Learner Appreciation Week?

May 5th through May 9th is Teacher Appreciation Week, with May 6th being Teacher Appreciation Day. As a school leader, my thinking on Teacher Appreciation Week has evolved over time. Don't get me wrong the teachers with whom I work are dedicated, amazing professionals who should be recognized for their important work during this week (and every week). However, I feel as though the focus may be slightly askew.

I have found that Bear Tavern Elementary School's teachers are some of the most voracious and excited learners that I have ever met. During this school year our teachers have inundated me with conversations, comments, tweets, emails, and observations that demonstrate a dedication to learning, changing, improving, and never being satisfied. This is what makes them a truly special group of professionals.

Our Kindergarten through Second Grade teachers embarked on a journey to relearn how they teach Reading and Writing through the Workshop model. As a district, we did it correctly by providing continuous professional development and our teachers responded by taking the leap, trying new things, collaborating with one another constantly, and understanding the power of making an attempt and tweaking lessons (continuously). At the beginning of the year, the entire LA block was turned upside down and the teachers had to trust that these changes would benefit the children. Nine months later (yesterday), I stood in the cafeteria with members of the first grade team who were marveling at how far their students have come and the quality of the writing that they are producing. AND... the joy with which the students have embraced this work. Similar conversations are happening in Kindergarten and Second Grade. Why? Because our teachers have embraced the idea of learning a new curriculum and new strategies. I believe the best teachers are avid learners and it is clear that I work with many of those. I look forward to rolling this up to third grade next year!

Our entire school has embarked on developing a true understanding of "transfer of learning." Particularly in our 3rd grade through 5th grade (the testing grades), this has become a theme for the year. Last January I wrote a post after we had a faculty meeting with Grant Wiggins (read it here).  Here is an excerpt from that post:

It seems simple to say that we want our students to understand what we teach; however, our discussion of this topic was truly enlightening.  We explored the things that "a student who understands" can do and the things that "one who knows a lot, but doesn't understand" can do.  Take a step back and think about that for a moment.  It is a powerful distinction.  The examples that Grant Wiggins provided and the vibrant discussion of the staff helped to flesh out this concept.  I have to say that the level of interest, thought, and participation on the part of the faculty was inspiring; especially after teaching a full day!

This led to a discussion of the importance of transfer and what that means for children and assessment.  It is one thing to make sure things get covered and standards get checked off, but it is another to have proof that students understand what has been taught and can transfer that understanding to a variety of situations.  In particular, it is important to ensure that they can do this without the supports provided by the teacher or the scaffolding of a question that provides all of the information to answer the question.

This meeting sparked a discussion about how we design instruction to assist children in transferring their learning from the skills and concepts we teach, to application in a "real world" or at least more realistic environment. The work that our PLCs have done this year is reflective of a collaborative culture that has truly made inroads with this concept. Students are better able to understand their learning in a greater context. I mentioned that these are the testing grades earlier because often it becomes tempting to teach to the test; however, a teaching for transfer mindset is more likely to produce real learning that will ALSO be reflected on the test rather than narrow learning that is MAINLY reflected on the test.

Again, this work in the upper elementary grades is reflective of a culture of learning that consistently gives me a sense of pride to be a part of this community of learners. Additionally, the entire staff has done this while learning a very involved new teacher evaluation system throughout the year AND working to integrate our technology resources into the classroom AND working to share our story with the community via social media and other avenues AND...

I guess the point of this post is to recognize the importance of teachers as learners. The only way to continually improve and be the best at what we do is to continue to learn! I feel as though the highest compliment that I can pay the teachers with whom I work during the upcoming Teacher Appreciation Week is that I am honored to be a part of such an active community of learners.

So,

Happy Learner Appreciation Week!

Telling Our Story on Social Media

Recently I have challenged the staff at Bear Tavern Elementary School to engage in a variety of technology related activities to help expand the idea of technology as a curricular tool. The specifics of that challenge are fodder for another post; however, I would like to highlight a fantastic by-product of the challenge that has been playing out over the last several weeks.

One of the things that I asked the staff to consider is using Twitter for either personal professional development or to share the amazing things that are happening in their classrooms and the school. I offered several "sessions" on setting up a twitter account and following educators of interest. These sessions were well attended and various staff members who could not attend set up individual times to sit down and learn. For me, personally, this has been very rewarding because it has helped to provide an additional opportunity for me to teach and learn with my colleagues.

