The Mail-Journal, Volume 23, Number 37, Milford, Kosciusko County, 10 September 1986 — Page 5

Excellence Is Our Goal' —

Superintendent Webster acknowledges changing world in education

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Dr. Kenneth E. Webster, superintendent of the community school corporation, issued a challenge to teachers, teacher aides and administrators at the pre-school workshop on Friday, August 22, as a new school year gets underway. His challenge for excellence and quality education rings loud and clear for all to hear.) As you are well aware, there is a strong thrust toward excellence in education that is sweeping across the nation. Until this happened, the public seemed more concerned with mass education than with quality education. This condition is changing as we can see the many changes taking place in our state and school system. This new emphasis has placed higher standards on students, along with greater skills for teachers so that students don’t fail as we increase expectations. That’s why all of us must give serious consideration to the issue of what constitutes excellence. If we don’t, many children won’t make it, much less be adequately prepared to enter our high-tech, information based society. . 1 As we ponder thisjreality, there are some additional professional insights which can make our task of achieving excellence easier and more rewarding. For you see, excellence can't be achieved until: 1. As professional educators we try to hone our skills. We need to have opportunities to observe excellence in others. For if we have not witnessed or experienced it, its

Bayh calls for State Board of Accounts reorganization

Evan Bayh, whose campaign cornerstone is the elimination of waste and mismanagement in state government, called today ,for the restructuring of the State Board of accounts so the agency can better perform its duty as the “watchdog" of Hoosiers’ tax dollars. •*» Saying, “I will continue to speak out against waste and mismanagement in state government,’’ the Democratic candidate for Indiana Secretary of

*B&ff *•— *«rß 8- J Bk w K W K X ■BBsilh L Bki w . Lr ' ■ BR ■ 1 Bk SIL u LBH^B ■ si - WINNER OF GRANDPARENT BOUQUET — Jane Timmons, left, owner of Country Home Floral Shoppe, 624 S. Huntington St.. Syracuse, and her granddaughter, Brittney Timmons, center, present Bertha Parker, PO Box 166 C r 1, Pierceton, with a sweet treat Grandparent Day Bouquet. Mrs. Parker was the winner of the door prize in a drawing held recently. No purchase was necessary to enter the drawing. (Photo by Dale Tobias)

Excellence. Compassion. • - \ • „ fl • i .. ~ • •■• '■" • s Those are our watchwords. Not just now and then. Not just when it's convenient. But every moment of every day. , . , Our staff at Miller's Merry Manor is dedicated to professional excellence. They re skilled before they come to us and we keep them current through an ongoing inservice training program. We know the importance of insuring quality health care for your loved one. But, that's only one side of the picture. Our staff is also dedicated to meeting the needs of each resident with warmth, friendliness and compassion. We make an effort to provide a comforting environment conducive to living meaningful years. At Miller's Merry Manor we re proud of the job we do. Everyday. ' 'J/UUeAA jtt&vwp "Tfce NmM Care Prvtasioirafe Wiffc Tfce Homafawn Tawdb" County Fann Rd. 267-1196 X. WARSAW, IN

State said his reorganizational plan was needed for several reasons: • To more efficiently root out wasteful spending and mismanagement in state government; • To prevent Hoosier taxpayers from losing badly needed federal funds, and; • To prevent political pressure from influencing the board’s, investigations. Bayh’s proposal, which he

attainment is made much more difficult. For instance, we need to know what excellence really is, relative to planning and teaching a lesson, maintaining discipline, motivating students, maintaining student interest, and developing tests. Therefore, we need to experience excellence before we can achieve excellence. 2. Excellence can’t be achieved until we acquire a new vision and goals. We need to be able to look at our past successes and project how we can improve upon them over the next three, four or five years. What goals can we set to become better teachers oy understanding our strengths and weaknesses and devising plans to be more effective in the classroom. We need to be open to new ideas, trends and changes in order to maintain a pace with our fast changing world and society. We need to understand that excellence is a vicinity, not a destination. The task is to get in the vicinity of excellence and stay there. We know that we must keep growing just to hold that position. Herein lies the thrill, excitement, joy, and reward of striving for the highest level of teaching excellence. As master teachers you are well aware that excellence does not come easily. You must do more than want it, though this is the first step. You must also see it; make a commitment to it, and reach toward it continually. Making a stab at it occasionally won’t do it. Our corporation has a motto, “Excellence is our Goal”. Under that motto we have seen many changes these past two years. This year we’ll look to a year of

outlined during news conferences in five cities, would require the State Board of Accounts to more aggressively pursue wasteful practices in state government and insulate the board from political pressure to ensure unbiased audits and investigations of state.agencies. “Specifically, my proposal would create a State Board of Accounts comprised of a state examiner and two deputy examiners appointed by -a bipartisan committee of legislators,” he explained. “These appointees, no more than two of whom would be from the same political party, would report directly to the Legislature, not the governor as is the current arrangement. They would serve staggered terms of either six or eight years and would be unable to succeed themselves,” he said. Other parts of Bayh’s plan include: • Instructing State Board of Accounts field examiners to include economy and efficiency com-’ ments in their findings, which is not currently required; • Requiring state agencies in which mefficiencies or wasteful practices have been identified to develop a remedial action plan; • Specifying the State Board of Account to perform a follow-up > report on state agencies with in-. efficiencies; • Conducting investigations into a state agency’s operation when requested to do so by the bipartisan committee or determined by a majority of the examiners to be in the public interest. - * • “The current structure of the State Board of Accounts has led to several problems such as the withholding of audits from nine license branches at which there were thefts unty after the 1984 election, possibly because of political considerations,” Bayh

