Superintendent's Bulletin #2

June 2011
Where does the time go? Each year seems to rush by a little faster than the previous one. This year, in particular, has been a busy one for everyone. I know that the waiting to see where everyone would be working was particularly hard for folks but now the majority of the staffing has been completed. We know there will still be some further tweaking in September. Thank you for your patience and cooperation.

However, even though time moves quickly, we know that our staffs have continued in their quest to ensure that their students receive a quality education. We thank you for your dedication to our students. Our School Improvement Plans and the Network of Performance Based Schools work show an incredible depth of inquiry that happened in each of our schools where staffs explored different ways to improve student achievement. Inquiry questions were powerful and thought provoking and each of them had the diversity of our students in mind. Finding a way to reach each student and meet their unique needs or to tap into their learning styles or to find cultural ways to connect with them led to stimulating conversations and further analyzing of ways to engage our students even more. So, on behalf of our students, their parents and the district, we thank you for the incredible work you do for our students. This includes all of you: teachers, support staff, custodial and maintenance. You are each making a difference in the lives of our students.

We also would be remiss if we didn’t mention all of the extra time so many of you give in our district to support our students, parents or fellow colleagues. Whether you coach or sponsor a team, tutor, plan field trips, work with parents, collaborate with colleagues, organize district events, serve as a union representative, all of these extra contributions make our district a real “Community of Learners”.

We are already looking forward to next year. Planning for this will be happening in our last three days of this year with staff. Thank you to the Board for granting us this time to enable this to happen. Faye Brownlie will also be working with our schools through the Shared Leadership Series next year. She will be here in December, January and March to take our learning deeper in finding more ways to work with all students.

But I am sure you are all looking forward to some fun and relaxation over the next few months. Before we begin again in our newly reconfigured district : K-5, 6-8 and 9-12, on behalf of the School District, have a terrific summer!!