Let's Roll!

Going into a new school year is always an exciting time. Just like the start of a sports season everyone is undefeated and filled with great optimism for what lies ahead. Anything is truly possible. With the new year we always have specific goals as a building with a focus on continuous improvement. As well as we are doing in certain areas we know that we can always improve. Sometimes our goals are tied to instructional practices, sometimes it is targeting student achievement, or working to strengthen our student support services. Regardless of the year or the goals, it has always been important work.

As we prepare for this school year I can’t seem to shake some of the images and rhetoric that we have witnessed over the last several months in our country. There has been a significant amount of divisiveness, sometimes rearing it's ugly head in the form of prejudice, hatred and racism. What we are observing isn’t happening in another country or at another time in our history, it’s happening right now, it’s happening here and our kids are watching. Our kids are not just watching the events themselves, but also our reaction to these events. It is important that we make the time to have ongoing and open dialogue with our kids both at home and in school about prejudice, hatred and racism - what it looks like, what it sounds like and why it is intolerable.

These events have me less focused on just our specific goals and more focused on developing our kids as people. Clearly our number one priority as a school continues to be preparing our students for their future, but to do that well and with conviction, helping them to develop great character is essential. The greatest gift that we can give to our children and the world is to develop  informed, compassionate, tolerant, loving, caring citizens. Remember: our kids are watching us, listening to us and learning from us. What we model is what we get. We can’t lose sight of how important that is.

The 2017-2018 school year is going to be our best year yet and it is an exciting time to be in the middle school. We are introducing two new high school courses to our 8th grade students, we have adjusted our 6th grade schedule to create one-hour blocks of mathematics and ELA, and we are rolling out a significant number of new devices to enhance our instructional practices and provide additional technology access for students. Great things are happening!

We are looking forward to seeing students at “Locker Night” this evening from 3 to 6 PM and we are excited to welcome them back for their first day of school on Wednesday, September 6th.

Continued Success,

Steve Dunham

sdunham@westgenesee.org

Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms