We Come Together...

-
I've mentioned many times before how impressive the Rome community can be as it relates to the amount of philanthropy, support, and care for people. Having been part of many different organizations and school districts throughout my career, it is always a pleasure to be involved with a group who can come together in the face of anything at the drop of a hat. Part of being a leader, and a leader of a large organization, is you rarely hear positive thoughts from anywhere; but field a ton of complaints and are always privy to negative news that affects the organization. Along with that comes the responsibility of delivering negative news quite frequently and this weekend was no exception. However, I have yet to have the experience of delivering negative news without the receiving party asking what they can do to help. It doesn't matter the context of the news or the location of the news, people all throughout our organization and community come together frequently to support each other. Regardless of the circumstance or who is involved, there is never a shortage of people willing to help in a time of need. As we keep down the road of improvement, I hope that we can get to the point where we come together all the time, not just in the face of adversity. Many people, including children, are facing adversity on a daily basis that is just not as obvious as when something tragic happens. We need to remember that everyone has a story and each person's individual story has positives and negatives. For children, the factors involved with building a story are much greater because they have very little direct influence of the major factors involved with their story. If we can constantly come together in the face of the adversities we know and see, let's improve our ability to come together in the face of adversities that we don't see. We are a team, we are a community. Let's keep growing to show that support for everyone. Let's come together at all times. 

American Heart Walk/Run

On Saturday, February 24th, from 8:00 am to 11:00 am, the American Heart Association will be hosting their 16th annual walk/run event at Rome Free Academy. The indoor walk also includes an outdoor run! Besides the walk/run, they will be holding a Heath Expo and several “Sydney’s Circle” events taking place in the gym. The American Heart Association has been very active in the Mohawk Valley and in Rome, providing support for many many people over the years. Let's get behind this fantastic cause and show our support. For more information or to register your team for the walk/run, please visit www.uticaheartrunwalk.org.  


RFA Travel Club


On Tuesday, February 13, the RFA Travel Club will be holding an informational session to gauge interest for their 2019 international trip to China. The meeting will be held in room 1310 at RFA beginning at 6:00 p.m. Students currently in grades 8 through 11 are welcome to attend, along with families and Rome staff. The Travel Club takes their international trip each year during the school break in April and more informational will be available at the meeting.

Mid-Winter Recess


Just a reminder that the week of February 19 through February 23 is the mid-winter recess and all schools will be closed for the week. Activities throughout the week will continue as scheduled in the buildings, usually these would be either athletic or music activities. Enjoy the week off everyone as we prepare for our longest stretch.

Popular posts from this blog

It Takes A Village...

-
Image
 We all know the old phrase, "it takes a village to raise a child." One can reflect on the phrase and find a few different ways to interpret its meaning, however, it cannot be argued that when groups of people work together to help their children grow, success is more likely. To me, I view this phrase as referencing that there is someone within every community that a child can connect with to help them feel a part of their school and/or community. It may not be their classroom teacher or their principal. It may be a bus driver, a coach, a teaching assistant, secretary, custodian, food service worker, music teacher, art teacher, computer specialist, monitor, etc. The list can go on and on. Why mention this? Well, currently, one of the largest and most important educational research projects in our nation's history is occurring with some of the leading educational experts researching what education needs to be by the year 2025. Education 2025 is producing information that m...
Read more

When One Door Opens, Many More Follow...

-
Image
One of the hardest things to do in life is to deal with change. There is that old saying, "When one door closes, another door opens." I wonder though, why does a door have to close for another to open. Why can't many doors open when someone decides to go through a new door? I am about to embark on a new professional journey in the coming weeks and I refuse to think that the building that I have helped to lead over the past 3 years is going to be a closed door. Instead, I can think of thousands of opportunities that have been opened because of my decision to walk through a new door. I think of all of the people that have touched my life (students, staff, and parents) and I honestly don't see why a door has to close. Instead of that thinking, I choose to think that thousands of doors are opened now with all of the amazing people that I have had the opportunity to lead. The lessons that have been learned, the friendships that have developed, and the opportunities tha...
Read more

I Had A Dream...

-
Image
Once upon a time, when we all began our careers or started a new position/school, we had dreams. Dreams of what we wanted to accomplish, dreams we wanted to see our students accomplish, dreams we wanted to see our school communities achieve. Throughout my travels though, I have seen more adults tell students that should lower their expectations and downsize their dreams. Unfortunately, I would say that the ratio of adults encouraging students and adults discouraging students is close to 1:1 in my career. I ask, would you be where you are today without someone throughout your educational life encouraging you to pursue your dreams? As with many things in our schools, we need to focus on the positives that are happening and capitalize on them. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream for our country, and while his dream was related to equal rights and oppression, his intended message of having a dream and working tirelessly to achieve it can be applied universally in society. Recently, ...
Read more