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| On April, 2010 Mike Town said good-bye to students and faculty at RHS to work for the NSF. Mike and Meg will return home from D.C. August, 2011 to the beauty of NW mountains and rivers. |
Special thanks to a reader who asked the meaning of "STEM": Science,Technology, Engineering, and Math education.
From the desk of Mike Town...
For years I have read the Blog and this is the first chance I have had to respond to a request from Bob to update the readers on what is happening to Meg and me on our adventures in Washington DC. If you follow the blog you may know that I have taught science for 25 years at Redmond High School. Meg has taught for almost as long with the last 6 years at Redmond Junior High School. Over the past decade my main teaching responsibilities have included teaching Advanced Placement Environmental Science and a course in Environmental Engineering and Sustainability Design (which we will be offering at RHS again next year).
This year I accepted an Einstein Fellowship in Washington, DC working with the National Science Board which oversees the National Science Foundation. So last August Meg and I left our solar powered house and moved to Arlington.
The NSF, which was founded in 1950, funds a significant portion of science research in the United States. One of the agency’s mandates is STEM Education from kindergarten to the PhD level. These days STEM education reform is a hot issue. It should be. As many of you know... Read more >>
America’s competiveness in the world is in part dependant on innovative research which is funded through the NSF. Some of this research brings potential economic benefits down the line. Of course, innovation is dependent on having a work force trained in the STEM fields. For years the United States lead the world with its highly component STEM work force but lately we have been falling behind the rest of the World. China now graduates more Engineers than the United States and our high school students are in the middle of the pack on international science tests.
Consequently, there is a big push to increase STEM education. It was a focus in the recent State of the Union address. This is the primary focus of my job. I have become somewhat of an expert on STEM issues – especially regards to the recommendations made by numerous national STEM reports and impending legislation on STEM in Congress. The major part of my day is attending Congressional briefings, panels and STEM related conferences as well as preparing reports that compare the recommendations from federal agencies, commissions and the private sector on STEM reform. I also write white papers on selected issues give presentations, briefings and serve on panels on education issues. One of my latest projects is working with the National Academy of Sciences on an interagency symposium on STEM. I have also been able to focus on my area of STEM expertise –environmental engineering, and sustainable design.
The legislative process is fascinating. Right now the big legislative push is to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (previously known as No Child Left Behind). There are other pieces of STEM legislation which are introduced weekly. There is much speculation about what the final bill(s) will look like.
Another part of my job is researching STEM magnet schools. Meg and I had the opportunity to spend a day at Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology. It is probably the most famous high school in the United States and is usually voted the best school in the country on various surveys. Take heart, RHS has way more solar panels. It is a very impressive place and Meg and I will be bringing back a number of successful ideas which were started at TJ that can be integrated at RHS.
For the past 6 months we have biked almost a 1000 miles – mostly on rail and canal trails. Our goal this spring is to ride from Georgetown to Pittsburg along the C and O and Allegany trails. Another passion is hiking all the major civil war battlefields and tracing colonial history along the Atlantic coast from Jamestown to Boston with 100 stops in between. Weekends are great with no papers to grade. When it rains there are all the indoor sites in the city –music, plays, books, and the free political theater that takes place every week scattered about this town. I believe that everyone should spend at least a year in the nation’s capitol for no other reason than to reinforce how beautiful the mountains and the rivers are back home.
Throughout my travels I have been able to meet the Secretary of Education, Tom Friedman, Vice President Biden and numerous members of Congress. It has been an exciting 6 months. But I really miss teaching, my friends at RHS, and of course we both miss our students –but not their papers. Meg and I both are looking forward to returning home in August to our vegetable garden, the rainy climate, our cat Oreo and the beautiful mountains. Drop us an email (mtown01@msn.com).
Meg and Mike
Photo by Yoder
Reading the letter from Mike Town got me thinking about the proposed STEM school that the Feb 8 levy is supposed to pay for. Only $28.2 million will be spent on the new school and judging by how much the district spends building a basic elementary school, the new STEM school is going to be very small with room for only 300 - 400 students. (LWSD has 7000+ students in grades 9-12 this year.) Considering that the STEM school will require tech equipment that is far more expensive than that used in a regular classroom, will the $28.2 million also be used for technical equipment or will the money be hijacked from the Prop 2 technology levy budget?
ReplyDeleteWhat is more troubling is the absence of discussion of what is needed within the district for Science and Technology education. Were all of the science and math teachers consulted on what they think their students need and are capable of learning? Was Mike Town given an opportunity to provide input? The school that he referred to, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia draws students and funding from 6 counties. Is a STEM school even feasible in a school district the size of Lake Washington?
Your comment on the Levy - STEM SCHOOL appears a little ahead of itself, Susan. I'm not sure where you get your facts, but I believe the Voters Pamphlet or other District documents quote a STEM school size of 550-600 students. You didn't quote the student size at Thomas Jefferson Sci. and Tech. School in your comparable. It could be in the 1000's or hundreds. I'm not sure how a valid comparison or conclusion can be made on # of counties alone.
ReplyDeleteYou imply funds will have to be drawn from other approved levy pools, by extrapolating implementation costs based on guesstimates for equipment costs and previous elementary school build-outs. I'll have to disagree. Do you know the LW District STEM school is constructed with fabricated materials? Have you forgotten the $130K Microsoft grant and Foundation donations earmarked for STEM? Have you heard about the Redmond Chamber's efforts to attract volunteer teachers from the technology community? Susan, your comments are provocative as usual, but this time your argument against STEM is out off and doesn't justify voting against the levy.
