I am pleased to welcome you back to the 2009-2010 school year.  The summer has gone very well with Bill Glasshagel as the Acting Summer School Principal.  I am in the process of tallying the Crisis Free Statistics for the summer and I will report back to you the results when I am finished. I am also working on last year’s staff development hours and will get that to you shortly.

We have had a very productive summer with key members of the PBIS Team.  Kevin Bullock, Shari Stamatatos, Jim Mercurio, Jeanne Mallon, Pam Dougal and Marie Caporusso met frequently over the summer to work on incentive levels, a new point card, and a training manual that will serve as the main resource for Opening Day September 8th.  I thank them all for their Commitment to Understanding, Intellectual Perseverance and Collegiality in making the launch into a new school year a positive one.

We also worked diligently in coordinating the STAR reading and Math Data for NYSED.  Christine Evola and Kate Nolan worked tirelessly on the spreadsheets, making sure all the numbers matched and making sure the summary sheets aligned with the data that was sent up. Thank you SO much for your courage and initiative, and your collegiality in meeting the deadline!

During the third week in July I attended my yearly Summer Institute for Communities for Learning.  It was during that week that I shared our experiences of preparing and sharing in the Second Annual Showcase Celebration for Learning.  The group offered countless accolades; they were so impressed with the integrity of the work, the work of the students, and they pointed out the irony we see every day, “These are the students no one else believes can achieve, and look at what they can do!”

This recognition is extremely affirming for Little Flower because the people who were reading the work from our staff and students were Assistant superintendents, Staff Developers, Principals, Coordinators, university professors and teachers from across the state.

Back in September of 2005 we generated a list of questions that targeted the core of our beliefs and values about educating the students here at Little Flower.  One of the questions was, “How do we at Little Flower monitor our level of integrity in our mission to inspire, educate and foster wisdom to teach others in order to live a ‘shared core vision’?”  Well, by having the Showcase every spring, we are making sure that our work and our integrity is shared with people outside of our building.  When educators in a variety of positions look at our effort, progress and achievement and are impressed, it means that YOU ARE ACHIEVING GIANT SUCCESS!

We are moving forward this year with several general outcomes in mind:

We are beginning on September 8th with the goal of Building a Safe Learning Environment.  We will be focusing on the PBIS and Behavior Management Through Adventure training so staff can see how both approaches support one another.

Our faculty meetings have been restructured to one hour, twice a month.  This gives all of us a consistent opportunity to work on our outcomes and for everyone to take part in sharing their expertise with one another on ways to accomplish those outcomes.

One of the ways Little Flower will be sharing expertise with others is through Eastern Suffolk BOCES. Sara Kardasz and I have been asked to present the process leading up to the Showcase Celebration of Learning On October 20th with the Library Media Specialists and Administrators of Eastern Suffolk BOCES.  We will share with you what we organize as it develops. 

Our name and reputation are building in positive steps, and I am honored and humbled to be walking this journey with you.