Paxton-Buckley-Loda High School “Excellence Through Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships.” Ne ws le tte r Fe b ru a r y 2 0 1 5 Pri n ci p a l T r av is D u le y A ssist a nt P rin c ip a l Je ff G r ah a m Principal’s Message Upcoming Events  February 11th Incoming Freshmen Orientation Night  February 13th Teachers Institute No Student Attendance  February 14th FFA Toy Show  February 16th Presidents Day No School Hopefully everybody’s second semester has gotten off to a great start! Between basketball, wrestling, show choir, FFA, scholastic bowl, and numerous other activities, things have definitely been busy around the high school since returning from winter break. As we head into February, there are a couple of items I would like all of you to take a look at: the 5Essentials Survey and Vision 20/20. I believe that both of these items are valuable in their own way, so please take the time to learn a little about them by reading below. Additionally, I would like to remind all parents and students that the dates for ACT and PARCC are quickly approaching. These dates are in March, but they are very early on in March, so I don’t want to wait until next month to remind you about them. ACT will be administered at school to all juniors on Tuesday, March 3rd, and PARCC will be administered at school to all students in Math I (this includes Math I, Block Math I, and Math I/II) and freshmen level ELA (this includes English 101 and English 102). That’s all for now. Your partner in education, Travis Duley Travis Duley, Principal Paxton-Buckley-Loda High School Phone: (217) 379 - 4331 Go Panthers! School Successes       In the Section FFA Public Speaking contest, Kade Hill placed first place in the Varsity Prepared Speaking Contest and Michael Curry placed first in the JV Prepared Speaking Contest. Both will represent our section in the District contest in April. Aaron Slack placed 2nd in the FFA Section District Job Interview contest. Aaron followed this up with a 4th place finish in the FFA District Job Interview event & has qualified for state. The Special Olympics Basketball team won both of their games in order to win the District Tournament on Sunday, January 18th in Bloomington at the Shirk Center. They will now be going to the State Tournament in March! The FFA Novice Parliamentary Procedure Team won district on Thursday, January 22nd in order to qualify for state. Members of the team and places were as follows: Austin Potter top chairperson, Kalista Klann top secretary, Jake Watts and Ben McClure 2nd & 4th place floor members, respectively. The Scholastic Bowl Team won their kick-off tournament by going 5-0 against teams from the SVC. Mr. R. Anderson’s 3rd period Custom Cabinetry class completed five book shelves for the Illini Reading Council, who will be donating them to Habitat for Humanity. 5Essentials Survey Over the past week, students and teachers have been taking the 5Essentials survey. This survey, which is designed to provide an opportunity for students and teachers to have a voice in improving our school, is required of schools every other year. Survey completion can help district and school leaders identify areas of strength and those in need of support. The 5Essentials system is based on more than 20 years of research by the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research on five components found to be critical for school success: 1. Effective Leaders: The principal works with teachers to implement a clear and strategic vision for school success. 2. Collaborative Teachers: The staff is committed to the school, receives strong professional development, and works together to improve the school. 3. Involved Families: The entire school staff builds strong relationships with families and communities to support learning. 4. Supportive Environment: The school is safe and orderly. Teachers have high expectations for students and support students to realize their goals. Classmates also support one another. 5. Ambitious Instruction: Classes are academically demanding and engage students by emphasizing the application of knowledge. In addition to the student and teacher portions of the survey, there is also a parent portion. I want to encourage all parents to take this survey by going to https://survey.5essentials.org/illinois/ and then clicking the “Start Here” button under “Parent Survey.” By taking this survey it is allowing you the opportunity to express to me and other leaders within our school what you feel we are doing well and what you feel we need to improve upon. PBL Supports Vision 20/20 Please note that the information and most of the wording below were taken from the Vision 20/20 website. Vision 20/20 is an idea that has been in the news quite a bit over the past few months. Vision 20/20 is supported by PBL, and we are asking that all of you take a look at it and decide if you support it as well. The idea behind it is simple, many times statewide organizations are better known for what they oppose rather than those things for which they stand. In November 2012, the Illinois Association of School Administrators (IASA) initiated a visioning process in partnership with the Illinois Principals Association (IPA), the Illinois Association of School Business Officials (IASBO), the Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB), the Superintendents’ Commission for the Study of Demographics and Diversity (SCSDD), and the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools (IARSS) to unite the education community and to develop a long-range blueprint for improving public education in Illinois. Together we stand for excellence in education for all Illinois children. Saying that we stand for excellence is education in easy though. After all, who is going to say they want anything other than an excellent education for themselves or their child? The real ideas in Vision 20/20 are that, no matter where we live or what our political affiliations are, education plays a critical role in ensuring equal opportunity. It is our collective duty to do all we can to guarantee every student, no matter his or her demographic or geographic identity, has equal access to a quality education. As public educators, we believe public education works. We reject the premise that education in Illinois has failed but recognize its impact has not been equitably delivered to all student populations and that there are opportunities for continuous improvement. Now is the time to act. Our vision forward is clear. We believe the key to continuous improvement in public education relies on the wisdom and innovation of public educators who work with students every day. This is a continuous process. We are educators because we care about the future of each and every student and for the opportunity to teach and shape the next generation. Through the Vision 20/20 process, four areas for prioritization emerged: highly effective educators, 21st century learning, shared accountability, and equitable and adequate funding. Educators understand the importance of statewide education policy. However, that policy should be crafted to provide districts the flexibility and autonomy to best meet the needs of the students they serve. Statewide, process specific mandates in education, similar to over-regulation in the business world, do not result in the innovation needed to improve education and do not recognize the state’s diversity. We believe educators should be held to the highest standards and be given the flexibility to apply their experience and knowledge to match local needs in order to best support each individual student. If you would like more information about Vision 20/20, please click the link on the picture above.