DCMS solicits community input to improve education
By Kevin Schnepp

DeLaRosa

While Robert DeLaRosa begins his second semester as Delphi Community Middle School Principal, so begins what he calls his true mission in his freshly acclimated role.

At a DCMS Community Council Meeting held Monday night at the middle school cafeteria, DeLaRosa said he has become familiar with the school's systems, people and paperwork routines and is now ready to tackle some major adjustments to its educational structure.

His opening statement explained the reason his plan involved hosting a community council meeting.

"Most important is that we want all the community involved with improving our school's educational system," he stated. "The school affects everyone, and everyone affects the school."

DeLaRosa pointed out that a program provided by the Indiana Student Achievement Institute (InSai) was a driving force behind many of the school's educational enhancements. He said it has done well in providing research and educational tools in efforts to make a positive impact on ISTEP scores in the state.

"We're in the second year of the three-year InSai program," he said. "We're seeing great things happening through it."

Seventh-grade math teacher Tonja Miller agreed that working with InSai had been a positive experience for the school.

A factor said by Miller to be key to the success of the program is community involvement.

"This school, as is the case with InSai, wants excellence to come from everyone including students, the community, faculty, parents, non-parents, taxpayers, you name it."

She said the middle school took part in the program simultaneously with the high school to help strengthen ties between them and to assist students preparing to enter the much different climes of their high school careers.

From a plethora of information school faculty and staff compiled, "data targets" were identified and prioritized.

Based on those findings, four strategies were developed and assigned to steering committees.

The first was aimed at the In- School Suspension (ISS) and Out-of-School Suspension (OSS) plans. Steering committee leader and Computer Applications teacher Debbie Siwinski shared that the school is working to align its behavior policy to match the high school more closely, including parts of its ISS program.

She said OSS is not a feasible option at this time due to a lack of funding.

"It is really an option we'd love to be able to offer," De- LaRosa interjected. "But we would need a facility and someone to help run the program. I know the right person to help is out there, we just haven't found each other yet. If there are a couple of retired teachers or maybe a retired drill sergeant, we could use their help," he concluded.

DeLaRosa said it is important for the school to seek ways to streamline its budget when trying to fund new programs.

"The corporation is looking at what is important," he said. "We need to get away from what is extraneous to free up money so it can be used more directly to impact students' education. Sometimes old ways of doing things need to change," he concluded.

DeLaRosa said the second strategy of utilizing the potential of the retention policy to its fullest goes hand-in-hand with the first strategy.

He said DCMS is the first school of which he has been principal that had a retention policy in place when he arrived.

"It makes a difference because students know there are consequences to their actions," he explained.

"Students are much more likely to become active participants of the community after graduation if they experienced a healthy education," he commented.

Middle school gym teacher Theresa Traver outlined plans for the steering committee taking on the third target area of extra time and extra help.

Traver said the aim of her committee is to make available the right teachers for those who need help.

"If a student needs attention, we should be ready to supply it. If we let them fall through the cracks, it will only make things worse," she explained. "

DeLaRosa agreed, saying he hopes the school can "continue to develop programs that build the student's self-esteem to help them move up where they have the potential to go."

A fourth steering committee, headed by DeLaRosa, was aimed at scheduling the school day and master calendar more efficiently.

He said specials (elective classes) such as computer applications or industrial technology are examples of enhancement possibilities.

"A student who goes through this school system should be in a position to do exactly what they desire when they graduate," DeLaRosa explained. "Whether they want to go to college or straight into a vocation after high school, we want to be able to offer them the education they'll need to be ready for whatever they choose."

DeLaRosa encouraged members of the public to attend the next community council meeting Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. in the middle school cafeteria. He said steering committees will have updates and much more input will be needed from the public.

"This was just one part of continuing and continuously improving education in our school. As we shared this evening, we have some areas we are working on already. We hope the community brings its ideas to the table as well."