We are approaching the end of the second marking period, which means students will be receiving their report cards soon. Did you know each year, the state of Maryland releases report cards for each of its 1, 400 schools.
In SY 2022-23, I had the honor of being appointed to serve as your very proud principal. From the very beginning, I have shared that Rocky Hill is going to be recognized in MCPS, The State of Maryland, Nationally and Globally. We are doing tremendous work together and I want to congratulate you and commend you for making Rocky Hill a school recognized for increasing achievement and outcomes for our students.
My first year as principal of this great school in 2022-23, I introduced the vision for EPICC (Excellence*Professionalism*Integrity*Children*Community). In order to achieve this vision, we focused on: Creating a strong culture that centered students, instructional rigor, wellness and equipped staff with resources to be able to support them. We examined structures that existed for alignment and when necessary, we refined or created a new structure. We placed a priority on meaningful adult learning that would result in helping our staff become even better educators. I often share, “We are always doing one of two things as educators and leaders. Either we are getting better, or we are getting behind. Choose to get better. Finally, whatever we said was important, we measured it. We continue to create the conditions so that we can inspect what we expect, whether it’s instruction, ensuring equitable teaching and learning is occurring for every student, improving school quality and providing fun, engaging learning experiences so students want to come to school.
Last year, I shared, “Becoming the school we most want to be is simple. But becoming the school we most want to be is not easy”. Simple and easy are two interesting concepts. One has to do with the complexity of an outcome. The other, the sheer will and determination to achieve that outcome. In order for us to become that school, we needed to embrace a few things: There’s more out there. We can’t accept the status quo or do things the way we’ve always done them just for the sake of comfort. We continue to be intentional with recruiting, attracting and retaining amazing new members of the Rocky Hill team. They bring their collective experiences, and also help us think about things in new and different ways. We also continue to leverage the expertise of our veteran staff, both contributing to our success. Rocky Hill is becoming a school where innovation is encouraged and nurtured. In order to create the conditions for innovation, “We must be stubborn with our vision, but flexible with the details”. It takes Courage. The veteran staff helped build the foundation for so many years. Yesterday’s courage was a fight. It took a lot out of us and ultimately got us where we are today. Yesterday’s ceiling is today’s floor and so we must continue to have the courage to be relentless in the pursuit of helping students realize their dreams. We are going to make mistakes, but When you realize there is more to gain than to lose, the potential for greatness is born. You propel yourself into the turbulence of progress. Trust ourselves. Baseball is a great analogy to understand continuous improvement. Imagine stepping up to the plate time after time, swinging and not getting a hit. At Rocky Hill, we know that growth is exponential and those misses and swings matter. You may get an infield single, or a double, it matters; everything matters. Because it’s all building our future, nothing is dependent on the next at bat as all at bats in the aggregate. Celebrate. We are going to celebrate ALL of our accomplishments. I believe, if you can’t celebrate small accomplishments, you won’t grow.
We are doing tremendous work together and I want to congratulate you and commend you for making our school a school on the rise!
It is very difficult to earn 5 stars, which is the highest. In less than three years, we earned 3 out of 5 stars. In fact, in the entire Clarksburg cluster, only two schools added a star and Rocky Hill was one of them. We earned an additional star for improvements in Academic Achievement, Academic Progress, School Quality and Student Success! We have a 95% attendance rate, we’ve decreased chronic absenteeism, 98% of students are eligible with a 2.0 gpa and above, and more than 60% students earned Straight A or honor roll for the first marking period. Our EML students demonstrated growth in English Language Proficiency. In addition, our 8th grade students demonstrated growth on the MCAP social studies assessment, and Rocky Hill was one of eight middle schools in MCPS to demonstrate growth on the MISA Science assessment. January 17th, I had the honor of being invited to serve on a principal panel to share the great work we are collectively engaged in to make excellence a reality. During the presentation, Rocky Hill was acknowledged for being a school that intentionally engages in the continuous improvement needed to gain a star on the Maryland Report Card.
We are going to be a 4 star and then a 5 star school very soon and it will be because of the Best and Brightest Staff and Students in the World! Our job is to teach the children we have. Not the children we used to have. Not the children we want to have. Our job is to teach the children we have now, and ALL of them. We are all working hard to ensure Rocky Hill becomes the school we all want. Parents, continue to be the amazing partners you are in your children’s middle school experience. Send your children to school every day! We promise to continue to strive to make each day EPICC because We C.A.R.E. enough about Rocky Hill’s success to put WE before ME!
