Choose an Escalator...

-
There are escalators for all walks of life. Like anything else in the modern era, the wheel of escalators continues to be reinvented. There are up escalators, down escalators, long escalators, short escalators, and even flat escalators for those that are in more of a hurry. As a side note, have you ever noticed that many young children are afraid of the down escalator? They only want to ride up. Regardless, most often, escalators are devices that help an individual get from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ in a manner that requires less effort than normal. However, what about the other escalator? What about the escalator that relates to emotions and human management of stress? It’s funny how even in these situations, most humans choose the ‘up escalator’ as well. Given the opportunity to step back from a situation, think about the options logically, and make a conscious choice to de-escalate a situation; most human beings will choose the opposite. They will choose to escalate something and cause a current bad situation to become worse. Why? The concept of de-escalation seems to be something that most people don’t want to address. By focusing on the down escalator, we can help each other. Rather than increase an individual’s tension, frustration, anger; we can be a part of the solution. De-escalation can be as simple as walking away from a situation. It could also be talking with a calm voice, maintaining an appropriate personal space, a smile, attempting to change the subject, or simply saying “I’m sorry, how can I help?” No matter which way you shake it, children are afraid of the down escalator and adults are afraid of de-escalation. It’s time to stop being afraid of the down escalator and work together to help people that are experiencing stress, not making things more challenging for them. Every person in life has a story and at all times there is a reason why someone acts a certain way. More often than not, when a human is acting in a manner that is abnormal to the desired behavior or different than what is normally exhibited, there is a reason that can easily explain the variance if we just take a moment to ask what is up or how we can help? More than ever, people are at max capacity for stress, and choosing to use the down escalator in a moment of tension is vital.

AREA Community Conversation

Throughout the year, the Rome City School District will be hosting a series of community conversations to learn more about the needs and desires of our students and community in the area of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The conversations will be held monthly in various locations throughout the district and our third event will be this coming Tuesday evening, November 16 at Denti Elementary. The session will be held from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. For more information, including pre-registering your participation, please visit our website at: https://www.romecsd.org/news_page/you_re_invited__area_community_conversations_

Student Art & Essay Exhibition

The New York State Education Department is pleased to announce that they will sponsor an exhibition in recognition of the life and teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As in years past, they will honor Dr. King’s memory by inviting schools to submit student art and essays that reflect Dr. King’s teaching. This exhibition is not a contest. All schools are encouraged to join in this initiative and all submissions will be exhibited. A maximum of one piece of artwork and one essay entry may be submitted per student. Group work within each level is permitted and encouraged. As part of the celebration, all entries will be viewable in an online exhibit via www.empirestateplaza.ny.gov/nyking. For more information on the project and/or for submission information, please contact the district office.


Redistricting Presentation/Conversation

On Monday, November 29 at 6:00 p.m., our current redistricting/restructuring consultants will be engaging the community in conversations regarding their thoughts and concerns related to the way that schools are structured. The event will be held at Strough Middle School and will involve all members of the community that wishes to attend. It will be a combination of presentations about future enrollment projections/needs of the district, some preliminary information about what the consultant is feeling could be a recommendation to the district for restructuring, and an opportunity for round table brainstorming for the community to provide feedback and ideas. We will continue to share information regarding the event as the date nears.


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

Finish Strong...

-
Image
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
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