#naedchat

We had a spirited-filled week! Students seemed to be excited about the start of the fall athletic season with golf matches, volleyball and field hockey games, cross country meets, last Friday’s soccer game and our first home football game. Athletics are one of what I call the “7 A’s of successful schools.” Athletics are an important part of the high school experience because they bring people together for a common cause, shared purpose, and unity. It’s what community is all about!

Several teachers continue to share what’s going on in their classrooms using our school hashtag on Twitter or Instagram: #NAHSCommUNITY. During House, our upperclassmen lead the Class of 2019 through a scavenger hunt to learn more about New Albany High School. To get a glimpse of what took place this week at NAHS, click here.

Staff News
I commend our School Counselors for embracing their new role as afternoon bus duty monitors. They have not only embraced it, but they own it, as you can tell by the spiffy hats they just bought! They use this as an opportunity to get to know students and to reflect together about the day. They laugh together, support each other, and share ideas to ensure they are providing the best possible support to students. It’s another great example of creating #CommUNITY!

Open House is on Wednesday, September 2nd. Open House is an exciting time for families to meet their students’ classroom teachers and to hear about what types of experiences they will have this year. Following are a few general topics that will be discussed by teachers:
General Class Expectations and Procedures
Contact Information: email address, work phone number, website, Twitter handle (if applicable)
Grading Policy
Unique Learning Experiences
Homework Policy
Teacher Core Values, Family, Interest/Hobbies, etc.

Students As Learners
On Wednesday, August 26th and Thursday, August 27th, students attended the State of the Eagles Address during ACT period. The State of the Eagles is an opportunity for the Administrative Team to discuss our academic, attendance, and discipline data with students, celebrate our successes, and set goals for the quarter. It’s also a way for us to establish expectations. This year, we approached it a bit differently. We asked students to organize themselves into groups of eight and to answer the question, “What should we expect of you?” After we reviewed a few items such as the importance of carrying their student ID cards, lunch dismissal, and other housekeeping items, students were given time to generate a list of expectations and then to narrow their lists into four expectations.

A loud and proud “Eagle” shout-out goes to Assistant Principal Steve Gehlert for facilitating the State of the Eagles Address on Thursday! I was out of the building, so Mr. Gehlert took the reigns and facilitated nearly 700 students in the activity. Feedback was extremely positive! Our next step is to review each groups’ list, do an affinity grouping, and create a list of the top four expectations. Thanks also go to the School Counselors, Molly Salt, Kevin Reed, and Dr. Domine for assisting with the activity!

Spanish teacher Hannah Macko created an activity to help students demonstrate their knowledge of Spanish vocabulary words. Students used Snapchat to review adjective agreement in Spanish II. After choosing adjectives out of a hat, students demonstrated knowledge of the vocabulary by acting out the adjectives in a variety of selfies throughout the school. They created captions in Spanish to describe each picture and were very creative with their selfie-taking abilities.

Key Club President Sam Malik created an inspiring video and website to help raise awareness and funding for the Solar Panel building that was donated to us by The Ohio State University. He, along with the legendary Bill Resch, presented to the Board of Education on Monday, August 24th to thank them for embracing this partnership with The Ohio State University and support of this endeavor. In order to move the project forward, we must rely on donations to fund the rest of the project. There is a lot of positive buzz about the possibilities of this project and teachers Greg Morris and Ali Laughbaum plan to incorporate this in their classes. For more information about this project, click here.

Humanities teacher Sara Hric held her 8th period class in the courtyard on Friday where her students discussed the meaning of the eagle. Students were basking in the sun, stretched on the benches, or relaxing in the shade as they discussed literary devices. The students were engaged and eager to participate. Sara provided specific feedback to students, which encouraged others to get involved in the discussion. It was an excellent example of differentiating the learning environment to meet the needs of students!

Upcoming Events
Tuesday, September 1st- Bow Tie Tuesday
Wednesday, September 2nd- Open House 5:30 pm
Monday, September 7th- Labor Day, No School
Monday, September 14th-Professional Development Day, No School for Students
Wednesday, September 16th- School Picture Retakes

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Food for Thought

Be Great,

Dwight

Be Great,

Dwight

My district has recently suffered a loss of an operating and permanent improvement levy of 8.9 mils. It was an uphill battle from the beginning and the cuts that resulted from this loss are deep. The greatest impact, as one might expect, is on personnel.

We had to institute a plan to eliminate nearly 100 positions from every area combined including our curriculum department, an assistant principal from three of the four buildings, reduce the number of custodians, bus drivers, teachers, secretaries, and educational assistants. Our pay to participate fees also increased, which created a burden on families. Needless to say, it’s been a challenging month. This will inevitably impact students because we will have to fundamentally change the way we do business. Whether it’s a negative or positive impact remains to be seen.

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It’s been an emotionally and physically draining process to have to reduce staff. Inevitably there is a loss of a sense of security, fear and anxiety increase, people tend to feel less valued, and the natural response is to protect oneself. Isolation increases while collaboration and a desire to do anything “extra” seem burdensome. To help navigate staff through these tough times, I realize there are five things that leaders ought to do:

1. Be Compassionate- meet people where they are emotionally and seek to understand. Acknowledge their feelings, listen, console, and be there.

2. Communicate Concretely- during times of uncertainty, the people you serve need to hear a clear and concise message. No fluffy, vague, or ambiguous talk because it only increases doubts, a lack of trust, and anxiety. This may entail making decisions that are not going to be popular, but it’s a part of communicating specific and concrete information.

3. Re-examine Your Vision- start asking reflective questions about where you want your school to go and what you want your school to become. Then collaborate with others to seek their input, suggestions, and ideas. From there, refer back to #2.

4. Think Different- Leading through loss causes you to think creatively about how to do business with less, which is not always a bad thing. Identify the constraints and challenge yourself and others to share ideas about how to do business in a different, more productive manner because you now have a “new normal.”

5. Collaborate- Create and communicate a plan of action first with small groups, reshape it, and review it some more before sharing it with a broader audience. This also entails seeking input from others before making a decision, working with others to make a decision, or relying on others to make a decision. Either way, having some level of collaboration is important and make sure there is an operational definition of collaboration before moving forward. If not, you can cause more harm than good. Then, refer to #2 and #3.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, and I haven’t taken each step as much as I should’ve, especially #5. Leadership takes courage and leading through tough times only increases the need for courageous actions.

Be Great,

Dwight