Ready, set, go! The start of the 2019-20 school year is here

It is hard to believe that another summer has flown by and a new school year is upon us. I am excited to welcome back students and staff for the 2019-2020 school year! I hope that our educators and staff, as well as our students and their families took time to relax and enjoy vacations and other fun summer adventures together and that you return to school rejuvenated and eager to teach and to learn.

I thank our 12-month staff and my administrators who worked throughout the summer preparing for the start of the new school year. The leadership team has been hard at work hiring new teachers and staff, overseeing summer programs in both buildings, as well as attending and facilitating professional development. Thanks as well to our school bus drivers who provided transportation for summer programs and our cafeteria workers who prepared summer meals for students. I also thank our maintenance staff and student work crews who worked diligently during the past several weeks to clean and prep our buildings for opening day on Wednesday, Sept. 4.

Power of communication

As mentioned in my previous blog, thanks to a scholarship from NYSCOSS I traveled to Switzerland in July for a leadership conference with several of my superintendent colleagues from New York. Visiting historic sites and breathtaking landscapes was amazing, but the Leadership Summit during our final three days was one of the most inspiring and powerful events I have participated in throughout my nearly three decades as an educator. The summit brought together students and educators from around the globe to consider “The Power of Communication” and its impact on the world. This is a theme that I plan to explore further this year with teachers and staff as we consider how communication applies to the work we do every day.

One way is doing our best to understand the unspoken messages that our students send without saying a word. As adults and as educators, it is our responsibility to pick up on these messages, build appropriate relationships with our students and learn all we can about them in an effort to best serve them. Another way is to make sure that we build and maintain open lines of communication with parents and caregivers to strengthen the home-school connection. There is a plethora of research that shows parental involvement in education is an important factor in student success. So let’s start making that connection with parents early in the school year, especially for our at-risk students.

Summer book club a best seller!

Speaking of powerful — our summer book club was a huge success! From mid-July through mid-August, students, teachers and administrators packed classrooms each week to discuss the “The Hate U Give” by Angie Davis. I applaud our English department teachers for selecting this contemporary novel with its relevant and engaging themes for teenage readers. I was able to participate in a few of the hour-long discussions and was impressed with the thoughtful, respectful and honest conversations that occurred among students and staff. Student interest and turnout for summer book club definitely exceeded our expectations!!

Welcome to our new staff!

Lastly, I am filled with excitement about the new educators who will be joining us this year. They come from diverse backgrounds, some have experience in this field and some are just beginning their careers. I encourage our veteran teachers and staff to offer them your support and show your collaborative spirit.

I look forward to serving my eighth year as your superintendent and remain fully committed to our mission of challenging, inspiring and educating every student, every day. I feel strongly this will be our best year yet for a multitude of reasons! Welcome back everyone!