SchoolMatters Weblog

Class of 2008: Men and women built for others

During the past two weeks, I had the pleasure of attending seven graduation ceremonies in Albemarle County Public Schools (Our comprehensive high schools--Western, Albemarle, Monticello; CATEC; Ivy Creek School; Murray High School; and our Post High Program). 

At the comprehensive high schools, the Chair of the School Board typically offers a welcome on behalf of the Board. I recently read Season of Life by Jeffrey Marx and that served as the inspiration for my comments to the graduates (below).  Marx tells the inspirational story of two remarkable coaches of the 2001 Gilman High School football team (Baltimore, MD), Joe Ehrmann and Francis "Biff" Poggi.  Their philosophy, as adults working with young people, is to ensure their students are "built for others."

Brian Wheeler

---

Remarks to the Class of 2008
Western Albemarle High School graduation, May 30, 2008
Monticello High School graduation, May 31, 2008
Albemarle High School graduation, May 31, 2008

On behalf of the Albemarle County School Board, I welcome you to this celebration honoring the accomplishments of these students.

On behalf of the Board, I want to thank the staff and the family members who have helped these students reach this major milestone of graduation. 

I read a book recently about a minister who tells the young people around him that his job is to love them, and their job is to love each other.

The minister was an all-American football player at Syracuse.  This minister was an all-pro defensive tackle for thirteen years with the Baltimore Colts.

This book was about the Season of Life--The 2001 season of the Gilman High School football team.

Reverend Joe Ehrmann coached the Gilman boys while growing his Building Men & Women for Others ministry in inner-city Baltimore.  Building men and women for others…

Ehrmann’s approach to loving his players and teaching them to love each other and live by a code of conduct certainly made me think about the relationships we want to build in Albemarle County.

Seniors, you have a lot of adults here that love you.  Sometimes it might have been tough love, right?  But I do know that this faculty, your family and friends are all here because they love you and want you to be successful.

My question is… have you been built for others?  What are you going to do with the talents you have?  How will you present yourself to the world?

At a team picnic, parents come up to Coach Joe Ehrmann and ask him how successful he thinks the football team will be?  Are they going to be winners?

Joe says, “I won’t really know for twenty years.”  Twenty years...

“Life [won’t] be measured in terms of success based on what you’ve acquired or achieved or what you own.  The only thing that’s really going to matter is the relationships that you had. It’s gonna come down to this: What kind of father [or mother] were you?  What kind of husband [or wife] were you?  What kind of coach or teammate were you?  What kind of son [or daughter] were you…? Success comes in terms of relationships.”

Seniors, your twenty years begins today.  Will you be built for others?

I wish you lifelong success in this community and beyond as you embrace lifelong learning and take ownership of your future.  Think about your personal code of conduct , about your integrity, and about the relationships you can create and sustain with the people all around you.

Love each other.  Become men and women built for others.

Thank you and good luck.

Brian Wheeler
Chairman
Albemarle County School Board

A game too far for Albemarle High School

2/24/08 * Daily Progress [full story]

Beth Hochstetler knows every curve in the road, every gas station and every fast food restaurant between Charlottesville and Stafford. Hochstetler and her husband Will, the parents of two Albemarle High School athletes and one former AHS athlete, make the 160-mile roundtrip journey at least once a week from September through May.

“It’s a burden,” Hochstetler said. “But we want to watch our kids play.” Most parents in the Charlottesville area do not have to go through such Herculean efforts to see their children play sports. Charlottesville, Fluvanna, Louisa, Monticello, Orange, Western Albemarle and William Monroe high schools compete against each other in the AA Jefferson District, making for relatively easy commutes to road games.

But AHS is an anomaly in the region. With more than 1,700 students, Albemarle is too big for the AA classification, according to the rules set by the Virginia High School League. So Albemarle plays in the AAA Commonwealth District, which includes five schools in Stafford County and two in Spotsylvania County.

