Today I saw a virtual choir class and it was amazing!  The instructor had students from all over the world - 150 students total.  Very few of them ever entered his classroom.  He interacts and instructs using a web camera.  He sends out the material, records the lessons, tapes himself conducting and asks the students to perform individually.  The students taped their performance and sent it back to the instructor who then provided feedback and instruction to each of them.  The final result was a incredible!  It was a choir performance consisting by 150 students, most of whom never saw each other.  If I can get the link, I will post it here so everyone can see it.

Education is changing and we might as well embrace it.  I would much rather lead the change than respond to it.  We are working on leading the change at both CPHS and NKHS.  Our staff members are already working with blended instruction models and we are working toward every staff member establishing an on-line presence soon.  I am hopeful that we will soon be able to offer more individualized instruction, more flexible attendance options, more class selection options, and much more.  The district is working on upgrading our infrastructure to allow for more use of technology to enhance our instructional delivery thanks to the generosity of our community in passing the bond issues last year. 

These are incredible and exciting times in education!

What our teachers and students do everyday is amazing to me!  Today I was at North Kent High School to see what they are doing with their "Mini-Term" instruction.  It was awesome!  The building was very busy because students were working hard on their projects.  They were dissecting worms, fish, frogs, and pigs;  they were creating unbelievable self portraits and paper art;  they were working on designing their own web pages; and they were exploring the opportunities that will be available to them after high school (work force, college, military, etc . . .).  Take a look at some of the work below: 

These students are explaining the work that they've done in Mrs. Nowak's Comparative Anatomy mini-term.

Mr. Pfeiffer works with a student on his Self Portrait project.

Students working hard on and showing off the Torn Paper Artwork created in Mrs. Bera's class.

In Mr. Schneider's class, students worked on various types of web-design to create their own websites.

Congratulations to our students for producing such outstanding work and great job to our staff for creating such terrific opportunities!

We are in the midst of another phenominal fall season at CP!  We can all be proud of all of our fall programs including our band which appears poised to make another trip to Ford Field.  Our athletic teams have competed with great character as well and I've truly enjoyed attending all of the events.  We have a terrific community and I am proud to be a part of it.

Congratulations to our Varsity Football team for earning a home playoff game for the second year in a row!  With a little luck, we could potentially end up with another home game before it's all done.  Please come out and show your support on Friday, October 28 at Panther Stadium!

GO PANTHERS!!

Thank you to all of the parents that were able to attend tonight's PAC - I enjoyed the conversation and value the feedback.  I know many parents were unable to attend due to previous commitments and I hope to see you at next month's PAC.

We talked about a number of topics tonight - the agenda is posted on the Parent page, but the most important topic I think we covered is the direction that we are heading with our instructional program.   We looked at a video by Ken Robinson (the link is also located on the Parent page) about how our system of education has developed and where we probably need to go in order to give our kids the best possible chance for success.  I don't agree with every concept presented by Mr. Robinson; I do, however, think it is extremely important to have a conversation with students, parents, and staff about changing our model of instructional delivery to better prepare kids for the future that they will have to face. 

We have many tools available to us to assist in making the change - flexible attendance, blended instruction, technology, cooperative programs, and more.  We need to be creative and consider options that allow us to provide students with access to increased opportunities.  We are fortunate in Comstock Park because we have a supportive community, terrific students, and an outstanding, professional staff. 

Again, I appreciate all of the parents who attended tonight and look forward to continuing the discussion at the next PAC.

When I was an Assistant Principal, it seemed like I was mostly occupied with the day to day management of the school - student discipline, building procedures, safety drills, and other things like that.  I am still aware of those things, but as a Principal it seems like I spend a great deal of time planning for things that will occur next year or even 3 to 5 years in the future.

Right now, I am working on graduation requirements for the class of 2016.  It probably seems a bit early to be working on requirements for 2016, but those students are currently in 8th grade and will be freshman next year.  We need to have the requirements worked out and in the Curriculum Guide before they start planning for classes in February.  The class of 2016, the current 8th graders, will be the first class required by the Michigan Merit Curriculum to complete two full years of Forgien Language. 