One of the major points that I have made in discussions with the staff is the idea of writing our own story. Our school has had the experience of reacting when others have written our story. Often these stories are negative ones relayed by those who are unhappy with something. While there are always going to be these types of stories, if they are the only ones out there, then that is the reality of what the world knows about your school. With this in mind, I have been encouraging the staff to tell the story of the amazing things that are happening inside our walls each day, one tweet at a time. It only takes seconds to post a note or a picture and a caption to relay the magic that happens constantly within our school. This message truly hit home for me after reading  Digital Leadership by Eric Sheninger (@NMHS_Principal) and hearing him speak on the subject this winter. We want to be the authors of our own story!

As of today the following Bear Tavern teachers are on Twitter and many are actively sharing the things that they are doing in their classrooms.

Jill Leestma - @MrsLeestma

Ana Lopez: @atlc_a

Joslyn Johnson: @artrocksbt

Image via CrunchBase

Liz Machado: @lizmachado68

Phyllis Bernard: @BernardALRALMEA

Lori Ayres: @MrsAyresClass

Paula Muhlbauer: @IheartDewey

Lori Drake: @lbdteach

Janiene Baxter: @baxtersbuds

Shannon Mann: @SM_TeachBT

Kim Niefer: @MrsNiefersClass

Breanne Scullin: @MsScullin_BT

Connie McCann: @cmccannbt1

Jill Novak @jillnovakBT

Mandi Perez: @letsgo2lbi

Britt Dominick: @brittmariemusic

Bruce Arcurio: @PrincipalArc

Bear Tavern: @beartavernes

Not all of the above are actively tweeting on a regular basis; however, they are easing into it and I applaud them all. There are also several of the above mentioned teachers who have joined the Bear Tavern Twitter Team. This is a group who also have access to the Bear Tavern twitter account (the last one listed above) and help me tweet out things happening all over the school.

Twitter is not the main communication mode for our school. We still use the traditional channels for that (email blast, virtual backpack, online calendar, etc.); however, Twitter is becoming a way that parents and the community can get a real time glimpse into the day to day learning that is happening at our amazing school. For those who have not jumped into the the Twitter stream YET, we have also placed the school's twitter feed on our school webpage. I encourage you to follow any and all of the Twitter accounts above!

Now I look forward each day to see what amazing things get tweeted, because I can't be in all places at all times either!

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Inspiration from a Child

Earlier this month Bear Tavern Elementary School held its annual Winter Concert in our district's performing arts center. It is always a wonderful evening of music! The children practice from September to December to showcase their hard work and musical talent. I always enjoy the event because the children are so proud of themselves and what they have accomplished. This year there was a non-musical incident that made the concert very special for me.

As the band finished playing its numbers, the Early Morning Ensemble Choral group gathered in the hallway to enter the stage door and go on next. This year the group is fairly large and they decided to get t-shirts with their name, The Treble Makers, printed on them. Here is where the magic happens...

When the students came out into the hall, all of the children had their shirts on except one young lady. At that moment she realized that she had forgotten the shirt. Clearly the young lady was getting upset because she was going to go out on stage and be the only one without her choral shirt. I watched as the music teacher's wheels were turning and knew she was about to tell the group that they needed to support their friend by taking off all of their shirts and singing in the very nice dress clothes that they had on underneath. However, just as she was about to speak, John, one of our 5th grade boys, spoke up and said, "she can have mine." The entire group looked at him, including the teacher and me. Without a thought he took off the shirt and gave it to the young lady and said, "I'll be fine, you wear it."

This may not seem like a big deal, but for me it was a reminder that our parents and our teachers are doing something right. Hey, anyone of us could have forgotten our shirt, but it took a big heart and caring soul to be willing to sacrifice to help out a friend. This little incident truly made my night. At the end of the evening, I shook John's hand and told him that he was a rock-star tonight and I didn't just mean because of his singing. He smiled.

The news often points out the less than kind things that students do in schools; however, it is little stories of kindness, courage, and compassion that truly make up what happens in schools. This young man's actions were inspiring to me and I hope that they bring a little joy to your holiday season. Sometimes we need children to remind us of what is really important in life.

