#tribestrong

It's taken me a while to write my first post for the new school year.  Maybe because we've been busy, but more likely because things haven't gone as smooth as I had hoped.  My own ego and pride stopped me multiple times as I began writing and had to walk away.  Here's the truth, it's been an interesting start at Vero Beach Elementary this year.  In order to keep the integrity, I must honor the intentions of being vulnerable, real, and reflective about our journey.  Here's the truth:

This school year did not start easy.

However, for every single area of concern, I feel like we have overcome them because we are:

We have increased our attendance, which is awesome, but also resulted in needing more teachers than originally accounted for.  We recruited and brought in incredible talent to VBE to ensure we are #tribestrong

Luckily our entire staff understands that we are greater together when our heads and hearts are aligned!  Our grade levels have already put in an incredible amount of work to keep our focus on engaging Science, Literacy, Inquiry, Design, and Engineering units as we continue our SLIDE into innovation.  Which is only possible when we are #tribestrong 

We have new Little Indians to our mix, which we need to learn about and build relationships with.  We love growing our tribe, but can't ignore that this causes some growing pains.  We will show them what it means to be #tribestrong

Luckily, we have the ability to teach and re-teach our expectations, showing our new students, and our returning students, how to self regulate, develop a growth mindset, and thrive.  We will teach our kiddos what it means to be #tribestrong

We have some new staff and have been working tirelessly to ensure that no students regress as we build up those around us.  Accountability depends on all members sharing what works best for our students by ensuring our teams are collaborative, data driven, and #tribestrong

As leaders, we will continue to advocate so every child, every day, is given what they need to be successful, challenged, and loved. We will embrace the struggle, but demand progress by being #tribestrong

Finally, we have had a slight back slide in our behavior data as a result of the changes.  We acknowledge it, adjust our path, and move forward.  As a tribe we refuse to let anything stand in our way during this journey #onourwaytoanA

This work is too important to do alone.  To truly continue with the progress we've made already moving up two letter grades in one year, we need to build each other up and continue to be #tribestrong