LEADING THROUGH LISTENING

With the dawn of summer upon us, there is much to be excited about. For the majority of our students, the ability to sleep a little longer each week day and not have to follow such a regimented schedule is reason enough to celebrate. For roughly 350 of our students, the reason to celebrate is much greater. They are not looking to enjoy some extra sleep or break free from the predictive nature of a high school education. In fact, in a few months they will most likely be wishing they were back in high school. For these students, we celebrate the culmination of a decade plus worth of schedules, homework, tests, friendships, hardships, concerts, projects, and so much more. Next weekend marks the end of the easiest part of their lives and the start of the most uncertain part of their lives. Our graduates are ready to tackle whatever life throws their way in the coming months, but they also need our support. As easy as it is to believe that life is pre-determined, it's just as easy to ...

SERVICE. That's it, it's that simple. This could be the shortest blog post of all-time if we left it at the plain terms. The reality is that all of us that work in a school setting work to serve children. On a daily basis, you can hear people mentioning that kids need to be at the center of every decision/action or that we want to do what's best for kids. The phrase has certainly become the latest in a long line of buzz phrases that people use because it not only sounds good, but it's actually the truth. We all start in the business to make the lives of children better. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, some of us lose that vision. Our profession is unlike any other in the world in that our purpose is to serve children but the vast majority of our discussions and dealings are with adults. Between the funding stream mainly coming from taxes and the conversations about progress and discipline occurring with parents, it's easy to forget that the kids are what m...

It is that time of year where many schools, teachers, and students want to "coast" to the finish line. A lot like that NFL team that has their playoff birth locked up weeks before the end of the season so they start resting players to avoid potential injury as the regular season comes to an end; some schools have traditionally modeled this mentality. Difference being is that we are in a race, not a season. In a race, if you let up at the end, your final outcome/product will suffer. Even if you are in first place in the race, you don't slow down as you approach the finish line do you? You don't see the jockey on the thoroughbred pulling on the reins so that the team doesn't set a time record. Those thoughts would be unthinkable. So why do we pull up the flaps at the end of the school year on our kids' learning opportunities. Yes, the weather is nice. Yes, it's been a long year. Yes, we've just made it through State testing and AP testing. But, we only...