East nominated for top honors

Andy Schemenaur was shocked.
Beyond that, he wasn’t sure what to think when he learned he had a message to return a phone call from Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz.
After speaking with her, he was nothing but proud.
Ritz had called Schemenaur, the principal at East Elementary in Portland, to tell him his school was one of eight in the state — and one of three elementary schools — to be nominated for a National Blue Ribbon.
“I just about didn’t know what to say,” said Schemenaur. “I couldn’t be prouder. I couldn’t be prouder of a group of folks who just make this community a great one.”
The East Elementary staff, like Schemenaur, was initially shocked at hearing the news.
But after the shock came pride, as well as a desire to get involved in the application process.
Schemenaur met for the first time Thursday with a group of teachers who volunteered to do whatever they can to help.
The application process includes analyzing East Elementary’s test scores for the past five years, as well as breaking those down into sub-categories by race, gender, income, etc. Schemenaur and his staff will discuss what their school and community is like and how the school has progressed over the years. And they will describe their curriculum and how they implement it.
In addition to all of those items, Schemenaur said the application asks the nominated schools to talk a lot about the community.
“I think it’s just simply making sure that they understand it doesn’t come easy,” said Schemenaur, who started his career as a teacher at East, had his kids attend the school and now has a grandson, Drew, in kindergarten there. “We have to demonstrate how we’ve done our work.”
Not long ago, East Elementary was closer to the bottom of the ladder than the top.
The school failed to meet the state’s Annual Yearly Progress goals for the first time in 2005. It happened again in 2006.
There was some progress, but not enough, in 2007 and ’08. Had it missed again in 2009, it would have been in danger of the state stepping in and forcing reorganization.
East Elementary avoided that fate, reaching its goals in 2009. It was an A-rated school in 2010, and has continued to be every year since.
Schemenaur credits the turn-around to paying more attention to the details.
In the past, schools tended to wait for scores to come out at the end of the year before evaluating and making changes. At East Elementary now, evaluation is ongoing. Teachers and administrators are constantly looking at testing data and other metrics and making adjustments on the fly to help students who might be falling short in a specific skill area.
“When you think about East and the gains they’ve made and the dedication of the people, they’ve really honed in on their scoring,” said Jay Schools superintendent Tim Long. “From being a four-star school the last four years now to be one of the top three rated elementary schools in the state of Indiana, that’s just quite an honor.
“I’ve seen just a tremendous amount of leadership out of the teacher leaders,” he added while especially crediting fifth grade teacher Ingrid Saxman, who has been at the school for 40 years.
Schemenaur also said it has been key that his teachers took the low scores to heart, made a commitment to improving and sought out opportunities for professional development. He’s seen them take ownership of the school and create a culture in which excellence is expected.
And, he noted, students and parents have risen to the challenge and strived to reach those goals.
One of the keys to success, Saxman agreed, is hard work every day from the teachers and students. She also credited parents for being plugged in and making sure their children read, do their homework and get good food and plenty of sleep.
Teamwork is key.
“Because we have been an opening building, we have always worked together,” said Saxman, who has taught at East for 40 years. “We help each other, we learn from each other and we care about each other and the students we have.
I love working at East for that very reason. Win or lose, good test scores or not, we don’t give up on each other or our students. We just keep working hard, and enjoying being together.”[[In-content Ad]]