SSIS Selection

As the Superintendent of a school district that is currently using Infinite Campus, I am very pleased that it was chosen as the statewide student information system for Wisconsin. Due to the outcry surrounding this selection, this post is simply to share an email message we received from the Wis. Dept. of Public Instruction:

Dear District Administrators:

Over the past two weeks, we have received numerous inquiries on the recent developments regarding the statewide student information system (SSIS), which is required as part of 2011 Wisconsin Act 32, the 2011-13 biennial budget act.   I am writing to provide you background information on the SSIS as well as an update on the status of the project.

Why does DPI support a SSIS?

As the state moves to new assessment, evaluation, and accountability systems, the need for timely, accurate student data has never been greater.  That’s why the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has advocated for the creation of a SSIS, which will significantly improve student data quality and security, automate burdensome reporting requirements, and considerably reduce local technology costs.   Most importantly, the SSIS will provide access to information and analytical tools for parents, pupils, teachers, and administrators in every district to improve student performance and provide greater public accountability.

At its core, this initiative has been undertaken to reduce costs, improve efficiency, ensure equity across districts, improve data access and security, and extend student information system features beyond what many districts have today. 

How did the SSIS become law?

DPI and the Governor’s office worked with the legislature to create the SSIS as part of the 2011 Wisconsin Act 32, the biennial budget bill, which provided $15 million to cover state and district costs, including the cost of local data migration and staff training.   The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee further directed that the SSIS must be provided by a single vendor, a position that both DPI and the Governor supported.

While the SSIS will replace local student information systems over a five year transition period, districts will continue to select their own human resource, finance, and other local data systems. 

How did the state select a SSIS vendor?

To implement the legislative requirement for a SSIS, DPI worked with the Department of Administration (DOA) to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the new system.   State law requires DOA’s State Bureau of Procurement (SBOP) to administer the procurement process to ensure vendor selections are fair, unbiased, and free from political influence.  No elected officials or appointed unclassified staff can participate in this process.

Following state procurement rules and guidelines, a committee of experts, including school district staff, DPI technology staff, and DOA SBOP staff, developed the SSIS RFP, which outlined the technical specifications of the SSIS for potential vendors.  All SSIS vendor proposals subsequently underwent an exhaustive review and scoring process by a knowledgeable, experienced evaluation team.   The evaluation team unanimously recommended that the SSIS contract be awarded to the highest scoring proposer. 

On Feb. 1, 2013, DOA issued a letter of intent to award for the SSIS project to Infinite Campus, which received both the highest technical score and had the lowest cost bid, resulting in the highest score. Details can be found in DOA’s news release.  

DOA also retained an independent third-party reviewer to monitor the procurement, evaluation, and selection process.  The third party observer issued an extensive report, noting the SSIS procurement process was “open, fair, impartial, and objective,” that all procurement laws were followed, and that all vendors had an equal opportunity to compete.  In addition, the evaluator found that the evaluation committee was not subject to any outside influence in the selection process.   Essentially, all vendors had the same opportunity to compete for the SSIS project.

What happens now?

Vendors that were not selected have the opportunity to appeal the procurement decision, and at least one vendor, Skyward, has filed a notice of intent to appeal.   Any protest will be thoroughly reviewed to ensure strict compliance with procurement procedure.

The DPI sincerely understands the concern that a Wisconsin vendor was not selected through this process, but long established state procurement laws prohibit considering a company’s home state when selecting a vendor.   

For more information, the DPI has developed a more detailed timeline and history of the project, which can be found along with other background information about the SSIS on our SSIS website.  

We hope this information is helpful to you, and we will continue to keep you apprised as the process moves forward. 

Sincerely,

Mike Thompson, PhD

Deputy State Superintendent

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

Dec. 17, 2012

Dear Hillsboro School Community,

There are not enough ways to describe the tragic events at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.  My thoughts and prayers are with their entire school community as they cope with this unimaginable loss.

