Welcome to W.E.S.!
A Message from the Principal
June 4th, 2009
After five years of writing the lead article for the school
newsletter, I find myself writing the final one. I want to take a moment to reflect on the past five years
and share with you my thoughts. A
great deal has changed in the past five years, and at the same time a great
deal has remained the same.
Clearly, the highlight of my time as principal has been the opportunity
to be with your children. They are
the reason we all get up every morning and come to WES. My hope is that my being in the lives
of your children has made a difference.
I hope they have learned from me as I have from them. The children who WES supports and
serves today reflect greater diversity of background, experience, and
need. I believe this enriches the
school and the community. It certainly creates challenges that were not part of
the WES experience in the past, and as a result there is much we can all learn
from each other. During the past
five years, we have accomplished a great deal. With the support and hard work of the staff and students,
and with the support of families, student performance has consistently been
higher than that of the overall state.
We have been recognized for our efforts to create a
“greener” school and have established a wonderful garden and outdoor education
program. Our integration of
technology is second to none as we become more and more creative about how to
use technology to enhance learning in the core academic areas. We have strengthened and expanded our ability to support children with disabilities
in regular classrooms. By doing
so, we have enriched the lives of children with and without special needs. Students, parents, and teachers all
helped to establish a concise statement of values to live by with the
Waitsfield Ways. These guiding
principles are our way of talking with each other as we negotiate the good and
the not so good days that we all have. We have made tremendous progress toward our action planning
goals in the areas of mathematics, reading, writing, and health/wellness. We have expanded our support to
children in the areas of physical education, health education, and
counseling. Finally, I would like
to mention that we have made great strides creating new ways for school – home
communication. We now have a web
site with a great deal of the information parents ask for most; we have created
an all family email distribution list; teachers have classroom blogs; the
school board conducted a series of meetings to develop specific strategies for
community connections; we have a wonderful newsletter that Connie produces
every other week; and so much more.
Parents are volunteering more than ever, and there is much to be proud
of. Congratulations to all of the students for a beautiful
spring concert. Thank you to Mr. Hill for his dedication and guidance, and
thank you to parents for supporting your children’s music education. Thank you to all who came and
participated in our school Green-Up and May Fair celebration this past
Sunday. Parents came and joined
staff to spruce the place up while children had field games and listened to
music. As a result, we got the
front of the school painted, the beds mulched, the playground revitalized, the
shed placed on a new foundation, and much more. Thank you, thank you, thank you! It truly takes a community to have a school like ours. In closing, I want to extend my best wishes to the entire
Waitsfield School community, and thank you for the honor of being your school
principal these past five years. I
also want to extend my best wishes to Kaiya Korb and know that she will be a
wonderful addition to what is nothing less than a spectacular staff. Best always – Richard
Mad River Links
The Waitsfield Ways
