Good is the enemy of great. This saying really resonates with me. Essentially, if you accept good, you’ll miss the opportunity to be great. As a resident, alumni, parent, and teacher I always want Deptford to be great. That is not to dismiss the amazing positive changes and advancements that have taken place over the last 2 years. I posted some of the district’s accomplishments on the Deptford Talk facebook group and I’ll share that response at the end of this post in case you haven’t seen it. It’s pretty spectacular 🙂 Still, the work is far from over. I don’t have the ability to send mailers to the community at large and want to express my goals and vision as a candidate with explanation, not just the WHAT but the HOW. My husband always says, “a goal without a plan is a wish”. This also resonates me. It’s great to have ideas and vision but to execute, you need a plan. I believe the same as everyone else~ child focused education, excellence, challenging curriculum, supporting staff needs, being fiscally responsible, communicating effectively, having secure schools, updated facilities, and offering more opportunities for all learners. But how?
Well, that’s a loaded question without easy answers. Taxes! I pay them too~ ugh. Mine have gone up substantially since we built our home here in Deptford in 1998. Many NJ public schools (including Deptford) have been underfunded according to the state’s school funding formula. It is hard to take care of your house when you’re not receiving a salary, right? Same for our schools. We are finally getting more of the needed funds from the state which has given us the opportunity to finally replace a decrepit boiler but there are areas that have been neglected for many years. Our students and taxpayers deserve to have schools that reflect our vision of greatness. We now have a 5 year plan that addresses our facilities. We have a new supervisor of facilities that is truly invested. Our generous alumni donor will allow us to have a new turf, multi-use field and an 8 lane track. This could bring in revenue as well as help us retain student athletes in the district. Our community deserves facilities we are proud of! Pride in our facilities leads to a positive change in culture. I stand behind our administrative efforts to invest in the upgrades our facilities need. We, as a community must also advocate for our schools to senators, local elected officials, legislators, etc. to support the school funding formula. In these challenging times we must always be fiscally responsible, yet focus on the improvements that are way overdue.
Quality staff! We have them, we must retain and attract them!!!! There is a nationwide teacher shortage. We MUST continue to remain competitive in terms of salary and respect the experience we already have. Professional development and data are BIG buzz words in the education world. I support PD that allows are teachers and staff choice and turn key training. Collaboration and sharing ideas among our talented staff is paramount in building a great district. We have so many wonderful teachers and administrators that have such outstanding talent and ideas. We should always encourage and provide time to collaborate and share innovative ways to increase student engagement. I appreciate “outside the box” thinking. My philosophy is “let’s give it a try”. The worst thing we can do is go with the old,”that’s the way we’ve always done it”. Last year, teachers had an inservice day that offered choices of PD around the district. It was so well received, let’s do more of that! This summer our secretarial staff all met together for the FIRST TIME EVER for a training and they were so grateful. We need to survey our staff periodically and address their needs. Those facilities matter here too! Our staff should be in a safe, comfortable work environment. I am so thrilled with the way our current superintendent interacts with and respects our staff. More of that, please 🙂
Student voice! Our learners, even the youngest ones, deserve a voice in the place they spend most of their day. They deserve GREAT! But, who are we (the adults) to assume we know what that is? I support bringing back student liaisons to our board meetings to express the feedback they are hearing from their peers. I also support volunteer student surveys. What is your favorite school meal, are there enough recess activities, what will make your school day better? Do you feel heard? I truly believe students that are heard will foster a better culture and school pride.
Opportunity! This is so important to me and has so many facets. When I was first elected to the school board one of my first questions to the superintendent at the time was why do we still only offer Spanish and French for foreign languages? That was the offering when I graduated DHS in 1991. To compete in a global market we need to offer more opportunities. Mandarin, German anyone? Of course, this would require staff and space but it is an area we have neglected to expand on. Technology!!! This has been an issue I have been behind since 2013. I am thrilled to say we are almost 1:1 in terms of devices.Technology in the hands of every student is paramount in a digital age. I don’t mean for our students to spend the day behind a screen. I am a technology coach and my job is to help to integrate and infuse technology into the curriculum. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality allow students to visit places they never could before through virtual field trips. Students can perform virtual surgeries and visit historical sites. Technology allows differentiation. Assistive technology such as text to speech allows special needs students to be successful. Screen background color changes helps students with ADHD attend to reading taks. Non-fiction articles and biographies can be adjusted to Lexile levels so lower level readers can still engage in the same content as their peers but on their reading level. Google Docs allows for peer editing and online collaboration plus more frequent teacher feedback. I am super proud that we have begun to bring back trades to our high school through our carpentry academy as well as launch music and arts academies. I envision our students being able to produce and engineer music in our school, explore digital animation and intern more in their fields of interest. We have so many businesses in Deptford that we can partner with. I support the administration in beginning these partnerships and expanding opportunities for free college credits and careers in trades. We have great kids in Deptford and am proud to support the feedback to address their wants and needs. I am currently working on (as a parent) reviving the Special Ed Parent Advisory Group and creating a Buddy Program for our special needs students.
