McKernan's Notes

This was originally posted on usd442.org in September 2011.

Nemaha Valley High School Career and Technical Academy

College and Career Readiness is a current term being used in educational discussions, literature and journal articles these days.  The Obama administration has entered the discussion recently and has released a proposal for rewriting the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 by doing away with the 2014 goal of 100 percent proficiency in reading and math in favor of getting all students college- and career-ready by the time they graduate from high school.  Personally and professionally I would be in favor of that because the 100% proficient goal, which might be reached by some schools, is not attainable by many, many schools in the nation.

Doesn’t this make sense?  The phrase College and Career Readiness may be new but the philosophy has always been the same.  Shouldn’t we be preparing all students for their life after high school, whether that is college or the world of work?  Saying this and doing this can be difficult for many small schools like Nemaha Valley High School due to our smaller selection of elective courses and our declining student enrollment.  An example of this could be our upper level core curriculum.  We would love to offer more upper level science courses, for instance, but lack of teachers and more importantly lack of students to take on the rigor of these courses comes into play. 

At Nemaha Valley High School, like many 2A-3A size schools around the state, we do a great job preparing students for whatever they decide to do after high school.  Nemaha Valley High School is fortunate to have Mrs. Briana Evans, NVHS Guidance Counselor, working with our students to help them with information to make decisions regarding their chosen path after high school.  Our ACT scores are up again and our students continue to meet the Standard of Excellence in reading and math, so we feel we do a good job preparing students for college.  Nemaha Valley High School has seven funded career and technical education programs and is looking to add more.  We are currently involved in a federal and state Rigorous Program of Study grant, which is helping us add more career and technical education programs of study and enhance existing programs.  Can we do more for all kids?  Sure we can and will continue to explore ways to do so.

I have shared with the NVHS staff and for that matter, anyone who would listen, a goal I have for Nemaha Valley High School students and for all Nemaha County students.  I would like to pursue the possibility of a Career and Technical Academy to be started in this area.  The Career and Technical Academy would offer rigorous programs of study that students would not be able to get in their own schools.  Programs such as Automotive Technology, Residential Carpentry, Electricity, Heating and Air, Graphic Arts, Culinary Arts, Pre-Collegiate Teacher Preparation and Pre-Engineering could be available, just to name a few. 

What an opportunity this would be for the students in our school district and all of Nemaha County!  I will be pursuing this dream this year by making contacts with the post secondary partners that are willing to share my vision.  I am open to any ideas or suggestions from anyone that wants to help with making this vision a reality.  I will be providing more information to you as the year progresses.  Until then, NVHS staff will continue to Find A Way to prepare students to be college and career ready.

Kansas Association for Career and Technical Education

Welcome back for another great year at Nemaha Valley High School. If you ask the students at NV what one of my favorite sayings might be, I am certain they would tell you, “It’s a Great Day to be a Raider”. And it is true. It is always a great day to be a Raider. This school year will bring about many changes to the Raider Nation. First and foremost is the excellent staff we have assembled for your children this year.
There will be many new faces at NVHS.

Warren Seitz will be taking over as Activities Director and also be teaching weight classes for us. Mr. Kelly Williams returns to his alma mater to teach in our science department. Mrs. Kelly Coup will be teaching PE/Health at the high school and Health classes at the middle school. Betty Hecht will return to us after a couple of long time substitution stints to teach our senior English. Kelsey Scism will be moving from the middle school to teach freshman and junior English courses and Abby Kuckelman will be teaching World History and Geography. Wow! Six new or returning staff members. Please make sure you take time to introduce yourself to these individuals. We are happy and pleased these teachers have chosen to become Raiders.

You might see the saying or slogan, “Find A Way” on the back of t-shirts that the NVHS Booster Club is selling, on the back of the football team’s t-shirts, and also posted throughout NVHS. I shared this theme with the student council this week and will be sharing it with the staff and students in the future. Find A Way can have different meanings to different people. At NVHS we want to Find A Way to achieve at a level higher than we ever have. We want to Find A Way to reach more students, to work harder than ever for the students. We want to Find A Way to communicate more often and better with students and parents. We want the students to Find A Way to turn that B- into an A, to work harder than they think they can both in and out of the classroom, and to find positives in challenging, tough situations. I would ask the parents to do the same. Find A Way to communicate more often and more directly with staff. Find A Way to help your child perform on a high level and to make the best out of difficult situations. FIND A WAY to have a great, productive school year.

Communication is a huge key with any organization. I would encourage any and all parents to communicate with your child’s teachers, sponsors, and coaches. Do so on a regular basis, not just when negative situations arise. My door is always open and I am always willing to listen to your concerns. Even though we may not always agree on what is best, overall, we can’t get anywhere if we do not communicate with each other. I wish each and every one of you a great school year.

