In Laconia Schools: Increasing structure, expectations and instructional opportunities

Laconia community, I want to take this opportunity to thank those of you who so actively supported Laconia High School as we returned to our first full year of regular "in school" education. I would also like to humbly thank those who welcomed me back to Sachem Nation as I returned to fill the role of LHS Principal for Mr. Robert Bennett after he lost his battle with cancer. Your support of this school community during that difficult time represents so much of what is right about Laconia.

According to reports local, statewide and national, this past school year was a difficult transitional year for education. Most students (and staff) spent the last year and a half learning and in many cases "living" online. This isolation, non-traditional socialization and the development of an online "persona" along with a reality based personality seems to have contributed to an increase in both anxiety and depression across this nation, especially with our youth. How students performed in online learning was significantly different (not in a good way) than how they typically performed in the regular classroom setting and we, like schools across the nation, are learning that the losses to academic performance are things that must be remediated. How we are doing that reflects a focus on reinforcing our practice with communication and numeracy skills taught in a more integrated, relational and relevant manner connected to our Portrait of a Graduate initiative.

We also spent the last two years supporting students in ways that ensured they earned credits and continued moving toward graduation. As we are now back in regular school, it is imperative that we move toward structures of accountability, both academically and behaviorally, that help students learn the practices that will be demanded of them as they leave free and appropriate public education and step out into a more demanding post-secondary world.

As we moved through this past school year, we did learn that old fashioned, direct accountability still works quite well. Here is one example: About 100 students struggled with the very simple act of getting to school on time each day. After working with this for a few months and getting nowhere, we decided to adopt a short term practice of placing any student who arrived late without excuse in a supervised area until the end of the period, then releasing them to their next class. They still had access to learning and would now not interrupt the learning that was happening in the classroom. For a month, we told students and parents (in my weekly emails home) that we would be doing this. Interestingly, the week before we actually started this initiative, we saw a reduction in tardies; students apparently thought we had started early. On the week we started and for the four weeks we maintained this practice, tardies were reduced by more than 50%. This simple, direct accountability improved student performance and attendance in first period actually went up. It is my humble opinion that employers and post-secondary education programs both desire those participating in their programs or businesses to have this most basic of skills mastered. Showing up and showing up on time has always mattered.

But teaching showing up, while it matters, is not as important as teaching academic skills of the Portrait of a Graduate: collaboration, communication, creativity, self-directedness, problem-solving and perseverance. Our ability to teach these skills has been impacted by the bizarre two-year period we have all gone through. Foundational numeracy and literacy are primary to success in this American society. If you struggle with reading or can't manipulate numbers proficiently, it is hard to access many of the opportunities this nation offers. These deficits also make an individual more susceptible to being manipulated by people of ill will. To help every student move in a positive direction, we must raise the bar of learning while also addressing the learning losses that are evident. To do this, we must return to increased structure, increased expectations and increased instructional opportunities. This means a reduction in the distractions that are so available to young people during this essential time of learning the skills of our society. It also means teaching the "what, why and how” of common courtesy, civility and respect, all of which seem to have been diminished of late.

Our mission to address this includes the following targets:

• Attendance and grading
• Phones
• Enhancing our schedule - The SSB Dilemma
• LHS bathrooms

It is my hope that we, as a community, will engage in this conversation about the educational needs of our students as they prepare to access what this nation offers.

As always, Go Sachems!

Jim McCollum, principal, Laconia High School