Greetings GreenMount Community,
Power to the Parents!! If we could choose one way to showcase the
community spirit that exists so strongly at GreenMount, it would be Taste of
Summer. All year long, parents make
significant contributions of their time, expertise and considerable energy, but
this one event seems to be the steamroller activity that engages so many and
with such energy. The troops muster as a
“call to arms” is signaled. From every doorway in our school community come
chefs, landscapers, artists, floral design specialists, auctioneers, lighting experts, and a plethora of “worker
bees” who almost trip over each other helping with the planning, solicitation,
setting up, serving, and clean-up. Never
will you see a more dedicated, hard-working group of parents. And it will be a significant stretch for anyone
on the planet to find someone like Jill Goodman. I hope that everyone realizes the
professionalism and intelligent approach to development that she has brought to
our school and her sense of taste, which gives our small school, big school
class and sophistication. We love being
different at GreenMount, but adding some real class helps us realize that we
can also compete well with other schools for talented, caring families.
Taste
of Summer was a very successful event and, once the counting is done, I am sure
we will realize our monetary goal. But
as Jill points out, the value of this event may be greater than that which is
measured in dollars and cents. Everyone
was just having fun and appreciating each other. We got to see the social side of our
community and appreciate so many other things about grown-ups other than the
fact that they are parents of our students.
We got to see some interesting dancers, too!
Finally,
we must consider how this fantastic event affects our students. Many of them enjoyed a night away from the
watchful eyes of their parents and had control of the clicker (I know what that
feels like). But more importantly, they
understand that their parents are part of a larger community that works
together to achieve many things for our school, and for them. We also see evidence of the contributory
spirit of parents in our kids. This
morning, students coming into the gym saw that we were cleaning up and
immediately asked what they could do to help.
They get this from you and already have learned the value of cooperative
group efforts – a great bonus of the CO-OP.
Cheers,
Steve
