Mick Jagger Lied

Since my post on Thursday which provided information about how and when our students would be able to access President Obama’s address to students I have had two very thoughtful responses on this blog, two teachers visit me, and one phone call from a community member who felt that the President’s address should have been more of a priority at Mahar. In my personal meeting with the aforementioned teachers and in my phone conversation with a thoughtful and concerned community member I found myself explaining our reasons for leaving the presentation of the speech at the discretion of our teachers and asking that it be connected to instruction.

The President’s address has provided an excellent opportunity for dialogue about how our school district is responding to the call of our federal and state governments to provide our students with a high quality education. The accountability standards set forth by the legislation in the No Child Left Behind Act has called upon school and district administrators to examine every opportunity to maximize teaching and learning opportunities for students. As was the case with specifying that the President’s address be used not only as an opportunity for inspiration but as a tool for instruction, Mahar continues to focus on every aspect of education to improve outcomes for students.

Inside the School
Inside the school our students and community will find that we have a brand new facility that is spacious and clean. We have all of the technological enhancements that one would expect in a school and much more. Networked computers are in every classroom, video projectors with SmartBoards ™ are available for our teachers, and we subscribe to a number of on line search engines from which our students can retrieve information. We have a highly qualified and dedicated instructional force paired with a dedicated staff to support our students’ learning and emotional needs alike.

Outside of the School
Outside of school we provide our students with opportunities to participate in athletics during all three seasons and in all grades. We have after school clubs and activities for students who prefer engagement outside of our athletic offerings, and seek to expand these activities this academic year. We provide academic programs that are innovative after school hours (PM Instruction Program) and off campus (Gateway to College at Mount Wachusett Community College), yet like many schools in the Commonwealth and in America even with our great efforts we know that there is room to continue to improve. We ask ourselves, what else can we do?

Putting Time on Our Side
I know that Mick Jagger said it first, “Time is on my side, yes it is” and you know what? For educators, this might not be true. Just the same as any school in Massachusetts we have 180 school days to prepare our students for year end assessments, the next grade, and to prepare our seniors for college. Each year we are given just slightly more than 990 hours to provide requisite instruction and assess our students to see that they have responded to the program that we offered. That’s it, 990 hours. Is the school year too short? Is the school day not long enough? Should students go to school in the summer? To these questions I only have opinions. The one thing I know for sure though is that educators must examine what students are doing in the 990 hours we do have, and take steps to see that every minute of every hour is put to proper use.