Jeffrey Alger on Blogger

Thursday, 26 August 2021

Dignity Act Protects the Mental Health

Jeffery Alger is an experienced athletic director of health and physical education who has worked extensively in North Tonawanda and the NY area. As a teacher of young children, he has completed training with the Dignity for All Students Act (DASA) to provide a safe environment for young people that protects their mental health.

DASA was first introduced in 1999 but wouldn’t be effectively signed into law until the early 2010s. Since then it has been a source of teacher training to emphasize the need for students to be taken seriously when problems related to bullying, discrimination, or harassment arise in a school environment. The act’s reach and the protection it provides is wide-ranging, applying not only to obvious school environments like the classroom but also on the school bus or even over electronic communication that takes place at school. Even out-of-school behavior might fall under DASA if it is having a significant negative effect on a student or students.

Training in DASA involves learning to see the students’ concerns as legitimate and to understand the things that young people do when distressed - things like faking illness to avoid school, declining grades, low self-esteem, etc - so that they can be discreetly addressed. Understanding signs that a child has been bullying others - disrespectful behavior, aggression, blaming other students, etc. - is also crucial to make sure the problems that arise at school are examined from both sides. Placing the pressure on the victim of bullying to do all the emotional work of dealing with a bully is unfair, as is punishing a bully without trying to understand why they became that way in the first place. DASA does not teach the adults in school environments to punish children but instead to support them and create a safe environment.

Thursday, 19 August 2021

Physical Inactivity Puts Children Worldwide at Health Risk

Jeffery Alger is an athletic director certified by the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association based in Webster, NY. Physical education (PE) forms the basis of Jeffery Alger’s work in the North Tonawanda school district.

Research shows that a lack of physical activity has a direct relationship with a person’s risk of developing both physical and mental disability later in life. Despite the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, the WHO’s recommendations for adolescents are largely not being acted on worldwide. Global analysis shows that roughly 80 percent of children at school do not meet the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity per day, nor are schools doing much to help them reach that goal. Especially with the COVID-19 pandemic, most children are not active enough.

There are other factors involved as well: for example, research by the Utah Women and Leadership Project shows that only 14 percent of school-age girls are meeting the recommended amount of physical activity. Boys and young men are generally slightly better off when it comes to engagement in PE due to teachers enforcing a culture of masculinity that associates competition with worth, but beyond that roughly half of all students are spending 2-5 hours a day either watching television, playing video games, or doing homework (or, increasingly, taking classes online). If the current generation of schoolchildren are to grow up healthy, and we are not to see a new health crisis emerge in their adulthood, more must be done to ensure children meet the minimum requirements for physical activity in their adolescent years.

Wednesday, 7 April 2021

National Athletic Directors Conference

Webster, NY, resident Jeffrey Alger served as the athletic director of the physical education system of the North Tonawanda City School District for four years. Jeffrey (Jeff) Alger is a member of various professional organizations, including the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA).

Committed to the preservation, enhancement, and promotion of education-based athletics, NIAAA supports athletic administrator initiatives by providing access to leadership development and professional development programs and services. In 2020, NIAAA partnered with the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) to organize a virtual National Athletic Directors Conference (NADC).

The 51st NADC took place on December 7-14, 2020, and featured leadership training courses, workshops, online networking sessions, and access to virtual exhibits from partners and sponsors. One of the workshop topics was the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of high school athletes. The conference also included discussions of the importance of servant leadership, technology, outreach, and engagement to improve the culture of sportsmanship among athletic administrators and the schools they serve.

Tuesday, 13 October 2020

North Tonawanda City Schools' Athletic Field Expansion Project

A resident of Webster, New York, Jeffrey “Jeff” Alger has an MS in education from Nazareth College and holds a permanent certification in physical education issued by the New York State Education Department. Previously the athletic director at North Tonawanda City School District, Jeffrey Alger collaborated with local schools on a multi-million dollar athletic field capital improvement project.

In 2015, North Tonawanda launched an ambitious program to upgrade its athletic fields. At the high school, officials planned to erect a multi-sport stadium behind the school complex and resurface the existing football field with turf to make it compatible for football, soccer, and lacrosse games. These field enhancements would be complimented with new lighting, bleachers, a ticket booth, concession stand, and press box. The school would further put up six tennis courts and four grass sports fields. At the intermediate school, officials planned to install a new asphalt track and construct two baseball fields.

These sports-related enhancements were part of a much larger $39.85 million capital project geared toward upgrading the school’s facilities to optimize students’ educational experiences. As at the time of Mr. Alger’s departure from the school district in January 2019, construction of the fields was still ongoing.