District Administration - September 2007 - (Page 38)

factor X additional fundraising to realize the school’s vision for an Interactive Fitness Center, according to Mohawk Superintendent Timothy McNamee. “This grant will be wonderful and very timely in that we will be able to kick this project oﬀ much sooner,” he says. As part of a remodeling, the district is expanding the room from its current 20-by-30-feet dimensions to a 20-by40-foot size to provide more space for the various activities. The room is situated between the gym and cafeteria. Workers already have installed a door between the gym and the ﬁtness room to allow Miller and other physical education teachers easy access. The district also has installed a one-way window between the facility and cafeteria. Although kids eating lunch will be able to watch the children using the equipment, those students using the ﬁtness room won’t be able to see into the cafeteria. This will minimize any distraction from being observed, say, for example, while they’re hamming it up with Dance Dance Revolution. The idea is that the students eating lunch will see how fun the equipment is and look forward to using the ﬁtness center themselves, Miller says. And the district plans to lower the high ceiling in the former racquetball court to improve acoustics, she says. The hope is that the Interactive Fitness Center will ignite students’ interest in physical activity and teach them about many diﬀerent ways to keep ﬁt—a lesson that could follow them into adulthood, says Hoﬀman, the high school teacher who will help coordinate “Fitness Buddies.” “We are hoping that these kids will realize that they can do a lot of diﬀerent things to stay in shape,” Hoﬀman says, “not just go outside for a run, not just jump onto an elliptical.” —Kevin Butler 38 September 2007 FINALISTS High School Television Production Niagara Falls High School, Niagara Falls (N.Y.) City School District FOUR YEARS AGO WHEN THE NIAGARA FALLS HIGH SCHOOL BEGAN its own Educational Access Channel, Our Schools Channel (OSC) TV 21, fewer than 10 media production students created it. Now student involvement in the program has grown to nearly 200, requiring more computers capable of video editing and graphics manipulation. Judie Gregory, public relations director for the Niagara Falls City School District in New York, is seeking grant monies to purchase the additional computers and editing software, as well as equipment to launch a new digital music production class. High school students have taped city council meetings for public record as well as a variety of other local events, and students from other schools in the district are also becoming more involved in the production program. Every school now has at least one digital video camera. Under the guidance of Media Education Director Rich Meranto, OSC alumni have taken their skills and gone on to major in television production and communicationsrelated ﬁelds at various colleges and universities, Gregory says. The district serves a poor community of 7,500 students in 11 schools. The OSC provides tangible, quantiﬁable skills in television production as well as professional networking built right into the school’s curriculum. Meranto and OSC coordinators also learned that the program fulﬁlled 24 out of 28 of the New York State Learning Standards due to the variety of projects it demands of the high achieving students. “The sky is the limit,” Gregory says. “And it’s all about building a sense of community.”—Z.M. A Niagara Falls High School student helps video a segment for the school’s Educational Access Channel. District Administration

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - September 2007

Cover
Contents
Editor’s Letter
Letters
News Update
Curriculum Update
Inside the Law
District Profile
Administrator Profile
District Buying Power 2007
X-Factor Student Achievement Awards 2007
We've Got Mail
Supporting New Teachers
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
New Products
Problem Solution
Computer Literature
Research Corner
Online Edge
Supervisor’s Opinion
Speaking Out
Calendar of Events
Understanding the Times

District Administration - September 2007