When you live in your house for a long time, you need to be aware of  things that need routine maintenance before big things happen. The same goes for our schools –  especially for a school that was built in 1932 (that makes Brownstone 83 years old!).  However, we must follow the budget process. When people look at their personal tax bill and vote for the bottom line, the “Capital Expenditure” section that supports routine maintenance of our schools is usually the first item to be reduced or even eliminated from a school budget.

Our boy’s lavatories look like they are the originals from 1932!  We ask for renovation funding year after year and finally received approval to go ahead with the renovations during this summer. Demolition has just begun.  Monday is July 27th. School starts on August 26th. Let’s hope that the crew is speedy and completes the renovation by the first day of school.  Fingers crossed!

Here’s a “before” picture for the record:

I can’t wait to show you the finished product!!

I feel like I’m holding lives in my hand as I pick up the 8-inch thick folder of resumes. My job is to select those candidates I feel would be a “match” for Brownstone. It’s so difficult to read a resume and picture that person teaching in my school. I try to read between the lines and determine if this experienced teacher wants to move on because she is looking for a new challenge, or is she being asked to move on? Does this brand new teacher just out of college have the skills needed to work with my students? What type of support will he need throughout his first year here?

During the initial pass through I eliminate any resume that has a spelling error, or incorrect word usage or grammar.  Notice to future applicants – have someone proofread your cover letters and resumes before you send them out! The second time through I look at experiences – student teaching, internships, summer work, other jobs. The third time through I read recommendations. I eliminate those resumes with “older” recommendations (older than one year). Finally, I go through the remaining resumes and select a balance of candidates: new teachers, experienced teachers, men, and women.

My interview committee is selected. The questions are prepared. The candidates are scheduled. It’s time to decide someone’s future…….

So, my goal last year was to post weekly. That didn’t happen!  Instead of trashing the entire idea, I decided to set a more attainable goal. My goal is now to post monthly. I will put a reminder in my calendar and post at the end of each month. If I get ambitious I can post more often. I’m off and running (again) 🙂

Let’s start with a quick video from my favorite kid, “Kid President”, about summer vacation!

I LOVE the “Kid President”!  His YouTube videos send a positive message to students and teachers about what’s important in life. I asked my teachers to show this video during the first week of school:

We are finally into a routine here at Brownstone. Our fifth graders feel more confident as they navigate the building. Our sixth graders are learning how to manage their time during a study hall. Our students who are new to Portland seem to be making new friends. Mandatory fire drills were very successful.

At Open House last night, I talked with the parents about my goal this year – “Making Connections”.  Students need to know that there is at least one adult at school that will listen, support, and encourage them. I challenged my staff to be sure that every student in this building has that one caring adult. It could make all the difference!

September 8, 2014

The theme for the first week of school (last week) was “making connections”. The goals for our students were to learn the routines, become comfortable with their teachers, make some new friends, and have fun. An additional expectation for the week was for everyone to have little to no homework and NO assessments! We ended the week on Friday with a “Getting to Know You” field day from 1-3 pm. Students were placed in mixed-grade groups, participating in various team building activities (3-legged race, parachute activities, pass the hoop, etc.).  The day was a bit warmer than expected, and I decided that we should end a bit early so that everyone had the opportunity to cool down before dismissal. The event was very successful. I sent a quick email home to parents during the afternoon with a photo from the parachute “station”. I believe days like this give us all an opportunity to watch our students perform outside of an “academic” situation. This week starts the real “work”. It’s time to chart our course for the rest of the year!

August 29, 2014

There is only so much preparation one can do before the start of school – I have reached my limit! Yes, there are still lists to create, schedules to make, meetings to attend, and piles to sort. But I need the students! I miss the voices in the hallway, the laughter at recess and lunch, and the sounds of the teachers sharing their knowledge.

This week our teachers attended “convocation”, developed drafts of their goals, watched videos, planned curriculum units, and set up their classrooms. Our window project, delayed by a few weeks, is finally complete. The floors are waxed and the outside of our school has been landscaped with new plantings. It’s time to bring back the students.

My primary focus this year is to continually monitor and improve our “school climate”.  My staff does an excellent job connecting with students and families, but there is always room for improvement. James Comer (Yale Child Study Center) states, “No significant learning occurs without a significant relationship.” My goal is to ensure that every student at Brownstone has an adult that he/she feels “connected” with. Every student should be able to identify one “caring” adult that they can turn to for support and encouragement during the school day.

Don’t we all need a pat on the shoulder every once in a while?

Happy Labor Day weekend!

Sailors are ready to set sail!

August 19, 2014

I’m having a wonderfully relaxing time at my timeshare in Newport, RI.  Today I visited Newport’s best-kept secret – a tiny beach area in the harbor area at Fort Adams State Park – always free of cost! In addition, I was able to observe sailing lessons for a large group of children. Three distinct groups of students left the docks. First, the advanced students left. Their boats left the docks with about 5-6 students on each boat. After they were given some time to settle in, the instructor told them to head off to some location (I couldn’t hear where). The sailors worked in teams, assembled in a line, and sailed off into the harbor with the instructors following in a small motorboat. The second group of students seemed to be the “intermediate” group. Each student had his/her own sailboat. As this group left the docks, they, too, spent some time “tacking” around a few buoys. Their instructor came to the front of the group and said, “It’s time to follow the leader. Follow me.” All the students fell in line and followed the instructor off into the harbor, with an additional instructor at the end of the line. The final group of students were 20 beginners on individual boats. I could hear the instructor on the docks cheering, “Are we ready?” followed by a resounding “YES!” from the group. As this group sailed away from the docks, they remained close to shore. The instructor reminded them what they did yesterday, and told them that today they would practice the same skills. He told them they would sail around the buoys, and then practice tacking into the wind. He reminded them of the “no go zone”. Heading directly into the wind would not work. They needed to zig-zag into the wind in order to return to the starting place.