As parents and educators we have to try to explain events to our children that we never could have imagined. I know many parents are wondering how to support their children in times like these. Today’s 24-hour news and internet stories provide us with greater accessibility than ever. This means that undoubtedly our children are seeing and hearing what is happening but it also means that we have access to great resources to help us in times like these. The USA today had a Facebook posting of a chat with UCLA psychologist, Catherine Mogil, shortly after Friday’s tragedy. In reading through the chat there are several great comments. Among those were the comments by the Mayo Clinic which said that as parents we need to “limit exposure to distressing television reporting. We need to be informed but we don’t want to overload on the disturbing images. Those images can really trouble children. Also, the reporting is often unfiltered. Parents should be wary and set some parameters about how much news is in the home. A good second option is reading print stories and then explaining it to their children. This method is not quite as upsetting.” Additional resources that may be helpful are: The American Psychological Association, The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, The National PTA and The National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Each of these has websites with information that can be valuable.

As the superintendent of the Hillsboro Schools, I have spent a great deal of time reflecting on our own practices. Each day we have staff available for students who need to talk. School counselors Kelli Sullivan and Lindsay Horvatin are great resources for students and families who would like to talk. We also have school psychologist, Eric Auel, and building principals, Greg Zimmerman and Cara Wood, available to answer any questions. It is likely that as parents you will also feel comfortable talking to the teachers your child may have. We will continue to work to establish warm and supportive relationships with your children and provide them an opportunity to speak to someone if they feel the need.

Thank you for trusting us with your children every day. Please know that keeping your children safe is the single most important piece of our work at school.  The building offices will continue to be the only point of entrance to school during the day, and we will continue the sign-in process for visitors.

As for district policies and procedures regarding safety, please know that we will continue to evaluate our safety plans and work with the Hillsboro Police Department to do the best we can to ensure your child’s safety.

Please do not hesitate to call the school to speak to any of the staff listed above as they are ready to provide help and support in any way that they can.

Respectfully,

Curt Bisarek

Superintendent

Annual Meeting Message

Superintendent’s Message

As the Superintendent of the School District of Hillsboro, I am proud to present this reflection on the 2011-12 school year. In the midst of unprecedented wholesale reform in education, I firmly believe our district is in a position to continue to succeed. Our district’s mission of “Learn, Achieve, Succeed” continues to be a reminder and a challenge to each of us as we move forward.

The most notable change our employees have seen is the transition from a collective bargaining agreement to an employee handbook. Beginning last fall, the administrative team created a beginning document which was then reviewed and discussed with an Employee Relations Team. Then, in June the Board of Education approved the initial Employee Handbook. From my perspective this handbook provides for a positive relationship between staff, the board of education and administration. While there are still areas that need to be addressed (mainly post-employment benefits and teacher compensation) the framework is in place. At the present time there are still many unknowns regarding the future of collective bargaining and the legal status of Act 10, but the positive relationship between administration, board and staff will allow for our district to handle whatever is decided by the government and/or courts.

A more challenging issue to the School District is the issue of funding. Our current estimates for state aid show that we will receive 20% less in aid for the 2012-13 school year than we did in the 2006-07 school year. Needless to say, this is a very difficult challenge that continues to face the district. As we move into the 2012-13 school year there are still challenges that we face. Of primary concern is the upcoming Biennium budget. After an unprecedented cut in public school funding in the last state budget we will be anxiously awaiting the next state budget proposal.

Changes are also taking place within the area of curriculum as we move toward full incorporation of the Common Core State Standards. The work of the staff, with leadership from Terri Fanta, has us at the very least on schedule to make the transition within the DPI timeline. Additional staff in-service and workshop time has been necessary and will continue to be so as the 2014-15 deadline approached. At that point our students will begin taking the SMARTER BALANCED assessments rather than the WKCE’s. These new assessments will be directly connected to the Common Core standards.

The state is moving forward with a new teacher and principal effectiveness system that will significantly change how evaluations of staff and principals take place. There will be additional training time needed to ensure that our principals and staff are prepared for this transition.

Aside from the challenges of change, there are several positive items to report on at this time. We finished the 2011-12 school year with funds available to make some improvements. We upgraded our fleet of vehicles, greatly improved the sound system in the high school gymnasium, transformed our weight room and implemented a high quality wireless system in the high school for internet access. As stewards of taxpayer dollars each of these improvements were carefully considered to get the greatest possible value while providing quality resources for our students. Additionally, the District moved forward with the elementary office project and was able to complete a project to update that area.

