It is the goal of the plan to prepare our administrators, teachers, and students to access, interpret, analyze, and communicate information successfully in both work and life applications.  This Technology Plan provides a detailed overview, by academic level, and determined by social and academic achievement needs, to reflect the hardware, software, process needs, and training opportunities that will ensure successful progress in 21st Century classrooms and schools.  The Escanaba School District has made the commitment to outfit and maintain classrooms that utilize state of the art Apple computers, ceiling-mounted digital projectors, document cameras, and either MacBook Pro laptops or ipads for each teacher.

Utilizing the "EnGauge Framework" tool to evaluate our current educational technology plans, helps to identify the direction of our technology plans as it relates to meeting the needs of all learners and increasing student achievement on local and state assessments.  The framework revealed to me that our district is not only on the right track by providing our students the skills they need to succeed in the 21st century, but that we are technological leaders among our local counterparts.  The opportunities we can provide to our students give them that "one step ahead" that they need as they head out into the competitive college and career market.  The EnGauge Framework helped to identify our areas of excellence, as well as our deficiencies.  One of our key areas of excellence involves communication with our district stakeholders.  With the use of a multitude of mediums such as, email, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, PowerSchool, BLI Messaging System, Edmodo, and many more, we are able to effectively communicate all information and activities to our community quickly and easily.  Long gone are the days of waiting for the student's report card to get information from the school system.

Another area of strength is the variety and amount of technological opportunities that we provide to our students to enhance their academic needs.  Every classroom contains an Apple computer, short throw digital projector, document camera, and interactive Aver pens for our whiteboards.  All district teachers have been provided either a MacBook Pro or an ipad for their instructional needs in the classroom.  After undergoing a major renovation of our Junior/Senior High School facility, we now have an all encompassing wireless system for both staff and student use.  We encourage the use of personal electronic devices in school for educational purposes, as directed by our teaching staff.  By having an open access wireless system, the students are able to use their devices for research, presentations, and processing needs.

The framework also helped to identify areas of deficiency in our district technology plan.  The framework's category of "Educator Proficiency"showed there is a further need to offer staff additional training as we continue to move forward with the use of 21st Century technologies.  Some of our staff have embraced their "new" technologies, that were made possible with our recent bond proposal, while others struggle with change and how to effectively adopt them into their daily instructional strategies.  Our Junior and Senior High Schools are becoming look ahead with offering our students opportunities in STEM related courses in the upcoming year.  This will require additional opportunities for professional learning sessions for our staff, as well as additional tech support as we move forward.

It is always a goal of our district to continuously work toward closing the achievement gap between both socio-economic groups and gender groups.  It is the hope of the district that by providing the technological tools to students, a variety of learning styles will be positively affected and will therefore, increase student achievement of all students.  An area of concern with this involves the further opening of the segregation gap between the "haves" and the "have-nots".  We live in a struggling economic community with increasing unemployment levels.  By allowing students to bring personal electronic devices, while others do not have them, we are increasing the gap between levels.  We will need to continue to even the playing field between these two levels during the school day, to allow for the success of all of our students.

It will be vital, as we move forward, to continuously review both our District Strategic Plan and Technology Plan to determine the training and technological needs of staff and students, to enhance the instructional strategies used in classrooms and increase student learning and success.  To view our current Escanaba Schools Strategic and Technology Plans - please go the Escanaba Schools website (www.eskymos.com).

Upcoming Escanaba Jr. High Events

Friday, Oct. 19th:  No School for students due to Teacher Professional Development

Tuesday, Oct. 23:  8th Grade Band Concert at the Oliver Auditorium 7pm.

Thursday, Oct. 25:  Jr. High Halloween Fun Night/Dance in the Multipurpose room, 6-8pm.

Tuesday, Oct. 30:  7th Grade Band Concert at the Oliver Auditorium 7pm.

Thursday, Nov. 1st:  EJHS Fall Fiesta Family Dinner Night, sponsored by the PTO, 5-7pm.

Thursday, Nov. 8th:  Jr./Sr. High Parent Teacher Conferences, 5-8pm

Friday, Nov. 9th:  Jr./Sr. High Parent Teacher Conferences, 9am-12pm

Hope to see you at many of our Student Events!

PowerSchool is up and running!

Our PowerSchool grading / attendance system is up and running for the 2012-13 school year.  Please continue to monitor your child's attendance, assignments, and academic progress as frequently as possible. If you have difficulty signing into the PowerSchool portal, please feel free to contact Pam Hansen in the Jr. High Main Office. You can email her at phansen@eskymos.com.

Jr. High After-school Tutoring Available!

Beginning on Monday, September 24th, there will be tutoring available Monday through Thursday from 2:30 p.m. until 3:30 p.m.  Students should listen to announcements or stop by the Jr. High office to find out which room tutoring is being held in each day.  A teacher will be on hand for one on one support at this time.  This is a drop in situation in which a student may go any day they need additional support.  Please encourage your child to attend as often as they need to.

