Education....one pizza at a time...

A roommate of mine worked in a pizza factory, on the assembly line, making pizzas.  About every two weeks, he would bring home some pizzas that did not pass muster on the line.  They might have deformed crusts, or no sauce, etc.  He told me that there was a giant refrigeration bin of these “rejects” and most were thrown away.  “It’s just business,” his manager told him - and the loss of this did not hurt the bottom line, in fact it was already factored in as part of the cost of doing business in the pizza industry.  I had another friend who worked at a fast-food restaurant.  Each night, they threw away a pretty good portion of sandwiches, fries, onion rings, etc. that weren’t sold or had loitered under the heating lamp too long.  They had to put them in a locked garbage bin to keep away people who may want to get at them.  I tell these two stories because first, it always seemed like such a waste and really played on my sense of fairness when so many in the world are hungry, yet we just see it as a cost of business.  But second, these are business plans that have been incredibly successful.  The fast-food industry in our country made over 42 billion dollars in 2008.  The frozen pizza industry over 16 billion dollars in 2007 according to the national Chamber of Commerce website.  Wow.  This efficient way of doing business, is wildly successful, obviously.  In recent years, models of fast-food and other successful business strategies have been either overtly or inadvertently tried in education. In fact, right now our U.S. department of education with President Obama’s blessing is focused on merit pay for educators, a business plan mostly opposed by teachers and educators.  It would work this way:  test scores would be the basis for extra pay.  Students would be tested at the beginning of school on some sort of standardized instrument, if they scored higher at the end and also scored higher compared to other schools, a teacher would win more money.  In a business sense, this goes on every day.  If you produce more, if you are ahead of other outside or company competitors, you get more reward.  Seems to make sense, doesn’t it?  Shouldn’t that spur teachers on to better quality of work?  Shouldn’t we be able to put a score on what a teacher does and reward them for improving that score?

Let’s go back to the pizza model.  My roommate made more money if he turned out more quality pizzas.  He found out early though, that if there was a pizza with even a little irregularity, he might as well toss it rather than try to fx it.  It took much less time to make a new pizza then try to fix one that needed fixing.  And, the company was OK with that, they simply wanted more pizzas made and they knew that some were going into the reject bin.  It was the cost of doing business.  So let’s put that in an education model.  To reward teachers for higher scores, wouldn’t it make sense for a teacher to spend a lot more time with the higher-achieving students.  After all, they will score the highest and can then raise the average.  This would make certain the teacher received more money.  The “rejects’ in the class would just be the cost of doing business.  In fact, this has already happened in places where merit pay has been introduced.  My roommate was also supposed to have a particular meat-to-cheese ratio on every pizza.  This made up for the rejects he had to throw away.  If merit pay is introduced, teachers will focus on the meat and cheese ratio, the curriculum that most matches the test.  Tests provide insight on what a student has memorized.  But teachers worth their salt, try to have students develop characteristics of initiative, creativity, imagination, conceptual thinking, curiosity, effort, irony, judgment, commitment, nuance, good will, ethics, reflection, critical thinking…which test measures these things?  And if a teacher wants to earn more money and be seen as successful, in a business model – that teacher must quit teaching the above traits.  The teacher would have to match instruction to the test, which can’t possibly measure the above.  So merit pay, a business model, will do two very important things – toss out the rejects and narrow the curriculum.  I guess it really comes down to:  do you want schools to be assembly lines of products churning out identical items and throwing away the rejects?  Or do you wish for your school to be one that only sees itself as a pathway, a place for processes and discoveries, a place that is hard to quantify but in pursuit of individual diversity that enriches, stabilizes and ambitiously pursues the wonder in a kindergartner’s eyes?  For teachers, it isn’t that they don’t want more pay – it is just that they understand the ramifications of trying to imprint Henry Ford’s ideas on a third grade science class.  It will not work.  Schools are a mass of variables, more complex than any business could ever dream of being.  A business plan, even business ideas, coexist barely in this chaos called school.  And one thing we can never, ever do is substitute efficiency for effectiveness.  No matter how messy, no matter how disorganized at times – that is learning.  Learning is not efficient.  Learning does not punch a time clock.  Learning does not have tangible properties.  We can either respect this, trust that the teachers are doing their best to help every student find what they need – or, we can promote a business model that only serves a few, and destroys the possibility for so many.  The next time a politician or a newspaper or a pundit waves a business idea for education in the air bashing teachers and calling all schools failing, remember the pizza factory and you decide if that is what you want for your children.  I don’t know about you, but if my son doesn’t have enough sauce, I hope a teacher will not toss him in the reject bin.  I hope that teacher will show him where he can get all the sauce and cheese and toppings he needs, and he can pick the kind of pizza he wants to be.

