Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (December 9, 2013)

Greetings, GreenMount Community,

            It has been an interesting week, and I expect that we will see similar weather circumstances as the school year progresses.  It appears that nearly everyone received notification about our delay on Monday and the closing yesterday.  So the system is working, thanks to you.  I hope that most of you took advantage of the app for your phone or the email capability with WBAL.  Remember, you can access this service on their web site.

            Yesterday was tricky because the snow didn’t start until later in the morning (like you didn’t notice).  But I think it was a good call to close yesterday.  For one thing, I got so much grief from the students on Monday for not closing that I didn’t want to disappoint them again.  They had worked so hard doing snow dances and sleeping with their PJs inside out!  I tried to explain to them that by using our snow days up we would not be moving the end of school back from June 6.  I asked them if they would rather have an extra day of summer or a day off in the winter with slush and cold.  The outcry was unanimous – they want it now!  It must be that instant gratification thing.

            Speaking of snow days, we have built in five days this year and now we are left with four.  If we do not use all of those days we will roll back the end of the year using a complicated mathematical formula that only Mr. Luca can explain.  If we exceed our snow days, we will add days past June 6 using a similar algorithm. This process is necessary because we are required as an independent school to have 170 days of school, which can include half-days.

Evaluation Reports:

            Because of our weather events and some computer issues, our teachers have not had the appropriate time to complete the evaluation reports in time for adequate review and editing.  Therefore, the reports will be distributed on Monday.  We apologize for the wait.

Theme 2:

           

            We are well into our second theme, which focuses on history between1876 and 1917.  This was the period of international expansion for the United States and fits nicely with the theme just completed, since many islands and island groups were annexed by the U.S. during that time.  We will devote a lot of time to WWI and other events such as the women’s suffrage movement.  Ms. Catherine has some interesting original sheet music from the time that belonged to her grandmother.  The middle school students have selected some very interesting songs for the theme event.  Did you know that there are actually words to “Stars and Stripes Forever”?  Please make sure to mark your calendar for the theme event, which will take place on February 21 from 9:00 to noon.

Cheers, 

Steve

Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (December 2, 2013)

Greetings, GreenMount Community,

            Happy December!  As usual, the year is flying by, but we still have a lot of time left to do great things.  Today, I reminded the students of our concept of excellence.  The message today was that whenever we finish a project, whether it is a long-term one or just something that we are required to do on a particular day, we should ask ourselves if we have done the best we could under the circumstances.  Educational research indicates that the process of reflection is one of the most valuable tools in our learning toolbox.  If we can learn to reflect and think critically about our actions and our efforts, it is much more likely that we will develop habits of mind that keep us striving to attain excellence.

 Mr. Fletcher reminded the students that as a staff, we meet each week to reflect on what we have accomplished and to discuss ways in which we can improve our craft.  Indeed, we can all probably do a better job of reflecting.  As parents you can model this important habit by “thinking out loud”, which is another strategy that we use with students.  Simply stated, thinking out loud is the practice of sharing our thoughts as a way of instructing learners about how we process things in our minds.  For example, you might say out loud, “So I am thinking that in order to plan our day on Saturday, I will need to make a list of things to do because I am a visual person.”  Or you might be reading to your child and stop at a part to say, “This reminds me of a time when I was young and I made a poor choice, too.”  Reflecting and thinking out loud are strategies that we can teach our children to create those habits of mind that will help them make good choices and also take time to understand the learning process. 

            Now that it is, in fact, December, we need to start thinking about weather-related closings and delays. The procedures for closing school because of snow, for example, are relatively simple.  On days when the forecast calls for snow, I will rise at 5:00 a.m. to listen to the weather reports and check closings that are being posted in the area. Sometimes I will go outside to look for myself at my snow gauge, the barometric pressure, my atomic hydrospheric anemometer or the local squirrels’ bushy tails.  When that fails to give me a sense of the imminent snowfall, I will go inside and turn to Tony Pann on WBAL for advice.  Of course, if there is already snow on the ground, I can look at it.

But seriously, folks, what I actually do is listen to what is happening in the large public school systems.  They have better resources than I have and are evaluating the situation long before I get out of bed.  I will make a decision about closing based on the information I can gather and post our information on WBAL-TV by 6:30 a.m.  You can access my posting by tuning in to WBAL-TV or you can get the information quickly at www.wbaltv.com/closings/index.html. At this site you will view the closings or delays for the day and you can also sign up to get an email or text message about the status of the GreenMount School.  I recommend this because it happens immediately and you don’t have to wait for the TV report to get to our school alphabetically.  Please check your Family Handbook for procedures concerning late openings and early dismissals.  Late openings will also be posted on WBAL.

 Finally, while I said that I consult the major school systems to make my decision about GreenMount, there are exceptions.  Public schools have to consider the safety of bus riders in their decision-making process.  We do not.  Therefore, there may be an occasion when city schools are closed and we are not.  I will also consider parents and your inconvenience, especially if we have late openings.  That said, the first consideration is always safety.

           

Cheers, 

Steve