Kids can’t learn if they don’t feel well.  It’s especially challenging if they’re lacking access to basic health care.  In our ongoing efforts to raise student achievement, we must tackle these most basic challenges by making it easier for students to receive the health care they need.  Last week, a local newspaper highlighted a report funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation which found that Alexandria fell far below statewide health benchmarks in several key areas. Read the rest of this entry »

Our record-breaking snowfall generated a record number of comments on my blog these last two weeks (100!).  Thank you to those who sent words of encouragement and suggestions for how to restore lost instructional time.  As a lifelong learner, I feel confident that the next time we get hit with back-to-back record-breaking snow storms and 10 lost days of instruction, we will greatly benefit from lessons learned last week.  Read my report to the School Board that includes information about our decision-making matrix, snow removal efforts, costs, and the educational impact of snow days. Read the rest of this entry »

The decision to close schools or have a delayed opening is complicated by the fact that it must be made in the pre-dawn hours, well before buses will actually be on the road.  After consulting with our deputy superintendent for planning and operations, our director of transportation (who drives the roads in the middle of the night), our director of facilities (who monitors our school parking lots and walkways), several City officials and people from surrounding jurisdictions, I make the best decision I can with the information available at the time.  Student safety, of course, is the number one priority. Read the rest of this entry »