It’s Tuesday, September 3rd, at 8:00 am and the school is already abuzz with fresh, sun kissed faces, as new and returning staff and students enter into the building. Everyone looks relaxed and ready to be back for a new year, and so am I. I’m excited to see where the year takes us. I can’t wait to see how the year unfolds. Over the course of the last year we learned a lot of things about how our school runs, and things we can do to improve. We know that our students are competing on a world scale and that being average is not okay. So, we’ve decided to change things up a bit this year.

First of all, we will be rewarding students who have excellent work habits. Students who make the Effort Roll (all E’s for “Excellent” work habits, and/or G’s for “Good” work habits) will be rewarded. We will be asking PAC to be a part of deciding what the reward looks like and will let you know once a decision has been made.

Next, we will be focusing on building positive character with our students. We know that the teen brain undergoes some changes in the “prefrontal cortex” where they become more impulsive and in some instances forget about rules and consequences. We need to remind them about what our expectations are every day in order to help keep the information fresh in their minds. The “Search Institute”, http://www.search-institute.org/content/40-developmental-assets-adolescents-ages-12-18 ,has done a lot of research around what character traits are necessary for children to lead healthy, productive lives. They have collected data over the past two decades and have “survey(ed) …more than 4 million children and youth from all backgrounds and situations (and) have consistently demonstrated that the more Developmental Assets young people acquire, the better their chances of succeeding in school and becoming happy, healthy, and contributing members of their communities and society.” We will be working with our students to help them to develop these assets over the course of this school year.

Part of our plan for improving these assets is to tighten up how we do business here at QJS. Some of the changes that we have made are having weekly student absentee updates, weekly updates on student lates, and strict rules for students who refuse to work in class. We have created a “study hall” for students who are not using their time wisely, and/or are skipping classes. Study hall will run from 11:45 – 12:25 and I will be the supervisor. This will allow students to make up for time that they have missed in class. Our intention is to eliminate chronic lates and absenteeism. It is also an attempt to motivate students to use their class time productively. Students may refer themselves to study hall, and they may also be assigned if they need extra time in order to get their marks up to a passing grade. There is also some discussion about having an after school study hall. We will assess this if we see that there is a need for it.  In order to help us be more accurate with our attendance, please be sure to call in to the office when your son/daughter is absent.  This will help us know whether their absence is excused, or unexcused.

In order for us to continue to improve, we really need the help of our parents. We know that the more you are involved in our school, the more successful your kids will be. This being said, we will be having a question and answer session and tour of the school on Monday, September 16th at 6:30 pm in the school library. This will also be our first PAC meeting.

Thank you for your continued support.  Please let us know if there is something we can do to help you or your child be more successful here at QJS.  I look forward to meeting you!