Keep Opening Day Momentum Going

Dear Editor,

School is back in session. The anticipation level is high for both students and school staff members. This is the opportune time for success to begin for this entire school year. As a retired school administrator, I directly observed and participated in 40-plus school year beginnings. Smiles everywhere, hugs given freely from both parents and staff. New backpacks, new crayons, new pencils, new notebooks. Everything clean – the desks, tables, windows, chairs, the playground, even the carpets and gym floors.

How about a week from now? A month from now? How about a school quarter from now? Will the excitement and anticipation still be there? Will our parent involvement continue to be as high as it is the first day and week of the school year? Will the staff be continuing to motivate every student to the top of their abilities? And how about the staff, will someone be there to cheer them on and keep them motivated? Will new learning be a part of every lesson or will boredom begin to set in and busy work begin to fill the students’ day?

Will the site administrator be monitoring every teacher’s classroom performance or will they be overwhelmed with office duties not allowing them to walk around their campus to really know what is going on in each and every classroom. Too often, the site administrator is reacting to “fires” rather than being pro-active in preventing them.

The students in this school district deserve the very best education possible. They deserve the very best teachers and site administrators to be found and hired and placed at the optimum school sites.

Parents, you have the responsibility to see that your child is motivated from the home-front. School should be the most important part of your child’s life and you should be there to see that it is. Not only that, but the child’s life should be balanced with extra-curricular activities, family responsibilities … the extras which make a well-rounded individual.

What a tremendous responsibility parents have. Our parents and their parents had the same responsibilities and in a much less-complicated world to live. They did it! And our educational system was the finest in the world. What’s happened? Where has the responsibility level failed? Can we get it back? I believe we can – but it takes everyone doing their job, not in an average way, but in an awesome way. A way that makes everyone proud. A way that allows the child to see success in every assignment, in every hour at school, in every home. No report card needed here. The proof of our efforts can be seen in the people of this community. Average or awesome? You can tell.

Bill Lebo,

Retired School Administrator