Seniors and Graduation

As another graduating classes prepares to walk across the stage and begin a new chapter in their lives I am always brought back to a time and experience in my career when an unthinkable tragedy occurred taking the life one of my students and leaving two others in a wheelchair for the rest of theirs.  To say that this was a difficult time does not do justice to the overwhelming sadness that was felt by the entire community.  A time of celebration became a time of mourning.  As difficult as it is to remember it is my hope that by sharing this story that it may make a difference in another young persons life.  The message that I am trying to convey too both parents and students is that graduation does not make you invincible.

Yes, this is a time of celebration.  However, one bad choice by one person can change that and make it a time of indescribable sadness.  No one ever thinks this is going to happen to them but as many have learned the hard way it can happen to anyone.  Parents, though your student may be 18 and considered an adult by law, it is still okay to make sure you know what they are doing and where they are at! Please do not condone drinking or dangerous activities with your child or anyone else's. Students, please think ahead and make plans so that you do not find yourself in a bad situation.  Lastly, please know that this is written from the heart and care for each and every one of you!  This is just the beginning of the rest of your life and you have so many great things to accomplish!  You are and will always BE VESTABURG!

With that said, here are few words of wisdom:

As you start your life after school remember that you will encounter difficulties and struggles, however, remember these 3 principles and you will prosper:

1. Own your mistakes. Do not blame others but rather figure out how to get better and not make the same mistake twice.
2. Act with Honor. Honor is not being perfect and always being right. Honor is owning your actions and doing    what is right because it is right not because of what you have to gain.  There are consequences for doing the right thing...that is why it takes honor and courage to do the right thing. Remember courage is not the   absence of fear but rather overcoming it.
3. Anything worth doing is worth doing well. Always put your best out there without excuses. Truth is nobody    cares about excuses and they are a waste of time. Use your time to fix the issue not make excuses.

And lastly, if you ever find yourself struggling and in need of a friend always know that you have a home and friends here at VHS that love and care about you. Good luck, god bless, and make us proud.

May Power of One and PAC Award Recipient.

This month the Vestaburg Board of Education recognized Bill Bloomfield, Barb Alexander, and Connie Marshall with the May Power of One Award.  These individuals have voluntarily stepped up and gone above and beyond helping with administering the new online M-STEP Assessments. This was a new test and process for all of us and their help administering the test has been invaluable! Thank you and Congratulations!

I would also like to issue a sincere congratulations to Mrs. Tonya Deverney for receiving a Parent Advisory Council (PAC) "Making a Difference" award.  Mrs. Deverney is the Vestaburg School Social Worker and has done an absolutely fantastic job working with the students.  This award is given by the Montcalm Area Intermediate School District Parent Advisory Council to school employees that demonstrate outstanding performance and make a difference!  Congratulations Tonya!

Social Media from School Administrators perspective

Well all use it!  Whether it is to gain knowledge, see what others are doing, or venting we all have Facebook accounts and Twitter pages.  They are full of interesting posts that are funny, sad, and even informative.  However, from my professional experience and point of view life was a lot simpler before these applications became a part of our everyday activities.  It appears to me that while there are benefits of social media one of the biggest negatives is that society has lost its ability to communicate and to problem solve. This is especially true of many of our young people.

Instead of sitting down and discussing things and working through conflict we go to a computer screen and start typing.  Too many times we hit the send button while we are consumed with emotion and without thought of what or how the message we are sending may be percieved or the fact it may be something that 400 people should not know about you.  We rant about people and issues that in many cases should be private but it is so easy to post and then have a bunch of random people hit like or make a comment about the post providing us with a false sense of support.  Maybe it is just me but I still believe that one real hug or phone call from someone with genuine concern beats 1,000 likes.  Yes, it is easy to go on and hit like and to read a 3 or 4 sentence post about something and assume that it is factual or the truth and agree or make a negative comment.  However, the next time you go to post and then look to see how many likes you get remember all of the half hearted likes you have clicked before you get to excited.  Better yet, think about all the posts that you have read and thought to yourself why is someone making this public or that is not true before you hit send.  Take the time to learn the facts and the whole story before commenting.  Maybe try waiting 24 hrs before posting anything personal or negative and see if once the emotion has passed if you still feel the same way.  Remember nothing beats personal communication and sometimes less is more.