County greenlights plans for turf fields

9/28/07 * Daily Progress [full story]

The Albemarle School Board on Thursday gave the three county high schools - Albemarle, Monticello and Western Albemarle - approval to construct turf athletics fields, if enough private funds are raised.

An anonymous donor has pledged to donate $325,000 to each of the schools as well as Charlottesville High. Addition-ally, the Albemarle parks and recreation department is willing to commit $100,000 to each county school, according to Diane Behrens, Albemarle’s executive director of support services.

The estimated cost of a turf field is around $800,000. But the county and city may be able to negotiate a lower price per field because the four fields will be built in conjunction, Behrens said.

Booster clubs at the county schools will raise the remaining funds before transferring the money to the School Board so that the fields can be purchased through the state procurement process.

The board voted unanimously in favor of allowing the county schools to move forward with the fundraising.

Monticello had started a fundraising campaign in June. The other schools got involved only recently, when the unnamed donor pledged to each school an amount that will likely cover around half the cost of a field.

“That was an incredible development,” School Board member Brian Wheeler said.

Wheeler was one of several board members to support the turf field proposal enthusiastically. He did, however, add one caveat to the motion - that the board be allowed to participate in a discussion on the pros and cons of permanent versus temporary striping on the fields.

Plans for turf fields get monetary boost

9/26/07 * Daily Progress [full story]

Donor offers $1.5 million to 4 high schools

A potential donor is willing to contribute $1.5 million toward the purchase of synthetic turf fields for four area high schools - Albemarle, Charlottesville, Monticello and Western Albemarle.

Diane Behrens, the Albemarle school division’s executive director of support services, would not identify the potential donor until the project is approved.

According to information that will be presented to the county School Board on Thursday, each school would receive $375,000 - nearly half the estimated cost of a turf field - from the donor. The rest of the money would be covered by private donations, partnerships and fundraising at each high school.

“I think it is very exciting that people in the community are willing to support this with major contributions,” School Board member Brian Wheeler said. “Now the challenge is going to be whether there is enough support to fully fund” the projects.

Moran & Littlepage address athletic staff

Last night at Monticello High School I had an enjoyable dinner with ALL our Albemarle County athletic directors and coaches.  It was a first of its kind back to school briefing for our athletic staff and featured a great presentation by UVA Athletic Director Craig Littlepage.  Writing in today's Daily Progress, Matt Deegan does an excellent job capturing the theme of the evening and the important remarks made by Mr. Littlepage and Superintendent Pam Moran.

Littlepage told two coaching stories about everyday interactions with his student athletes.  He described little comments he made to a player or conversations that were overheard by players that he didn't think much of at the time.  The two students both contacted him years later to describe how life changing his remarks had been for them.  Our coaches have an awesome responsibility and level of influence over our students.

“The smallest things and sometimes the most innocent things we do are being witnessed at times when we don’t even recognize it,” said Littlepage, who was an assistant basketball coach at UVa from 1976 to 1982 and again from 1988 to 1990. “We can be such a tremendous influence by the way that we can consistently model the behaviors that we want our student-athletes to exhibit each and every day.”

Dr. Moran also set the tone for the upcoming school year following up on a personal letter she had sent all athletic staff over the summer.  She described a new set of behavior expectations for our students and our staff and challenged them all to be positive role models for our student athletes.

Albemarle Superintendent Pam Moran reinforced how coaches shape students in ways classroom teachers cannot.

“Teachers have great influence, principals have great influence,” Moran said before a room full of county coaches. “But one of the things I know is that 20 or 30 years from now, kids remember the types of coaches they had, and they remember the good and the not-so-good. What I want to do is set an expectation that when our kids walk off our fields, what they will remember about you is that you built great character in them.”

Tonight I head to Western Albemarle High School for the back to school meeting for parents of Fall athletes.  I look forward to seeing our staff respond to the challenge presented by Moran and Littlepage.  Parents have a very important role to play as well, and tonight will be an opportunity to start getting them engaged in these new expectations.

