In a perfect public school world, a Board of Education and superintendent would have ample time to deliberate a major change in administration before creating a new position and appointing a person to fill that slot. Unfortunately, ours is not a perfect world and sometimes time is of the essence. This reality shaped the discussion during the meeting on June 20th during which time the Board of Education approved my recommendation to create the new position of assistant superintendent and appoint the current High School Principal, Kim Moritz, effective July 1st. I would like to take this opportunity to explain the rationale in more detail for those who missed the meeting or did not view the discussion on our public television station. As I do, please recognize that the Board action also involved a personnel matter. Thus, I need to balance Kim Moritz’s confidentiality against the public’s right to know. Those interested in Ms. Moritz’s thoughts on the matter may choose to visit her blog at ghsprincipal.edublogs.org. There were basically three reasons for making the change.
First, it is now extremely difficult to recruit and retain experienced and highly qualified administrators all across New York State. The problem is even more severe in the rural districts such as Gowanda. During the last two weeks the District experienced the resignations of the School Business Administrator and Transportation Supervisor. The loss of both central office administrators speaks to the amount of movement in the field and the need to retain qualified personnel in key positions. Honestly speaking, the talents we all recognize in Kim Moritz are attracting the attention of other school districts which are not averse to stealing her away from Gowanda. Some are anxious to do so ASAP. This move by the Board helped to “lock her in” so to speak.
Second, the District needs a person dedicated to supervising, coordinating and working on our PK-12 curriculum, instruction and assessment. 2002 was the last year the District had a person working on these areas to the exclusion of everything else. It has been one of my objectives for five years to secure an assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and assessment but the stars never lined up favorably to make it happen. This time it all came together. Please know that Ms. Moritz will not take work away from the Superintendent. She is expected to DO MORE and as a result, improve and expand the educational opportunities available to our students. Due to the personnel losses in the business office and bus garage, I expect to assume oversight responsibilities in these two departments, plus technology. For the past five years, these responsibilities have rested with the School Business Administrator. The tentative plan is for the new business manager to concentrate on fiscal matters and not assume oversight for the departments just mentioned.
Third, the Board is looking ahead to the time when it may have to replace the current superintendent. Even though there is no guarantee Kim Moritz would be appointed after me, at least the Board has the option. Recognizing that the pool of qualified superintendents is so shallow, forward thinking Boards are trying to develop talent from within. I believe this reality also influenced the decision.
From a budgetary perspective, the District is able to afford the new position. For the past five years the District has experienced sound fiscal management and there is room in the 2007-08 budget to fund the position. We always plan for contingencies. In addition, the State provided additional revenue specifically for the purpose of improving educational outcomes for high need school districts like Gowanda. I truly believe this change will provide Gowanda with one more important element of an effective school. In this climate, we simply could not afford to lose such an important community asset to another school district.
It seems that at least a few good people have visited my new blog and tried to post a comment. Unfortunately, only two of at least four responses have successfully arrived for me to moderate and include herein. I apologize but I am unsure whether it is me or my host, Edublogs. All day today the folks here at my school district have received failure messages when trying to visit my blog or that of our Hiogh School principal. So for the time being, I will assume the problem was not mine. I invite you to try again. If you have problems please do not hesitate to email me at crinaldi@gowcsd.org. I will then work to rectify the problem if it is at my end. Thanks, especially to the gentleperson from California who commented about the blue track.
This is my first blog. It is posted without preface or pretense. The sole purpose is to communicate with the Gowanda, NY school community. Let’s begin by discussing a blue vs. black track.
On Wednesday, June 20th, the Board of Education will decide the type of artificial track surface to install at our newly renovated athletic complex, Hillis Field. The initial decision to go with a black track was made over a year ago when the school district was in the early stages of a capital improvement project approved by the voting public in November of 2005. Now that the project is under budget and we are entering the final stage of the renovations, the Board has the luxury of considering upgrades to the track.
The manufacturer produces artificial track material with a variety of options. A black track is made up of the same black material throughout the thickness of the entire product. A blue track is created by applying the blue coloring on top of the black track material. The reason for the debate stems from the fact that the blue track is very similar to the school’s colors – Panther blue. Proponents believe installing a blue track will be both aesthetically pleasing and promote school spirit. This is extremely important in a high school that is trying hard to establish itself as a model of excellence both in the classroom and on the athletic field. One need only refer to the high school principal’s blog at ghsprincipal@edublogs.org to ascertain how important it is to install a blue track.
During the meeting on June 20th, I will encourage the Board and those in attendance to evaluate the pros and cons of a black vs. blue track against criteria, in no particular order, that includes:
- Cost of initial installation,
- Maintenance,
- Durability/Longevity,
- Aesthetics, and
- Ability to engender school spirit.
I will also share the results of my interviews with architects, installers, track athletes and other school district personnel who recently installed blue tracks; all in the hope of helping the Board make the right decision. In fact, with the help of this blog I can disseminate this information in advance of the Board meeting to interested members of the Gowanda community.
There is no doubt that a blue track encourages school spirit. Imagine attending or running a track meet on a surface that screams “Go Panthers!” Hillis Field is located in a beautiful topographical bowl next to the Cattaraugus Creek that is easily seen from a major thoroughfare entering both the Village of Gowanda and the school district property. It commands attention and the blue track would accentuate an already advantageous location. No doubt the blue track screams out school spirit.
Putting aside the aesthetics of the blue track, here is what I learned of the practicalities of blue vs. black.
Since the black track is made up of material that permeates the entire product, it is less likely to fade. I spoke to a runner who graduated in 2006 and she expressed the observation that any surface other than black actually comes up on the bottom of the athletes’ running shoes. This explains the opinion of the building and grounds supervisor from Chittenango Falls CSD where a blue track was installed in 1997. When I spoke directly to him during the week of June 6th, he indicated his school district was disappointed in the blue surface and was planning to abandon it in favor of red. He said that after 2-3 years, the blue faded to a considerable degree. This is the opinion expressed by the installers from Nagle Seal Coating who believe that black is a better choice from the perspective of durability and longevity. The company president states the blue color will change within a six month period as it is extremely “Ultra Violet unstable.” In addition, the blue color is expensive, adding about 20% on to the cost of the job and up to 50% to the cost of future renovations.
According to the school district’s architects, Habiterra Associates, the black track is preferable to blue when taking into consideration the cost of initial installation, durability/longevity and maintenance. From a monetary perspective, it costs an additional $30-40,000 to install a blue track. The life-expectancy of a black track as measured by its visual attraction is estimated at 10-15 years. As I wrote earlier, a blue track begins to lose its luster after six months.
There is one more thing for you to consider. According to the contractor responsible for the overall quality of the Hills Field site renovation, a black track can be made visually appealing by the installation of color highlights in the form of school logos, striping and numbers/letters. There are ample open spaces on the Hillis Field track surface for this to occur.
So there it is. Blue expresses school spirit and esprit d’corps far in excess of the more mundane black surface. Black seems the practical choice if cost and durability are the overriding criteria. It is a hard choice before the Board of Education and I hope this blog helps to explain the deliberations on June 20th.
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