Friday, September 28, 2018

September 28, 2018

Photo by Manasvita S on Unsplash
Hello all,

Good afternoon, and happy Friday to you! It is official, September is a wrap. For many of us, each new school year marks a fresh start. I am full of optimism, hope, and a belief in this year will be better (different) than the ones before. It may be a personal or profession goal, I often start each school year with a couple of goals in mind. This year for example, I decided that I would do a better job of ‘unplugging’ from work when home on my personal time. Many of you have likely gotten one of my  2 am emails about something I felt was super important while normal people were sleeping (not talking about snow calls either). But I began to realize that unless you work the night shift 2 am should be for sleep not thinking about work.

I  took  pride in responding to work related calls, emails or text messages quickly. To do so, however, required me to have my phone readily available at all times. I cringe when I think of the number of times over the years my children excitedly exclaimed, “Dad look!” in order to show me a handstand or some other amazing accomplishment of the kid world. I cringe because far too often in the past, my response was (while looking at my phone distracted), “ok, great job, just please give daddy a minute" – or "I will be right there" (only I never actually got there).

Nothing to be done about the past, but the future is undetermined. So this year, I made plans to change my behavior in order to be able to be more present for my family during my personal time. The plan was that when I come home from work or on weekends, I would put the phone on vibrate or do not disturb and leave the device in my nightstand drawer. Then I would be free to engage my family members about their day. So, with September complete, it is a great time to reflect on how I am doing with my goal…

I would love to tell you I changed 100% and that I have been able to stick to my plan of placing the phone in a drawer when I get home. Sadly, that would not be completely honest. While I have not been able to fully meet the goal, I was able to make several meaningful changes to my routine that have been noticed and appreciated by my family. I learned after only a couple of nights of trying this that putting the phone in a drawer to completely ignore it for several hours was not going to work. Reason #1 is simply this job requires that I am accessible because issues in the District refuse to just happen during work hours. So the first occasion that I picked up the phone to check in and saw that I had 12 missed calls, my text message mailbox was full, and/or there were about 10 emails outlining some issue that needed my immediate attention. Reason #2 it simply didn’t work because I found myself distracted by worrying that I was missing something. I realized I had become a bit dependent on having my phone handy. This was just as disruptive to family time as my constantly having my phone around.

Like all goals, you may need to modify the approach in order to find success. So instead of putting the phone away and completely silent I began putting the phone down in the kitchen (or whatever room we may be congregating). By doing so I knew I didn’t need to worry because if someone really needed to reach me I would hear the phone go off multiple times in a row. A buzz here or there could be responded to later…if the phone was, as my kids put it, “blowing up” then I would respond. In addition, I found that I was becoming able to be without it for periods of time without worrying. it could be something is as simple as all of us taking the dogs for a walk, going for a bike ride, or eating a meal together. Putting my phone down has become much easier and the quality time with my family improved. Now that I am being a better role model, it is much easier to get my kids to unplug as well.  Now that they are 9 (going on 19) and my son to turn 13 this month, getting them to interact has become a bit more challenging. Where before it was always, “hey Dad, look) it is becoming more like, “ ….(silence while listening to headphones) or "eh nothing” when I ask what they did in school. But I am not giving up easily, I keep pestering them, even if it means I yell to them, “Hey Kids, look!” while I try (poorly) a handstand or something equally silly in order to get them to at least say, “Dad, you are so corny”.

How are your goals going? Never to late to amend them or create them for this year…

SHOUT OUTS!!!

"A BIG Shout Out to Chris Barlas for her continued support and leadership to improve their practice with our staff.  She has embraced the PLC model and encouraged staff to set SMART Goals that will improve instruction, climate, communication and parent engagement and participation at CFC.  She also is the backbone to our special education program and leads support in keeping us a fully inclusive preschool.  She is an advocate for our children and their parents even in times when it becomes a difficult discussion."
~JoAnn Burns, Principal

"Shout outs and thank you to Kristina Messina, Linda Polhamus, and the Mt. Pleasant staff for supporting our Camp Happy Hollow Family Night last Friday. It was a wonderful evening of fun, food, and togetherness. A special thank you to the MEA "One School, One Book" program and our guest of honor, Humphrey Hamster!"
~Arlene Jenkins, Principal

"Shout out to the 6th grade Math and the 7th and 8th grade Science Departments for combining together for Back To School Night 2018. This was a new approach that we tried this year to show the parents how each grade level and department collaborates for the students."
~Spike Cook, Principal

"Shout out and thank you to the staff in Millville for their support and encouragement during the transition process. I have enjoyed seeing the students and classrooms and look forward to meeting more of the staff as the school year progresses!"
~Vanessa Strassner, Supervisor

"I'd like to send a huge shout out to Sasha Earl who is a new 2nd grade teacher at Mount Pleasant. I was able to watch her for a little bit during a Eureka Math lesson and was really impressed. Her students were right on point with procedures, expectations, and content. She was able to fit the lesson to her style and it really worked for her kids. That class looked nothing like there was a first year teacher in there. Great job, Sasha!"
~Bobby Barber, Supervisor

"Thanks to Margaret Keefer, Brittany Straczynski, Angie Finch and Tim Bermudez on preparing for the upcoming in-service."
~Henry Hartman, Supervisor

"A big Holly Heights shout out to Bob Cirocco.  Bob has done so much for the students and staff of Holly Heights as well as the entire district.  It has always been reassuring to know that Bob is just a phone call away and ready to assist in a crisis with his highly skilled approach with children.  We wish Bob all of the best in retirement."
~Steve Saul, Principal

"Shout out to Bobby Barber on the mobile STEM lab trailer.  The students were engaged and had a blast building the robotic cars.  Thank you for the time and effort you invested to see this idea become a reality.  To go along with this, a big thanks to Shawn Jenkins and Gerald Bruman for working so well with our students.  Thank you all!"

"Shout out and good luck to Bob Cirocco. Bob has been a great asset to the district, and his help with difficult situations has been invaluable.  We’ll miss him, and we wish him all the best!"
~Mike Coyle, Principal

"Shout out to Melinda Fralick, Jenn Dragotta, Kathy Drastal, and Stephanie Upham who make up the RtI team at Silver Run.  I had the opportunity to work extensively with the team this week and their thoughtfulness, dedication, and passion for the students at Silver Run is what drives their work.  We couldn't help our students succeed without this integral part of the Silver Family.  Thank you."
~Pat Wulk, Supervisor

"A Big Shout Out to our unsung heroes, staff and parent volunteers who work our concession stands; Patti Mackie, Karen McCafferty, Bob Domico, Lori Carapelli, Kathy Parent, Carol Ann Ciccio, Bethany Kavanagh, Stacey Musey, and Parents. Thank you for all your hard work!!!"
~Maggie Colina, Supervisor

"Shout out to Gloria Perez for taking on the Service Desk since she started a little over 6 months ago. She is always providing a friendly voice to our customers and helping to keep everything tech running."
~Dan Wright, Chief Information Officer

"Big thanks to Harry Longini and Michele Lobaito for helping me prepare materials for long term substitutes. Having these teachers share their materials, projects and lessons has been extremely helpful to maintain the rigor in our high school classrooms."
~Jessica Kauffman, Dept. Chair

Have a great weekend!!!

Regards,
Dr. G.
Dr. David N. Gentile
Superintendent of Schools
“Lead Learner”
@drgentile_mps (Twitter)
856-327-6001

#MPSWC (MPS World Class)
#greatdaytobeabolt

Published by Spike Cook, Millville, NJ

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