As we continue to progress through the Holiday Season and look towards the New Year, I wish everyone the very best and that your needs are fulfilled and your dreams remain alive. It appears that whether you celebrate Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, or Christmas, you are celebrating hope, positive change and a time for reflection—things that certainly seem necessary during this divisive time. Despite not controlling what happens outside of our sphere of influence, we still have the ability to control our own actions and to have a positive impact on our local communities.
The ‘yin and yang’ between what’s best for society and what’s best for each individual is played out daily from a pre-school classroom right up to the United States Congress. The conflicts between those who have and those that don’t are seen throughout the world from developed nations to those struggling to survive and the differences in opinions are only worsened by the ability to filter out all opposing viewpoints. Holding, discussing, and reflecting upon opposite viewpoints in a reasonable manner seems to have all but disappeared despite the ease of gathering information from a wealth of sources. Thus, as the growth of knowledge continues to accelerate, it becomes ever more important to be able to access, decipher, rate and use information in an appropriate manner. It’s no longer enough to know only local traditions, mores and skills while blocking out the rest of the world and still be highly successful in an interconnected global economy. The so called 21st Century Skills encompass this ‘literacy’ of knowledge and also focus on the need to work collaboratively–the need to understand others, avoid using perceptions as reality, being cognizant of the range of things that may be construed as inappropriate and using search engines such as Google as a means to share knowledge. This is all part of educating our children to live in a future world that few of us can even imagine.
This is challenging and difficult work and we need to remember that our staff works diligently to meet the needs of our students in an ever-changing environment. In this season of giving thanks, I ask that you join me in thanking our staff for their outstanding work helping our children prepare for an uncertain future. I’d also like to extend the district’s appreciation to those community members who volunteer their time and expertise to help the district move forward and to all the parents who work closely with the school to improve student opportunities.
It may be worthwhile, and provide a different outlook on life, to count our blessings at least as often as we count our trials and tribulations. Remembering and building upon these positives can provide us with the ability to see the silver lining in these trying times. Despite the challenges we face today, we still live in relative peace and prosperity compared to much of the world. May this season bring you faith in the future, hope for better times and opportunities to share the positives in your life with neighbors, friends and family.
