Hello everyone, As I decided to write this out this week, I felt you deserved so much more, more than an video, more than signs, more than anyone can really give, but a huge THANK YOU!
I want to tell you all thank you for what you have conquered these last 2.5 months of school. It's crazy to think back to March 16th, and here we are now!! I think it's fitting our theme this year is STRONGER TOGETHER, and how fitting it has even become as a theme for our nation right now too!! McKinley Elementary really is stronger together and this shows in so much of what has happened and will happen going forward in the future.
It's normal right now to be thinking of next year and getting ideas in place, changes sorted out, new momentum, and reflection on things we tried to do this year. We normally would be looking at data to determine the effectiveness of the things we put in place, the students needs, families needs, teachers needs, and my needs to be able to effectively guide and lead, but mostly celebrate!! It's hard to bring the school year to an end without these thing in place to guide us, but what we do having in place are the teams discussions on the important pieces we have to have, this will guide us even further next year as we are, STRONGER TOGETHER 2020-2021.
Sadly though too, we didn't get the time to really see the things work that we put into place, to practice them, to really have a clear lens to the effectiveness.... So for next year, with minor changes to things we know we can do better, we are going to percolate, make the best cookie recipe we have ever made with all the right key ingredients, and maybe sweeten it up with extra flavors!! I'll explain the cookie analogy at our BTS meeting in August, for now just be dreaming of CRUBLE Cookies!!! And know we need to put these things in place again, giving it our honest effort and adjust them to meet the kids needs and your needs!!
I met a few weeks ago with the team leaders of the school, they are the guided coalition team, I take just about everything to this team to look at data, have hard discussions on effectiveness of things, the students needs and their needs (representing you). They shared some good reflections on things that are bothering them, that they didn't understand or find value in, confusion on purposes of some things, and other thoughts. I will admit at first I was taken back a little bit, I admit I was a little frustrated that the things we had in place all had a reason, the reasons and why's shared, and all for the best for the students, but yet we were having the conversations again about them and the dislike toward some of the changes. I was confused.
After reflecting and owning the frustrations they had, and thinking what went wrong.... What I realized I fell short on, being your leader, I missed sharing some of the alignment to the goals we have and where all these pieces fit in and why we are doing them, for what bigger purpose. This summer I will be working on a document that will give everyone more clarity with alignment to the various goals we need to have, and the action plans required of us to meet the goals, either by the state with TSI, TSSA, Trustlands, Title 1, or BESD district goals..... Everything we do has a purpose and I need to clarify those purposes, and identify which things we did are the McKinley Way. District Non Negotiables, or loose and tights which we can adjust to make them work for us at McKinley. I also realized I could do better on collaboration, clarity, and celebrations that align to these areas we need to do. I'm excited for the reset this summer to come back stronger and more collaborative together. Both of us knowing better what we have to do.
Please know I'm very appreciative of the team leaders who shared their honesty, vulnerability, and safe comments with me and the team. There has been a lot of reflecting on my end, collaborating with other stakeholders on ideas, brainstorming solutions, and action plans to bring in other collaborative discussions with the team leaders to create some things together.
Thank you all for all your hard work, your determination, kindness, and grit!! Especially these last few months! I love working alongside you, you have people in this school that look out for each other and all of you too!! It's a great team!!! I miss you and will continue to miss you and our work together over the summer, but know you deserve every ounce of relaxation you get this summer!! You DESERVE IT! All of you!!
Sorry this is a long newsletter, stay with it all the way till the end :))
Hugs, Corynn
