GOOD AFTERNOON AND HAPPY FRIDAY!
Student Success- Congratulations to Alex Husen on her commitment to attend and play volleyball at Southwestern in Georgetown, TX.
Governor Abbott Press Conference- At Noon today the Governor issued several orders to begin the process of reopening the Texas economy. In regards to schools, he issued an order that deems it unsafe to resume having school in our school buildings. Additionally, he stated the Commissioner of Education, Mike Morath, will be providing schools with guidelines regarding ceremonies such as graduation.
Honoring the Class of 2020- During the past several weeks, Mr. Gordy and I have been discussing various creative ways we may be able to honor members of the Class of 2020 in addition to the senior spotlights that are being posted via our social media. Yesterday, GHS counselor, Mrs. Morris, Mr. Gordy, and I met to begin working on a plan to formally announce and highlight our Honor Graduates. As we move forward with know parameters, we will develop a plan, have it approved by local authorities. Following this, we will meet online with the senior class officers, senior members of the GHS SALT team, and senior members of the YouthLead team to seek student input. After the plan is fully developed, Mr. Gordy and I will meet online with the entire GHS Class of 2020.
Census 2020- The 2020 Census count is important for the nation, state, and the community of Graham ISD! The Census 2020 participation rate in Texas jumped over 10% this week to 41.1%. The bad news is most of the rest of the states increased their census participation, and Texas sits in the 41st position among the states and territories. You are key to the success of Texas in this count because the rural areas of Texas are traditionally undercounted. In fact, to this point of the 2020 Census, Texas’s rural counties are heavily undercounted. There are three ways to be counted in this census: (1.) mailed paper questionnaires – paper questionnaires will be in the mail to residents this week, (2.) online at my2020census.gov, and (3.) by telephone – for English language, the number is 844-330-2020, for Spanish, it is 844-468-2020, and TDD is 844-467-2020. A word of warning: wait times for telephone response is extremely slow. Some report waits of up to forty-five minutes! You are busy people. Your help with the census is “above the call of duty”, and it is appreciated!
“WORDS ARE SEEDS THAT DO MORE THAN BLOW AROUND.” Unknown
Isn’t this a challenging time? There is not one person in the United States whose life, in one way or another, has not been affected. I think everyone can relate to something I read recently: “2020 has been a strange Leap Year. February had 29 days, March had 500 days, and it looks like April will last three years!” While the sentiment is an exaggeration, it is not a total overstatement.
I am continually impressed with the way our GISD team and community members are pulling together to help everyone cope with the situation in which we find ourselves. Every day I learn about more and more people providing are providing meals to those in need. Citizens are producing facemasks as fast as their sewing machines can run to help with the facemask shortage.
The associations that support educators have found their own ways to help… my Zoom and Google Meets schedule can attest to the amount of information being generated on a daily basis!
At times during these meetings, someone’s lip movement and words do not match… the words being heard come seconds after lips being moved. This can be a distraction for the participants. Without a doubt, this can be a drawback of working remotely…
Because of the uncertainty, the pandemic has caused, people are stressed, anxious, unnerved, confused, fearful…the list could go on forever. It is critically important that our words and lips match; that our words are honest but empathetic so that they fall on receptive ears. Good communication can ease anxiety and lead to teamwork. Everyone working together can hasten the time we “return to normal”.
Last week Lt. Governor Patrick, while speaking to superintendents, mentioned that when this ends we will return to a “new normal”. He went on to say that even public education would experience a “new normal”. During this time of year, our work at the central office is focused on wrapping up the current school year while also hiring and preparing for the coming school year. As we think toward the 20-21 school year, I hope we can ensure the work our educators did to redefined instruction on the “run” this Spring can be leveraged to elevate a “new normal” that will be beneficial for our students.
Have a great weekend!
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