It is wonderful to see our parking lots full of cars, demonstrating the number of grandparents and grandfriends who are attending the elementary event on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving break. As with so many other events at the elementary level, the school sees much participation by our families whether it be open house, awards assemblies, plays, or special events such as today’s. Compared to what I hear from some urban superintendents, we should be proud of this participation by families.
I’m also pleased to see our high school staff continue their efforts to bring back alumni to share their college experiences as part of an overall plan to help current students learn about college and careers. The number of activities that occur throughout the high school years, and particularly in the Junior and Senior years, to have students think about their options after graduation are a testament to our middle and high school guidance counselors, our teaching staff, and our MS/HS administration. It’s also very nice personally to touch base with some of our graduates during such events to see how they’re doing and to hear how well Gateway has prepared them for life after high school. Thankfully, the results of both these informal surveys, and the more concise surveys done by others, show that Gateway not only provides the wherewithal to get into the best colleges, but also provides the skills and knowledge for our graduates to do well in college, in careers, and in the military.
Events where we bring many different people into our students’ day brings to mind the work we do on what appears to be conflicting, perhaps even polar opposite, goals regarding family visitations to the schools. On one hand we want family members to engage with the schools by visiting, attending special events, and interacting with staff. On the other hand, we’ve introduced, and continue to refine, policies and procedures related to safe schools, part of which is to ensure that every visitor is checked in and monitored to some degree. I’m pleased that so many family members have adapted to visitor policies, perhaps understanding that the threats we face today are significantly different than they were years ago. It always engenders much discussion with staff members as we contemplate our security protocols, with a constant concern being how they might potentially impact our families visiting the schools. I believe we’ve done a good job of balancing the scales regarding the ability to visit with the overall safety of our students.
Our staff also do much work in sharing information and communicating with parents on student activities, student performance, special events and even asking for volunteers. These efforts are also undergoing some changes due to new reporting requirements from the state, as well as efforts to expand and improve our outreach capabilities. I have to acknowledge the efforts of Wendy Long, our grantwriter/title/public relations person for her great work in this area as well as for putting together a “Communications Council” to help expand these efforts.
As we move through the next few weeks, I urge everyone who can to attend the various activities at not only the elementary schools, but also the middle and high schools. Our students do many things very well and your support means much to them and to the staff who work directly with them to expand opportunities outside of the classroom for all of us to enjoy, through activities related to student governance, the performing arts, and academic performance.