Great Start to a new school year!

Well...we are all settled in and becoming familiar with our new 7th and 8th grade home.  We had a great turnout for our Back to School Open House and would like to send out a huge "Thank You" to all those who took time out of their busy schedules to come with your children to meet their teachers and see their classrooms.  We have worked out a few of our first day kinks and finished the week as one of our smoothest in both the Jr. High and Sr. High.  Mr. Leisenring and I were so pleased.  It is so comforting to walk the halls each day and hear all of your children greeting me with a smile and "Hi Mrs. Griebel"!  We are getting to know each other quickly and I hope to know each of them personally in a short period of time. 

Powerschool will be up and running for parents and students in a couple of weeks.  This allows our teachers time to get their gradebooks and rosters ready for you to check on your students' progress regularly.  If you have trouble accessing the Powerschool parent portal, please contact the Jr. High Office to get help.  

MEAP testing will start on October 9th and run for approximately 2 weeks.  If your child misses a day of testing, there will be make up days to get them caught up.  Please encourage your child to get plenty of rest and eat well during that time.

Lastly, Our Challenge Day Program is coming soon.  Fifty of our 7th and fifty 8th graders have been randomly selected to take part and have received permission slips to attend.  These need to be returned to the Jr. High office by Friday, Sept. 14th in order to take part.  Any student who chooses not to attend needs to let the office know as soon as possible so that another student can have the opportunity to take part in this phenomenal opportunity.  This program will help improve our school climate by developing positive student/staff relationships and to increase tolerance and compassion for others and reduce bullying.  We are eager for our Challenge Days to begin!  If you would like to help out as an adult participant any of the three days (Oct. 2, 3, or 4th), please contact Marie Young (myoung@eskymos.com) to sign up.  If you would like to help with registration and sign in each day, please contact me at dgriebel@eskymos.com.

Welcome Back to a new school year!  Please contact us with any questions or concerns.

Upcoming Spaghetti Dinner and Tours to Support Challenge Day

On Tuesday, May 15th, we will be hosting a spaghetti dinner with raffle and tours of our newly renovated facility to all interested community members.  The proceeds from this dinner will go to supporting our Challenge Day event which is scheduled for October of 2012 and will involve all grade levels of the EJHS/EHS facility.  For more information on Challenge Day, a presentation will be given that evening in the EHS auditorium at 6:00.  Otherwise, contact Darci Griebel at the Escanaba Junior High School (786-6521) for further details.

All incoming 7th & 8th grade students and their families are invited to enjoy the spaghetti dinner and then join us in the auditorium at 6:00 for information regarding your transition into your new home for the fall of 2012.  Information regarding activities and organizations that are available to our Junior High students will be discussed.  Students of our EHS Student Council/ Challenge Day Planning Committee will be on hand after the presentation to give tours of our new home.  We look forward to having everyone check out our "new" look.  All families and friends are invited to eat and tour the facility.

Parent/Student Transition Meeting for Incoming 7th & 8th Grade Students

We will be hosting a Transition meeting in the Escanaba High School Auditorium on Monday, March 5th at 6:00 p.m. to discuss our School within a School concept for the 2012-13 school year.  We welcome any incoming 7th and 8th grade parents and students to attend to hear information regarding the structure of our new "Junior High", as well as to answer as many questions as possible about our new home.  Please come to share in our discussion.  Tours of our new Jr. High wing will take place in May when construction is complete.  Stay tuned for further details.
Think Spring!
Mrs. Griebel

Welcome to the "New" Escanaba Junior High!

Welcome to the “new” Escanaba Junior High.  Work has begun to create our new school within a school concept.  This Fall we will be welcoming new 7^th and 8^th grade students to their Junior High home.  Our Junior High wing will be located in the south facing ‘A’ section of the high school building.  Transition meetings involving both 7^th and 8^th grade staff members are currently being held to pull together the best practices of the Middle School team concept with the rigorous content of the Michigan Merit Curriculum.  We will work diligently to maintain our “Middle School Students Matter!”  atmosphere where we address the unique personalities and needs of our 7^th and 8^th grade students.

We will be hosting a parent/student question and answer forum on Monday, March 5^th at 6:00 p.m. in the High School auditorium.  Come and ease your minds about your child’s new environment.  During May, when the ‘A’ wing construction is completed, we will invite all incoming 7^th and 8^th grade parents and students to come and see their new “home.”  At that time, we will be able to provide you with answers to all the questions you may still have.  We look forward to seeing you in March and May.  Feel free to contact Mrs. Griebel in the 8/9^th grade office with any questions.  You can also e-mail Mrs. Griebel at dgriebel@eskymos.com .