The Future of Farming/Agriculture

“I believe in the future of farming, with a faith born not of words but of deeds . . .” That’s all I remember from those six weeks of learning the FFA Creed my freshman year at Oakland High School. Now even what I remember has changed as the opening line goes: “I believe in the future of agriculture; with a faith born not of words but of deeds . . .” Agriculture has changed dramatically over the 30 years that have passed since Mr. Kearney made us memorize one stanza at a time during that first week of my voc ag experience. And now, after nearly thirty years, a change has taken place in the vocational agricultural program at North Fayette High School.

Ryan Holthaus is a graduate of Decorah High School and Iowa State University (where else do ag teachers graduate from!). He has taught previously at Anamosa High School. When he applied for our position, an all to common thought came across me: why would he want to move from a school the size of Anamosa to one smaller, like North Fayette? Then, I looked in the mirror and realized that I had a similar answer almost a year before. In Mr. Holthaus’s case, Brian Harper had built a very strong program, making it an attractive place to teach. Believe me, when I saw the principal position opened up, North Fayette was an attractive place to me because of the quality people that work in this district and the quality families that send their kids here to school. I also know it was a plus that he was able to move his family closer to where both he and his wife grew up. In this respect, luck on our behalf doesn’t hurt!

This is my fifth school district that I have worked in, and the eighth Iowa community where I have lived. I have a pretty good handle on this state, but must admit that our move to northeast Iowa has been a great new adventure. Every trip we take north and east of West Union seems to expose us to something new. This is also the most agriculturally intensive place I have lived in years. What I mean is that the agricultural industry has a greater impact on our local economy and culture than it did in the other places I lived in Iowa. A lot of that is due to the changes that have taken place over the years, but what I see here is still a strong attachment to the family farm. Because of the dairy industry, farming here is still labor intensive, much more so than in the western part of the state where many livestock operations are a thing of the past and what huge hog confinements do exist are highly automated. In other words, farming is still a way of life here, not simply an occupation.

So what does this have to do with Ryan Holthaus? I believe that he is the right person in the right place at the right time for North Fayette. He is a young man committed to students and the future of agriculture. From what I have seen, he brings a solid focus and balance to production, business, and scientific aspects of the industry. And most important, he shows a passion for what he does. If you have not had the opportunity to meet him, please take the time to seek him out and introduce yourself. You won’t have to look far because he is out and about all of the time. Welcome to North Fayette Mr. Holthaus!

What Are We Dealing With?

Over the past few years, I have seen a number of videos that are intended to present facts and give perspective to the world we live in. I know it is easy to dismiss them because it is also easy to feel like we are in rural northeast Iowa and a long ways away from this global perspective. However, just a few years ago we were quite a ways away from Direct TV and cell phone service! Folks, we need to pay attention to this stuff as we chart our educational course for the future.

Healthy Kids

Some of you may have heard about the Healthy Kids Act. It is a federal piece of legislation that has forced quite a bit of change on schools in the past couple of years. This year full implementation of this act must be in place. While I do not believe that anyone will disagree with the idea that we need to do what we can to help children lead healthy lives, there is some interesting debate about this legislation. Some of you will find some of the changes we have to make going to far. Others will understand why it is being done.

Senator Tom Harkin has been a leader in the development and passage of these new laws. I remember a few years ago that money was made available to qualifying schools to put fresh fruit and vegetables in front of students for snacks during the school day. At Indianola High School, there were boxes of apples in the hallways for students to pick up and eat on the way to class. At Creston Elementary, students received carrots, celery, broccoli, and cauliflower with ranch dip in the afternoon. The Senator had a lot to do with this, but interestingly, I don’t hear about this much any more.

Now that the act is to be fully implemented, a number of noticeable changes will be in place this year. No carbonated beverages can be sold during the school day. No candy or other restricted items can be sold during the school day as a fundraiser, which includes some of the bake sales groups have had. No pizza parties during the school day. I know that there will be disagreement on a number of the things that we are required to do, and honestly, I’m not sure I agree with all of them. However, it is law and we will input the changes with integrity. The one thing about this that truly bothers me is that while we are required to make all of these changes because of the high levels of childhood obesity in our country, we seem to be the only ones required by law to do so. This is certainly a scary health problem. But I do not believe for a minute that the diets and levels of exercise will change outside the school. In my opinion, there needs to be a much bigger attitude shift in our country. Since schools receive public funds, it is easy for our government to invoke rules on us, and at the same time, nearly impossible to do the same thing in the private sector. And, we are charged with education, and thus it does make sense that we have a role in this effort. However, as long as they give out toys in kid’s meals that are limited in their nutritional value, are we fighting a losing battle? Are there other sectors that can help fight the battle?