We are looking at the current CPHS/NKHS Graduation requirements so that we can make adjustments to meet the new requirement without further limiting the options available to students and parents.  Currently, we require 23 credits for graduation and 5.5 credits are earned through elective course work.  This will likely be a topic of discussion at all of our Parent Advisory Council meetings until the proposal is completed and presented to the board.  The next PAC meeting is tomorrow night and a list of PAC meeting dates for the year can be found on the "Students and Parents" page.  

We had an outstanding homecoming week due to the hard work and spirit of our students, staff, and community.  There really is nothing like homecoming in Comstock Park.  This year was the first time I've seen the homecoming parade in the 12 years that I've been at CP - I've always been involved in setting up the game in past years.  It was awesome to see the community turn out to support CPPS! 

The game was incredible as well.  It always amazes me to see the community turnout at the game and this year was no different - the CP stands were packed!  We also had two class reunions at the game on Friday - a 30 year and a 50 year!  C0ngratulations to our student leadership group for organizing and conducting a terrific event.

Saturday was the traditional homecoming dance.  The dance was very well attended - about 400 students.  Thank you to all of the staff that helped organize and monitor the dance.  This too was my first dance at CPHS and I was very impressed with the conduct of our students.

Thank you to everyone who made CPHS Homecoming 2011 a big success! 

Big thanks to our student volunteer organization and Advisor BettyBeth Johns for sponsoring our New Student Luncheon.  We have about 85 new students this year and the vast majority of the them attended today's event.  It was great to have an opportunity to talk with students and get a feel for how the start of the year has gone for them.  Thank you also to those staff members that were able to attend. 

This is a great event that gives our new students an opportunity to meet representative of many student organizations and many staff members that they may otherwise be unware of.  It also is a way for our school community to welcome new members.  Again, thank you to our student volunteers for all of the work in organizing the event!

Just finished my first PAC meeting at CPHS.  Thank you to all of the parents who were able to attend.  I know that several parents  had other commitmentsand were unable to attend - I hope to have the information discussed at tonight's meeting up on the web site by weeks end on the "Students and Parents" page.

We covered a number of topics tonight and I learned a great deal.  We talked about Powerschool and the concerns we have with the Student/Parent communication piece.  We also talked about a number of student programs and the need to emphasize and value diversity.  We had a very active conversation and I appreciate the openess and willingness to participate.  I don't have all of the answers at this time as we are dealing with a great deal of change, but I think it is very important to have open discussion about the issues and challenges we face so that we can work together to create the best possible learning experience for our students.

I hope to see all of you again next month and hope that you will bring other parents as well -  we need as much input as we can get.

Thanks again!

Our football team lost a heart breaker last night to West Catholic.  It is always difficult to lose such a close game and more so when it is to such a heated rival.  However, I don't know that I've ever been more proud of our students and our community.  Sometimes our greatest victories are the outcome of our most difficult experiences.  We may have lost the game by a few inches in overtime, but our team competed with great intensity, athleticism, and character.  Our community, as usual, showed up as big or bigger than the home crowd.  And, we cheered positively for our team throughout the game.  It was a great exhibition of CP Pride and Spirit.  

I was particularly proud of our student section.  Our student section was large, organized, and supportive of our team.  During the overtime, they were as loud as any crowd I've ever seen - high school, college, or professional.  They were selfless in support of their classmates, their team.  That's what a student section is supposed to do - nice job!

We may not have won the game, but we - our team and our crowd - exemplified what high school sports should be all about.  Congratulations to all of our fall coaches and athletes - you are doing a tremendous job!  

GO PANTHERS!

There is a lot of excitement around the start of this school year.  Yesterday, we began meeting with students at both buildings to talk about expectations for the year.  We met with the Senior Class at CPHS and the entire student population at NKHS - we will meet with the Juniors at CPHS today, the Sophomores tomorrow and the Freshman on Monday.  We are basically talking about the same things with all students:  Be respectful, be responsible and focus on the goal - learning.  
    
"Students have to have a plan and a goal in each class.  How do they realize their potential without a plan and goal?"
                                                                                                                                            -Baruti Kafele

It's the job of the school staff to provide the curriculum and access to learning.  It is our job together as a community to create an environment that fosters motivation and encourages students to do their best.  The staff has a responsibility, the students have a responsibility and the parents have a responsibility.  We have, as a community, done an excellent job over the past several years as our scores have been outstanding.  It is important that we continue to keep students focused on academic success as we will be sending them into an extremely competitive world market.