Congratulations and Welcome Mark Demick the new principal at Point Dume Marine Science School.

Principal Demick is deeply committed to rigor, positive relationships and relevant instruction so that all students achieve success. He is very open, smart and strives to understand the vibe of the community, the need for excellence, innovation and creativity.

Principal Demick has some great ideas for curriculum and schools working together. An example of this philosophy can be seen at his last school, Chinook Middle School.  He strived for:

1. Setting and maintaining high expectations for student engagement -- Chinook teachers help students practice their critical thinking skills, apply academic language, ask higher-order thinking questions, and interact positively with other students and teachers.
2. Class scheduling and planning -- Chinook dedicates 120-minute periods (two hours!) to reading, writing, and math. All teachers of a particular subject area share a part of the building and a planning period. That means that all the English language arts teachers are grouped together in a section of the school and can plan within and across grades during a shared planning time.
3. Supporting teachers -- Principal Demick meets with each teacher to set S.M.A.R.T. goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound) around teacher professional development, achievement, and student growth. Teachers are then provided appropriate coaching and support to ensure that they are growing as instructional leaders.
4. Implementing data-driven practices -- On Fridays, department data teams review student data and build on best practices. Each team has time to plan and two coaches help hold teachers accountable to their planning and goals. Student data is used to inform their planning and teaching.
5. Building positive relationships with families -- Time is set aside for teachers to make positive phone calls to families; and they have already logged over 3,000 calls home! Principal Demick and his staff are also working on incorporating families into school-wide initiatives. Chinook’s game-changing work has led to a huge boost in school culture, and most importantly, their efforts have helped students grow socially and academically across core subjects. 

Toxic Culture of Education May 2014, by Joshua Katz at TEDx University of Akron Joshua Katz is a high school math teacher in Orange County, Florida. In the mid 1800’s, Horace Mann captured the potential impact of education on society.  We have yet to realize the potential he saw and in fact, we are missing the mark by a wider and wider margin.  We have created a “Toxic Culture in Education” in our country that is damaging students, impacting our economy, and threatening our future.  Since the passage of No Child Left Behind, we have embraced a culture of high stakes testing and are perpetuating a false sense of failure in our schools.  We have ignored research and data on effective policy making practices in order to serve the interest of private industries that have monetized our students.  The impact is being felt in communities, on college campuses, and in our economy.  The solution lies in a common sense approach to student development, curriculum choice, career exploration, and relevant data analysis.  This talk will present a vision of an education system that allows us to embrace our full potential if we only had the courage to ask, “Why Not.” Watch video: here