We live in a land of plenty and in many respects we have become out own worst enemy when it comes to our health. Too often we do not thing about the consequences of our sedentary lifestyle, yet expect medicine to take care of problems that we have imposed on ourselves. Thinking all of this through, perhaps this is a good first step, but I honestly believe that we are going to need more Jessie Oliver’s to take on this food revolution if we are going to make a difference.

A New School Day

The day at the high school will start a little earlier this year. First period will begin at 8:15 a.m. That is seven minutes earlier than in years past. Our day will finish at 3:20 p.m. Make sure to set your alarm clocks accordingly!

Not only has the start and end times changed, but what happens in the middle has changed as well. We actually have two different schedules. The A and B Day stays, but we will have a different look on Tuesdays and Thursdays. First off, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday have a standard eight period day. The length of the class periods is longer than in the past at 48 minutes. However, on Tuesday and Thursdays, we will have an advisory period for twenty minutes between second and third period.

In light of these changes, we have an additional 44 minutes a week of instruction time. You can never have too much of that!

Registration and Class Schedules

Registration for the upcoming school year takes place next week. The process has not changed much from previous years. There are a few things that we want to draw your attention to before you come in. First of all, many students have already checked out their class schedule through Infinite Campus. If you have not already done that, we encourage you to do so. However, you do need to know that the schedule is not final! Mr. Clark is still making adjustments to balance classes and resolve conflicts. So, what you see today may actually be different tomorrow. It is also important to remember that while we make every effort to meet the requests of each student, it is impossible to do so. Putting a master schedule together is similar to assembling a jigsaw puzzle, but in this case, we often have to go with what creates the fewest conflicts, acknowledging that some students will not get all of the courses they want. This is why we asked students to list alternate choices when they selected classes in the spring. If you check your schedule prior to coming in to register and would like to go over your schedule with Mr. Clark, he will be available.

I also want to mention that we will have activity tickets for sale at registration. I am not sure that people truly understand the cost savings that exists when one purchases a ticket for a student. The Board of Education dropped the price to $30.00 for a ticket that will admit students to all high school and middle school activities except for the play and state sponsored events. With student admission set at $5.00 for football games and $4.00 for other athletic events, by attending five home football games and one volleyball game, you have basically paid for the ticket with many more events ahead! We strongly encourage parents to purchase the tickets as they are the most affordable way for your child to attend events at North Fayette.

Early bird opportunities are once again available to order yearbooks. Students will be on hand to take orders for this coming years book. I got a peak at the 2010 book that just arrived and I am sure that everyone will be impressed by the full-color edition. There are a lot of great photos that capture the essence of the 2009-2010 school year.

You will very quickly get a sense of the changes that are going on in our building once you enter the main doors. At the current time, quite a bit has been torn up and soon things will be put back together. It looks like it will go right down to the wire as far as the high school office being ready for the start of school, and the central office will be finished some time after that. However, ready or not, we will be ready to go when students arrive on August 18! Bob Heins has told me stories of what it was like years ago when he worked on the construction of the building and it was not finished when school started. Block and plank "lockers" and classrooms that had to be emptied at night so they could pour concrete! Wow!

I will be in the building on Monday and Tuesday during registration and invite you to stop in my office to discuss any matter that is on your mind, whether it has to do with school or not! Tuesday evening I leave for our state administrator convention in Des Moines and will be attending sessions Wednesday and Thursday. This is always a good event as SAI brings in a number of strong presenters in the field of education, and it is nice to see friends that I have made throughout my career as a teacher and administrator.

It’s Summertime!

Note: I started this on June 1 and did not get back to it until nine days later. That would explain a few things with this article!

One more day of school for the students, and another for the staff and then it is officially summer! It has been a very good school year from my perspective and while I still have a lot to get done before I can take a few days to get away, I have enjoyed working with the staff and students. So much has happened that I am not going to go through the year month-by-month, or event-by-event. But there are a couple of things I want to mention.

John Rothlisberger is a wonderful man and has done a very good job moving our district through a difficult decision-making process. It is important for people to understand that in tough times it takes people that are willing to make tough decisions to do what is in the long-term best interest of a group, or in our case, a school district. I respect John R. as an administrator and a human being. I am thankful that I had the chance to work with him. He has restored my faith in educational leaders!

