Principal Notes
February 27, 2015
By Douglas Lyons
Today is the 104th day
of the school year. It now looks like we
will be getting out of school on June 25th, unless there are
additional snow days. We just completed
our first full week of school in a month.
It feels good to have less snow and be back to work with students. With the additional snow days, we will be
moving our third quarter progress reports and reports cards out a week. The new dates are: Progress Reports 03/11,
Third Quarter grades close 04/10, and Report Cards posted to Edline on
04/16. If you have any questions about
the calendar and upcoming events, please refer to the Weekly Preview or drop a
note to Brendan Norton or me at brendan.norton@reading.k12.ma.us
or douglas.lyons@reading.k12.ms.us.
The 2014-2015 Heroes Among Us Assembly
On Friday, January 30, 2015, Ms.
Cristi and student leaders at Parker Middle School presented the fifth annual
Parker Hero’s Among Us Awardto Ned
Coltman. What makes this award
special is that students decide who is most deserving in the community to
receive the award. The award was created
by the Parker Student Leaders to recognize a person (or persons) in the
community who they think makes a difference in the Parker and Reading
community. The difference can be an act
of service or simply a decision in their life that made a positive impact on
others.
The presentation of the Heroes
Among Us Award this year was terrific; student leaders interviewed Ned Coltman,
wrote their own speeches, and co-planned the entire event. Mrs. Cristi coached and guided students
through the preparation and her efforts clearly paid off based on how the
students performed, they even surprised themselves. It is great to have Ned
Coltman (Parker Alum) a recent graduate of Tufts University back to receive
this honor. Ned Coltman was chosen by
students this year for his efforts to enact change in the Scouts organization
and their practice of excluding people.
Ned participated in scouting and believes deeply in the values of the
organization, but really felt like the organization needed to be more
open. As a protest, Ned rescinded his affiliation with the scout’s
organization and returned his badges, including his prestigious Eagle
award. Due to the organized protest of
Ned and other scouts, the scout organization is now more open to all people who
want to participate.
Ned’s inspiring speech and challenge
to students focused on social justice and inclusion. Ned challenged students to “…reach out to
include another student who may not be part of your friends group, who may be
alone at lunch or in classes…” Additionally,
he asked students if they have recognized when someone has reached out to
include another student to back them up…nice words indeed! Special thanks to student leaders and Mrs.
Cristi for a memorable presentation.
Parker 8th Graders in Cost Rica
This year, twenty 8th
graders made the trek to Costa Rica. The
week was filled with activities that included white water rafting, a trip to
Arenal and the Poás Volcano, an outing to an organic farm, and a walk in the
Monteverde Cloud forest Reserve. The
highlight of the trip, according to our students, was a stop at a local
elementary school where students visited students and teachers. As part of Eco Club, the Parker students
presented a gift to the school donating school supplies for students.
Students used technology to
chronicle their trip on the Parker in Costa Rica blog which can be found at: http://parkerincostarica.blogspot.com/. An excerpt from the Parker Costa Rica blog is
below. The reflections of students are often heart felt and inspiring…
worth a look.
Ava R.
“It blows my mind that today
is the last day of this unique and inspiring trip. This week has definitely
been a life changing experience, from the dancing and the singing night at a
mountain top restaurant to the thrilling ride down a crazy rive ... What was
also so new to me was seeing and hearing Spanish wherever you go. Which gave us
a bit of a game of trying to translate and talk to others in Spanish. On Sunday
one of the first days we were out in public at a store, alike to target I
remember us spotting candy and going up to the cashier to buy it. But by the time we were up there the lady only spoke
Spanish and on the screen the amount was in colónes. So we had at least ten kids surrounding
her trying to figure out what she was saying and how much it was in American
dollars. That after about five minutes of attempting we just had to put away
the candy and meet up with the adults. But today I definitely believe we have
all improved greatly in Spanish because we had to adapt or it would have been
more than difficult to get around. This experience was rough at some points but
I know that I will always remember this amazing trip.”
