A View from the Principal’s Office
Believe it or not we just finished the first quarter of the school year – when life is measured in “school time” it goes very quickly. There have been many high spots during the first weeks of school. Our students have continued to find ways to challenge themselves and we are working hard to meet each student’s identified goals. Our ninth graders continue working to develop their Personalized Learning Plans in their Patterns of Literature and Learning class, they have recently met a new counselor in Patterns. The students enrolled in The Eye and our World Language Lab just completed their mid-term presentations and are taking the feedback they received and preparing for the second quarter’s work. Students in our World Language Lab study the language of their choice, including: Korean, American Sign Language, Italian, Dutch, and Arabic to name a few. Our actors and actresses are prepared to present Fiddler on the Roof; please plan on joining us for what promises to be a great show on November 9, 10, and 11.
While the beginning of the year has had a busy familiarity to it, we are also looking to our future. Some of this work is reflected in physical changes to our school and campus. Many of you are aware we are looking to repair / replace our parking lot and, in the process, revisit the traffic patterns that have evolved over many years. There is a Parking Lot informational meeting at the Dothan Brook School on Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 7:00. This work will be initiated next summer and addresses a significant, long-term need. Our band room received new carpet earlier in the school year and we recently installed a new piece of art work in the gym. This art installation is the result of the efforts of the Creative Improvement Council (CIC) led by our art teacher, Ann Thorp. There is evidence of CIC activity all over our campus and within our building. The CIC has provided many school beautification projects that ensure our school is an esthetically pleasing place to learn.
As we seek to support all learners, we have been partnering with Mr. DeBalsi to find a way to keep the library open until 7:00 four nights a week. This has been an administrative goal for a number of years; we recognize that many of our students could use a supervised space that is equipped with technology and access to the internet. Our hope is to have someone in place in the near future providing supervision and support for students who find themselves at school in the afternoon and evening. Our vision for our Library as a Learning Center is rooted in our goal to support all learners. We look forward to the day when our Library is an after-school and early-evening destination for individuals and groups of learners. I will keep you posted on the progress of this initiative.
I also want to provide a follow-up to my recent post identifying the difficulties some of our students have appropriately using social media. About three weeks ago a student, Deacon Malia, provided a version of this poster to our administrative team. Deacon and our administrators collaborated on Deacon’s vision and developed the following notice. As we encourage our students to THINK before posting, we realize that there is still much work to do. Deacon was recognized for his efforts at a recent Friday morning all-school assembly when our school was challenged to consider the questions this poster poses.
Thank you for reading this post. It is my hope that, in some small way, I can provide a window into all that is going on at our school. I want to finish with a reminder of the days when our school will be closed in the next few weeks:
Nov. 10 – Veteran’s Day observed
Nov. 22, 23, 25 – Thanksgiving holiday