As for anxiety over insufficient polling of the needs and wants of district teachers for STEM, my goodness -- the district is blessed with a national expert on STEM! If he can't reach timely consensus with our teachers on their needs for STEM than who can?
Oh no! I'm missing the Super Bowl commercials!
Again, Susan, thanks for your energy,research and opinions on the Levy and overcrowding issue. I've endorsed the Levy in 5 different ways, so there's no turning back for me. I see Mike Town, Meg (his wife and RJH teacher) and STEM as the candles on the cake! I'm voting YES.
The STEM school is supposed to be on the heavily wooded 21-acre lot next to Alcott Elementary on SR202/Redmond-Fall City Road. It will need to be clear-cut and graded. The gas, electricity and water utilities will need to be upgraded and extended to the property. Since it will be a Choice School, students “will have to provide their own transportation” so the school will need a large parking lot for all the students who drive and park their cars. It will also need a storm water pond or vault for all the run-off. SR202 will need to be improved and widened and the turn lanes will have to be extended in both directions for all the added morning rush-hour traffic. The school is located in unincorporated King County so site development will have to go through KC-DDES in Renton which has a different set of rules, regulations and manuals than Cities of Redmond, Kirkland and Sammamish and has a bureaucracy that is far more difficult and expensive to work with. I would estimate that site and infrastructure improvements could easily cost $5,000,000. That leaves $23 million for the school building. The new Carson Elementary building completed in 2008 cost $19 million and has 18 classrooms and no lab space. I couldn’t see how the district could build a technology school for 600 students with only $23,000,000. That’s how I came to the conclusion that the school would only be big enough for 300-400 students. But you’re saying that the buildings will be prefabricated. Isn’t that another word for PORTABLES? Well, I guess $23,000,000 will buy enough portables for 600 students and will leave money for technical equipment such as microscopes, ventilation hoods, lasers, centrifuges, telescopes and computers and other cool stuff. It’s probably a good idea to start with inexpensive, temporary structures and dedicate more money to teaching and equipment. However, we need a better idea of what is supposed to be offered at this new school and I was suggesting that a dialogue occur before the school is built.
ReplyDeleteOn a separate issue: my argument against the Feb 8 levy is that the district has misrepresented the data that supports their position that the schools are overcrowded. They have consistently under-counted the number of available classrooms in all the schools. They then multiplied the number of classrooms by 23 students per classroom to come up with a total capacity for the district that is too low. They say that the total capacity for the district is 25,629 students but that ignores the district-mandated requirement that most classrooms have between 24 and 32 students per classroom. If the district just counted the actual number of students assigned to each of the existing classrooms that are in use, they would see there was a lot more capacity than estimated. They also have created vast “group learning areas” that aren’t accounted for in the schools’ square footage that could be converted to usable space.
ReplyDeleteWe have all read the line “Lake Washington grew by 600+ students this year”. According to the district’s own data, there were 24,085 students in October 2009 and 24,560 students in Oct 2010. The district actually grew by 475 students, not 600+ so their count is off by 26%. We’ve been told that the district will have 27,000 students by 2015. I looked at the birth data and there was an increase in the birthrate in King County, but a lot of those births did not appear to be to families within the Lake Washington School District so those students will never enroll in this district. It seems that the district needs to create the appearance of a space shortage in order to collect state funds for construction. They refuse to look for creative solutions to solve the space shortage caused by the 9-12 conversion. Maybe it’s just easier to build additions and new schools than to interact with the various school principals and staff to find solutions by remodeling buildings and redistributing student populations. There really is something wrong here with a facilities department whose only solution is to build more space. I also resent that the district has resorted to using scare tactics such as double-shifting and long bus rides to intimidate us into voting for the measure. We should be concerned about a facilities department that can’t keep track of its classroom space and a school board and administration that doesn’t bother to read or verify its numerical data.
The Six-Year Capital Facilities Plan 2010-2015 can be found starting on page 9/44 in the August 23, 2010 school board meeting packet found at http://www.lwsd.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/About-Us/Board-Packets/2009-2010-Packets/Board-Packet-08-23-10.pdf. Look at the numbers on Appendix A and Tables I & II and think about them carefully.
The bottom line, is school districts around the country are investing in STEM schools for a reason: Education in science, technology, engineering and math has fallen behind emerging countries and the U.S. needs to catch up or we will become a second-rate economy with a second-rate citizenry and a second-rate quality of life.
ReplyDeleteThe District Administration isn't claiming they may need more money than the levy to finish the STEM school or need to borrow from Peter to pay Paul. They'd have egg on their face should that be the case and loose total credibility when the next levy comes around.
Susan Wilkins has put a lot of thought and research into the cost and value of a STEM school for LWSD. I am finished.
Does another Reader have a pro-STEM argument to balance the conversation? The voting deadline is upon us.
Whoa…. Where did you get the idea that I am opposed to Science, Technology, Engineering or Math education? Geology is my favorite topic and science is so interesting and useful.
ReplyDeleteI suggested that we needed to talk about what should go into the STEM school and then I realized that $28.2 million was not a lot of money for the school, calculated what it would cost to build the school out on SR202, and made a comment that the school building would be too small. I’m sorry if it sounded like I was opposed to STEM education because I definitely support it - although the location on SR202 is unjustifiably remote and inaccessible to students without cars.
All along I have felt that the district (and the facilities department) just wanted more money to build more buildings. They just couldn’t make half a billion dollars in bond money cover all their building expenses and so they created the phony overcrowding problem and then added the STEM school as an added hook to get voter approval. I guess it worked. Enough said. We’ll get what we get and then we’ll pay our taxes without complaining. Thanks for providing this website for an interesting dialog.