A Few Words About 50 Years of Learning Together

On June 27th, on his blog Evolving Educators, @ScottRRocco invited other administrators to share their speeches as a resource for one another.  This sharing of resources is the foundation of PLNs and helps us all to become better educators.  This year Bear Tavern School had its 50th Anniversary and as principal I had the great honor of speaking at that event.  Below I printed my speech.  I hope that it is as inspiring and helpful as the school for which it was written.  Enjoy!

So here we are, near the end of our ceremony celebrating an anniversary for an amazing place of which I am humbled to be the lead learner.  I am celebrating my 10^th anniversary as principal of this fine, fine school and couldn’t imagine it any other way.  You have heard about some of the history of this place.  I think that it is ironic that as this school went into its first year of existence there was a natural disaster that delayed the opening and caused the community to pull together to educate the children and get this school opened, a little later than the other schools in 1962, but open nonetheless.

As we came into our 50^th school year we also had an unfortunate vandalism disaster befall our beloved school.  It was one that brought tears to many of our eyes and caused us to fear that Bear Tavern may not open in time for the children.  I’ve come to learn over the course of my life that sometimes the most beautiful things come from something painful.

 John Steinbeck used the metaphor of the pearl to describe this in his book of the same name.  Pearls are formed when a foreign substance, like sand, gets caught inside of an oyster and as a defense against the pain, the oyster begins to coat it with a substance that eventually becomes the beautiful and rare pearls that we enjoy.  This is a simplistic description; however, I think it is appropriate for how our year began. 

Our community was shaken and had choices to make.  We chose to make something beautiful.  I don’t just mean that we got our school back to its pristine appearance, which we did.  What I am talking about is the beauty of spirit that was shown by this community as it banded together for our children and our school.

I saw the best in people.  I saw families adopting bulletin boards because teachers would not have time to complete them before school started with only days to prepare for their school year.  I saw community organizations and businesses offering support through the resources available to them.  I saw a community come out for a grand reopening, not just to rejoice in the fact that the doors were open, but to roll up their sleeves and work together, yes to work Better Together to get our school ready and so much more.

Our school theme is “Better Together.”  It has also been a theme throughout our day.  During the gazebo dedication this morning I spoke about how that wonderful structure is the product of students, teachers, parents, and community organizations working together.  During the Art Unveilings I discussed how the partnerships that we have made with our neighboring corporations, colleges, and community organizations result in the beautiful works of art that we proudly create and display on our walls.  Better together really kind of sums up life.  When you think about most areas of your life, aren’t they more joyful when you can share them with others?  Aren’t the difficult times more tolerable when there are others there to help you through?

As an elementary school community it is our mission to educate the children of Hopewell Township; to develop strong minds, strong bodies, and strong character.  This school has been built on a foundation of community that goes back to the day that it opened.  I received a letter yesterday written by a teacher in the audience today.  Her name is Jeanette Frantz; the letter and the picture she sent with it can be found in the cafeteria, but I can sum up her whole letter with her final sentence.  “Good memories of Bear Tavern School remain in my mind, but most of all – the people of Bear Tavern School will always be in my heart.”

The people of Bear Tavern School; that truly is what we are as a school.  Mrs. Frantz’ memories of her 20 years at Bear Tavern boil down to the people.  I would have to agree.  My memories of the last 10 years at Bear Tavern School have been about relationships, community, and the people.  We educate the children in a safe and comfortable environment in which they know we care for them.  Prior to my arrival, Mr. Scheetz (my predecessor) and the staff embarked on a journey to become a Responsive Classroom School.  This approach to educating children is rooted in the idea that children learn best in a place where they feel comfortable and empowered.  We use the acronym CARES to remind ourselves of the type of environment we wish to provide for the children.  The letters stand for Cooperation, Assertion, Responsibility, Empathy, and Self-Control.  You’ll find this represented in the cafeteria, as well.

I don’t want to go on much longer, but I do want to leave looking forward.  As we move further into the 21^st century our world and society is changing.  This is a fearful thing for many among us.  We feel comfort in the things that we had and experienced when we grew up.  Our challenge is to balance the solid traditional foundation that we have created here at Bear Tavern with the innovative spirit that continues to make our country great.  These boys and girls before us will live in a world that we can’t even imagine. 

If we could go back to 1962 and tell the staff and students that in 50 years having a telephone in your pocket everywhere you go would be the norm, what would they say?  Or if we even tried to explain the Internet or Apps? What would someone say if they were asked to “just Google it?”  I think that they would see it as science fiction, not as fact.  As we move forward at Bear Tavern we need to be sure that we are working together as teachers, parents, and community to educate the children for their future by learning from the advances of our past.