Brian Wheeler

Synthetic Turf Fields

The Daily Progress editorial this morning is on the subject of accepting a gift for the installation of a synthetic turf field at Monticello High School.  Monticello's goal is to raise 100% private funds to purchase the $800,000 turf field.  Last Thursday, the School Board was told they do not, however, have a major sponsor lined up to fund the field.  The Monticello community it trying to identify the right way to manage this project and initiate the necessary fundraising. I applaud their initiative.

First, I'll point out that I am already on record with my colleagues recommending that the school division evaluate the installation of turf fields at all three of our high schools.  I think we need them.  My kids play field hockey, lacrosse, and soccer and have played on these turf fields around the state, at UVA and at St. Anne's Belfield.  They are a wonderful playing surface for the athletes.  Athletic Directors and coaches trying to schedule practices, games, and tournaments around inclement weather have a whole different set of reasons to like these fields.

At our meeting last week, the School Board learned that Albemarle County Parks & Recreation has indicated they would be willing to reallocate $250,000 already budgeted to light a practice field at Monticello towards a turf field in the stadium.  Further, the School Board was told Parks & Rec would support budgeting $500,000 towards similar fields at Western Albemarle and Albemarle High Schools (i.e. $250,000 per school).  That puts Monticello's fundraising goal at around $550,000 and they are hoping for some in-kind construction donations to lower that amount.  Again, according to Monticello's Athletic Director, there is not a single benefactor prepared to write a check for the field at this time.  They do of course hope to bring major donors on board as soon as possible.

My goal in the School Board meeting last week was to learn from staff about their recommendation and the different financing options so we can have a model that could be followed by the other schools.  This project, as presented, involves a huge capital expense, a single-vendor trying to get the business from us, and long-term costs we will all have to pay as a community to replace the turf down the road (i.e. we need to channel any maintenance cost savings for grass fields into a "turf replacement fund" for ANOTHER $250,000 to $300,000 expense 15-18 years from now).  As soon as one high school has a turf field, the other schools will want one too.  We need to ensure we have a good process in place and that these capital investments by local government (at least the $250,000 per school) go through the capital budget vetting process.

I am all for creativity and public-private partnerships.  I want world class facilities built in an equitable manner that our taxpayers will see as smart and efficient investments.  I am confident we can make this a win-win proposition.  It starts with the School Board asking questions.  One thing we heard from our attorney last week was that the MHS boosters would not, in his opinion, be able to donate the field to the school division without going through the state's procurement/bidding process.  That was news to the MHS folks.  Another option discussed was a "co-operative procurement process" where we piggyback on another school's bid.

There are a lot of details to work out and the school board gave Superintendent Moran plenty of topics to investigate further.  I look forward to our staff reporting back at a future meeting this Fall with their recommendations as to how we can help move this project forward.

Want to listen to the Board's discussion from last week?  There are two audio files you can download here.

• Audio file #1 - conversation starts at 89:20
• Audio file #2 - conversation continues at 00:00

Brian Wheeler

Board alters training rule for students

5/25/07 * Daily Progress [full story]

Albemarle County students who participate in athletics and after-school activities are role models, and they should be held to a pledge that penalizes underage drinking and drug use off school property, Superintendent Pamela Moran told the School Board on Thursday.

The majority of School Board members agreed, voting 4-2 to pass a revised training rule that offers more counseling for violators and dials down the policy’s punitive aspects that had some parents labeling it as overbearing.

Revisions to the athletic training rule

The Albemarle County School Board will be discussing revisions to the Athletic Training Rule at this Thursday's meeting.  A year after the tragic death of Albemarle HS student Nolan Jenkins and the arrest of dozens of our students for underage drinking at two parties, our staff have come forward with a revised policy, not just for athletics but for all extracurricular activities, that I think is a tremendous improvement.  I want to thank the Superintendent's committee that worked so hard on these recommendations and who carefully weighed all the legal, health, and instructional issues.

