| On Board Online • November 19, 2012 By Pilar Sokol Determinations regarding parental requests for a religious exemption from immunization requirements can be difficult for school officials, who are often called upon to assess an individual’s sincerity regarding alleged religious beliefs. The commissioner of education recently heard the appeal of a parent whose children were denied a religious exemption in Appeal of C.O. Identifying herself and her husband as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, the mother stated: |
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| FOR RELEASE: November 14, 2012 CONTACT: David Albert On behalf of school boards, the New York State School Boards Association thanks Gov. Andrew Cuomo for extending the payment deadline for property taxpayers in certain school districts affected by Hurricane Sandy. Executive Order #70 issued Nov. 9 extends the period for paying taxes without interest or penalties for up to 21 days for taxpayers in 34 school districts in Nassau County and one school district in Orange County. |
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| FOR RELEASE: November 14, 2012 CONTACT: David Albert Nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of school board members believe students should be taught about the impact of climate change on natural disasters, according to a new Pulse Poll by the New York State School Boards Association. “Hurricane Sandy wreaked devastation on many communities,” said NYSSBA Executive Director Timothy G. Kremer. “The fact that Hurricane Sandy followed so soon after Tropical Storms Irene and Lee could provide a teachable moment about the role of climate change on our environment.” In addition, an overwhelming majority (77 percent) of school board members believe the state should allow districts that were affected by Hurricane Sandy to have fewer than 180 days of instruction without losing state aid. Unless lawmakers waive the 180-day requirement, school districts would face a loss of state aid if they were unable to make up classes. There is currently legislation pending in Albany to waive the requirement. |
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| FOR RELEASE: November 7, 2012 CONTACT: David Albert The New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA) today asked state lawmakers to consider four initiatives in order to help school districts and students affected by Hurricane Sandy. “Right now, many of those communities hit hardest by Sandy are dealing with the loss of basic necessities – food, power, fuel and shelter,” said NYSSBA Executive Director Timothy G. Kremer. “But as life slowly begins to return to normal, schools will be facing a slew of issues as they sort through legal requirements.” The four initiatives that would help schools impacted by Sandy include: |
| On Board Online EXTRA • November 5, 2012 By Jeffrey S. Handelman
Capital Region BOCES presenters Deborah Bush-Suflita and Michele Levings explained that the legislation does not cap anyone’s tax bill, but it does have a real impact on contingency budgets. The misperception over the law has caused credibility problems for school districts with taxpayers. The message from the presenters at the workshop, called “Lessons Learned from Year One of the NYS Tax Levy ‘Cap’ ” was that educators need to wage an aggressive campaign to help taxpayers understand what the law really means. Despite the fact that state aid increased this school year for the first time since 2009-10, this is not a time to celebrate. State aid is now limited to growth in personal income, there is no aid increase for districts without an approved evaluation system in place by January 2013, and it will take districts a while to recover from the painful cuts they made over the last few years. Bush-Suflita and Levings advised districts to:
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| On Board Online EXTRA • November 5, 2012 By Barbara Bradley
They can, with a system called mass customized learning, according to Bea McGarvey, an educational consultant and author, who spoke to a full house at NYSSBA’s 93rd Annual Convention & Education Expo on Oct. 26. Just as Amazon.com tailors book selections to individual customers based on their purchasing profiles, schools can tailor instruction to individual students based on their needs, interests and abilities – and enable them to learn anywhere, any time. Mass customized learning is now possible with today’s technology – it wasn’t necessarily possible 10 years ago, she explained. We’ve gone from the Industrial Age to the Information Age in everything but education, she said. McGarvey co-authored the book “Inevitable – Mass Customized Learning – Learning in the Age of Empowerment.” It is a vision for education, she said, and it takes strong leadership to bring it about. The secret for changing the current system is to borrow (“or steal”) an idea from another market or industry for your market or industry, she explained. Students learn in different ways and on different timeframes, according to Garvey. Mass customized learning embraces this and shifts the focus from graded, time-driven system used by most schools to a customized system with a balance of teacher-facilitated and online learning based on individual student needs. Students are assessed on a series of learning outcomes derived from the courses, or seminars, in their individualized learning schedule. They must demonstrate mastery of the outcome before they can move on to a new seminar. McGarvey introduced Lori, a 14-year-old high school student, in a YouTube video, to demonstrate how high school students create and follow their individualized learning schedules: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdCHvLSR_Iw&feature=plcp. Examples of high school learning seminars include “Lewis and Clark and Westward Expansion,” “Democracy and the History of the United States,” and “Career Options that Fit Me.” Mass customized learning focuses on learning goals rather than activities and assignments, she said. For more on mass customized learning, read a chapter on transformational technologies from McGarvey’s book, co-authored with Chuck Schwahn, at http://masscustomizedlearning.com/docs/InevitableChapter2.pdf |
| On Board Online EXTRA • November 5, 2012 By Gayle Simidian
The presenter was Carol LaRow, a teacher in the Niskayuna Central School District and Apple Distinguished Educator. She discussed online Google tools including Google Docs, Forms, Maps, and Presentations. LaRow described how Google’s online educational tools allow secure collaboration in “real time.” According to LaRow, all you need is your web browser. There are no hidden costs. Google Docs is a tool, somewhat like a wiki, that, in education, can be used to have students read and comment on their peers’ writing. Also, teachers can use it to review a paper, see where students are commenting on the paper and identify who is reviewing the paper and when it was reviewed. There is even a “Research Tool” inside Google Docs that allows users to access images, facts, and web search results for projects they are working on (with citations provided). Google Forms is another tool which allows teachers to give quick surveys and quizzes to their classes and get the responses back immediately. The tool allows teachers to “customize” their replies to students. To show how these tools can change how teachers teach, LaRow suggested a lesson on the poem, “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere” that uses Google Maps. Students can customize the format of a project by adding text, links, and pictures to an interactive map to enhance such a history project. School board members and administrators can use Google apps too, LaRow said. Google Presentation is a tool similar to Microsoft’s PowerPoint that board members can use for board presentations. Google apps for education are budget-friendly, “not platform dependent,” secure, and rather effortless to implement in the classroom, she said. And, most of all, students like using the online tools, so they’ll be motivated to learn and do well in school. |
| On Board Online • November 5, 2012 By Barbara Bradley During NYSSBA’s 93rd Annual Convention, board members and the commissioner of education conducted a running commentary of their Convention experiences on Twitter. It was the third year that NYSSBA created a conversation thread dedicated to the convention, but the first year that dozens of participants chimed in. For the uninitiated, Twitter is a 140-character microblogging social media platform. Messages are called “tweets.” Members were able to contribute to the same thread by ending their messages by typing a code called a hashtag. The Convention hashtag was “#nyssba12.” Under the name @nyschoolboards, NYSSBA staff got the conversation going with announcements of upcoming convention events, observations and links to photos. One example: “Anti-bullying expert Barbara Coloroso tells a full house kids should have a healthy regard for themselves & language matters #nyssba12”. |
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Memo to school board members and school administrators: Do not refer to last year’s tax levy legislation as a “2 percent tax cap”! This misnomer has contributed to misperceptions about the law’s impact on taxes, according to a presentation at NYSSBA’s 93rd Annual Convention & Education Expo in Rochester on Oct. 27.
What if school districts could customize learning for individual students the same way Amazon.com suggests books for its customers?
Google Apps – sweet! That was the general consensus from the education session, “Google Apps for Education: Free Tools for a Safer Web Experience,” at NYSSBA’s 93rd Annual Convention & Education Expo on Oct. 27.