Letters

School Administrator, Nov, 2002

Absent Staff

Cynthia Price's article, "Missing Top Staff in Bottom Schools" (August 2002), reminded me of a significant finding in my own doctoral dissertation on teacher absenteeism: There is a high correlation between teacher attendance and student achievement.

Schools where students performed poorly were the same schools in which teachers were absent the most. How unfortunate that the students who needed continuity of instruction the most got it the least.

In my study, it was more than the "top staff" who were missing in "bottom schools." It was staff in general who were regularly missing from the bottom-performing schools. Unfortunately, this still goes on in many of our nation's failing schools.

Teacher attendance improves when teachers feel a sense of achievement in their work. We must do more, especially in failing schools, to ensure that teachers have the resources and support to be successful. This in turn should lead to better teacher attendance, continuity of instruction and greater pupil achievement.

EVAN PITKOFF

Superintendent,

Newtown Public Schools,

Newtown, Conn.

Spousal Support

As I read the guest column by Beth Bruno ("Marriage to a Superintendent: Not for Faint-Hearted," August 2002), I couldn't help but reflect on the 25 years I served as superintendent and the pressure endured by my wife and five children. My wife was the glue that kept everything together.

DON LANGLOIS

New Harbor, Maine

My wife Ruby and I were pleased to read Beth Bruno's commentary on the impact of the superintendency on family members. We thought it was right on the money!.

Over the many years I was a school administrator in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Arizona, Ruby had the savvy to handle the very situations Bruno related in her article. Our four daughters also were pros, except for the youngest. Following a local teachers' strike, some teachers took out their anger on her when she was a high school senior. We had to pull her out of school and enroll her in a neighboring state.

My father was the district superintendent during all of my elementary and secondary school years in Putnam County, Ohio. This caused him more grief than it caused me because I was a kid who rolled with the many punches. I think I created another problem for him when I began my teaching career in the same county.

I've been retired from the superintendency since 1979, but Bruno's column brought back lots of memories.

JOHN B. VERMILYA

Palm Springs Cathedral City, Calif.

Root of the Gap

Ronald Thomas's article, "Getting to the Root of the Gap" (August 2002), really has caused me to think critically about where my school is in the school improvement process.

Recently our school has shown a positive achievement trend, but we continue to ask repeatedly those tough "why" questions that he poses.

I appreciated his message and will share it with my staff as well as my school improvement team.

KELLY M. HALL

Principal,

Leonardtown Elementary School,

Leonardtown, Md.

Ron Thomas's discussion of the kinds of thinking and connections school improvement teams need to do and make to improve student achievement is on target. He encourages these teams to understand that data analysis means much more than "unpacking" test scores and to undertake conversations about the "actions of the adults in the school" as possible root causes for what may inhibit student learning.

While this view offers school teams serious opportunities for thoughtful analysis and ongoing strategic planning, it compels us to discuss and define roles. Who has control over which root causes? Teacher contract negotiations? The team? The district?

His work also raises these questions in my mind: What can districts and states do to address root causes identified by school improvement teams? What can we do to help schools build their capacity to apply systems thinking and to support professional development that encourages school-level problem solving? What can states and districts do to create rewards, incentives and assistance, and what can schools, districts and states do together to build consensus around our student achievement goals?

COLLEEN SEREMET

Assistant Superintendent for Instruction,

Maryland State Department of Education,

Baltimore, Md.

Tech Outsourcing

I wanted to compliment Kate Beem on her "Tech Support" article (June 2002). It gives a good overview of what various school districts throughout the country are doing regarding information technology outsourcing.

KAYLA WHITE

Corporate Communications,

Campuware Corp.,

Farmington Hills, Mich.

Appreciation of the Press

After reading the guest column by Kathleen Klink, the superintendent in Lakota, Ohio ("Freeing the Student Press for Their Good and Ours," April 2002), how I wish that administrators at the local and district levels could take phone calls from irate callers and advise them to (1) call the adviser, (2) talk to the writer or (3) write a letter to the editor--instead of calling the adviser on the carpet, reprimanding him or her and possibly relieving the adviser of the position.