Principal's Newsletter
April 28th, 2017
WOWS
WOW to Katie Fazio for all your work on getting things organized and ready for MAP testing.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Betsy Arnold for your patience and perseverance with a student. You showed her the tough love that she needed to work through a problem.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Drew Moersch. A group of teachers from another building came over to observe a student and commented on how impressed they were with the way you manage your unique group of students.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to everyone involved in data meetings for progress monitoring! The conversations and collaboration to meet the needs of our students have been productive and appreciated. You rock!--Dione Anderson
WOW to Julie Dozier for returning to The Ridge to teach our reading friends during Makenzie’s maternity leave. Your experience and support are greatly appreciated by our team!--Dione Anderson
WOW to Linda Carr for coming to my rescue last week. Thanks for jumping in and helping with a student, no questions asked, when we were in a bind. --Lauren Goodall
WOW to Julia Diekemper, Megan Baker, Linda Carr, Ronna Thornhill, Linda Appelbaum, Jamie McCoy, Anne Behrens, Jaime Little and anyone else I may have missed for their help in room 53 this past week. It's a challenge having extra kiddos because of map testing and adjusting to being short a para with Molly out on maternity leave but it's a relief knowing we have a great team of support always there for us.--Lauren Goodall
WOW to Mr. Moersch, the two visitors you had Friday let us know you deserve chocolate and praise for your classroom management and how you stay calm with redirecting students. They were shocked to hear your a first year teacher! We agree you are awesome!--Karen Brockland
WOW to all of our DCs, but especially Kristen Schrameyer. A lot comes down on us at the end of the year but even more on these leaders and I just want them to know that I appreciate everything they do. It is so hard to try to wrap up your year and prepare for all the registering kindergartners at once. Kristen Schrameyer is Wonder Woman and an amazing leader. The kindergarten team is so lucky to have her!--Maggie McCarthy
WOW to Jaime Little, Dr. OH, Dr. DeWeese and Greg Vest for working quickly to get services in place for a new kiddo even though our year is quickly coming to an end. My newest friend is such a sweetheart, and I really appreciate the support in getting him the help he needs. --Maggie McCarthy
WOW to Greg Vest and Ruth Zerface, I just heard that they went to a family's home to get two new kiddos registered. Also, a big WOW to Ruth Zerface for so beautifully handling the extra workload of the many many kindergarten registrations she does this time of year.--Maggie McCarthy
A big thank you to Brandy Leffeler for arranging all of the food trucks, it is such a nice extra treat in the middle of the week. Thank you for your time, Brandy!--Maggie McCarthy
Thank you to Julie Myers for taking on the huge task of collecting forms and money and ordering field day T-shirts!--Maggie McCarthy
WOW to Ryan Sanders who came running to my room with zero notice when my SMARTboard acted up MINUTES before an observation! --Maggie McCarthy
WOW to Mrs. Coyne for letting me use her bigger space for an special activity that I had planned for a counseling group.--Sherry Reagan
WOW to Linda C. for giving my class a big bag of snacks, the kids loved them and it was so thoughtful!---Cheri
WOW to Janice for being such a great EDC. You are always keeping things together and keeping us all in check. Thanks for taking on this enormous job.—Cheri
WOW to Carrie for always making sure if I need anything learning the new curriculum you are always there. I appreciate your willingness to share what you are doing.—Cheri
WOW to Courtney for keeping a positive attitude this entire year. I know it hasn’t been easy, but you would never know by your smile.—Cheri
WOW to Kody for all your hard work on CITW, STUCO, and in the grade level. It’s not easy taking on more work.---Cheri
WOW to Nurse Deb for always being so patient with my kiddos. They love you and so do I.—Cheri
WOW to Moersch for surprising me with a Starbuck’s drink, it was just what the doctor ordered!--Cheri
WOW to Dr. Deweese and Kristy Giacammaro for helping me find NERDS for a buddy activity.--Joyce Highfill
WOW to JoAnn, Stacey and Becca for being beyond wonderful as friends and colleagues in a frightening situation to help me out. My gratitude has no words. --Susan Adams
WOW to Angeline and Linda for support for my students to help their day run smoothly and to Katie for being not just a supervisor, but a true friend willing to go above and beyond. --Susan Adams
WOW to Cheri Hosea for working out a problem with her class and coming up with a way for students to have a voice.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Linda Murphy for stopping by the hotel one morning after seeing that it had been evacuated to see if our kiddos were okay.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Kelly Edwards for helping me and the other elementary principals out with a video.--Dr.DeWeese
WOW to all the AIMS Web testers for getting all the testing done.--Dr.DeWeese
