LEADING THROUGH LISTENING

With the end of September upon us, and COVID-19 statistics and data in our region continuing to trend in a safe range, it is time that we set our sights on a return to school for more students. At this point, we are targeting a return date of Monday, October 26 for all students in grades preK-12. If possible, depending on responses to the next round of surveying, we may look to bring students in grades preK-2 back to school on Tuesday, October 13. That determination will need to be made in the next 2 weeks so students, families, and staff can prepare. In order to keep the preparations moving forward, we are in need of an additional round of surveying. While there hasn't been drastic changes in COVID-19 data or situations since August, a families mindset and/or opinions on in-person/remote learning may have changed drastically. In an effort to get the most accurate data and information from which to plan and prepare from, we are asking families to once again complete a brief survey ...

Week one is in the books, and there is much to celebrate, as well as, much to improve upon. As always, everyone can always improve and grow on our pursuit to perfection and being the best; but all things considered the week went well and I can't thank our teachers, administrators, parents, support staff, and students for the amazing effort put in this week.There is no doubt that remote learning can be a challenging endeavor as it requires teachers to redesign their mentality and practice, requires students to be more independent than traditional learning, and requires parents to be more active than we are used to. All of this occurring at a time when stress and frustration is at an all time high, and patience for returning to normal is at an all time low. As we move forward, we are closely monitoring school situations throughout the State and different locations are starting to see positive virus cases in their schools. At this point in time, if things continue to trend in a s...

As staff returned to work last week, I spoke with them all about the range of emotions that everyone in our schools, community, and country could be feeling related to schools reopening. Every possible emotion from happiness, to anger, to fear, to anxiety, to joy, to optimism, to frustration, to determination exists in every school throughout our state right now. Even more than that, each individual working in schools and each parent may be feeling those emotions regularly, sometimes occurring almost simultaneously. I liken this crazy swinging of emotions to riding a roller coaster. There is a lot going on as schools reopen and teachers, parents, and students attempt to do something that has never been done before. This is not like the spring and it most likely will never be like the spring again. Education is changing for certain, and hopefully for the better. Hopefully we are moving into a world where students and families have more choice over the way in which their child is learnin...

During the past week, I have been witness to people coming together in an attempt to design and provide something never before accomplished. While our twelve month employees put the finishing touches on everything needed to ensure we welcomed back the rest of our staff this week, our teachers have been hard at work participating in trainings and collaborating with each other as they prepare to welcome students to the 2020-2021 school year. Teacher participation in professional development is at an all time high, and it's a testament to the desire and determination that teachers everywhere have to the duty of helping children grow. As we enter the final week of preparation, it is clear that everyone this year is a first year employee! None of us have ever attempted to do what we are about to do. The playing field is level and collaboration and support for each other is necessary today, more than ever. It is likely that some students will know more about technology or a specific...