Anthony Voss's blog

Merry Christmas!  I hope that you all have been enjoying the blessings of this Christmas season!  I have truly enjoyed the peace and tranquility that this season brings.  Before you take down your Christmas Tree and decorations, remember that Christmas lasts through the Epiphany, which is January 6th.  We are also reminded that January 1st is a Holy Day of Obligation as we celebrate "Mary the Mother of God". 

It is beginning to get a little white around the edges outside.  Last night we experienced our first measurable snowfall of the year.  When it snows, it is pure magic for the children around here.  Last week we had a few flurries in the afternoon a couple of days and you would have thought it was Christmas morning as excited as the children were.

Our PBS Team has been engaged in training and planning the launch of our new discipline/bullying program since the beginning of the school year.  At this time, we are ready to begin the implementation of this plan.  Over the next several months, our teachers will be completing an "Expectations Matrix", which will describe in great detail what student behavior should look like in various locales throughout our school.  Those identified areas include: restrooms, hallways, lunchroom, playground, church, and classrooms.

This afternoon I had the privilege to visit with one of your kids.  I don't want to give away any names, so I will just tell you that this student is in the primary wing of our building.  This young lad came into my office, plopped down in my chair and asked me how it was going.  In all honesty, it has been pretty tough lately so I was eager to hear what was on this little guy's mind.  So I said to him "It is going good, how about you?"

This is an important week in the education of your child.  Recognizing that parents are the primary educators of their children, we take that very seriously.  Few opportunities are set aside for you to have a face to face conversation with your child's teacher, and we are providing one of those chances this week with parent teacher conferences.  Sure, you are receiving phone calls when appropriate and probably many email messages throughout the course of the week, but these venues pale in comparison to the value of this conference.

While our students are at home enjoying a day off from school, the teachers are hard at work!  Have you ever wondered, exactly what it is that teachers do when students have the day off?  Plenty, I can tell you!  First of all, our days off for teachers are designated as either a clerical day or as an inservice day.  If it is a clerical day, teachers are able to use that time to complete the work that they can't get to during a normal day because they are teaching.  Sure, teachers have a certain amount of prep time each day, but it doesn'

This week I had the honor and privilege of visiting with some parents who were interested in gaining more knowledge about our school and were seeking clarification on some items they had heard about.  I couldn't have been happier than to accommodate their request to meet!  

After six years it finally happened--rain on Charger Challenge Day!  Every  year we anticipate and cross our fingers that it won't rain.  The big question always is:  What are we going to do if it rains?  Well, this year we finally found out.  Yesterday morning we made our contingency plans and made the decision to move everything inside.  I have to tell you, it worked out great!  It was also a real treat to see so many of our former students in the building!  Several current members of the junior class who are member

I am as guilty as the next person when it comes to making positive comments to people  (in this case my employees), giving them a pat on the back and thanking them for the work that they are doing.  It is way too easy to focus on what we are doing wrong; which of course breeds an environment of negativity and makes coming to work/school awfully difficult.  Being aware is a step in the right direction, we are all working on this.  As you are probably aware, we have begun a three year initiative to improve our discipline and bullying program in

I can't believe we have already been in school for almost a month (if you think about it, one-ninth of the school year has already expired).  We have jumped back in with both feet with the start of our athletic season.