Download the recommendations

One aspect of the policy that has improved is that we now have a set of graduated consequences that I think will lead to better behaviors, more involvement by parents, and create the opportunity to connect students with intervention resources.  A first offense is now a two week suspension from the activity/sport AND  participation in a drug/alcohol counseling program can get the student reinstated.  There is also an incentive to self-report violations, "students who voluntarily request assistance from school officials in connection with an alcohol, drug or tobacco incident may receive reduced disciplinary consequences under this regulation at the discretion of the principal."

Again, I think this represents significant improvements over current policy.  I'd appreciate any feedback from the community in advance of the meeting as that will help inform our discussions.

You may e-mail me at bwheeler@k12albemarle.org, or the entire School Board at schoolboard@k12albemarle.org

Brian Wheeler

---

Here are some highlights from the staff's recommendations which I have copied from the staff report.

Background
The identified beliefs of our Division- in young people, excellence, respect and community- define the important core values that must be inherent in any changes to policy, procedure, and practice, within the parameters of law.
....
Students learn to meet expectations when they are held to high standards by parents, teachers, coaches and mentors who teach the importance of integrity, apply consequences when necessary, and intervene to provide support if students’ behavior is outside acceptable boundaries. The growth and development over time of young people depends upon committed adults who invest time in teaching and modeling the behaviors and dispositions of good citizens.
....
Students who participate in athletic and other extracurricular activities also are held through policy, procedure and practice to a high standard of conduct on and off school grounds because they serve as role models for others and they represent their school community in competitions and other public activities.

Training Rule Executive Summary
The proposed revisions include these changes:

• Extension of the procedure to all students who participate in high school extracurricular activities and athletic programs. The procedure does not extend to co-curricular activities for which students receive grades and credits towards graduation.
• The provision of an intervention option for students whose behaviors violate the regulation supports and reinforces their participation in this intervention program. The intervention program addresses risk behaviors involving the use of illegal substances/underage drinking. This option provides a tiered approach for first, second, and third offenses.
• Recognition that students who self-report the need for assistance in addressing issues of underage drinking and/or use of illegal substances should be encouraged through the regulation so that parents and school staff can partner to provide that support.
• Alignment of the regulation with Virginia Code governing parental authority regarding underage consumption of alcohol while under parental supervision has been addressed.
• Maintenance of behavioral consequences for violating the regulation recognizing that logical and natural consequences send appropriate message about expectations and values for student conduct.
• Students and parents will continue to sign a contract in which they agree to abide by the regulation, student self-reporting of violations, and that they understand the consequences of violating the regulation. Parents will not be compelled through their signature to report violations of the regulation by their children. However, it is noted that parents who work with school staff to ensure that their children demonstrate integrity of behavior form partnerships that model good character and citizenship.

Code of Conduct for Athletics and other Extracurricular Activities

VI. Alcohol, Drugs and Tobacco [only excerpts shown]

1. First offense in student’s high school-level participation:
a. A minimum of two (2) weeks suspension from participation in athletics or other extracurricular program, including practice and competition...;

b. A student who agrees (with parental consent) to participate in a drug/alcohol counseling and/or assessment program offered at school or at a school-approved community agency may be reinstated to the athletic team or other extracurricular program at the end of the two (2) week period. Any student who does not agree to participate in such counseling and/or assessment program shall be suspended from all athletic teams or other extracurricular programs for thirty (30) days of participation or for the remainder of the season or program, whichever is longer.

2. Second offense in student’s high school-level participation:
a. A minimum of four (4) weeks suspension from participation in athletics or other extracurricular program, including practice and competition...;

b. A student who agrees (with parental consent) to participate in a drug/alcohol counseling and/or assessment program offered at school or at a school-approved community agency may be reinstated to the athletic team or other extracurricular program at the end of the four (4) week period. Any student who does not agree to participate in such counseling and/or assessment program shall be suspended from all athletic teams or other extracurricular programs for thirty (30) days of participation or for the remainder of the season or program, whichever is longer.