I am committed to working with the people of this community to provide children with the modern education that they require; we will utilize the technology at our disposal to do so whether it is chalk or an iPad.  Please continue with me on this journey.  Our work can only be Better Together.

I will end with words from a favorite book that I have read to many classes over the years.  The book is entitled, A Fine, Fine School and was written by Sharon Creech.  Mr. Keene, the principal says, “Oh! Aren’t these fine children? Aren’t these fine teachers? Isn’t this a fine, fine school?”  Thank you all for working with me to make this such a fine, fine school!

Thank you. 

Bear Tavern - iPads in Kindergarten

Bear Tavern Kindergarten teachers and students were highlighted on the front page of the Trenton Times on Saturday March 2nd for the use of iPads in the classroom to augment instruction.  I am very proud of the work our school community is doing to use technology as a tool for learning.  Please check out the article at:

Hopewell Valley school district experiments with iPads in the classroom

Please leave comments below.  I would love to share them with the teachers.

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This Place is Like a Three Ring Circus!

Every year at  Bear Tavern Elementary School we have a very special week; Circus Week! You may be thinking, "why devote a week to the circus?"  Well, I guess I'll need to give a little background to explain that.

In the winter we have artists-in-residence from Circus Kid Productions come in to work with our students.  Basically, our schedule gets blown up and rearranged so that all of our students in K-4 have workshops with with them and the 5th graders work more intensively with them on various circus skills from Monday through Friday in order to put on a circus performance for the entire school Friday afternoon and then on Friday evening for the parents.  Parents sign an agreement indicating that they understand that students must make up work missed when they are out of the classroom for their practices (and we have always had 100% participation in the 10 years I have been at Bear Tavern!)

But why?  It seems like a lot of time to spend on circus skills.  Most who hear about it don't understand until they've experienced the week.  The younger students anxiously await their 5th grade year so that they can be a part of the circus.  The parents eagerly wait for their children to participate since they have heard about it for years and want their children's excited dreams to be fulfilled.

So the question still remains, "why does a school principal value circus week so much?"  Simple; because of the intangibles that are learned during this week.  The best analogy that I can think of is the NFL draft.  When teams are evaluating players for their draft boards, they look at the numbers and the data to find players who are statistically successful players.  However, they all talk about a player's intangibles like character, leadership, perseverance, team-orientation, drive, work-ethic, respect, demeanor, to name a few. These intangibles can often be more important than the stats.  Let's face it, whether your a Patriots fan or not, Tom Brady was taken in the 6th round for some reason and it wasn't just his numbers.  That has worked out pretty well.

The skills that our 5th grade students learn during this week are the intangibles that lead to future success.  Doug and Eric, our circus coaches, bring out the best in our students through the medium of circus skills.  All you have to do is ask anyone who works with 5th grade to find out just how amazing this week is for the students.  I think that one of the most subtle and striking character lessons that is evident from the first day is the support that each student shows for the group.  Everyone is responsible for the success of the show and thus they must take care of one another to make that happen.

This means that when someone drops a ball during juggling or trips during an acrobatic performance, the rest of the group cheers them on and encourages them to keep trying until they get it.  It is heartwarming to hear classmates cheering for one another when they "get it!"  Generally, the normal reaction when some one makes a mistake is giggling or some form of ridicule, but there is none of that.  The boys and girls learn empathy and understand that others feel just like them when they make a mistake.  This makes it harder to find fault and more natural to support.

Another amazing thing that I see during this week is perseverance.  It is incredible to see the focus of the most distracted students when it comes to perfecting the globe walking or diabolo routines.  They are so eager to succeed in this performance and contribute to the overall circus that they practice and keep practicing until they can do it!  Also, we see the emergence of natural leaders.  They may or may not be the best circus performers; however, they help ensure that everyone is on task and moving in the right direction.

This is the week that signifies the coming of spring for me.  I know that Punxatawny Phil has some role in the prediction, but the BT Circus week is the week that I see our 5th graders truly become a cohesive group; they are the epitome of a community.  I think this week also reminds them that they need to support each other when they move up to middle school and have to navigate a larger population.  This year even our 5th grade teachers got involved in the action and performed with the children.  It was fantastic.

We also weave other disciplines into Circus Week.  Our students create artwork that adorns the gymnasium.  Our students write about their circus experience during language arts.  It becomes a topic of discussion in all classrooms during Morning Meeting.

