Eric Davis – CMS School Board
August 17, 2010
By: Henry Bostic
    
                          
Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board Chair Eric Davis brought the message to Charlotte Rotary that CMS leadership is focused on "performance: the performance of our students, our school-based teams, our support staff and our leadership team. Making performance our top priority keeps our efforts as a board centered on our mission – ‘to maximize academic achievement of every student in every school,’" the board chair of nine months said. Keeping performance front and center "sets a clear priority to our superintendent and staff" who, in turn, "set priority in the classroom."
 
The West Point graduate noted that the board views performance both top down and bottom up. "We are fortunate to have one of the finest superintendents in Pete Gorman," he said. The board also has an important role to play, he continued. "We are determined as a Board to continuously raising our performance."
 
From the bottom up, Davis explained, performance means being focused "on academic achievement at an individual student level... We are focused on effective teaching for all students which is the level that every parent cares about."
 
The board chair noted that the 2001 student assignment plan was based on choice but many parents used it as a way of "escaping an undesirable or under-performing school." We need to focus on "addressing why someone wants . . . to leave."
 
Raising performance requires effective measurement. End-of-year state tests are one way to measure but they have shortcoming, especially since they come at the end of the year and too late for adjustments. They also don’t cover but about 40 percent of what’s taught in a year. The system is looking at expanding performance measurement eventually to include 100 percent of students’ work.
 
The state tests, Davis said, are of "limited utility" in measuring great teaching. The system is working on developing other measures, especially those that focus on "the value added to a student by an individual teacher."
"A school year is 180 days of instruction," he said, "But a really great teacher can move a student ahead so much that it’s as if the student had extra days in class. . . . Being able to move students this way is especially critical when you’re trying to help students catch up..."
 
He noted that building effective teaching system-wide is complex. CMS is taking part in a national Gates Foundation study, Measuring Effective Teaching." The strategic plan for 2014 – Teaching Our Way to the Top – "lays out a plan to change the way we recruit, hire, compensate and evaluate teachers. We want to align teacher pay with student results, using fair and accurate measurements.’
 
Making sure all teachers are effective will help ensure that all students get the teaching they need, he said. CMS is also emphasizing school leadership. "Having an effective school leader in each school is critical to make every school high performing," Davis said.
 
Davis noted that CMS had a "solid year" in end-of-the-year testing. The number of schools making expected or high academic growth increased for the fourth year in a row with 94.1 percent of schools meeting or exceeding state growth expectations as compared to only 54.3 percent four years ago.
 
CMS improved enough to move out of the state district improvement status for the first time since 2006. CMS students pulled ahead of Wake and Guilford counties in the performance of many subgroups.
 
"While we are pleased with the results," Davis noted, "we are far from satisfied. "We want to increase the growth expectations beyond one year. We want to achieve higher levels of proficiency so that CMS graduates" need little to no additional work to enter higher levels of education. "We want to raise the graduation rate so that every child born in this county becomes a productive, contributing member of our society."
     
  
Head Table: Ed Pickett, Chuck Cocke, Pender McElroy, Luther Moore, Ralston Pound, Bob Webb; Invocation: Brenda Lea; Visitors & Guests: Ed Wadsworth; Health & Happiness: Meg McElwain; Song: Pam Jefsen; Piano: Thomas Moore; Photos: Bert Voswinel

Rotary Exchange Students Share Experiences
August 24, 2010
By: Rick Handford
                               
It was an exciting day at Rotary as we welcomed host families, parents and exchange students for a celebration of the Charlotte Rotary Student Exchange Program. Matt Joyner introduced the visiting members of the families present who are involved in the program as hosts and parents, including our two incoming exchange students for this school year. Clara Lowe comes to us from Germany and will be attending Myers Park High School this year. Pat Supapa is from Thailand and will be going to Charlotte Country Day School.
 
Matt encouraged all members of the Club, not just those involved with the Exchange Program, to remember that these students are guests of the entire Club, and to invite them to share in activities and events that you may have going on throughout the year. He also requested that each of us give consideration to becoming host families, or to invite friends or neighbors that might be interested in becoming host families.
  
Matt also recognized the other members of the Committee, and gave special recognition to Don Millen, the outbound coordinator, who goes out into the community and the schools and provides information about the Rotary Exchange Program and seeks out qualified and interested candidates. He also shepherds selected students through the process of preparing for and heading out to their host families in other countries.
  
Matt then introduced Charlie Bones, who thanked the members of the club for sponsoring his daughter over the past year, and turned the program over to Mary Catherine (MC) Bones, back from a ten-month stint in Croatia.
 
MC presented a slide show outlining her experiences in Croatia, including her school and her three host families in the city of Zagreb, the capital city and her base for the year. Zagreb is a city of about 750,000 people, and was hosting ten exchange students for the 2009-10 school year. She showed us a number of slides of Zagreb, focusing on city landmarks and the metro transportation system, which included a funicular, a cable car system designed for very steep inclines, where the car going up the slope serves as a counterweight for the car coming down. She also visited a number of coastal towns, including Seline and Dubrovnik, the latter being notable because of the extensive use of marble in construction.
 
Mary Catherine was very impressed with the school system. Her school building would accommodate some 500 students at a time, but was used in two separate shifts, each representing a completely different student body—effectively two schools. She would be in morning school (8 am to 2 pm) one week, and afternoon school (2 pm to 8 pm) the following week. She found the course of subjects and the workload to be much more intense than ours, with each student taking 17 courses and three languages, English, German, and Italian.
 
