Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (April 23, 2012)

Greetings GreenMount Community,

            Counting today, we have 34 days left in the school year.  It is interesting how some times during the school year seem to go faster than others.  The last 30 days of school typically fly by, and before we know it we are into summer vacation.

Around here, we are gearing up for the final theme event on May 24 and hurrying to complete curricular goals. We are also busy finishing next year’s calendar, handbook and class lists.  We hope to have the latter ready for you prior to the end of the school year, along with lists of classroom supplies.  You will receive the calendar and handbook at our May 7 parent meeting.

            At this time of the year we also plan for summer activities.  Believe it or not, the summer is very busy for those of us who are here during that time.  There is much planning to be done, and meetings with full staff to set goals and priorities are also held.  It is a time of the year when a lot gets done with the building.  This summer we have several projects that are available for parents to earn co-op hours.  Please keep in mind that work done prior to June 30 will be applied to this year’s cop-op hours and work done after that will apply to next year’s hours.  Here is a snapshot of work that needs to be done during the summer:

• General cleaning (cob web patrol, sanitizing desks, etc.)
• Power washing learning cottage deck and art room floor
• Touch-up painting of doors and walls
• Installation of pavers in front of Ms. Elizabeth’s room
• Planting of vegetable gardens (in May)
• Noise reduction in gym (This is a big project, placing 4x8 sheets of Homasote covered with cloth on virtually all gym wall surfaces)
• Refinishing stage floor and steps
• Carpet shampooing
• Minor repairs
• Lighting repairs

We know that the co-op sometimes interferes with weekend activities such as sports or family outings, and we certainly do not want to infringe on things that you do as a family.  We have been considering offering different workdays, such as Sundays, or in the evening, and we hope that you will weigh in on those possibilities.  Please keep in mind that the co-op provides the school with much-needed skills that we would otherwise have to pay for during the course of the year.  In fact, our roughly 150 parents, each required to contribute 40 hours of service to the co-op program, translate to 6,000 hours’ worth of work.  And at $20/hr., the in-kind contribution of parents offsetting work that would be otherwise contracted is close to $120,000.  Imagine if we had to spread that cost among our families in the form of tuition!  For just 100 students, that would be an increase in tuition of $1,200, to $9,800 per year.

Additionally, the co-op provides the opportunity for parents to work as cooperative teams and form relationships that are much more valuable than can be measured in dollars and cents.  The co-op is a tradition here at GMS, one that we proudly hail as much of the glue that brings us together.  I have always said that the most important benefit of the co-op is the fact that our students get to see their parents in the school, contributing to its health and demonstrating their support for learning in a safe, comfortable environment.  This is, as they say, priceless.

Cheers,

Steve

Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (February 27, 2012)

Greetings GreenMount Community,

            Recently, Ms. Tonette shared with me a Wall StreetJournal article entitled, “What’s Wrong with the Teenage Mind?”  This article interested me for many reasons.  First, we now have a much better understanding of how students learn as a result of brain research that has been done over the last decade or so.  The article also described how the adolescent brain is caught in a struggle between the emotional center of the brain (the amygdala) and the area of the brain where decisions are made (the frontal cortex).  Unfortunately, for most young people, the amygdala has greater control of the brain and wins most struggles with logic and common sense.  This tiny, ancient center originated as the “survival” center and later became our center of those things that bring us pleasure and satisfaction. Combining the prehistoric survival instinct with the need to have fun, impress others, and win friends usually results in actions that even the teenager doesn’t understand.  It might even be that decisions that result in parents saying, “What was he thinking?” are made without thought and are simply a result of a revved-up amygdala locked in a “survival” mode.

The article compared a teenage brain to a car, saying that adolescents acquire an accelerator long before they can steer or brake.  Teens also often overestimate rewards and underestimate risks.  Even scarier in this scenario is the early exposure to drugs and alcohol during the teenage years.  We know that about 15% of our population has a predisposition to addiction to drugs (alcohol is a drug).  During those years when our amygdala is producing a lot of dopamine (the chemical in the brain from which we realize pleasure and satisfaction), it is easy for that 15% to become addicted as the drug replaces the dopamine and  the instinct for survival instead revolves around getting drugs.  Then the decision-making process is totally out of whack, and decisions that are made can have terrible consequences. 