Traffic around the school is always a concern and problem.  Please remind your sons and daughters to take it easy on the roads.  In the past two weeks, we have had to report individual license plates to the local authorities for reckless driving around school.  It is a big responsibility and it will take just one mistake to ruin several lives.  As the weather becomes colder and more treacherous, time to even take more care. 

Parent/Principal Connection (PPC) will meet tomorrow night at 7:00 in the commons at the High School.  Hope you can make it.

Career Cruising, a topic written of before in this post, was completed by all TAP groups last week.  All students at Harrisburg are asked to take the "Matchmaker" survey which will create a possible list of job opportunities, matched to post-secondary and/or careers.  The Argus Leader spotlighted some Sioux Falls students working on this program last week.  We are proud to have a school that is pro-active in helping all students establish future goals.  As parents, you can access this site to see how your son or daughter is doing in the program.  Just call or email to Mr. Schmidt or Mrs. Kooima for a password.

Teacher standards have been written for 35 states.  South Dakota is not one of those.  Hence, a committee was formed, at the behest of the legislature to work on these standards with the ultimate result of a format for consistent teacher evaluation.  I serve on this committee as one of two principals, along with community members, Board members, teachers, etc.  It is great work and I think the benefits will be many for South Dakota education in the years to come.

Senior projects began on Friday.  Seniors will be creating their proposals in the next three weeks.  Beginning their service or refining service they have already participated in following that, then working on their paper and presentation next semester.  If you need any further information, please don't hesitate to call or write.

Jim Valvano, the legendary coach of North Carolina State who died of cancer, said in his last public appearance that a perfect day is when you think, laugh and cry.  As he said, "That is a heckuva day."  Every day is one of those days for me at Harrisburg, and Friday was particularly poignant.  Laughing with students all day as they anticipated their weekend.  Thinking as an inherent part of the job.  And, early in the AM, being surprised by our staff with a gift for Boss' Day.  My first thought was, "You know, I have been here like five weeks and some of you have been on the job for 35 years, what makes you think I deserve anything?"  But this is how it is in Harrisburg, people care so much that they want to find ways to celebrate all the time.  Since I have been in this place, every day, some one has made an attempt or several to make me feel part and welcome.  Every day.  As I tried to choke the tears and issue some fitting thank you to this incredible staff - not many words came and those that did were so beneath what I wish I could conjure in gratitude.  Just another symbol of the nature of this time and these people - so full of wanting to give, they know no other way.  So I just wish them and all of you, what Coach V. said, I hope every day you think, get to laugh and get to cry.  You have given me so much so fast, I don't know how I will ever repay.  But I will do my best to try.  Thanks to all of you.

Events at Harrisburg High School

Monday - 6:30 PM - JV Football - Home - Roosevelt

                 7:00 -  PPC - High School Commons

Tuesday - FFA National Convention - Indianapolis

                 2:00 - Extra Help announced - Final list of quarter

                 4:00 - After School Novice Interp - Sioux Falls

                 5:00 - Volleyball - Home - Tri-Valley

Wednesday - FFA National Convention

                      3:00-3:30 - Extra Help

                      7:30 - Tiger Nation Meeting

Thursday - 3:00-3:30 - Extra Help

                 4:00 - After School Novice Interp - Sioux Falls

                 4:30 - FFA Chili Feed

               Dakota Valley vs. Tea Area (5:15pm kickoff)

          Gates open for ticket sales at 4:15

         Dell Rapids vs. Harrisburg (7:45pm kickoff approximately)
        Ticket sales for Harrisburg game will begin at 6:30pm
         Parents of Harrisburg Senior Football Players & Senior Cheerleaders will be
        recognized during starting lineups of 2nd game.
           Tickets purchased for the Dakota Valley/Tea Area game will be honored for
            the Dell Rapids/Harrisburg game.  Admission prices are $5 for Adults and $3  for Students.

Friday - END OF FIRST QUARTER

            FFA National Convention

            5:00 - Volleyball at Lennox

Saturday - 8:00 AM - Saturday School

           8:00 AM - Oral Interp. Sioux Falls

           9:00 - JV Volleyball at Elk Point

           1:30 - Cross Country State Meet - Huron