Congratulations Mr. Gullickson!

It is my pleasure to announce that Mr. Gullickson has been named Regional Principal of the Year! He will be receiving the award at the Elementary Principal's Mid Winter Conference in February.  He is now in the running for the North Dakota National Distinguished Principal Award. If he is chosen to receive this honor, he will be making a trip to Washington, DC next October to represent our state.

Mr. Gullickson is a modest person and will discredit himself in regard to this award. We appreciate his hard work and dedication to our school district! We are very fortunate to have someone of his caliber leading Ely Elementary. I personally feel very fortunate to have worked along side Jason the past six years. You won't find a more student centered and compassionate school leader. I have no doubt that he will represent our organization well at the regional and state level.

Thank you and good luck Jason. We believe you are worthy of the North Dakota National Distinguished Principal Award!

Grading Reform: Part 4

I am very proud of the work of our Grading and Reporting Committee over the past year. We have had some great debate about how to implement best practice in relation to grading and reporting. There has been a considerable amount of compromise on both sides of the debate. I believe we have created what I feel is a good mix of the research and our current practice.

We plan to pilot this for the second semester and gather feedback through student focus groups, surveys, and comments from teachers. We will use that data to further fine tune this document for board review and full implementation during the 2018-2019 school year.

Here is the latest draft:

Parent Advisory Committee

Dear Parents,

I need your help!

Four years ago we started a Parent Advisory Committee (PAC). We have had several parents take part in these PAC meetings. We typically organize four meetings each school year and try to target dates that do not conflict with other activities. These meetings usually last around an hour.

These meetings have opened communication between our school district and parents.  The topics you can expect at these meetings are insight on current initiatives, feedback from you on our school programs, and a book discussion (you don’t have to read the book to participate).

Please go to the link below if you are interested in taking part in this opportunity.

Parent Advisory Membership Link: http://tinyurl.com/qhsf5vn

We are looking at some time in January to have our first meeting of the year. If you are interested in taking part in a conversation to improve our schools please visit the link above by December 1^st.

Parents play a key role in their child’s success in school.  I am looking forward to hearing feedback from you and building better relationships within our school community.