said. “Another problem,” he continued, “is that Indiana could lose badly needed federal funds because the State Board of Accounts does not comply with the requirements for auditing agencies set forth by the Single Audit Act of 1984. Correction on accident report An accident Thursday, Aug. 28, at 4:07 p m., at SR 13 and Chicago Street, Syracuse, involving George E. Graff, 57, 68086 US 33 Goshen and Dorian J. Carpenter, 17, r 5 box 108A Syracuse, reported in last week’s The MailJournal, stated Graff was pulling onto SR 13 from Chicago Street, when Carpenter’s vehicle collided with the rear end of Graff’s truck. * < t-- . The report also stated Carpenter said that he was unaware that Graff was in front of him and was unable to stop in time to avoid the collision. The mishap was reportedly incorrectly published. The Syracuse Police Depart-. , ment accident report reads aS follows: Carpenter stated he had just turned on SR 13 from Chicago Street and that as he started to drive down the road, all of a sudden, vehicle 2 (Graff’s truck) was in front of him and before he could get stopped he ran into Graff’s truck. Graff told police that he pulled ontd the roadway at the same time as vehicle one (Carpenter’s car) did and that before he could even finish pulling onto the roadway vehicle one (Carpenter) was all ready to hit him then ran into his vehicle. No tickets were issued in the mishap and the vehicles were moved when police arrived.

stability. A year of reflection on past changes and accomplishments. A year to evaluate new programs and determine ways to improve them. A year to analyze our teaching skills and develop methods to improve our teaching. I’d like to share with you the hallmarks of excellence as identified in the book entitled, “Achieving Excellence in Our Schools” by James Lewis Jr. He identifies a partial list of characteristics that distinguish an excellent school system. —a school system in which all school people are helping kids to become something more than they ever hoped to be. —a school system that provides incentives for developing innovations and programs that improve students’ learning and growth. —a school system with a superintendent who preaches the philosophy of the school district, who pays attention to the school district’s strengths and avoids its weaknesses, and who talks about the future and vision of the school corporation to all school and community people. —a school system that has become a learning organization. —a school system that has the courage to change things even when all is going well, the courage to require its administrators to share power and authority with school people, the courage to stick with its values during difficult times, the courage to rely less on short-term

Alaska trip shared with Kiwanis Club Milford resident Joe Gerencser, showed a video tape of a trip he made to Alaska at the Milford Kiwanis Club meeting Thursday night, Sept. 4. Gerencser said that one-half of one per cent of Alaska is developed, with glaciers that are bigger than the country of Switzerland. “The trip to Alaska was . the best trip we’ve ever taken, in fact, we’ve been there twice and plan on going again,” he said, adding, “You can sightsee long hours in the summer, it never gets dark! ” The video showed just how beautiful Alaska is, and although there are eight months of winter, the summer brings a lot of sunlight and vegetation, while wild animals are plentiful., • The group agreed that Alaska would be a great place to visit during the summer. President Dan Brown reported the following: — Division Council will meet at Milford Saturday, Sept. 13. » — Friday, Sept. 19, will be the night for installing new officers. — The club will take part in raising money for the Trauma Center at Riley Hospital. Kiwanians will raise $250,000 in sup-

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port of this project, with the Milford Club’s goal being to raise S7OO by November 1. — The board voted to donate SSOO to the library fund by June 1, 1987. — A ladies night will take place in October or November, with Bill Little chairing the committee. The board also voted to raise dues from S4O per year to SSO annually. Guests for the day included: Kirk Dewart, Harold Gawthrop, Harold Henry and Gene Lange. Syracuse Sesqui. meeting Monday There will be a public meeting of the Syracuse Sesquicentennial Committee Monday, Sept. 15, at 7:30 p.m., in the Syracuse Scout Cabin. Among the topics of discussion will be souvenir items to be purchased for distribution before 1987. Update from the various committees will also be heard. Anyone interested in the Sesquicentennial is urged to attend these meetings. Cosmonauts return MOSCOW — The world’s two most experieced spacemen returned recently from a 125-day mission in which they also became the frist to shuttle between two orbiting laboratories.

Wed., September 10,1986 — THE MAIL-JOURNAL

results and more on long-term gains, and the courage to involve all school people at all levels of the organization to improve performance and solve problems. —a school system that backs its commitment to staff training and development with dollars. —a school system that gives school people freedom to take risks, question long-standing principles and practices, and try new things. It takes hard work to achieve excellence iri our schools. Outmoded ways have become too much of a habit for us to give them up without much pain. Too many state education officials, school board members, superintendents, school administrators, union officials, teachers and other school people have been comfortable for far to long with the manner in which school corporation’s are being managed. At times, the path to excellence will be uphill, bumpy, treacherous and scary. There will be many times when you will ask yourself, “Is excellence worth all this labor, grief and agony?” I say to you, “Yes! Our kids are our greatest asset, and we must do all that is humanly possible to bring them the best education possible. ” As you begin this new year, I ask you to strive to meet the challenge of excellence. We are fortunate to be a part of one of the finest school corporations in this state. Let each of us strive to be worthy of the confidence placed in us as keepers of the educational thrust in our schools. Remember, excellence can’t be achieved until you make a commitment to make it happen!

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