When I first heard about Mr. Norton's resignation my first reaction was shock. Secondly, I wondered if someone in his family was ill, because of the "significant personal reasons" stated in the article. Now that appears not to be the case.
I will state that I am disappointed that Mr. Norton will be unable to serve the entire term, but I also understand that circumstances change. Above all else Mr. Norton MUST do what is best for him and his family.
Scott, I wish you well in your future endeavors.
The name of this post will link you to the Herald Independent story on Mr. Norton's resignation.
Where does that leave the Village of CG and the trustees? Well we need an individual to fill this role of leading us as there are some very significant issues coming down the pipe. Does this individual serve the remainder of the term or just until a special election? On that I see both sides and at this point I don't have a strong opinion either way. My gut tends to lead towards the thought that it is an elected position, so hold a special election. However, the thought of potentially having 3 Village Presidents in 12 months is extremely unusual and rare.
Do we appoint a current trustee to the Village President position and then hold a special election for that seat in April? This scenario seems to work on many fronts. As my personal experience has shown me, the learning curve when getting into Village office or School Board is steep. It may work better to "promote" a trustee, even if they only have 5 or 6 months experience, and then elect another person into that trustees position.
I will follow this intently as I am curious how this will play out.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Norton Clarification e-mail received
I have received an e-mail from Richard Kerr and with his permission I am posting the body of it here. It is exactly as I received it. If anyone would care to respond to Mr. Kerr's e-mail I will post that also.
These thoughts, comments and opinions are solely those of Mr. Kerr. I normally would not post this but in this instance felt that there was some valuable information enclosed, namely Mr. Norton's reason for resignation. I also do not feel it would be fair to only post a portion of the e-mail; hence my posting of the entire e-mail.
Hello,
The purpose of this message is to get out the truth about false rumors
floating around the Village. If you do not want to hear the truth, then stop
reading this message.
1. Scott Norton resigned his Village
President position because he and his family are moving to
Florida.
2. When the Village Board voted Monday evening to appoint
a replacement for the duration of Scott’s term, they acted fully in compliance
with state law. The only other option they had was to let the vacancy ride until
next April.
Anyone who knows the issues facing the Village understands that
we could not afford to have the Village Presidency vacant for the next 7 months.
Even the Village Administrator stated in yesterday’s Wisconsin State Journal
that “There’s a lot on the plate right now, so it’s important to have a village
president.”
It has been suggested that the Village Board appoint a
replacement now but only until next April. It has been suggested that the
Village President position “rotate” among Trustees or others for the next 7
months. None of this is provided for under state law.
Village Board openings
in the past, including Village President, have been filled by appointment by the
Village Board.
3. There was a misleading petition being circulated by people
who should know better stating that the state law requires the Village Board to
call a special election next April. This statement is false and anyone who
signed this petition was intentionally misled.
4. In spite of the Village
Board’s decision on Monday, certain “library supporters” tried to get the
Chamber of Commerce to go on record stating that the Village Board ought to
reconsider their decision. Those who attempted to influence the Chamber of
Commerce ought to be ashamed of themselves.
These are the facts.
The
Village Board is trying to get through this difficult time in the best manner
possible and in accordance with state law. Please consider showing your support
for them with an e-mail message or a phone call.
If you wish to discuss this
matter further, please reply to this message or call me at 839-0267.
Richard
Kerr
These thoughts, comments and opinions are solely those of Mr. Kerr. I normally would not post this but in this instance felt that there was some valuable information enclosed, namely Mr. Norton's reason for resignation. I also do not feel it would be fair to only post a portion of the e-mail; hence my posting of the entire e-mail.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Sept. 22nd Board Meeting
Last night the board heard a presentation from Dr. Charles Venegoni, who is the Division Head of English and Fine Arts @ John Hersey High School in Arlington, IL. Dr. Venegoni's presentation focused on his Aligned by Design, which as systematic approach to education. Thru this approach John Hersey and other schools who have adopted this approach have achieved some, what I would call, significant results on the ACT Test.
The data presented by Dr. Venegoni paints a very good picture of this system. It really showed how all students benefit from this system. Aligned by Design has been implemented at some very diverse districts (both economically and racially) and the results have been very good. One of the things that I found interesting is that the data also shows that the higher the students score on the Explore test (taken in 8th grade) the higher their potential to score on the ACT (taken in 11th grade). That seems logical, but what I liked most was that the growth this system showed vs. others.
For the the schools that scored with in 1 point of Northtown Academy (one of the schools using this system in Chicago) on the Explore test none had the growth that Northtown did. Of the 11 different data groups only 4 had an improvement of 5 or better. Two of these four data groups started with scores more than 5.9 points higher than Northtown Academy. Northtown Academy had a 5.1 growth by their students. That to me is an impressive testament to this system.
