Today I’d like to take a moment to talk about community involvement. Over the past couple of years this community has shown how it can get involved in a big way, both at the school and district level. The district currently has several teams and committees involving parents and the new administration is looking to increase that involvement. First up is the Superintendent’s Task Force for Middle Level Education, which was announced at the last board meeting. This committee will be tasked with looking at the middle school model through 6 separate sub committees (my apologies to the district if I get the names wrong):
1) STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) programming
2) World Language
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3) Social Emotional issues
4) Encore/Elective programming
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5) Gifted Education
6) Fine Arts
I can’t speak to the details of every sub-committee, but I’m sure they will be forthcoming.
Each team will have administrators, teachers, and parents. We need to make sure we do our part and volunteer for these committees. This is your chance to tell the new administration about both what is working and what is not working. Bring any and all ideas to the table. And you don’t need to be a parent of a current middle schooler. Those of you with high schoolers who’ve gone through Caruso or Shepard would make great resources. Those of you with incoming middle schoolers would have the chance to shape your child’s educational experience.
I know there are plenty of you out there. The recent cancelling of French classes brought out quite a number of parents and I hope to see those same parents on the World Language committee. I have talked to a number of parents who have a passion for STE(A)M. I have written about my own perceived social-emotional issues at the middle school and I have talked to many parents who have had similar experiences. Now is the time to go to work and make substantive improvements. We’ve been asking the district to step up and engage. They’ve responded. Now it’s time for us to do the same.