Lastly, as a school administrator when it comes to school business I encourage you take the time to talk to a teacher or make an appointment to sit down with myself or another administrator to find out all of the information and reasons behind things.  Yes, we all make mistakes and can always strive to do better but there is not bad intent and there are many layers behind even the littlest decision or issue.  We hold parent and community update meetings atleast 4 times a year to go over programs and to answer questions.  Please take advantage of these events and/or schedule a seperate time to meet as we have an open door policy.  While it is impossible for everyone to agree or come to a consensus all the time, atleast we can come to a position that is based on facts and mutual respect.

April's Power of One Recipient

Congratulations to this Month's Power of One Award winner, Ken Tiesworth.

Ken is Vestaburg Community School's Technology Supervisor and Technician.  While most of his work his behind the scenes it is absolutely essential to the daily activities and lessons.  The life a a technology director is that if you are not seeing him or hearing about them then they are doing their job!  While this is true, for Ken it is only half of the story!  Whenever there is a problem Ken is there to take care of it in a very quick and timely fashion.  He does not ask for praise or expect recognition, he just works hard and takes care of business.  Recently, he has done an outstanding job of preparing for the new M-STEP assessments that are being held online for the first time.  We are currently two weeks into the testing and we have had very little to no issues due to his outstanding work.  Ken is a true team player and we are very fortunate to have him at Vestaburg Community Schools.

Congratulations Ken and Thank You for all that you do!

Students and Technology

Schools all around the nation are constantly discussing how to handle the use of personal technology devices in the classroom.  Do we fight it and try to keep it out or do we embrace it and try to teach students how to use it appropriately?  With that here is a link and some key facts from the link regarding teenage use of technology and social media:  Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015

• 24% of teens go online “almost constantly," facilitated by the widespread availability of smartphones.

• Aided by the convenience and constant access provided by mobile devices, especially smartphones, 92% of teens report going online daily — including 24% who say they go online “almost constantly,” 

• according to a new study from Pew Research Center. More than half (56%) of teens — defined in this report as those ages 13 to 17 — go online several times a day, and 12% report once-a-day use. Just 6% of teens report going online weekly, and 2% go online less often.

• Nearly three-quarters of teens have or have access1 to a smartphone and 30% have a basic phone, while just 12% of teens 13 to 17 say they have no cell phone of any type

Given this data and the inevitability of the situation, isn't the real question then not whether we allow it, but rather how do we facilitate the proper use and help eliminate the possible distractions.  The truth is that if a teenager wants to explore inappropriate material or use their device for not educational purposes they will find a way.  However, just as adults need to learn not to be on their phones or social media during work, our students need to be taught and learn how to manage their use of the social media during class and in general.  There are so many applications and tools available to our students that can improve efficiency, organization, and quality of work.  To not allow and/or provide our students this learning tool and experience is to be doing them a disservice.  Instead, isn't this the message we should be sending? 

Feel free to share your comment with me. 

We ARE Vestaburg!!: Teacher Web-pages

We ARE Vestaburg!!: Teacher Web-pages: In an effort to increase communication and to provide parents information and resources that you can use to help your children be successful...

Teacher Web-pages

In an effort to increase communication and to provide parents information and resources that you can use to help your children be successfull in school all of our teachers have created and maintain classroom web-pages.  On the web-pages you will find classroom updates, weekly topics, notes, and many other resources that students and parents can access from home.  It is our hope that you find these pages and the information they contain to be useful.  I ask that you please share the tools you find helpful with us so that we can continue to improve our service.


Directions/Access:

1. You can access the web-pages at www.vcs-k12.net .  
2. Once you at the school web-page go to the Middle/High School tab along the top.  
3. A drop down menu will appear and you click on Staff Directory/Teacher Web-pages.  
4. Once you are here you will see a list of teachers with contact information and a link (Web-page).  

If you have any questions please feel free to contact us at 989-268-5343.