3. Third or subsequent offense in student’s high school level participation:
a. Full suspension from all athletic activities and competitions and other extracurricular program for a 365-day period;

4. In cases involving a first or second offense only, students who voluntarily request assistance from school officials in connection with an alcohol, drug or tobacco incident may receive reduced disciplinary consequences under this regulation at the discretion of the principal, provided that the request must come from the student or his/her parents/guardian no later than the first school day after the incident involving the unauthorized use of alcohol, performance enhancing drugs, inhalants or controlled substances of any kind or tobacco.

Daily Progress examines our Athletic Training Rule and alchohol/drug use

3/4/07 * Daily Progress [full story]

The pledge

When it comes to underage drinking, Albemarle County holds its student-athletes to a higher standard than non-athletes and a higher standard than dictated by Virginia law.

Student-athletes must sign a training pledge before each season promising that they will not use tobacco, alcohol or drugs. Under the same pledge, parents must agree to inform coaches and principals if their children violate the contract.

The pledge applies to behavior both on and off school grounds during each season - whether on a bus ride back from a game or at a Saturday night house party - prompting a debate among parents and school administrators as to where the school division’s boundary line lies in monitoring its students.

Student conduct policies update

The 2006-07 school year commences in Albemarle County Public Schools this Monday when our students return.  Our staff are hard at work making their final preparations for their arrival.  The School Board and staff worked over the summer reviewing student conduct policies and staff recommendations for a full program of continuous improvement efforts with respect to student conduct and behaviors involving alcohol/substance abuse.  As a result, we are starting the year with several items I want to bring to the public's attention.  Speaking as one board member, I think these are all positive developments, but as outlined in the first list of recommendations below, we expect further improvements will be made after additional investigation by staff and other experts.

1) Staff recommendations included the following items which will be acted upon throughout the 2006-07 school year:

• Review, and revise in 2006-07 as necessary, our existing curriculum for alcohol, tobacco, and drug abuse and, identify and use resources and strategies that extend relevant substance abuse instruction beyond the tenth grade, addressing all students in grades 11 and 12.
• Identify and partner in 2006-07 with organizations that share with us a mission of eliminating underage drinking so that we can better use their services to further engage students in learning activities that more systemically educate parents and students about the dangers and implications of underage drinking (MADD, etc.)...
• Review Sports Done Right, a University of Maine Sport and Coaching Initiative, and other instructional resources designed to support coaches to engage in consistent best practices for implementation across all three high schools...
• Review best practices associated with other school divisions’ training and extracurricular participation rules and change as appropriate so that Albemarle County Training rules and extracurricular activity participation guidelines ensure consistency across schools and clearly address consequences for underage drinking on or off school grounds and during or not during school activities. Consider the possibility of requiring students participating in other extracurricular activities to sign participation agreements.

2) The School Board unanimously approved a revision to the Student Conduct Policy (Policy JFC) to clarify that disciplinary action may be taken for behaviors occurring off school grounds in certain situations as permitted by state law.

3) In response to the School Board's policy decision, staff updated the Standards of Student Conduct which is signed by both students and parents.  It now begins as follows:

From: Albemarle County Public Schools, Parental Responsibility and Involvement Requirements, Student Conduct, 2006-07

"The Albemarle County School Board has adopted policies to encourage good citizenship, reasonable standards of behavior, and a favorable atmosphere for learning.  The standards are published here to help parents, students, and school personnel to know some of the more obvious types of misconduct.  The list of types of misconduct is not exclusive nor a limitation upon the authority of the School Board or school officials to deal with conduct which interferes with the proper functioning of the schools.  At certain times as permitted by law, students may also be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including suspension or expulsion, for misconduct that occurs off-school grounds."

4) Staff also have revised the Athletic Training Rule for the 2006-07 school year to ensure the same policies are in effect at all our high schools.

Brian Wheeler