Greetings to Faculty and Staff -

Fall is in the air which means the school year is in full swing. Each time I visit a campus, I can feel the energy as students engage in various types of learning activities. It takes a deep persistence and commitment on the part of all teachers and staff members to maintain that excitement and energy that we felt the first few days of school.

One area of focus for PTISD this year is ensuring that we connect with each and every student. This is not something new to our district, but rather a focused and intentional effort on the part of all of us. When we began our work with Angela Maiers, choosing to matter simply meant 

choosing to make each person important each day.  Take a minute to reflect on 

Angela's three important questions that she posed during our convocation:

What matters most to you, and why?

What breaks your heart about it?

What are WE going to do about it?

As I visit campuses, I see many examples of the Choose2Matter ideas/concepts. As we really begin to listen to and understand our students and co-workers, we empower them to do great things. We encourage them to tackle the most difficult challenges. And, our students internalize the fact that they are important and they matter to us.

The significant part of empowering students is that they're able to share and build on each other's energy which often leads to creating something larger than themselves. They will create a vision, if you will, that's far greater than anything they ever imagined before.

We are in the planning phase for our school-wide, district-wide event. On a selected day this spring, every student (every classroom) will focus on an activity that will change our district and community in a positive way. I can only imagine the significance of this event when each of our students uses his/her creativity and energy to make a positive contribution.

Here are some examples of how our campuses are making a difference for our students with Choose2Matter.

ExCEL Campus - We give each of our students a personalized birthday card with messages written by the faculty/staff.

Junior High - Our campus  is purchasing  T-shirts that promote the philosophy "I matter-U Matter-We matter " on the back.  The administrators are sending emails to the staff  conveying appreciation for their work and the importance of each educator.  Our campus also includes a Celebration team which works with our Sunshine committee to reward and show appreciation to our faculty/staff.

Middle School - We have implemented " Shout outs" in morning announcements where teachers report a student who is doing good things. Examples used for our "Shout Outs" include helping a friend with their books, following directions, or helping clean up trash or litter on the campus.  We also give "Shout Outs" to our faculty and staff.

Primary Campus - We have created some easy tools for recognizing our student and faculty/staff. We have notecards in the faculty area of the office. Teachers and staff are encouraged to recognize students and staff using these notecards. Students who receive a Choose2Matter notecard come to the office and receive a prize from the Treasure Chest.