Communication! I do feel our new website and Facebook page have improved communication but remember the Good to Great? Our Parents for Progress had it’s first meeting earlier this month, KUDOS to our awesome Supervisors of Curriculum for getting that off the ground. I LOVED the survey idea….more of that too, please! The next meeting is Nov. 14th at 6:00 in the high school media center. Come and give your feedback. Communication is paramount for buy in. We want to collaborate with all stakeholders. If you don’t have children in our schools this is a great time to find out what’s happening around our district. I’d also like to see us do more community outreach, especially with our senior citizens. I know from my in-laws that taxes are rough and it’s frustrating when you don’t reap the benefits. As a student at DTHS we had a Thanksgiving dinner for our senior citizens that we, the students, served. We also invited them to a free performance of our school plays. I think the experience for me was priceless. I also support continuity across the district in terms of schools and students. I never like to hear people tell me they feel like the “have nots”. We are doing better so let’s go with that momentum.
Culture! This is near and dear to my heart. My husband, son, and I love spending Friday nights under the lights for football. It is a pleasure to watch and cheer on the boys and GIRL on the field, the band and cheerleaders. Once a Spartan, always a Spartan. I envision a stadium of students with their black and gold body paint cheering on their team. I also feel so strongly about restorative practices. If you haven’t heard of this, PLEASE Google and check it out or read more here. Yes, students need consequences but we live in a society that sometimes lacks empathy. Instead of always punishing, restorative justice/practices is a proactive means of promoting a positive, healthy, and orderly school environment, where everyone involved learns and practices self-discipline, empathy, and accountability. Our district has dabbled in some restorative practices and I would absolutely support more of that! I also am proud that many of our teachers and administrators are expanding upon mindfulness and social and emotional learning. Our students can only learn if their emotional needs are addressed and met. We must provide those coping and healing tools to our students and staff. All of the above topics will support a more positive school culture for everyone.
Wowsers….this was way longer than I intended…ooops! I just LOVE where our district is going 🙂 I may edit to add more but for now, Commitment, Community, Collaboration!
Stacy
*****Facebook post from Deptford Talk, addressing a comment regarding our schools deficits and being below average (I disagree with that statement btw.
Our district has seen massive improvements in just the last 2 years. If you received the mailer from our Council you will see we had 21 students receive perfect scores on the NJSLA and 2 students were named National Merit Scholars. I believe we also had 2 last year. We had the biggest increase inn the county on our state test scores for the middle school. To quote the Mayor and Council, “We are proud of the excellence that our schools achieve every day and celebrate their efforts”. In the past few years we have had students go off to Cal. Berkeley, Princeton, several other competitive colleges (including Ivy League), West Point, and all branches of the military. We have many students earn scholarships for trades as well and our high school now offers several AP courses when others in the area do not. We have a High School Options program and this year students are taking FREE college credits at RCGC. Our STEAM and Bio-Med Academies are taught with PLTW which is a nationally recognized curriculum. We have an outstanding AVID program in the middle school and high school. I don’t agree that we are below average. As far as the bathroom facilities, I am unaware of which are out of order but will gladly pass it along to the administration if you could tell me where and in which school. That should not be the case. As far as textbooks, if you email the teacher they should be able to provide you with one at home. Our district does subscribe to several online versions as well. We are also in the process of piloting Canvas, a new student management and grading system where modules, videos and assignments are streamlined in the Canvas interface. Our hope is to eventually use Canvas as a virtual learning environment on snow days (with the state’s OK) We just purchased a new and more efficient boiler for the high school and our superintendent has made sure each classroom has a window unit air conditioner.I am not aware of swipes so if you can give me more info on that I will inquire at our next BOE meeting. We have also purchased over 1,000 new chrome books and Promethean boards and are close to a 1:1 initiative. Our BA purchased buses (almost brand new) from another district at a drastically reduced cost. We are working hard to improve not only the facilities but the culture of the district. Our staff are happier, our leadership is humble, approachable and outstanding. Our students are excelling.I am really proud of the direction we are headed. We can’t do everything at once but we have a vision and goals and are focused on building a great future.I’m really glad you asked because it felt great to reflect on all of the positives! (And I know I’ve missed many other accomplishments-this was just getting home and off the top of my head) Can you tell I love our district and being a part of the BOE? Please feel free to ask anything else.If you are interested, the 2nd Parents for Progress meeting is Nov. 14th at 6:00 in the high school media center. All are welcome 🙂
Stacy Gray For Board Of Education 