This group stayed close to shore and close to me on the beach. I could hear some students very excited about their progress. The instructors (on 3 motor boats) moved between the students, coaching each one and reminding them to move the boom, keep the keel in straight in the water, and move their bodies from one side of the boat to the other as they moved along*. Some students stopped moving and worked through the skills to make progress. After a short while, some said they were done and wanted to go back. Some bumped into each other. Some turned around, headed in the easier direction and tried again. And then there was Chloe.

Chloe questioned and argued with the instructors. She complained about her boat. She said everything was in the proper position (when it wasn’t). She floated in one location. The instructor repeated the directions a multitude of times and told Chloe that if she followed his directions she would move into the wind. If not, she would sit there. And sit there she did. I heard Chloe’s name many times over the course of this lesson. I could also hear the frustration in the instructor’s voice as Chloe floated off in the wrong direction.

I know I’m a Principal because I could relate my observations today to what I observe at school. I see our teachers working with similar groups of students during the course of the school year. We have our independent workers who can be given a task and set free to discover the answers in a group or on their own. We have our intermediate group who can be fairly independent, but might need instruction, guidance and encouragement along the way. Our beginners need more task-specific instruction and constant monitoring. And we have our “Chloes”, who need something different to master a task. I wanted to jump in the water as I listened to the instructor work with Chloe. I wanted to tell him that she needed something else – a visual, a different example, maybe some “hands on” assistance, in order for her to meet success.

The beginning of a school year is an exciting time for us all. We get to determine where our students will start and what type of instruction will help them master the skills of the grade level. Eventually, all of our students, including the “Chloes”, will be able to move into the wind and meet success! I am proud to have a talented group of professionals at my school who are more than capable to meet the needs of all of our students, especially those “Chloes”.

By the way, when I left the beach, Chloe had not given up and was still trying to head into the wind!

(*not being a sailor, I hope I got the terms correct!)

August 14, 2014

Tomorrow is the start of my short but much needed vacation! We are almost ready for the start of a new school year. Student and staff packets are complete, any supply orders that have arrived have been processed, and I am down to a few boxes in my office to sort through and clean. The window project continues (although I am still somewhat stressed about the speed of the installation!).  Teachers are starting to trickle in and beginning to organize for September 2nd. As I turn my thoughts to planning the faculty meeting agenda for the first day, I reflect on how thankful I am for this incredible career I have chosen.  Not many careers have an actual beginning and ending year after year. We work hard, take a short break from students, and then start anew. I try to find a balance during my first faculty meeting of the school year – between inspiration (our “charge” for the year) and perspiration (the nuts and bolts of starting off the school year). I am blessed to have a faculty that has been with me for almost my entire time here at Brownstone, so the “nuts and bolts” are fairly routine for us now. We are going to welcome a few new members to our Brownstone “family” and work diligently to learn about our incoming students. My over-arching theme for this school year is “School Climate”.  It’s not about the heating system in the building!  It’s about making connections. I attended a motivating two-day workshop this summer about School Climate, which is defined as, “how well the people within the school/workplace treat each other”.  I plan to make it my mission this year to be sure that every student in our building has at least one caring adult/mentor in their school life. If we can change just one student’s outlook on school and learning, we will have made a world of difference!

August 5, 2014

Can you hear the hum of the copy machine?? It’s time to create those back to school “packets” of information for everyone. It’s ironic that in order to tell you about our “Green Cleaning Program” I need to use a ream of copy paper! I am trying to conserve paper by copying the single sheets back-to-back. We need to make “hard” copies rather than email them because many of the forms require a parent/guardian signature and not every parent has access to email and a printer. Here’s what is running on the copier now – Responsible Internet use, Student directory information, Free and Reduced lunch forms, and video recording on school buses. Once the copying is completed, it will be time to collate! I guess I shouldn’t complain. A high school friend of mine is a teacher in Tennessee and her students’ first day of school is TODAY!

Ready for removal!

July 28, 2014

Quite a bit has happened since Thursday!  The upstairs windows are all taped off, and the transformation has begun. The caulking around the old windows has some asbestos/PCB content, so it needs to be properly removed and contained before the new windows can be installed. As you may know, asbestos is not a problem until it is disturbed, which is happening now with our new windows. Luckily, my office is far away from the process! I have certainly learned a lot about building repairs and maintenance issues over the past 7 years. This knowledge has helped me immensely at home when the water heater blew and when the frozen pipe burst! The insurance agent was surprised when I discussed my own mitigation plan!  Now I hope the weather cooperates so the installation can move ahead smoothly and be ready for the opening of school – fingers crossed!