Fortunately, our parents and our PTO see the benefits of this program.  They help to support it by helping children practice at home and helping to raise funds to pay for the program.  If you have not had the circus at your school, I'd highly recommend it!

The Center of Learning - Parent Connection (Part 2: Article Study)

Image via CrunchBase

Last week's PTO meeting proved to be a positive night of learning for all parents who attended.  As per my last post, The Center of Learning - Parent Connection (Part 1: Twitter Workshop), the evening began with a brief tutorial on how parents can set up a Twitter account and start following handles and hash tags that would be most beneficial to them.  The meeting went as normal, with the principal's and committees' reports.  A discussion was held regarding various methods that the PTO uses to communicate with families and how to continually improve in this area.  We had approximately 30 people at the meeting.  This was great!  We invited room parents to come to keep informed.  Many of them did; however, there were many who attended the meeting because of the article study we were holding.

I fully expected that when the meeting ended a number of parents would leave and we would be left with about half of the group for the article discussion.  I would have been very happy with this turnout for our first one.  But, to my surprise almost no one got up to leave when we said we were going to hold our discussion. This was encouraging!

Dr. Robert Brooks (bio)

The prior week we sent out the article with the following invitation:

Join the PTO at our next PTO meeting where we will discuss PTO business followed by a more detailed discussion and study of an article by Dr. Robert Brooks, entitled: Mistakes: What Parents Can do to Help Their Children be Less Fearful about Mistakes and Setbacks, http://www.education.com/reference/article/mistakes-parents-do-help-their-children/.Take a few minutes to read the article and come ready to share and learn as members from the BT community explore this topic in greater detail.

I began the discussion by explaining that we all have success stories and not-so-successful stories about our parenting skills and practices.  The discussion was designed to draw upon the cumulative knowledge of the group while using Dr. Brooks' article as a guide for the conversation.

I must say that I was very nervous when I threw out the first topic and no one said anything.  Who could blame them.  With thirty parents in the room, who was going to be the first person to share a potentially embarrassing comment about how they handle mistakes and what they model for their children?  So, I started and as I talked what began to happen was a gradual increase in the comfort level in the group.

I am not sure if they expected me to only talk about all of the amazing things that I do as a parent to raise the perfect principal's children, but that was not the case.  I shared things of which I was proud AND things that were my mistakes.  I think it was important that the parents understood that this was not going to be a lecture about good parenting.  It was going to be an honest discussion of a topic with which we all struggle as parents.  After about 15 minutes people were chiming in and adding to the conversation in wonderful ways!

More than the learning that we gained from the discussion of the article, I was most proud of the way this group of parents (many of whom did not know one another) came together to talk as a community about raising our children.  Fears were shared, hopes were shared, tips were shared, pitfalls were shared; but, most of all a connection was shared.  None of us have all of the answers, but together we can help and support one another.  This fits in very well with our school theme, which is: Better Together.

I know that this is not ground breaking in any way; however, I feel as though it was wall-breaking in some ways. Parents opened up with one another, they got to see the parenting side of their principal (for good, bad, or indifferent), and we learned a thing or two about making mistakes.

Hopefully we are making strides in the direction I mentioned in my previous post:

"I want Bear Tavern to be the center of learning for the whole community."

I can't wait for our next discussion!

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Principals' Walk n' Talk

During last week's #satchat the topic was helping struggling teachers.  During the discussion I posted the following tweet:

I got several retweets and responses (see some below) and felt I should share a little more about it

This past summer as the four elementary school principals and coordinator of elementary curriculum in my district were discussing issues of alignment among schools we ventured into the areas of teaching methods, educational practices, general school atmosphere, and culture.  Our district is constantly working toward alignment of the elementary schools.  It is important to all of us that our schools maintain their proud traditions and distinct character; however, it became very clear that we did not really know much about each other's schools!  As we talked an idea arose.  Why not meet every other week at a different school and walk through the building together visiting classes and discussing what we see.  Additionally, we are piloting use of an electronic walk-through tool (Teachscape) to help us hone our observation skills.  It made perfect sense.