As I read the article, I thought about our kids in grades 4-8 and some of the struggles they will, and are, encountering as they try to figure out who they are and how they fit in.  Sometimes, the banter I hear outside my office is totally amusing.  Some of the things that they say to one another are hilarious but often don’t make much sense, and I often find myself also wondering, “What are they thinking?”

But we have great kids here at GreenMount as well as involved parents who are successfully shepherding them through their stages of development.  And if you take anything away from today’s message, I hope it is that you will continue to be vigilant and never give up on your parenting skills.  We can do little to change brain chemistry, but we can provide an environment where decisions are discussed and reflection is a natural part of our children’s lives.  It’s a learning process. And in that process…

“Win small, win early, win often.” Gary Hamel

Cheers,

Steve

Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (February 6, 2012)

Greetings GreenMount Community,

            On Wednesday, January 25, the All Parent Meeting included an opportunity for you to be part of several groups to discuss different aspects of the school program as well as ideas about co-op, work days, homework, communications, report cards, parent conferences, weekly reports, grading, building and grounds, and others. 

While many of the items suggested have already been in the works, today I would like to give you some feedback about the building and grounds.  First of all, we have no plans to move.  We have an excellent lease agreement with the city, and basically all we have to pay for is our gas and electric, a yearly lease that would make your house payment look like a fortune (maybe it feels like that), and basic repairs to the interior.  Some have referred to our agreement as a “sweet deal.”  Our lease will be renegotiated in eight years, and I am confident that the city wants us to remain here.  We add to the community and take good care of one of their buildings.

Your questions about the building and grounds included the following:

• Gym acoustics – we have researched several possibilities to make our gym more acoustically efficient.  The best solution we have found requires a lot of material for sound dampening at a cost around $5,000.  We are also exploring other less-expensive options.  If you have suggestions, please let us know.
• Dust bunnies in the gym – because of the traffic in the gym, PE classes where students shoes disperse their sole contents and lunch, the gym contains more debris than other areas of the building.  Next week, the gym is receiving a thorough cleaning and waxing and will look great.  In the past, we have had a crew of parents that came in on some Saturdays or after school to clean the floor.  It is a good co-op job and, if you are interested, we would welcome your participation.
• Parking – we have plans to build up a ramp as suggested so that cars can negotiate the curb at the end of the parking lot.  This will be a workday job and may be completed as early as Feb. 11.
• Plumbing – Phil Jacoby has been inspecting valves and has repaired toilets for us so that all fixtures are working properly.  The city has been called to replace valves so that the kindergarten bathroom can be operational again.  Towel dispensers will be lowered.
• Outdoor classroom – at the beginning of the year we began to investigate the possibility of enclosing the space with plastic curtains.  The best estimate we got was for $3,500 and may be included in next year’s budget.  A space heater is out of the question for reasons of safety and code.
• Building exterior – the city has filled in the back of the building to diminish settling.  We will have to wait to see how this works before we repair cracks in the brick.  Ms. Elizabeth’s classroom walkway will consist of pebbles with stepping stones imbedded and will most likely be completed on Feb. 11 depending on parent participation.  We do have access to the new fields and students have already been on them.  We are planning along with neighborhood leaders to install two stations for bags for dog waste.  This will also be a co-op job.  The low spot in the walkway leading to the learning cottage will be addressed by installing a French drain around the area (work day job).

 Every item that was discussed concerning building and grounds is currently being addressed.  However, some items will require extra funds which may not be available until the end of the year.

            A final note: We all wonder what happened to winter!  Even this week the temperatures are expected to be well-above normal.  This time last year I wrote about the loss of two days due to the snow, but so far Old Man Winter has been kind to us.  However, we are not out of the woods yet.  I’m old enough to remember the blizzard of ’58, when I missed a week of school in the middle of April.  It is likely that we will still have a weather-related closing.  So remember our procedure as outlined in the parent handbook.  When you suspect we might be closed or have a delayed opening, tune in to WBAL TV and radio for an announcement about GMS.  I will post it by 6:00 a.m. on the morning in question.  If we have an early closing, we will also post it on WBAL as well as our web site.  We will send out an e-mail blast and use the phone tree for those parents who have provided room parents with their information.

Of winter's lifeless world each tree
Now seems a perfect part;
Yet each one holds summer's secret
Deep down within its heart.
~Charles G. Stater

Cheers,

Steve