Thank You Principals...

-


As we bring the month of October to a close, it is only fitting that perhaps the most challenging month to be a school administrator in the history of public education, also happens to be National Principals Month. Our dedicated principals and assistant principals have worked tirelessly, feverishly, and with resolve throughout the entire month of October to prepare a welcome back of students that everyone has been anticipating for many weeks. The task of opening schools in the face of COVID is unlike anything that any of these leaders have ever faced. Each and every day brought with it a new challenge, a new stress, and a new opportunity. The need to remain positive, supportive, and caring has been at an all time high; all while internally feeling angst, stress, and anxiety like never before. Our school leaders, principals and assistant principals alike, work every day to prepare our buildings and staff so that our students can return to school and begin the process of returning to some normalcy. Of course no school leader is without fault and or error, however, we are fortunate to have a team of leaders who take their missteps in stride and use those unfortunate experiences to improve themselves and their school communities. While I know that most people have been thanking their principals and assistant principals throughout all of COVID, please take this week to recognize the extreme pressure that they have worked under to create an environment that is as normal as possible all while working in a world that is completely new with completely new rules to live by. We are all in this together, there is no doubt about that. The tireless dedication and perseverance of our leaders always help to keep the ship steady and know that no matter how challenging something may be, in the end, we will enjoy calmer waters. On behalf of our entire school community, I would like to say "Thank You" to the fine principals and assistant principals of the Rome City School District.      

Reopening Information

In preparation for the return of more students to our buildings on Monday, October 26, the Rome City School District has updated our reopening plan, the FAQ section of our website, and will be releasing a new video detailing some of the important items that are related to students returning to the classroom. As always, the most comprehensive location to review anything related to COVID and our schools reopening is our reopening website at https://sites.google.com/romecsd.org/romereopening/home. For a direct link to our FAQ, please click here: https://sites.google.com/romecsd.org/romereopening/frequently-asked-questions. 

Health Screenings - Students

With the return of students to our facilities this week, in-person students in the Monday/Tuesday cohort should complete the health screening for Monday and students in the Thursday/Friday cohort should complete the screening for Thursday. A link to the screening is on the homepage of our website and can be found at this link also: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSffvf8KGI4u8MUHJvFmDVDkkxwKq7tNGgEue0xK6QxWUvESbw/viewform. You may want to bookmark the page for easier access.

NYSDOH COVID Toolkit

As a reminder, I would urge all parents and staff to review the NYSDOH COVID preK-12 toolkit. The information within the document is certainly information that schools have been asking for throughout the re-opening process. The document is extremely detailed and has many easy to read graphics which clearly outline when students and staff should not be attending schools. A complete copy of this document can be found here:

NYSDOH - PreK to Grade 12 COVID-19 Toolkit  

Transportation Update

Our transportation department, in conjunction with Birnie Bus, continues to make adjustments to student routes to ensure that all students that need transportation can receive it, and it's to/from the correct locations. A process that normally takes several months is being completed in several days, with less people involved in completing it. While I understand that there is a delay in some families receiving information; many families that have been called throughout the week do not have accurate phone numbers on record, are not answering their calls, and/or do not have available voicemail to leave a message. This, combined with several families requesting last minute changes, cause a tremendous amount of issues with transportation. In an attempt to work with families, we are trying to accommodate as many adjustments as possible which is part of the delay in getting everything complete. Please check ParentPortal of SchoolTool and/or check with your child's school to make sure that the most accurate contact numbers are on record at the school. We continue to ask folks to be patient and understanding that nothing is static and or the way that it has ever been before.     



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