On the first day of fall, BAM, it was fall. It is crazy how quickly the weather changed, but this is an exciting part of the year.
Fall Events: For starters, in our Marching Band and athletics programs we are beginning to have a good idea of where we stand and what it is going to take to have a successful postseason.
Second, fall means the Tournament of Bands, which is this weekend. It is always exciting to host so many other communities and this year we will have a special guest to hand out the awards. In addition to our Executive Principal, Ms. Coholan, West Genesee graduate and Naval Rear Admiral John Okon will be on hand to help the students to celebrate their success. Very cool! (Check out these great pictures from the annual Middle School Marching Band Day held last week for our middle school students.)
When Not in the Buildings: I received good feedback from the blog last week regarding what happens when I am visiting buildings. So, what happens when I am not visiting buildings? It depends on the time of the year and what is happening that particular week.
Last week we had to meet about shutting down the air conditioning system and flipping over to our boilers for heat. This is not as easy as it is in a home and requires planning and scheduling. We also start talking about our fall/winter grounds and bus plans. What should be put into storage and when, are we in good shape to get our winter fuel mixture for the buses, and has anything changed that would disrupt our snow removal plans.
On the instructional side, last week was a great week to finish data meetings with principals, meet with teacher groups, and talk about the strategic plan and where we are in terms of completing our goals.
We also submitted the second phase of our Smartbond project, which means planning for the purchase of nearly 1,000 more pieces of technology, to add to the 3,000 that we purchased last year through this state funded grant. That is also a heavy lift, and we want to be sure that we have all of the details.
Add to that my usual superintendent meetings, some events, and a fundraiser, and that was a week! One of the great things about this job is that every day is different and every day is busy.
A Big Thank You: I want to give a big thank you to Stonehedge fourth grader Andrew Larocca. We read about a lot of negative things but Andrew certainly canceled that with something very positive. For the past few years, and instead of birthday gifts, Andrew has tried to help different causes. This year he wanted to contribute to the Stonehedge landscape by raising money for a "Buddy Bench". A Buddy Bench is a special place where people can make friends and not be alone. The bench will look like the one pictured that Andrew and his friends are on and we welcome its addition in a few weeks. Thanks Andrew!
Time to bust out the sweaters. Have a great week!
Chris
