Hello Lake Harriet community. I apologize for the long silence on this blog. The past six weeks have been filled with so many activities that I haven't found a time for posting. I hope to add something every week for the rest of the year.
During our teacher planning week I had a chance to meet with the teachers and support staff. Like my meetings with parents and students, I was very impressed by their talent, dedication and thoughtfulness. Our professional development was designed to be responsive to teacher needs (they had choice in their selection of sessions), foster teacher leadership (teachers led several of the sessions), and address areas identified as needs by the School of Excellence process. Examples of our work include strategies to use technology more effectively, strategies to foster student self-assessment, strategies to share and celebrate student work, and strategies to increase vocabulary skills. We ended the week tired, but excited for students to arrive on Monday.
I was also at three different open house/curriculum nights. First was the grades 4/5 night. I want to thank both teams for their enlightening presentations and for covering a few team members who couldn't be there for personal reasons. The opening of the lower school addition was next. Although it isn't completely finished, the opportunities provided by the extra space are very exciting. And coming from a school that piloted the salad bar last year, nutrionally the new lunchroom space is a welcome addition. Finally we had the middle school open house. Parents followed their student's schedule to get a glimpse of what the student day is like.
The first week of school was off to a great start with the exception of the heat. Despite the hardship of learning and teaching in a classroom that was 98 degrees, the students and teachers had a very positive attitude. To help keep students safe we distributed water to every classroom on Tuesday and Wednesday (on Monday it was available when asked for) and created a rotating schedule to the air-conditioned media center and computer labs for brief cool down periods.
We had several visits from district leaders to assess the conditions in the building. They brought us fans, water, ice, and gatorade, but it was clear that the heat was taking its toll on both teachers and students. As you now know, they made the decision to cancel school for safety concerns.
This coming week looks like it will be much more amenable to teaching and learning. On Thursday our new School Resource Officer will be in the building to meet the middle schoolers and assist me while I help them understand the importance of cyber safety. Many of our students have access to the internet and need continual reminders to use it safely and respectfully. Most of the parents I have spoken to already have delivered this message, but with impulsive minds and instant access a few extra doses of caution never hurt. Officer Edwards is also excited to meet students now to begin to develop relationships so that if we ever have an emergency students won't wonder who he is.
Thanks to everyone for a great first month. Please call or stop in if you ever have any questions or concerns.
update: Officer Edwards had to cancel for family reasons. He will be here on Tuesday the 10th of September.
