Welcome back! I trust you had a safe and rejuvenating winter break surrounded by family and friends. Hopefully you do not return bearing an additional ten pounds as do I, cruel evidence of my complete lack of self-restraint around the holiday table. Sweaty exercises and flavorless vegetables await me this January. This seems to be a recurring theme these past few years.
It is customary to make a few resolutions to start the New Year, harder still to follow through on them. Nonetheless, I will do my very best. This year I promise to write shorter sentences, and to use fewer semi-colons. I resolve to eat healthier, and lose the pounds. Most importantly, I resolve to work every day to bring your children an even better educational experience. I am joined by my colleagues in this endeavor.
Updates:
- We will begin using the new elementary laboratory in the next few weeks, focusing first on fourth and fifth grade science. I am particularly excited because I will join our upper elementary teachers and students in semester long units covering basic soil science, botany, ecology, rain forest restoration, and hydroponics. If you have training in these areas and want to join us, please email me directly and come prepared to get dirty.
- After a significant shipping delay, our music parks are finally here. We will install one park adjacent to the elementary play structure, and one in the center of the OECC exterior play area beginning this week. These durable outdoor instruments can be played individually or as an impromptu band, however our children see fit.
- Re-enrollment season is right around the corner. This year, re-enrollment will be done on-line with the support of our new software. In order to complete your re-enrollment contract, you will first be required to update your personal contact information (which guarantees we have your most current information in case of emergency). You will then agree digitally to our student handbooks (no more forms easily lost or forgotten). Finally, you will be able to choose your preference for payment frequency (one time, biannually, or quarterly) and type (credit card, checking account, etc.) from the comfort of your home. We hope this both streamlines processes and improves your overall experience.
- We are working to improve our cafeteria experience. The holidays delayed the remodeling of the cafeteria service area, but this action should be completed within the next few weeks. New interior student tables are on the way, replacing weathered surfaces. The roofline was corrected prior to our break, eliminating recurring leaks. We requested cafeteria proposals from four experienced food service companies. To be clear, this does not necessarily mean that we will choose a new provider at the end of our request for proposal (RFP) process. We are committed to a due diligence process, and will make an informed decision based on our research and negotiations. In the meantime, we are seeing improved quality, consistency, and diversity in menu offerings.
- In addition to assessing our progress towards implementation of the IB framework, we are carefully assessing key content areas to improve learner outcomes in real time.
- Our college counseling office now offers Naviance, a state-of-the-art information and counseling platform. A further benefit of this and all our new software is they support analytics, which allows us to mine our longitudinal data for improved decision making.
Finally, effective immediately, we will no longer charge piecemeal for any field trip directly related to our explicit curriculum, neither transportation nor entrance fees. Certain grade-level trips in the upper grades (e.g. class bonding, etc.) will continue to be supported by class funds.
See you around campus.