A highlight of her trip was her 2-1/2 week stay with her second host family, where the mother was a Croatian TV personality, appearing on the equivalent of "Good Morning America". MC and her roommate appeared in Croatia’s version of "People Magazine" in a photo shoot with their host mother. Her trip concluded with a bus tour of Europe, visiting eight different countries in 20 days.
 
Dave Tobin then introduced his daughter Hannah, who spent her time in the Loire Valley of France. Dave thanked the Club for sponsoring what he called a profoundly transformative and wonderful year.
 
Hannah began by describing the town of Romorantin-Lathenay, called "Romo" for short. Romo is a small town with a population of about 16,000, providing a much different experience than the large city of Zagreb. Romo is the principal city of the region of Sologne, which is famous for its lakes. These lakes were made by the Romans, who having largely deforested the area needed them for a supply of water and some degree of flood control.
 
Hannah was amazed at the amount of French that she learned in as little as one week of total immersion in the language. During the time she was there, she went from minimal knowledge of the language to becoming conversant, if not fluent, in French. A slogan on a T-shirt, "I smile because I have no idea what’s going on", became a favorite of hers and her fellow exchange students. While she was in school she carried a five year old’s book of French grammar, which she described as her "lifeline", even though her friends found it funny.
 
She too found the education system to be very different. In the French equivalent of the junior year in high school, students were separated into three basic disciplines: Literary (Hannah); Social Sciences; and Science. Instead of changing classes as in the States, the class remained in the same room and the teacher changes. Also, there was less personal interaction with the teachers than she was used to, although she made friends with many of the teachers who were not her teachers, most of whom were very young.
  
She was very happy to have made many friends among the French students, in addition to the many friends she made among fellow exchange students. She had three host families as well, of which her second family was her favorite, in part because they introduced her to many different aspects of French culture. She took many trips to other areas while she was there, including Paris, the coast, including Normandy and Omaha Beach, and several chateaus.
She closed her trip with a tour of five countries over 12 days on a bus with 50 other exchange students. Seeing other areas of Europe, including Geneva, Pisa, Florence and Munich, and being able to spend time with other exchange students from all over the world made this a highlight of her trip.
  
Hannah concluded by saying that her exchange year was the most incredible experience of her life, and while it was hard at times it helped her to "really grow as a person", and that the girl that came back from France was very different from the girl who went there. She extended heartfelt thanks to the Club for making the trip possible.
 
Head Table: Charlie Bones, Pender McElroy, Matt Joyner, David Tobin, Don Millen; Invocation: BG Metzler
Visitors & Guests: Joe Gass; Health & Happiness: Ken Poe; Song: Pam Jefsen; Music: Thomas Moore; Photos: Bert Voswinkel

Should you question the eligibility of any nominee, contact the Rotary office by 9/02/2010.

•  Thanks to Wes Clark for introducing Ben Dobson on August 17th. Ben is a consultant with Corporate Benefit Advisors and can be reached at bdobson@benefitsadvice.com.
 
•  Bert Green took a few minutes to thank Charlotte Rotary for supporting Habitat for Humanity with the recent build in the Lakewood Community; Russell Ranson announced this year’s clothing drive to benefit Crisis Assistance Ministry will be conducted during the month of October; The NC Association of Municipal Attorneys has chosen Mac McCarley to receive the Ernest H. Ball Award for Excellence in Municipal Law. This award has been presented to only 12 others; Ellison Clary has accepted a position as district manager for BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina, effective September 7th. No change in his phone/email.
 
•  Host Families Are Needed for Clara (Myers Park) and Pat (Charlotte Country Day). Lodging is in place through November and additional arrangements are needed right away. Matt Joyner will be glad to answer any questions (mjoyner@bdj-law.com).
 
•  CONTACT: Jill Santuccio if you are interested in helping start up a new dinner Rotary club; Herb Harriss if you are interested in visiting Peru in February, 2011; Alan Adler for info on the Rotary Scholarship Golf Classic.
 
•  If your email address is on file at the Rotary Office, your 1st quarter INVOICE was EMAILED. If you have not received the invoice, please contact Sandy immediately and a copy can be re-sent.
 
Community Activities
 
•  August 28: Gimme Shelter party to benefit United Family Services for Battered Women. Underground Detour (David Barnhardt/Al Allison and others) band will be playing at the Dilworth Neighborhood Grille at 8:00 PM.
 
•  September 2: Charlotte West Rotary Club invites you to happy hour at the Dilworth Neighborhood Grille, 5-7 PM. This is a new initiative intended for fellowship, networking and getting to know new and prospective members, as well as fellow Rotarians. RSVP to Chad at chad.seigler@capitalguardianllc.com by September 2.
 
•  September 11: HogJog 5K Marathon (part of Blues, Brews & Bar-B-Que) needs 8 volunteers to run the water station. Duties include setting up tables, filling cups, cleaning up any trash, wiping down tables, breaking down tables. This event is sponsored by the Charlotte Regional Sports Commission and proceeds will be donated to the Rotary Scholarship Golf Classic. Contact Alan Adler if you can help out.

•  September 14: WTVI invites you to attend The Season II preview of The Chef’s Wife, featuring scrumptious catering by Chef Phil Anderson’s team, cooking demonstration by Chef Tom Condron of The Liberty and program host Bonnie Jones. Auction items, dress is casual and tickets are $75. Contact: Fatima at 704-371-8829 by 9/3/10 or at wtvi.org.
 
•  October 23: 6th annual Bluegrass Festival sponsored by the Matthews Rotary Club. Check out www.matthewsrotaryfallfestival.org for entry forms for the Chili-Cook-Off Teams, sponsorships and events. Rain or shine.