Matt's Monday Memo
April 8, 2019
Good morning all.
Much of this entry is repurposed from message I shared with parents last week:
I shared some aspects last week regarding the Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton and his efforts to safely lead his team after they were forced to change their original goal. Their goal changed from a first in exploration to survival and even that goal had many permutations as circumstances evolved along their several years of struggle in the Antarctic. I hope that your own professional journey has been largely constructed of triumph and constructive learning, possibly with the modest sting of disappointment in the latter. Reorienting after disappointment can lead to profound introspection and provide clarity. Just as an artist detects their missed note, an athlete a missed shot, we have the potential to repurpose the coldness of our discontent to make the next endeavor more exact. Being more self-aware allows us to more self-correcting.
I provide the survey feedback from faculty about my work with you all thus far with our PAC (Principal’s Advisory Committee) group this winter and asked for their observations. One colleague noted that responses seemed to be in three clusters of various sizes: seeking change, a “wait-and-see” approach, and some unnerved by change. With transitions and innovation, the temptation can be to activate the security system that safeguards anything near the core of our experience or standing. Change can be unsettling yet we have an obligation to find our best answers for students and each other as we see the impact of virtual schooling, need for new alternative options, and other external directives. Those items can seem daunting but I would urge us to reframe our thinking.
When confronted with the need to change, consider these challenges as opportunity to construct more locally and influence a more robust schooling experience. Franklin Roosevelt said the following about the change process:
"Say that civilization is a tree which as it grows, continually produces rot and dead wood. The radical says: 'Cut it down.' The conservative says: 'Don't touch it.' The liberal compromises: 'Let's prune, so that we lose neither the old trunk nor the new branches.' This campaign is waged to teach the country to march upon its appointed course, the way of change in orderly march, avoiding alike the revolution of radicalism and the revolution of conservatism."
Like all entities, we must responsibly adapt to the world around us in the manner FDR describes. We must engage with unencumbered objectivity and adopt renewed perspectives and questions that will become the basis for true growth. Those practices which do not meet our needs or our students, we should discontinue. Those that we determine are bedrock practices, we should invest. Those in need of modification should see change couple with effort in coaching and conversation.
We now endeavor to prepare young people for a future likely to remain undeclared and mutating from our current understandings. Those challenges require us to have clarity around what we most fundamentally believe.
Best,
Matt
Peek at the Week
- April 9: Special Schedule; School Service Day
- April 10: GRADES DUE, 8 A.M.
- April 10: Department Chair Meeting, 8:05 a.m.
- April 11: Parents' Club General Meeting, 7 p.m, Library
- April 12: Statesmen Service Awards, 7 a.m.
Celebrations
Congratulations to Ethan Ryan and the entire cast of "It's a Mystery." This was an excellent student-written play with a small cast, but the characters were rich and unique.
Reminders/Announcements
Grades are due by 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, April 10. Don’t forget to enter citizenship grades.
April 16 is our next PD Discussion. Angela Thompson will be sending out information.
Just a reminder that April 9 will be our School Service Day. All four classes will be assigned. Each staff member will also be assigned to a class to supervise.
a. Seniors – Senior Day
b. Juniors – Special Olympics
c. Sophomores – Sophomore Service Learning Day
d. Freshmen – Future Leaders Follow-up
Upcoming Professional Development
- April 16: PD Discussion