I must admit that I am at least a bit anxious about the middle school in the fall. You are most likely not aware that both Kathy Bauer and I have worked with middle school teachers to put a structure in place for next year. There is a lot to do, but I am confident that when the doors open for students in August, we will be ready. I just need to work on convincing myself of that! The primary reason for my faith that this will happen is because of the great group of teachers that will be in place at the building in Fayette. They are true pro’s and I have no doubt that as we work the kinks out, your children and mine will receive as good of an education as one can find in this part of Iowa!

The staff and students have been outstanding this year at North Fayette High School. I know that with staff cuts at the end of the year, it made for a tough situation for some. In spite of that, I was impressed with how the teachers kept the focus on student learning and that the students kept after it as well. Throughout the year I was made to feel welcome and I hope I had as positive of impression on the people in the building as they had on me.

It’s been a great year to be a Hawk! I look forward to seeing everyone again in the fall!

Note: I may include a few entries in the blog this summer and will definitely return in August. My hope is to improve upon this year and provide interesting and relevant things for you all to ponder!

A Great End To The Year

I have spent a little time reflecting as graduation is about twenty-four hours away on a couple of recent events that have taken place. The funny thing about it is that they are actually two of my least favorite events/activities associated with being a high school principal. Before you read any further, I would ask that no one takes offense and remember that what I have to say is my opinion (though I know it is shared by a number of other high school principals through conversations we have every year!). Prom and Awards Night. Just mention of those words tend to bring sighs and grimaces to the faces of high school principals. Read on and I will tell you why, and also share how this year my stance has somewhat softened.

Prom is a four-letter word, lumped in with all of those other negative four-letter words. Prom reeks of excess, over-indulgence, misplaced values, and cheesiness reinforced by 1980’s teen movies. I have never liked prom, even as student, yet I have been to at least 16 of them over the years! The amount of money that is spent is way out of whack. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t see a problem with kids getting all gussied up and having that kind of an opportunity, but when one looks at the cost, it is ridiculous! And, try to get 16- or 17-year-old girls to focus on anything other than dress styles, hair decisions, and size of heels after the end of February! And boy, I don’t even want to get into what is going on in the minds of the boys!

Awards Night has traditionally been that evening for me that has equal parts happiness and hard feelings. For every student that receives a major award, there are two or three that believe they were slighted. Adults in the audience keep a scorecard updated with number of wins and total dollars. Certain kids don’t show up because they do not think that they are going to get anything, or worse yet, because they don’t care. Understand that these are general observations and not necessarily indicative of any one experience. However, more often than not, I have seen things like this happens and at least from my standpoint, it taints what should otherwise be an evening that celebrates the efforts of a group of students that are grouped together as a class.

I will not say that I have changed my mind completely, but after experiencing both events for the first time at North Fayette, I have tempered my opinions and in some respects, I see hope! Or at least, I feel that there is some perspective. Starting with Prom, for the past twelve years, I have often wondered whom Prom is really for: the students or the moms. Seriously! It has seemed that a lot of moms have been more engaged than the daughters, and for the last nine years, parents were constantly hovering -- some years even watching kids eat! – during an evening that was originally considered a coming out for high school students. People spent more time talking about what so-and-so’s dress cost than they did taking joy in the often overlooked young lady who dressed up so beautifully. But I saw little of that here. More important, I saw a lot of kids having a lot of fun, which is what it is all about. They truly seemed to enjoy each other’s company and were absolutely no trouble at all! The faculty gave the kids some space and was treated respectfully in return. It was refreshing! I still have a problem with sophomores and 9^th graders attending, but that is for another day! It was a very enjoyable evening and a wonderful process to be part of this year.

Awards night was incredible! Yes, there were a few pencils working out there tallying up numbers, and I am sure that there were some questions as to why someone won a particular award and someone else did not. But, the outpouring of support from the community through Dollars for Scholars is most likely unequalled for a school this size. Support was spread throughout the class, but when I watched the students go up and accept, in most instances I thought that folks got it right. You know, the kids that work hard and achieve should be awarded for their efforts and excellence. We don’t give everyone a gold medal regardless of where they finish a race on the track, nor should anyone expect something different when honoring those for what they do in the classroom.

The end of the school year is by nature stressful, but I am enjoying the last few weeks of the 2009-2010 here at North Fayette. Give me a few months to recharge my batteries this summer and we’ll be ready to get going again in August.