I want to thank everyone involved with last weekend's Fun Run and Tag Sale; it was a huge success on so many levels.  The best part for me was watching the students (and parents) tackle the obstacle course and the challenging run.  Determination and perseverance (my word for this school year) were in abundance!

As we settled into October, it has been a busy and productive week.  Our School Data Team met for the first time in this new school year.  The team, comprised of teachers from every grade level, special ed, ALP, and literacy, joined Mrs. Stoga, School Psychologist, Mr. Matejek and I spent a full morning discussing many important topics including the new math program, literacy plans for the year, etc. However, the bulk of the discussion centered around the formation of the school improvement plan's academic goal.  As you know in the past few years, our academic goal has focused on strengthening reading instruction as teachers learned new teaching practices and applied them in their instruction.  Although that work in reading will continue during this school year, the team decided to shift our main academic focus to math. Launching a new academic program is a significant initiative, as it requires new learning for the teachers in how they plan and deliver their instruction.  By establishing our goal on learning the new math program, it will enable us to have a sharper focus on this program's implementation.  

The Safe Schools Climate committee also met this week under the direction of Mr. Matejek, our Assistant Principal.  The committee drafted a school improvement goal that centered around positive communication from school to home.  This area was chosen after data was analyzed from the Safe Schools Climate Survey administered last spring as well as the Harris Survey, which was administered in the spring of 2012.  Our plan is to have these School Improvement Plan goals completed by the end of the month.

October is designated as Anti-Bullying Month.  The teachers and I are in the midst of planning school-related activities to address this important topic.  In fact, I have scheduled a presentation to be given at our next faculty meeting on the many issues related to student behavior and bullying.  The approach to tackling this serious issue needs to be a two-prong plan between home and school.  This week there was an informative article in the Greenwich Time on how parents can support and reinforce appropriate social behavior.  Here is the link if you want to read it.  Look for more information regarding this subject in future DT issues.

I would like to remind all parents who pick up their children in the afternoon not to double park on Florence Road.  It causes a hazardous condition, not to speak of the bottleneck traffic.  If possible, it is best to arrive a few minutes later to stagger the number of cars trying to enter the circle.  The buses usually leave by 3:20 and they have to leave first before cars can enter the driveway.  At times, a bus cannot make a left hand turn out of the driveway, which causes the bottleneck.  Please be mindful of this and plan pick-up accordingly.  Have a good week.