I know this sounds scary; five official looking people walking into classrooms, hanging around for a few minutes and then leaving to talk in the hall.  It was for some teachers and students; however, now that we have been doing these visits for several months, people seem to have settled in and we aren't quite that big of a deal anymore.  I posted the following early on in my staff newsletter to help explain Walk n' Talk:

"Principals’ Walk N’ Talk Walkthroughs

People have asked for some clarifications about the Principal’s Walkthroughs, so I decided to answer some questions that have been asked.

What is the purpose of the Walkthroughs?

Currently the walkthroughs are being used to help the administration fine tune how we see instruction and classroom practices.  When we go out in the hall and talk with each other, we are discussing if we saw the same components of the lesson.  This is why we all come in together.

Are we being rated or graded?

No.  The checklist that we are looking at is essentially factual.  I can show anyone who wants to see on my phone.  Basically, one screen says, “Whole Group, Small Group, Pairs, Individual.”  All of these are valid forms of instruction; we are simply noting which one.  The same goes for instructional practices, environment, etc. We are looking at what practice(s) are happening, not what level.

Can we tell our children why you are coming in?

Yes, feel free to have a conversation with your children about what we are doing.  It is okay to let them know that teachers and principals continue learning even when we grow up.  I would rather you have the conversation than have students get nervous."

I have to say that these visits have been phenomenal opportunities for our group  to work collaboratively.  We are gaining a greater understanding of all four schools and the things that make them all wonderful.  Our discussions of instruction are rich.  It is amazing how five people can watch the same thing, yet see it differently.  This is where the real learning has been taking place for us.

A great side benefit of this practice is that we have truly come together as an elementary school team.  We have greater communication than we have ever had.  Our discussions go far beyond classroom practices and we are able to solve problems as we talk about issues in our schools and communities.  Additionally, we share resources, materials, and ideas with one another so that all of our schools can benefit from the collective expertise of the group.  I must say that I am truly enjoying this live, in-person PLN.  It complements my online PLN nicely!

If anyone has a question about Walk n' Talk or does something similar I would love to hear about it.  Please leave a comment.

The Power of Crisis

Warning: In order to truly get the full story in this post, you need to click on the links.  I have been disconnected for the past several weeks.  I have not written a blog post and I have only checked my Twitter account sparingly.  This has not been an effort to relax and disconnect as I mention in one of my posts from July.  It has been a break that was dictated by some circumstances outside my control.  As a principal, I always work on what is called the "interrupt schedule;" which basically means that while I have plans for my week, my day, my hour, the universe has different designs and interrupts those plans for more pressing things.  This summer Bear Tavern Elementary School was presented with quite an interruption.  Unfortunately, on Sunday July 29th we sustained some fairly extensive vandalism.  You can learn more about it from CBS News, ABC News, and The Hopewell Sun.

 As principal of this school for 10 years, it was shocking and saddening to walk through the building on the evening that it happened.  I truly realized how much this school has become my home.  It was like getting punched in the gut.  To see our beautiful school in such a state was painful.  Needless to say, the aforementioned interrupt schedule clearly kicked in.  Everything stopped to address the more immediate needs of the building and the community.  Hence, my absence from this blog.

Fortunately, we found out that our insurance company would cover everything, which helped me to focus on the community.  One thing that I have learned about our wonderful community is that when there is a crisis, we pull together and we emerge successful and better than before.  This is the case in this situation.  After several email communications with the community, I scheduled a community update meeting on August 6th.  This meeting was attended by over 150 staff members and community members.  Here is the presentation that I gave and subsequently posted to our district website: We are Bear Tavern: Better Together! Better Than Ever!

It was truly heartwarming to see the show of support for the school. I received numerous messages that demonstrated the character and strength of our community. Here is just a small sampling of those messages that I posted in our virtual backpack: BT Better Together: The Support of an Amazing Community. 

As mentioned in the presentation above, we were not allowed in the building until August 20th due to the toxicity of the chemicals in the fire extinguishers that were discharged.  The reopening/Community Day that was scheduled was a wonderful success and our students, staff members, families, and community members came together to ready the school for our September opening.  Here are some photos of that day.

As we are now about a week away from the start of school, we are continuing to ready the school for the arrival of the children and there is a heightened sense of community among staff members and the community.  We have worked together to navigate a difficult summer and will move into the 2012-2013 school year with a renewed focus on our community through our simple (but powerful) theme of "Better Together!"

I can only hope that every principal has the privilege of leading and participating in a community like the one at Bear Tavern Elementary School!

WE ARE BEAR TAVERN!  BETTER TOGETHER!  BETTER THAN EVER!