Pocket Online superintendent:
"Superintendent is firm as he tells the 60-70 adults and students gathered Monday night in the Kennedy High School cafeteria “we have a lot of change to make.” Raymond met with the group to introduce himself personally to those of us who live in the Greenhaven and Pocket neighborhoods. The session lasted almost two hours and while questions ranged from difficulty volunteering in schools to concerns that campuses aren’t good neighbors, Raymond returns often to the theme of change across the entire district. (I admit up-front that I did not include every topic for this article for reasons of brevity and cohesion.)"
The visit is part of the “listening to the community” the new superintendent said he wanted to accomplish during his first 100 days on the job. Raymond tells the crowd about three priorities he has already set … all of which deal with staff accountability. “We’re going to have certain achievement goals for each school. We’re going to have customer service goals and give teachers some leadership principles,” Raymond explains. “I’m not satisfied until everyone of our schools has a principal that we all feel like we want to send our children to. I know these are hard, lofty goals but why have anything lower?”
Raymond says parents must be a part of the equation for successful schools and asks adults to volunteer at campuses or participate in the school site council. Several parents tell the superintendent how the cost of fingerprinting is prohibitive or the massive amounts of paperwork discourage their volunteer effort. “There are so many opportunities even if it’s just making sure you child gets to school on time.” The superintendent then admits the system can also do better, “We need to be reaching out too. That’s what our teacher-parent home visits are for.”
"Superintendent is firm as he tells the 60-70 adults and students gathered Monday night in the Kennedy High School cafeteria “we have a lot of change to make.” Raymond met with the group to introduce himself personally to those of us who live in the Greenhaven and Pocket neighborhoods. The session lasted almost two hours and while questions ranged from difficulty volunteering in schools to concerns that campuses aren’t good neighbors, Raymond returns often to the theme of change across the entire district. (I admit up-front that I did not include every topic for this article for reasons of brevity and cohesion.)"
The visit is part of the “listening to the community” the new superintendent said he wanted to accomplish during his first 100 days on the job. Raymond tells the crowd about three priorities he has already set … all of which deal with staff accountability. “We’re going to have certain achievement goals for each school. We’re going to have customer service goals and give teachers some leadership principles,” Raymond explains. “I’m not satisfied until everyone of our schools has a principal that we all feel like we want to send our children to. I know these are hard, lofty goals but why have anything lower?”
Raymond says parents must be a part of the equation for successful schools and asks adults to volunteer at campuses or participate in the school site council. Several parents tell the superintendent how the cost of fingerprinting is prohibitive or the massive amounts of paperwork discourage their volunteer effort. “There are so many opportunities even if it’s just making sure you child gets to school on time.” The superintendent then admits the system can also do better, “We need to be reaching out too. That’s what our teacher-parent home visits are for.”
