Notes from the principal

Shaving for a cause

Mr. Harmelink — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 19:23:18 +0000

I will be shaving my head to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. For more information about St. Jude’s and what they do, click this: www.stjude.org. The shearing will take place on Friday, August 12 at The Derby in Poughkeepsie. To sponsor me, please call the school (877-4700) between 8am and 3pm. Thank you for your support!!!

ELA and Math scores

Mr. Harmelink — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 15:48:40 +0000

The latest ELA and Math scores for our third through fifth grade students (this past school year) are nothing short of depressing. We had a good feeling about those tests and expected a nice increase over the 2009 scores. Our teachers work hard all year on reading and math skills, engaging learners, making the stories exciting, inspiring kids to read more, and teaching math facts and techniques until the cows come home. The Accelerated Reader program got kids to read hundreds more books than they had the year before. But the bar had to be raised. Each year, the bar was lowered just slightly by the testing company and the Regents, which made the test results meaningless. Raise the bar and then lower the bar. The other factor playing into the lower percentage of passing students (which is a factor every year) is that every student in Dover represents one percentage point (or close to it). In a class of 106 students, each student weighs one point. In a district like Wappingers, for instance, with 914 students in the fifth grade, it takes nine students to move them one percentage point. Therefore, if ten students in the third grade get that one determining question wrong on the math assessment, the entire grade level drops by ten percentage points.

There is work to be done, work that will not only increase student achievement (and I’m not talking about the state tests here), but also help us as a faculty and district to see better what it is that we can focus on for the future of our curriculum. As a nice side effect, the state test scores should go up as well!

If you would like to read the New York State Commissioner of Education’s letter regarding the decision to change the scoring system, click here: http://www.nyssba.org/index.php?src=news&submenu=news_media&srctype=detail&category=On%20Board%20Online%20August%209%202010&refno=1450.

Halloween

Mr. Harmelink — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:42:40 +0000

So I thought I would throw this out there and see what kind of reaction I got…should Halloween be “celebrated” in the elementary school? It’s not really a holiday. Kids have a lot of fun dressing up and coming to school and showing off their costumes for their friends. But is this the place for that? Some families take the kids ”trick-or-treating,” either at the mall or around the neighborhood, but that is not school-related. What are your feelings on this?

Summer

Mr. Harmelink — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:06:18 +0000

Happy summer! I hope everyone is enjoying some down time and reading lots of books. I just finished The Lightning Thief. Before that, I finally read Diary of a Wimpy Kid. That was a fun book! (I am trying to catch up on some popular elementary-level books). There are more on my list, I will keep you posted. If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear about them!

Obesity Tax?!

Mr. Harmelink — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:18:46 +0000

Apparently I am behind in my news consumption, as I only recently heard about the “Soda Tax” that Governor Paterson has proposed. According to the Daily News, state employess will be asked to forgo their 3% raise and welfare payments will be increased by 30%. Education will be slashed severely, health care will be cut by $3.5 billion, and the sales tax on clothing and footwear will be restored. And in order to cure obesity in children, the Governor will tax those who choose non-diet soda. What about cheese fries? Yodels? Does he really think that this tax will stop people from making poor nutritional decisions? What happened to responsibility at home? Who is in charge of what our kids eat and drink, the school, the state, or the parents?

Welcome

Mr. Harmelink — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:32:12 +0000

Thank you for visiting my web blog. Stay tuned in for further updates, announcements, and general meanderings of my mind. I will also be using this site as a place to get your feedback and input on various school and education matters. See you soon!