WOW to Linda Murphy, Susan Adams, Susan Bayne, Kristen Cuneo, LaTonya Foster, Nathan Mackiewicz, and Christina Pliske for helping to write the behavior SIP for next year. I loved all of the reflection and conversation about next steps.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Susan Bayne and Lindsey Crawford for running the talent show try outs.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Stacey Schuette for all of your amazing ideas. You are a tremendous resource in our building.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Rob! Thanks for all your patience and for all that you do at our school.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Brandy Leffeler for setting up all the food trucks. I look forward to them every time!--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Jaime Little for helping me solve my Tienet issues! --Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Christina and Dione for helping me interview today.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Mr. Beer for taking an ISS and an OSS student while the admin team was in meetings.--Dr. O
WOW to the EDCs for being such great leaders and helping our teachers make great gains on our student data!--Dr. O
WOW to the teachers and staff who are helping to make the talent show successful!--- Dr. O
WOW to the 3rd & 4th grade teams who covered the administrative assistants so that they could go out to lunch together!--Dr. O
WOW to 1st grade teachers who stepped in to help colleagues with dysregulated students.--Dr. O
WOW to the EDCs, behavior sip committee, and attendance committee for beginning the draft for our 17-18 SIP. We are off to a great start!--Dr. O
WOW to all the administrative assistants for all you do all year to support our students, staff, and families!--Dr. O
WOW to Kristen Schrameyer for working with me this morning to place all of our new kindergarten students. I can't wait to meet our new friends.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Mrs. Fazio and all the staff for helping our students to have a successful MAP testing season.--Dr. O
WOW to Linda Murphy and LaTonya Foster for organizing the 4th and 5th grade dance for a great cause and a great lesson to our students.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Susan Bayne, Cheri Hosea, Drew Moersch and Donna Beaten for helping out with the talent show tryouts Wednesday after school. --Lindsey Crawford
WOW to Sherry and LaTonya for presenting to the other counselors at district PD about Hawk Connections. Thanks for making The Ridge shine!--Dr. DeWeese
Staffing Updates
Molly Jasper will not be returning next year. As you know she had a baby recently and is planning to stay home with her sweet baby.
Lauren Goodall will not be returning next year. Her husband has accepted a job in Chicago so they will be relocating. We are going to miss Lauren dearly as she has been an amazing SPED para for us and has done amazing work for kids.
Ruth Zerface has accepted a position at Warren Elementary as their BIS. Congratulations Ruth. We will miss you in the office. You have done wonderful work for students and staff and Harvest Ridge.
We are working on filling the second grade position and the .5 reading position.
Faculty Meeting
Professional Development
Please make sure you check out the Summer Professional Development Catalog. There are some amazing learning opportunities being offered.
https://howellnet.sharpschool.net/common/pages/DisplayFile.aspx?itemId=27784041
Outdoor Activities
Instructional Technology Specialist (ITS)
Meeting Minutes
EDC
FHEA
Administration and the leadership team did not meet this month as there were no building concerns to discuss.
Back to School Bash
The team met and finalized plans for the Back to School Bash on July 27th.
Committees and Task Forces for 17-18
If you have not had a chance to sign up for committees and task forces for next year you can use the link above to put your name down.
Solar Eclipse
Thank You
I also shared with her how much I love working with our staff. I shared that at the drop of a hat our staff will do whatever it takes to help a student. That I love how much our staff wraps their arms around not only our students, but their families too. I told her that it is just who we are and that I don't ever have to ask our staff to be more than teachers for the time that they are in the building. That they spend countless hours worrying, planning, and finding resources for kids and it is one of the many things that makes my job great and why I love working at The Ridge.
As we kick of Teacher Appreciation week next week if I haven't said in awhile or if you feel like I don't always notice what you are doing, I do. There are countless success stories this year with students all because of the work you are doing. The way you are working together to problem solve and come up with new ideas to make kids successful is an amazing display of teamwork. You are spending time talking to kids and understanding their needs. The relationships that you have built have made our students feel safe and quite honestly made Fridays the hardest day of week as many of them don't want to leave you for the weekend.
I recognize that there have been some bumps in the road this year, but thank you for sticking it out. You have taught me more about leadership and teaching this year than I think any college course or book has ever taught me. Thank you for helping me recognize areas that I needed to improve and ways to help make you more successful. No matter how crazy things get day in and day out I still leave every day thankful to be at The Ridge. I am thankful to be working along side all of you.
If I could I would give you all a much needed trip to a quiet place perhaps with an ocean and some sand, but as you might have heard the budget is tight. The administrative team has some special treats and celebrations planned for next week to show our appreciation. We hope you can enjoy and feel the love next week and know that we appreciate all that you are doing to make a difference in the lives of our students.