There was lots of data and lots of information presented last night. I won't go over it all, but please visit the district website as they will be putting up much of the information their, if not all of it. I just wanted to point out one of the facts that really impressed me amongst all of the things presented.
I do have some concerns with this system. One is that it is a departure from current practice and how will it be received by the building administrators, the staff, the students and the public. Dr. Venegoni and his staff have had quite a bit of interaction with our staff, so this potential change would not be a total surprise. Another fear is that, as Dr. Venegoni stated, the district needs a champion of this system to be the face of it, to push it, to oversee it, to....etc. We may have this person(s), but we need to identify them.
The Curriculum was another concern because this system does not use textbooks exclusively. The curriculum is developed by the staff. Dr. Venegoni stated that a lot of the materials being used by other districts on this system could be adapted to our district. Dr. Venegoni also stated that the curriculum developers in those other districts would be willing to share their curriculum for a price. Which led me to the last of my 4 major concerns...COST. Dr. Venegoni did provide a figure for potentially utilizing some of the materials already developed. I will not state what that figure was because it will change depending on many factors, but let me say it was significantly less than the amount we are setting aside for text books now.
Many of the other board members seemed to share my concerns to varying degrees. I think that all of them can be answered very quickly by Craig and his admin. team. Because this is like the 3rd time Dr. Venegoni and/or his staff have been in the district talking about this I think finding the right person or persons to champion this cause will be easy. I think the district as a whole will also embrace a change to this system as WE ALL learn more about it. I do not think that cost would prohibit implementation.
We as a board either collectively or individually did not pose the questions to Craig about a champion of the cause or how the change would be received @ MGHS. I did think about it while other questions where being asked and answered. However, I did not feel it would be right to put him on the spot to answer those immediately after hearing this presentation. I still feel that way as I am still trying to digest everything we heard last night and to pose that question just would not have been fair.
I hope that WE, as a district, continue to investigate this systematic approach to education. If it makes sense educationally and provides the best opportunities for our students then we owe it to them to investigate this system fully.
The data presented by Dr. Venegoni paints a very good picture of this system. It really showed how all students benefit from this system. Aligned by Design has been implemented at some very diverse districts (both economically and racially) and the results have been very good. One of the things that I found interesting is that the data also shows that the higher the students score on the Explore test (taken in 8th grade) the higher their potential to score on the ACT (taken in 11th grade). That seems logical, but what I liked most was that the growth this system showed vs. others.
For the the schools that scored with in 1 point of Northtown Academy (one of the schools using this system in Chicago) on the Explore test none had the growth that Northtown did. Of the 11 different data groups only 4 had an improvement of 5 or better. Two of these four data groups started with scores more than 5.9 points higher than Northtown Academy. Northtown Academy had a 5.1 growth by their students. That to me is an impressive testament to this system.
There was lots of data and lots of information presented last night. I won't go over it all, but please visit the district website as they will be putting up much of the information their, if not all of it. I just wanted to point out one of the facts that really impressed me amongst all of the things presented.
I do have some concerns with this system. One is that it is a departure from current practice and how will it be received by the building administrators, the staff, the students and the public. Dr. Venegoni and his staff have had quite a bit of interaction with our staff, so this potential change would not be a total surprise. Another fear is that, as Dr. Venegoni stated, the district needs a champion of this system to be the face of it, to push it, to oversee it, to....etc. We may have this person(s), but we need to identify them.
The Curriculum was another concern because this system does not use textbooks exclusively. The curriculum is developed by the staff. Dr. Venegoni stated that a lot of the materials being used by other districts on this system could be adapted to our district. Dr. Venegoni also stated that the curriculum developers in those other districts would be willing to share their curriculum for a price. Which led me to the last of my 4 major concerns...COST. Dr. Venegoni did provide a figure for potentially utilizing some of the materials already developed. I will not state what that figure was because it will change depending on many factors, but let me say it was significantly less than the amount we are setting aside for text books now.
Many of the other board members seemed to share my concerns to varying degrees. I think that all of them can be answered very quickly by Craig and his admin. team. Because this is like the 3rd time Dr. Venegoni and/or his staff have been in the district talking about this I think finding the right person or persons to champion this cause will be easy. I think the district as a whole will also embrace a change to this system as WE ALL learn more about it. I do not think that cost would prohibit implementation.
We as a board either collectively or individually did not pose the questions to Craig about a champion of the cause or how the change would be received @ MGHS. I did think about it while other questions where being asked and answered. However, I did not feel it would be right to put him on the spot to answer those immediately after hearing this presentation. I still feel that way as I am still trying to digest everything we heard last night and to pose that question just would not have been fair.
I hope that WE, as a district, continue to investigate this systematic approach to education. If it makes sense educationally and provides the best opportunities for our students then we owe it to them to investigate this system fully.
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