Been a while since I have posted.  I need to get on here more and share what is going on at NVHS.  Our first semester is almost over and today it is cold and windy!  For the most part, our kids have been great this year.  We have had a few bumps in the road but that is expected when you are dealing with 14-18 year old kids. 

Teachers and students are busy preparing for the end of the semester.  Teachers are getting in some final lessons before x-mas break and the students are busy trying to get as much down as possible before final grades are due.

 NV Teachers are working on a curriculum alignment website.  The purpose of this process is to revisit our existing curriculum and  make modifications when needed.  I think it is important for teachers to revisit their curriculum, teaching methods and strategies, and even philosophy from time to time to make sure we are doing what is best and relevant for students.

We are excited that we are going to be part of a STEM grant that should help us enhance our curriculum for students interested in the engineering and technology field.  This should bring some new courses to NV that will help prepare more of our students for life after high school.

Until next time…..

Students are excited today.  Prom weekend at Nemaha Valley High School.  Many people think school begins to wind down in the spring.  In reality, it one of the busiest times of the year.  There are many activities, teachers trying to finish up lessons from too many snow days, and not enough time in the day and week to get everything done.  Kids will tend to get themselves over-extended and that is where the parents and school need to step in and help with some guidance.  These days, from April to May seem to fly by.  Sometimes we just need to slow down to enjoy the green grass growing.

The staff at NVHS and a few selected NVEMS staff had the opportunity to listen to two dynamic speakers today. Larry Deaton gave a humorous and interesting presentation on birth orders. This was relevant on many levels for our staff including, and most importantly, how we interact with students and how their birth order in their family can affect our relationship with them. I am 3rd born in a family of 4. This may not mean a lot to some of you but may help explain to the NVHS staff why some decisions are made and the philosophy behind those decisions. Very good information for working with kids.

The second presentation of the day, by Alan Beam, Principal at Shawnee Heights High School, dealt with the Generation Y or the current group of students in high school today. Again, very relevant information to help us educate our students. We also talked a little about Generation X parents, which most of us are, and how we communicate and work with the school. There were plenty of Ah Hahs sighed in the audience. I am willing to share any information you would like about the generational differences. I am not expert, just an enthusiast on this topic.

Teachers are never too old to learn new tricks. As stated today, we have to change with the students. We have to be willing to take educational risks and support each other in those risks.

This is our 3rd day in row out of school.  I think most of the kids would even admit, this is long enough.  The first semester has flown by and this will make it seem even shorter.  We will be very busy when we return with only nine days of school left before the Winter break.  The annual alumni tournaments are coming up on Dec. 18-19.  I like this event and from past participation, many alumni enjoy it also.

November is here, and the weather forecast for this week says it is going to be beautiful all week. We have completed almost 11 weeks of school and the year is going smoothly.

The HS staff spent some time last week revisiting their curriculum, what they teach, when they teach it, what the state expects us to teach among other things. With our enrollment getting a little smaller every year, we are studying our curriculum and looking at areas we can enhance. We want to continue all our programs and offerings we currently have even though our class sizes may be getting smaller.

Our sports teams have completed the Fall activities seasons. All our teams compete and play hard, it is always tough when you don’t reach your ultimate goal.

Our Scholar’s Bowl team competes this week and the All-School Play will be held in 2 weeks. One thing ends and another starts. Even though it gets hectic from time to time, I like the pace. I like to stay busy and even though we all need some down time, I think most of the kids like to stay active as well. Stay busy but make sure you stay healthy as well. Staying healthy seems tougher to do than it use to.

Come and gone, quickly. We are through a full five weeks of school. I would like to thank those parents who took time out of their busy schedule to attend Parent/Teacher conferences. It is important for the parents and teachers to communicate about issues that are important for the well being of the students. Parents, keep checking Power School to see how your child is doing. There are e-mail addresses available so you can contact your child’s teachers. Keep in touch!

Many activities are starting this week. Students were in the building last night for play tryouts. All the VB teams play Thursday night and the FB team plays on Friday night. CC has been training for their first meet on Saturday at Marysville. I know the students are going through the first phase of quizzes and tests. I have seen more books being carried out of the building. Seminars seem to be quieter now that AR books are checked out, teachers are getting to the meat of their curriculum, and students have been in class for almost 2 weeks now.

We are just about over with firsts for the school year.  A student was joking with me and said hey Mr. McKernan this was my first Monday of the new school year.  So maybe the message is that there are a lot of firsts but it is also time to get in a routine.  We have had a great start to the school year due to hard work of staff and students.  I don’t want to leave the parents out because I know in my own house it has been a struggle some mornings to get the kids up.  So thanks to the parents as well.

Our seniors have a  great opportunity to attend service learning training in St. Joe, Mo on Monday August 31.  I think most of them will enjoy the experience. We will eventually plan and complete a student driven service learning project in the community.   What better lessons can we teach our youth than to be active, participatory members of their communities.