You Can Quote Me On That!

I'm always searching for just the right quote that punctuates the point I am trying to make in meetings, on agendas and in my writing. There are several that have always stuck with me and offer important descriptions and reminders about who and what I want to be. My all time favorite is:

No one saves us but ourselves,

no one can and no one may.

We ourselves must walk the path,

Teachers merely show the way.

For me it is the perfect anthem for personal accountability and for the impact our "teachers" of life have on providing points of direction. It's up to each of us to put the work into bettering ourselves but of paramount importance for those who lead to also be a guide. What's your favorite quote and why?

Let's Celebrate Tracy Carlin Day at the Creek!

When you look at any successful organization, you will always find people behind the scenes who are dedicated, organized and who put all their energy and efforts into whatever task they have been given. Tracy Carlin is one such person to our organization. Every single day Tracy ensures that safety and security are priorities for all of our students, and she goes above and beyond the call of duty for our staff. She is pleasant to deal with and always greets others with a warm and friendly smile. It is the way in which she goes about her daily tasks that makes the difference and distinguishes her as an outstanding member of our team.

To say she is organized is an understatement. Whenever Tracy is given a task you can be assured that it will be completed quickly and efficiently. If it is something she is not sure of, she knows how to utilize her resources to find the answer. You will always see Tracy doing whatever is necessary, in order to benefit the school – even if it does not pertain to her normal duties. That’s just another way she shows her dedication to teamwork. Her attention to detail and her willingness to go beyond the call of duty in order to make all of our jobs easier is unprecedented.

Taking the time to celebrate each other and our accomplishments is an important way to build those all important relationships and foster a sense of community among each other. Last Friday, we got the opportunity to do just that when we took time to celebrate Tracy Carlin as our Employee of the Year. Congratulations Tracy - your Chets Creek family loves you!!

Think 6!

This week our fourth graders tackled the FCAT Writes Test. It's a 45 minute demand write to an unknown prompt. Students prepare by understanding the standards expected and the rubric they will be graded on and by doing a little practice beforehand. The test is really "no sweat" because of the daily focus on and practice of writing that begins in Kindergarten. They are recieved special pencils from me with a pep talk and where encouraged along the way by not only their teachers but other classrooms throughout the school. It ends up being a great way for them to celebrate their writing accomplishment and they truly see it as a way to show the rest of the world what great authors they all are. I couldn't be prouder of them and their teachers. A perfect score of 6 is met with a limo ride and lunch with me and their teacher the following year. Nothing could make me happier than to have limos lined around the front drive....

Going Back to Cali...

Next week I will travel to Los Angeles, California for the America's Choice National Conference. Since our involvement, 11 years ago in this school reform the conference has proved to be a vital link to keep our momentum going in the foundational ideals of the design. It is a way for us to share our stellar work and to learn of the latest strategies and products available for our professional growth. I have been asked to present a "Virtual Tour" of our school and have chosen to do so by showcasing the incredible ways we are collaborating professionally and engaging all stakeholders using technology. As always you can keep up with what I'm learning since I'll be blogging the conference live and posting on Live From the Creek. This also happens to be the time I typically come up with the school theme for the upcoming year. What will the Hollywood hills inspire this time?????

My New Best Friend

For months my husband has been trying to convince me to get an iPhone. He jumped on the bandwagon right after they came out. I was a BlackBerry girl - and contrary to popular opinion - I am adverse to change. Really. He was ready to buy me one over a year ago and instead I opted for the BlackBerry Curve. Over the past year all my "crackberry" friends began dropping off and into an Apple world. Even though I don't relish change I am ususally ahead of most on the technology curve, not behind and around October I started noticing that my BB just wasn't cutting it. Over Winter Break this year I joyfully retired my BB and got the 3Gs!! Now I could kick myself repeatedly for EVER waiting this long. The iPhone is changing my life...literally! No more camera, iPod, phone all taking up valuable sapce in my purse, all my social networks are available at my fingertips, managing my calendar and email is a piece of cake, even my household grocery list has been revolutionized! I am thoroughly enjoying exploring all the possibilities and positively obsessed with finding great new apps. What are your favorites?

Random Streams of Consciousness and Kindness...Part 4

Last Saturday night I was startled by a phone call from our Standards Coach, Suzanne Shall, telling me that an apartment inside our attendance area was engulfed in flames. I immediately turned to the news to see a blazing fire destroying the homes of what I was sure belonged to a number of our families. We began to immediately try to make contact with the 3 faculty members who also live in the same apartments. Thankfully no one was hurt but 19 families lost everything. Six of those families have students who are currently attending our school. First thing Sunday morning we began researching which families lived in Building 13 and starting trying to make contact with them to find out how we could help. Shortly after the emails started coming from my incredible faculty and staff with offers of help and support. By the end of the day they were mobilized into a coordinated relief organization with our front desk receptionist, Julie Middleton, at the helm. On Monday items started pouring into the school for the families and our parents began asking how the could help. We were contacted by our Business Partners, Chick-fil-A and Chets Creek Church and by weeks end thousands of items had been made available for the families so that they could begin to rebuild their homes. It was an incredible reminder, yet again, of how the efforts of a united group can benefit others in extraordinary ways. I have been awed and humbled by the generosity of not only our Chets Creek faculty and staff but of the community as a whole.

Random Streams of Consciousness and Kindness Part 3...

Three days into our Winter Break and five days before Christmas my husband fell 10 ft. through our ceiling from the attic to the floor of our bedroom. He had to be transported by ambulance to our local hospital where they discovered his injuries included a compression fracture of one of the vertebrae in his back and two large, impassable, kidney stones that had become dislodged from his kidney on impact. By the time they were found they had caused an obstruction and his kidney was enlarged. They did vertebroplasty to seal the fractured bone, which worked perfectly. They did lithotripsy on the largest of the two stones and had to leave a stint in the ureter to keep it open until they can do lithotripsy again on the other stone this coming Monday. He was in the hospital up until the day before Christmas. He has been in physical therapy to work on rehabilitating his back almost daily and just this week they discovered he also broke one of his heels from the fall. He is getting a little better each day but still moves very slowly, requires a lot of assistance and is not able to drive. We feel very lucky as he could have been hurt so much worse.

Within minutes of the accident my families began to mobilize - I say families because I am fortunate enough to have more than one. I have my blood related one, my neighborly one and my school one. Your related family is required to love you, it certainly behoves your neighbors to like and get along with you but your colleagues are an entirely different matter. I know people who work in places where the people come and go each day, do their jobs, or not, and then go home. I do not work in one of those schools, and I am thankful everyday that I don't. At Chets Creek I am surrounded by a caring hard working group of people who love on each other and are there each and every time a family member is in need. I am experiencing the depth of their compassion as they have lifted me, my husband, my daughter and mother in law up with support and prayer.

Words will NEVER express the love and gratitude I have for each and every one of them. From the cards, texts, facebook messages, emails, visits and FOOD we have felt love and compassion that has touched us deeply and reminded us what life is really all about - family. I thank each of them for being a part of my family and for caring for us when we needed it most. The level of support shown during this difficult time has been paramount in helping us all heal. My blood related family counts my school family as one of our greatest blessings.