Thank you to all who participated in the recent school survey; the results were very consistent, and we were able to draw a few themes from the survey. I'll be highlighting in a "State of the School" report some of the action's we'll be taking, but I wanted to give a bit of a preview of the major themes and our plans at this point:
1. iPads - We started the year by assigning each student an iPad, giving them the capabilities to download any apps that they need for school use. Unfortunately, a lot of students have abused this power, and instead are downloading games, hiding them, and playing these games at home. This gives the illusion that students only play games on the iPads, which is not how we use them here at school. Thanks to the Home and School Association, the school has now purchased three sync trays, which allow us to massively update all of the iPads at once, meaning that we can now lock down all the devices and upload apps easily, without the burden of time. Starting with next school year, students will only be able to use the apps that we assign, and we will update the devices as necessary.
Additionally, we need to do a better job of informing parents how we use the iPads, and what sorts of trainings are available and ongoing to teachers. Each teacher, particularly middle school, has had ample development opportunities to learn the devices as used in an educational setting, which is tremendously different from personal use. However, we need to be more public with these opportunities, offering specifics, so that parents know exactly how we use the devices, and can support that at home. As we believe - it always begins at home, and we are extension of that life.
2. Extra-Curricular Activities - We simply don't offer enough. We will be reaching out in the coming time to parents and staff members to begin to formulate a greater breadth of activities, as well as a better plan for transportation, when activities hold time outside of school hours.
3. Being Open - I think we all need to be open to how people change and evolve over time; many of the comments that I read might have applied to particular individuals in many years past, but do not any more. I always encourage direct communication with teachers in order to form that partnership, but that doesn't appear to have happened entirely. I was also a bit taken back at some of the negative comments, thinking that being part of a Catholic School was above that. As always, I pray that we be at peace with decisions (and staff members), and that parents understand that we're all in this together. I think we, as a community, need to improve on that, and not always jump at the ability to write relatively hurtful comments about individuals - let's act a bit more as we want our students to act.
Again, thanks for filling out this survey - the input was really meaningful, and we gained some good insights that will help us in the time ahead. I continue to pray for the success of our school, and I know it's possible with all of us, working together.
1. iPads - We started the year by assigning each student an iPad, giving them the capabilities to download any apps that they need for school use. Unfortunately, a lot of students have abused this power, and instead are downloading games, hiding them, and playing these games at home. This gives the illusion that students only play games on the iPads, which is not how we use them here at school. Thanks to the Home and School Association, the school has now purchased three sync trays, which allow us to massively update all of the iPads at once, meaning that we can now lock down all the devices and upload apps easily, without the burden of time. Starting with next school year, students will only be able to use the apps that we assign, and we will update the devices as necessary.
Additionally, we need to do a better job of informing parents how we use the iPads, and what sorts of trainings are available and ongoing to teachers. Each teacher, particularly middle school, has had ample development opportunities to learn the devices as used in an educational setting, which is tremendously different from personal use. However, we need to be more public with these opportunities, offering specifics, so that parents know exactly how we use the devices, and can support that at home. As we believe - it always begins at home, and we are extension of that life.
2. Extra-Curricular Activities - We simply don't offer enough. We will be reaching out in the coming time to parents and staff members to begin to formulate a greater breadth of activities, as well as a better plan for transportation, when activities hold time outside of school hours.
3. Being Open - I think we all need to be open to how people change and evolve over time; many of the comments that I read might have applied to particular individuals in many years past, but do not any more. I always encourage direct communication with teachers in order to form that partnership, but that doesn't appear to have happened entirely. I was also a bit taken back at some of the negative comments, thinking that being part of a Catholic School was above that. As always, I pray that we be at peace with decisions (and staff members), and that parents understand that we're all in this together. I think we, as a community, need to improve on that, and not always jump at the ability to write relatively hurtful comments about individuals - let's act a bit more as we want our students to act.
Again, thanks for filling out this survey - the input was really meaningful, and we gained some good insights that will help us in the time ahead. I continue to pray for the success of our school, and I know it's possible with all of us, working together.