Our TCAPS students are doing some amazing things! We have fall sports teams advancing, students creating fantastic works of art, competing at high levels in STEM competitions, and students volunteering in the community to help others. Your work, guidance, teaching, and leadership make this happen and I am extremely proud to work for TCAPS and grateful to have you in classrooms teaching and leading our students.
Our TCAPS students are also struggling with some pretty rough circumstances. You know who these students are, you see them every day. We have students in need of counseling, but can't get an appointment with a therapist for six months - in Grand Rapids. We have students who sleep on couches at other people's houses, don't have enough good quality food to eat, deal with trauma and post traumatic issues, and who have nobody at home asking them about their day or to tell them they're great.
Students in both of these very different circumstances need us and highlight how the Blueprint and the Intense Student Support Network (ISSN) are supposed to function. The ISSN provides a framework that serves to raise awareness of what our students need, how they can access those services, and what needs to be done at the building and district levels to ensure access. The ISSN provides a framework for each of us to work together to support the non-academic needs of all students so that they can accomplish the rigorous academic work that will prepare them to be successful in post-secondary education and the world of work and to be happy and productive citizens.
There is a plan "in the works" to more fully develop the ISSN with all of the bells and whistles, which might take a little bit of time to fully realize. The good news is there are already things that you do daily to make a difference. Adding more focus to (or just being more intentional about) those activities where you are connecting with students on a personal level can and will make a difference and is at the heart of the development of the student support network.
I want to thank you for all you do to help our students. I hope you have a wonderful, restful weekend and finally, I want to ask you to begin next week by finding a few students, ask them about their day, and tell them they are great!
DYK: Aslan is the Turkish and Mongolian word for “lion.” It is also the name of the lion in C. S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia.
Deep Thoughts:
Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. - William Butler Yeats
Articles of the Week:
- Resolution to eliminate State Board of Education clears House panel
- Robots descending on Michigan industrial workplaces in record numbers
- The role of state board of ed
- Museum School fulfills purpose of original Grand Rapids Public Museum Building
- Washtenaw County grapples with barriers to ending youth homelessness
- Video of the Week: My New Favorite Kiwi Principal
- Thomas + Late Night + Tech Support = Fixed Filter Issues..... Thanks Thomas and thank you for the entire tech team for troubleshooting, power-washing, and generally helping our staff and students with filter related challenges!
- Fifty (5-0) years of coaching tennis!! Unbelievable. Thanks Coach Larry Nykerk!
- Holly Olszewski was recently recognized by the Michigan Arts Education Instruction and Assessment Leadership Fellows for her contribution to their program. MAEIA Leadership
Fellows worked to introduce Michigan Arts Education Instruction and Assessment (MAEIA) resources in support
of Michigan’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the Michigan Department of
Education’s Top 10 in 10 Plans, and MCACA priorities, opportunities, and
benefits to new audiences. The Fellows were selected from a statewide pool of
applicants with attention to experience, ability to reach new audiences, and
diversity(disciplinary and geographic). Each Leadership Fellow created
face-to-face and/or virtual presentations and published a MAEIA blog/essay
reflecting upon their MAEIA experiences. - Thank you, Holly, for representing TCAPS in such a meaningful project--not only for students in our district, but for students throughout the state.
Announcements & Reminders:
- Tardy vs Absent -Secondary students are tardy when they have missed 10 minutes of the class, after 10 minutes they should be marked absent. Elementary students are tardy when they miss up to 59 minutes, after that they should be marked absent.
- Principals - A few more tweaks and the updated Performance Management Instructions will be ready and plan to be shared with you early next week.
This Week in the Blueprint: . . . a ferocious unwillingness to allow a student to flounder or to fail.
This Week:
This Week:
Monday
- MDE Title II Workshop in Lansing
- ET
- MI-Excel / ELA meeting /Wacker
- Board Finance
- Huddle
- Tech Meeting
- STEM Meeting
- Curriculum/Technology /Reynolds
- DAN Meeting
- Illuminate Training
Monday
- MDE Attendance Workshop in Lansing
Tuesday
- Board Communications Committee
- ET
- Athletics Meeting
- ISD Meeting
- Partnership
- Huddle
- Admin Team Meeting
Thursday
- Leadership Grand Traverse
- Parker/Chandler
Friday
- Secondary Agenda Setting
- DAN Meeting
#newhomeoftheeasternstars
#progress
#techadmin
#whysnobodyfixingmylaptop
#stillhaventmettheschooldude
#stillhaventmettheschooldude
