Which Trail...

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For some, Peter Cottontail may be hopping down a bunny trail this weekend, but the question may be which trail to hop down? At any stage in life, there is a multitude of trails one can walk down. The trail most traveled, least traveled, unknown? Some folks even decide to give up when venturing down a challenging trail. Unfortunately, for many individuals in our society, this has become the reality for many reasons. In our schools, students are quick to give up on anything from small tasks, to athletic teams, to friendships because the challenge is greater than expected. Life is full of challenges as all adults know, but adults also have experienced the benefit of perseverance and survival. Our students have not all had the opportunity to experience the joy and satisfaction of a positive outcome yet. However, some students haven't experienced this because throughout their whole life they have been told that they can't succeed, or at least that is the perceived message that they are receiving. No educator would like to see children be unsuccessful, but at the same time, many adults don't stop to think of the unintended consequences of our habitual language. Our students need to feel safe to fail before we can expect them to persevere. Perseverance is developed from the ability to move forward through failure and end up successful despite hurdles. If we expect our students to develop academic grit and perseverance, we have to encourage them to take chances and expand outside their comfort zone, without fear of repercussions for failure. Personally, I tend to choose the path that doesn't exist yet and see what opportunities and future can be created along that journey. There is no doubt that this is not the safest decision in many cases and can almost always entail some form of failure or setback, but the outcomes have always been beneficial. Our students want to take chances and they want to learn, it's time that we show them the promised land. Fear of failing can be our worst enemy in education, let's remove this impediment to true learning. There is no doubt that our students of today will be tasked with walking down paths that don't currently exist when they enter the workforce someday. A staggering number of jobs that these students will be working in do not currently exist. Instead of teaching for yesterday and protecting against failure, let's teach for tomorrow and help each other develop new paths and a better future for our students. 

School Reopens 4/19 

As a reminder, schools will reopen for students on Tuesday, April 19. Enjoy the extra day!

Board of Education - Petitions Available

This year, there are four (4) open seats on the Board of Education. All three of these seats will be available on July 1, 2021. The term limit for three of the open seats is three years, expiring on June 30, 2025 and the fourth seat is to complete the remainder of a term, which is two years expiring on June 30, 2024. Completed petitions must include one hundred (100) qualified signatures and must be returned to the business office of the district at 409 Bell Road, and are due back before 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 27, 2022. Petitions are available for pick up at the business office of the Rome City School District. Any questions regarding open seats for the Board of Education can be directed to the business office or the Board of Education President, Mr. John Nash.

Redistricting Presentation

On Wednesday, April 20 the Board of Education Ad Hoc Committee for Redistricting will be hearing additional recommendations from the district consultants on redistricting. The meeting will be held via Zoom due to the volume of options requested beginning at 6:00 p.m. Following the presentation, all information will be available on the district website as well. If you wish to view the meeting and listen to the conversation, please use this link: https://moric-org.zoom.us/j/99568197095.

NAACP

On Saturday, April 30 at 1:00 p.m. the NAACP Rome Branch will host a showing of their new film, "49 Years.. and Counting. The Story of the Rome Branch" at the Rome Historical Society. The Rome Historical Society is located at 200 Church St., Rome, NY. For more information, please contact the Rome Historical Society or the Rome Branch of the NAACP.

June 1 Regents Day

On Tuesday, June 1, RFA will be administering the Regents examination in United States History and Earth Science practical exam for all students required to take these exams. Please note that school will not be in session this day for RFA students only. All students scheduled to take the exam(s) will receive more information and notifications from their teachers and school staff directly.

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