Warner Update
Making a difference, one person at a time
Safety First
The tragic shooting in Parkland Florida this week reminds us that we have failed as a nation to keep all children safe in schools, yet again. There have been a shocking 18 school shootings since January 1st of this year. We are heartbroken that horrific events like these have become a common occurrence for our society. Our thoughts and prayers are with the students, families and the entire Parkland community. We mourn with them and for them. But this is not enough. Our responsibility as educators, with the support of the community, is to keep our students safe and secure. We are charged with providing a safe, orderly and inviting learning environment for every child.
Paul is 100% correct.
How do we stop the madness?
My view is we start by being real about mental health and social/emotional concerns. The challenging part of being an adult is that we are expected to have the critical conversations. Unfortunately a lot of individuals dodge these talks. I believe we owe it to society to "go there." I imagine each one of you have anywhere from 1-6 students that you worry about more than most. This is where we start. How can we make an impact? Is a Kids Hope mentor enough? Is social work enough? Is therapy enough? The answer is ALL of it! In addition, we also must be willing to have the honest conversation with families.
Next, we need to advocate with our local representatives and legislature. You all have a voice and communicating with the law makers is a terrific way to be heard. As I've told my own son on various topics, "What do you have to lose?"
Finally, on days that we have drills, please use it as a teachable moment to help students be appropriate and take it serious.
* Please be aware that one small measure I will be implementing beginning next week is that parents will be asked to not walk down the hallway to their child's classroom. It is very chaotic looking down the halls and not knowing who is supposed to be there and who is picking up who. The MAIN goal is safety. I'm trying my best to maintain a community school mentality with safety first. (If you have thoughts, ideas or anything, please stop in and share.)
* We also need to be wearing our name badges. I'm guilty of this, and I'm putting this friendly reminder out to everyone to please wear your name badges each day.
I hope you all understand that the delicate dance is maintaining a connected, supported community with a safe school. The last thing we want is to block families from coming in. We must find that happy medium to tighten up safety and also keep families involved. I appreciate all of you understanding the importance of this.
NEXT WEEK AT A GLANCE:
Monday, February 19th: Happy BDay to Courtney Horsfall
Tuesday, February 20th: School Yearbook photographer at Warner
Tuesday, February 20th: Dan Luciani at Warner for classroom visits
Tuesday, February 20th: JCISD Meeting at 9am
Tuesday, February 20th: After school Art with Mr. Struck
Wednesday, February 21st: Grades K-2 assembly at 8:45am
Wednesday, February 21st: Tornado Drill AM
Wednesday, February 21st: Dan Luciani at Warner for classroom visits
Wednesday, February 21st: 2:45pm Parapro training
Wednesday, February 21st: PLC Time (This weeks encouraged focus is on ELA vertical alignment and discussion between grade levels. Grades 1 & 2 meet and grades 3 & 4 meet. Grades K & 5 will meet next week.)
Please discuss both Reader's and Writer's workshop
Thursday, February 22nd: Move This World visit to Warner Elementary 8am - 10am
Thursday, February 22nd: Breakfast will be served in the gym until 8:40am
Thursday, February 22nd: CP Federal Credit Union at Warner
Friday, February 23rd: Staff Meeting in Miss Kolb's room 8am
Friday, February 23rd: Warner Staff get-together at Ichiban 4:30pm