Finally, we pursued four different grant opportunities. First of all, we successfully applied for and received the 21^st Century Community Learning Center grant. This grant provides $100,000 per year for 5 years to provide after school programming for our students. We made it to the final three but we not awarded a Monsanto grant that would have provided funding for updates in our Middle School science lab, but we did receive a great amount of support from our agricultural community in this process. Still unknown are two grants. We developed these as collaborative efforts with neighboring districts (Elementary School Counseling grant with Wonewoc-Center and the Innovative Approaches to Literacy grant with Norwalk-Ontario-Wilton).

I will continue to work to find better and more effective ways to communicate with all the stakeholders of the Hillsboro School District. Please contact me if you would like to further discuss our school system.

Sincerely,

Curt Bisarek

Superintendent

October in Hillsboro

The first month of the school has now passed and we move to October. This year parents and staff will experience something a little different. A couple years ago we moved Parent-Teacher Conferences to mid-October. The goal of this was more effective at meeting with parents prior to the end of the first quarter so that together the parents, students and teachers could discuss student progress before the end of the quarter. This year, we will continue to have the mid-quarter conferences (Oct. 15 and 17) but we will also have 2-hour delays on those days as well. As always we welcome parents to the conferences and look forward to the opportunity to discuss student progress.

Another difference this year is that there had traditionally been two days of no school near the end of October. That has changed. There will be one day of no school for students (Oct. 26). During this day our staff will join together with the staff from the Wonewoc-Center School District for an in-service. The event will be hosted at Hillsboro with a very special guest, Ken Williams. You can learn more about Ken by visiting his website at: www.unfoldthesoul.com   This day will also allow for the staff from both districts to share ideas and strategies for better meeting the needs of students and managing the changes in education that are coming from the state and federal government.

Finally, the Fall sports season will begin to wrap up as our student-athletes prepare for the post-season. Be sure to wish the Tigers well as they move into the playoffs.

Welcoming the Challenge of Leadership

I recently received an email the the following quote placed below the sender's signature:

" To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing." -- Elbert Hubbard

Clearly a very pointed challenge to leadership. As leaders (in the community, classroom, school, business, etc.) we are often faced with challenges and how we respond to challenges will make or break us as leaders. As I reflected on this quote I remembered a post I had read recently by  Michael Hyatt (@MichaelHyatt) in which he presented a similar challenge. Here is the text of his full post which can be found at http://michaelhyatt.com/why-you-should-welcome-problems.html :

Several years ago, I was having a really rough day at the office. It seemed everything that could go wrong was going wrong—at the worst possible time.

One of my biggest authors was threatening to leave. I had a major position I couldn’t seem to fill, despite numerous interviews. And, several of our customers were upset over what I had thought was a minor policy change. When will it ever end, I thought.

About that time, Mark Schoenwald, now the CEO of Thomas Nelson, but then our Chief Sales Officer, sent me a wonderful quote from Max Lucado’s book, Great Day Every Day.
Citing management consultant Robert Updegraff, Max wrote:

You ought to be glad for the troubles on your job because they provide about half your income. If it were not for the things that go wrong, the difficult people with whom you deal, and the problems of your working day, someone could be found to handle your job for half of what you are being paid.
So start looking for more troubles. Learn to handle them cheerfully and with good judgment, as opportunities rather than irritations, and you will find yourself getting ahead at a surprising rate. For there are plenty of big jobs waiting for people who are not afraid of troubles.

Mark had no idea what kind of day I was having when he sent this, but his e-mail could not have been more timely.

I was guilty of the faulty logic that says, If I’m in the right job, I won’t have any problems.

Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, as I look back over my career, it is clear that growth and promotions were always dependent on solving problems. Big problems brought big opportunities.

In fact, If you ever find yourself in a job without problems, you should immediately start looking for another one. Without problems, there aren’t opportunities. And without opportunities. you can’t grow, be given more responsibility, or make more money.

As I look at the challenges we face in education today I see this as a great opportunity to lead. The challenges are many as we face wholesale educational reform, but without these challenges what need would their be for leaders?