Principal's Message 4/20/2009

PUTTING THE ICING ON THE CAKE!

Welcome back! I’m excited to finish the school year on a high note. While we close out this best school year ever, we have to prepare to make next year even better. How do we make that happen while makins sure we finish strong? We keep ahead on our daily planning and we take advantage of the time we put aside to plan for the next year. For the past four years, we have developed stronger systems year after year, each one making us more efficient than the last year. The two systems we will be focusing on in our preparations for next year are our student success plans and closing the gaps of communication within our school. Both areas will eliminate the limitations we face in becoming the best school possible.

Its evident we continue to encounter dips in our momentum within our school year. To counter these frustrating times, we need to develop a support system that is not solely reliant on the administrative team. Granted, as mentioned in previous Principal’s Messages, the administrative team is always going to have to support. We are going to push you all to do your best. The support I am referring to is the day-to-day existence in the building. The partners you need to reflect on the work you do and the teammate you need to pick you up when you had a bad day or when life is throwing you struggles outside of the school. Without those people in your place of work, it makes this already challenging job even more difficult. No one should have to carry all of those components throughout the day while still taking on some of the most emotionally challenged students.

If we, as a group, cannot help you to build the inner strength to keep going, then the obstacles you face throughout a school day are almost impossible to bounce back from. An example is when we let comments from our students get under our skin. We react to them instead of maintaining our composure and following the protocol to address the situation. When we let the comments of our students get to us, we are vulnerable. We need to preserve our egos by supporting each other and keeping our focus on teaching our students how to handle negative encounters.

The organizational cabinet is dissecting the organizational set up of our school and the emotional capacity we currently have. We are also creating ways for every person in our school to be a part of a team who supports each other and builds toward making our school a better place. Most importantly, we are figuring out a way to do this without expanding on the school day or increasing invested time. There are some amazing ideas being shared. We will be opening this planning process to the entire school during our retreat. Please be there to participate in the initial development in June.

As for the Student Success Plans, the goal is to measure student success to individualize instruction to meet the needs of our students by strengthening pedagogy. We are exploring the systems we have to see if what we are doing in our classrooms is actually working. If its not, then providing ALL the support needed so success is obtained. The only way to do this is to begin collecting data to make progression visible. By doing so, we can expand on what is working and provide professional development plans for areas where we struggle. It is vital we research as much as possible this year to eliminate obstacles for next year and to ensure the amount of time we devote to instruction now is not expanded upon but used more efficiently.

All in all, both systems are going to help us to provide the best education we can for our students. When JHS 13 becomes an institution where you want to send your children, we have come closer to reaching success. In the end, we want the best school NYC has to offer. Systems of support and reflection will allow us to reach our goal. You are the great staff who is going to make it happen. I look forward to continuous celebration of our extraordinary achievements.

ATTENDANCE FOR THE WEEK BEFORE BREAK

Monday: 90%
Tuesday: 89%
Wednesday: 86%
Thursday: No School
Friday: No School

STAFF BIRTHDAYS

Emmanuel Okon April 1st
Jackie Brown April 27th
Rachel Levene May 1st
Danita Scott May 2nd
David Deatherage May 2nd
Leslie Tatum May 12th
John Ciano May 19th
Cassandra Williams May 21st
Zoe Markoupulus May 28th

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“I long to accomplish a great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.”
--Helen Keller