Karyn Finn Offers Reflection of Service; Departs for Move to Missouri

It’s time for me to leave Hudson and move to Missouri to join my husband, but it’s really not about me. The School Board is a team and as we all know there is no “I” in team. As I reflect on my term of service from being elected in the Fall of 2011 until today, I am just amazed at the positive changes in the community that I have come to call my home for the past 19 years. Not all of the changes were easy and some were downright difficult but with collaboration and thoughtful discussion we found common ground.   

Great schools don’t just happen, they are the product of an engaged community that shares responsibility for a positive culture along with financial (property tax) support. Although our financial outlook is stable now, it wasn’t always that way.  In fact, that is just what brought me to the school board meetings of 2010 -2011.  Hudson Schools were facing a financial crisis that had decimated our rainy day funds and neither property taxes or state funding were going to fix it.  I ran for school board because I knew that the local school was not only important to our community’s sustainability but also to the youth and families that rely on a solid education for their future.  We as a community owe it to our kids and their future to get engaged and stay engaged so that we are aware of the utilization of our taxes and can support our teachers and staff to provide positive educational outcomes for all of our youth.

We start each meeting with “We create effective learning environments that result in success for all students”.  These are very powerful words as a school board we act together to create effective policies and practices that allow the staff to fulfill their mission to educate all of our children.  I have been proud to be part of the many positive changes that have taken years of planning like paving the High School parking, paving the Middle school parking, providing handicap access to the competition gym are some of the major visual changes. In addition in the past seven years we added Pirate term, PLC & TLC along with weekly Wednesday early outs for professional development. I have had the great honor and privilege to hand out diplomas to my own children, swelling with pride at their accomplishments due in major part to the commitment and dedication of our wonderful teachers.  

Message for Community:

Get engaged, find out what’s going on in your school and community.  Stay engaged by attending meetings and events, read the board minutes in the Hudson Herald, run for School Board, but most importantly - Share your voice. You are as important a part of the school as the children, teachers and staff. Bring your ideas, collaborate, look forward to what will be expected from graduates in future jobs. Volunteer your time, before school, during or after school, at events and activities. Remember Great Schools don’t just happen!! They need a community of engaged citizens collaborating together. I am proud to have been part of the #piratepride family.

Thank you Hudson for your support and wonderful memories.

It's Not as Easy as it Looks

Junior high teachers collaborating on a personalized
professional development project during a recent
student early dismissal.

Yesterday I had an opportunity to sit in on a grade level meeting in second grade. These weekly meetings between the building principal, teacher leaders, and teachers serve multiple purposes. Most importantly they open a dialogue among instructional experts to discuss what is going on in the classroom and how best to meet the needs of learners. It was during this meeting I was once again reminded how incredibly complex, difficult, and challenging the work is of our educators. While observing this meeting teachers were discussing their upcoming unit plans and how they aligned to the Iowa Core. They provided a detailed timeline of instruction, including the identification of specific instructional strategies that were going to be used during this instruction. Strategies by the way, that had recently been presented in professional development.

When pressed by the principal about what 'proof' there would be to demonstrate successful mastery of the content, the teachers shared the formative assessments that would be used to measure student growth. For those not demonstrating adequate growth, their plan and timeline provides remediation-for groups of students exceeding expectations and those needing additional instruction. Then, these teachers were able to tie the instruction they are delivering back to the specific content standard that is being addressed; be it instruction designed to introduce a concept, develop a concept, or attain grade level mastery.

Now I am used to seeing this kind of stuff everyday from our teachers here at Hudson. But I have to tell you: this was impressive. It was another awesome reminder of the complex work that is going on in our schools, and the high level of skill and training it takes for our teachers to do it successfully. I know what many of you are thinking: this is the second grade team and they are rock stars anyway. I'll concede that point, but the fact is this isn't an anomaly. Keeping in mind that I wasn't invited to this meeting and just 'popped in' randomly, I asked Mr. Schlatter; are all the grade level meetings like this? His answer: Yes. 

The picture you may have in your mind of what teaching looks like, or even what is sometimes portrayed on television is woefully simplistic. The truth is, teachers are very highly skilled professionals that put in a ton of work that is largely unseen. What we see in our classrooms when our instructors deliver polished instruction on a daily basis is but a fraction of what it looks like to be a teacher. We are lucky in Hudson to have very good ones.

Building Momentum

Admittedly we are still in the prologue of the 2018-2019 school year. With just over seven days complete, I think we have finished just the right number of days to establish a routine. Bus routes are beginning to run on time and we are starting to get the hang of the lunch line. Boy, I'll tell you what! There is nothing quite like watching kindergartners go to lunch on the first day of school! Give them a salad bar with numerous options and then stand back and watch the show!

The nostalgia of the start of the school year recently had me recalling an experience from my youth. It was science class; we were two or three days into the year and had just turned in our homework assignment. Astonishingly enough, all of us turned in our assignment. And then the teacher said, "It's the first week of school. Everyone turns in homework during the first week. I'm sure this will be the last time." 

Yikes?! Well, as it turns out he was right. I have few fading memories of that teacher and class, but certainly I was late turning in classwork on more than one occasion. Now, what he said was not necessarily out of bounds or even inappropriate. After all, he would probably argue that he was right. But what I would say is that comment was cynical and a bit sad. Instead of celebrating the goodness of the moment, it was ruined by the foreboding of what was to come. By lifting us up and making a big deal out of the fact everyone met the goal, it very well could have built momentum. Would it have worked? Well, we'll never know because once the toothpaste is out of the tube you'll never be able to put it back. But here is what I do know: it certainly wouldn't have hurt (and I wouldn't be talking about it right now).

First week or not I have seen some things! During a recent visit to the high school, I observed quiet halls. Students are not roaming around, stalling to get to class. They are in class. Learning. When I walked into the classroom(s), students are engaged in learning. Why? Because our teachers have designed lessons that are interesting and compelling. One of the things I do worry about a bit during the first week is new teachers in the high school. You see, students of that age traditionally like to push the boundaries to find out exactly where the lines are. As it turns out, I had no reason at all to be concerned. Instead I saw teachers that are setting high expectations for their students. I have no doubt our students will exceed those expectations.

In the junior high, I visited a social studies class where the students were preparing to apply the democratic principles they were studying to an upcoming project where they would be required to create a lego animation. By filming, editing, and using green screen technology. While that was going on, across the hallway in science class students were learning the differences between quantitative and qualitative data sets. And developing hypotheses about the trajectory and speed of a balloon rocket. First week or not, talk about jumping in with both feet!

First week or not: We have great things happening in our school district! We are off to an awesome start to the school year. The momentum we have behind us right now is an accelerant that will propel our students and staff forward to achieve amazing things this year. I have no doubt that it will only get better from here!