Each week Head of School, Steve Warner, addresses
GreenMount parents in a weekly letter. This is his letter from September 6,
2011.
Greetings
GreenMount Community,
WELCOME BACK! This morning, our families finally returned from
what I hope was a productive and enjoyable summer vacation. It was great to see the students all cleaned
up and eager to begin a new year. It
felt good for me to be out there in the gated area listening to the excitement,
watching kids reunite and laugh. A
school is but a hollow shell without children, and now we feel fulfilled as 100
students flow into the building and we anticipate that this will be one of
GreenMount’s best years ever.
The summer has been busy as many of
you know firsthand. The learning cottage
is up and running with all the appropriate approvals and permits hanging on the
window. It was at times an arduous task
to get this building ready for students, but with the help of many parents and
our dedicated staff, we are ready to begin the year. As late as yesterday, staff members and
parents were here putting the final touches on classrooms so that students
would feel welcomed and happy to be back.
We are certainly happy to see them.
This year is going to be a year of
change and polishing. All of you have
chosen to bring your children here because of our philosophy and the community
of learners that GMS fosters. And to
date we have done well creating a love of learning and that inquisitive spirit
that our students typically have. This
year, we are focusing our efforts on excellence. Our school is at that point where an
organization can become an institution, where ideas and ideals are shared in an
unspoken understanding of who we are and what we believe. The staff summer reading was a book called An Ethic of Excellence Building a Culture ofCraftsmanship with Students by Ron Berger.
Our summer staff development and all subsequent staff development for
the year will be based on this book. We
will also be sharing many of the ideas in the book with the students to create
an understanding and a quest for excellence.
The author explains through his experiences as a teacher in a small town
in Massachusetts how he was able to create a culture in the school where
students are never satisfied until they feel that they have created an
excellent product in their work. Our
goal this year will be to create that spirit at GMS and to have our students
understand the value of excellent work.
The good news is that at GMS we
already have much of this ethic in place.
This is why we chose to use this book as a way of improving our program
for all of our students. I encourage you
to purchase a copy of the book so that you too can understand our direction and
contribute to it. I will be informing
you weekly through this newsletter of our progress as well as more specific
ideas from the book about which teachers are excited.
The next time you visit my office,
please notice the picture of the eagle hanging as it has for the last five years. You may have seen the picture, but did you
read the words?
E X C E L L E N C E
“Excellence is the result of caring more
than others think is wise; risking more than others think is safe. Dreaming more than others practical and
expecting more than others think is possible”
“Excellent!” -
Wayne
Cheers,
Steve
