Excellence in Education: Our Character
In challenging times, character is revealed. The Charlottesville community and our school faced such times prior to school starting. But, in reflecting on the first few weeks, I’m proud of the way we’ve embraced these challenges and have become stronger as one, school community.
We are Monticello. We are One.
Like many of you, I’ve conversed with students regarding the tragic events of August 12.
Some of the comments were critical of our approach: “When are we going to talk about [it] as a school?” “We can’t move forward until we talk about it more.” I wish I had remembered who these students were because as a school I think we can provide a platform and a time to have these conversations.
After these unsolicited comments, I began to be more purposeful. I started asking students how they felt and even wrote down some of their answers. They’re worth sharing:
It [the opening of school] is no big deal. We don’t care about that stuff here. School is school.
We may not always get along great with everyone. But at the end of the day, we’re all Mustangs.
I don’t know. I didn’t really think about it because it’s not a problem here.
I’m cool. We’ve talked about it in some of my classes and nobody liked what happened. It doesn’t matter that I’m black here.
We are Monticello. We are One.
Children may forget what you say, but they’ll never forget how you make them feel.
The first weeks of school have revealed our character. It starts with embracing our students; relationships come first. We know we must reach their hearts and souls before we try to reach their minds.
We strive to make every student feel like they’re the star. Even in their worst times, we see the best in each student.
We seek to inspire; to encourage each student to reach his/her potential.
We not only accept our diversity, we embrace it recognizing it makes us stronger and special.
We are Monticello. We are One.
While we still have work to do and improvements to make, I’m appreciative of the opportunity to work with dedicated educators like you. Let’s stay the course and always remember why we are here: to do what is best for our students.
We are Monticello. We are One.
Need To Knows
UVA’s Madison House provides free tutoring to some of our students. Teachers, students and parents can make a tutoring request at the following link: https://goo.gl/forms/bXAMuFOZilPJ9PlY2 The deadline to make a referral is Tuesday, September 12th. If the student is matched with a tutor, Madison House will contact the parent. If the parent is not contacted, it means Madison House was unable to match the student with a tutor.
Our leadership class is in need of chaperones for our Homecoming Dance on September 23. If you’re interested, please let Ms. Meade or Ms. Lawrence know.
Several teachers have asked about how to best deal with dress code violations. Please discuss the matter with the student and provide them with the opportunity to fix the problem. If the student is unable to do so, you may send the student to the office. This doesn’t need to be a referral.
Back to School Night and Parent-Teacher Conferences: September 13 is our back to school night and our Parent-Teacher Conferences are scheduled for October 5 and October 19. It is expected that you are here for all three events as this provides us with an opportunity to engage families. If you are unable to be here for these events, please send an email to your administrator explaining why and when you will be available to meet with families.
Below are the links for parent signups. Please make sure everything is correct, you may block up to 30 minutes for a dinner break, to walk around and visit your child’s teachers or to take care of other matters.
Teachers R-Stanek: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F084EACAD28A3FF2-teachers23
Teachers Stillerman-Trent: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F084EACAD28A3FF2-teachers24
Useful Links
Technology / Website Permission Request Form Please use this form to request use of a website or any resource that requires student log-in if the site is not already on the approved list. DART approved list
Morning Announcement Stream: http://streaming.k12albemarle.org/ACPS/links.htm Please be sure to have announcements cued and ready to go at 8:55 every morning.
Announcement Request: http://tinyurl.com/requestannouncement
Calendar and Memo Items
Friday is a club day. More information regarding clubs, duties, and such will be coming out later in the week. All 8 classes will meet. For all of our bell schedules visit http://bit.ly/MonticelloBells
Sept 12: Deadline for Madison House Tutoring
Sept 13: Homecoming Tickets Go On Sale, Back to School Night
Back to School Night Schedule
Time
|
Period
|
6:30-6:53
|
Presentation in Auditorium
State of the School
|
6:58-7:06
|
1A
|
7:10-7:18
|
2A
|
7:22-7:30
|
3A
|
7:34-7:42
|
4A
|
7:46-7:54
|
1B
|
7:58-8:06
|
2B
|
8:10-8:18
|
3B
|
8:22-8:30
|
4B
|
Sept 17: Monticello’s Kickball Team plays at 4pm at Quarry Park
Sept 21: Senior Picture Day, Pep Rally
PEP Rally Schedule
B-DAY
8:55-10:16
|
1st Period
|
10:21-10:51
|
Mustang Morning
|
10:56-12:43
|
2nd Period
1st lunch: 10:56-11:26
2nd lunch: 11:36-12:05
3rd lunch: 12:15-12:43
|
12:48-1:59
|
3rd Period
|
2:04-3:10
|
4th Period
|
Leave classroom when dismissed
3:50
|
Pep Rally
|
CATEC schedule
AM CATEC Students: Leave CATEC at 11:55am to return for 3rd lunch
PM CATEC Students: Normal bus departure will return for Pep Rally
Sept 22: Homecoming Football Game
Sept 23: Homecoming Dance
Birthdays
Sept 11: Rob Garland
Sept 12: Pamela McGhee
Sept 14: Kelly Kroese, Geoff Parks
Worth Your Time
Without Emotional Intelligence, Mindfulness Doesn’t Work While the article is written for business leaders, I think it has great implications to our work as professionals and leaders of students.
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