Superintendent’s Blog

Recently, a parent dropped off the January/February issue of The Atlantic. The magazine contained an article by Amanda Ripley titled, “What makes a great teacher?” This is the age-old question in education.
Here in Saline we are fortunate.  We attract top quality applicants, have a comprehensive selection process, and retain our staff.  This is not the [...]

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Check out this excellent video from Ms. Staci Nazareth our Middle School Media Specialist.  It highlights some of the innovative ways Saline Area Schools is using technology to engage students.  For perhaps the first time ever - we are talking about “appropriate” use of cell phones in the classroom!
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In a December, 2009 article in American Educational Research Journal, researchers reported on a study of how students learn using four different instructional approaches. All four claim to be effective at getting students actively selecting relevant information, organizing it in their minds, and integrating it with what they already know. Here are the teaching approaches, [...]

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Ever been in a conversation in the stands or on the sidelines of a youth athletic event?
Ever traded comments while shopping at the local grocery store or Target?
People often share their thoughts and opinions about their local schools. Saline is no different.  In speaking to superintendents across the state, our community is no different than [...]

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Over the past weeks we have been working on a framework that we can use to develop a Strategic Plan.  We have begun to assemble a steering committee of community members, parents and staff.  The process will include a variety of steps with the final version to the Board of Education by the end of [...]

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I am big fan on Daniel Pink. This year, I gave each of our new certified staff a copy of his book  A Whole New Mind. A copy of the book was first given to me by one of our High School faculty, Ms. Cyndi Koppelman. He has a new book out called Drive. I [...]

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Last week I read an interesting fact about the State of Michigan.
Michigan leads the nation in the percentage of adult population that earned a high school diploma and attended college but obtained no degree.
I also learned that the difference between “some college” and a Bachelors degree with regard to lifetime earnings is significant.  The [...]

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One of the issues facing Saline Area Schools is declining enrollment.  It sounds odd to say due to the fact that the number of school-aged children in our district exploded from 3,100 students in the 1991 to 5,150 in 2001.  That growth over 10 years shaped the structure and culture of our school system.  During [...]

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A parent sent me the link to an interesting article in the New York Times about a developing phenomenon called “mini-generation gaps”.  It talks about the ever increasing pace of technological change.  Here is an excerpt:
“People two, three or four years apart are having completely different experiences with technology,” said Lee Rainie, director of the [...]

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The past week has been an interesting one for Saline Area Schools.  There has been a great deal of discussion around the issue of “online math” at Saline High School.  It prompted this statement from us on Tuesday morning.
We are continuing to work through a challenging budget reduction process. Recently, there has been information shared [...]

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