Welcome to the 2019-20 school year! The cool winds have truly brought a sense of fall, and with it, a renewed sense hope in all the wonderful things God has in store for us. As we say farewell to summer, it is my hope that you, like your children, enjoyed the recreation that "makes us new again."
Thanks for sending your children to school with new supplies and the fresh haircuts and uniforms that signal in a concrete way that school is serious business. But more importantly, thank you for sending them with the good attitudes and respectful demeanors that can only come from home. Your children are ready to learn and we are off to a wonderful start!
The story of this particular year has begun with an unprecedented level of energy and optimism due in no small part to our expanded cast of characters! In addition to the new teachers and staff that have already been introduced, please join me in extending the love of our community to all our new 4K families plus our new transfer students:
5K
Campion Camera
Evan Checota
George Gosman
Joseph Haddad
Ana Requejo
1st Grade
Alice Haddad
Benjamin Moriarity
4th Grade
Roger Gosman
5th Grade
Ozzie Colvin
Ian O'Brien
Catalina Perez
7th Grade
Tahlia Khan
Ryver Moore
Nate Patzer
As we come together to write the story of this year of limitless possibilities, may our oneness of purpose and vision be a powerful force for good that will inspire us to accomplish great - and truly good - things. And so we turn another page and embark on this wonderful adventure called school.
Welcome back. Welcome home.
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Thursday, June 6, 2019
Looking forward
As this school year comes to a close, we look forward with anticipation to a year of exciting growth just ahead. The imminent change wrought by recent staff turnover, in particular, provides us with a unique opportunity to take a systemic view of skills and dispositions that will enhance our collective expertise and our professional culture.
Additionally, a byproduct of the anticipated salary savings of multiple simultaneous new hires, together with an additional $25,000 commitment from the Home and School Association, will enable us to maintain middle school staffing at the current level rather than reducing by one as originally planned.
Our first new hire for the year is an old friend. Please join me in welcoming former middle school ELA teacher Marisa Riepenhoff back after a five-year hiatus. While she was away, Mrs. Riepenhoff completed her Masters in Educational Leadership, led system-wide shifts in curriculum and grading at Messmer schools, and most recently, served as the Vice President of Education at Sharp Literacy (a non-profit that partners with schools to implement research-based shifts in practice) - all while continuing her longtime work providing professional development to teachers through the National Writing Project. Mrs. Riepenhoff is very excited to return to her professional roots in the classroom where she will serve as our new 5th grade literacy and social studies teacher. She is a lifelong learner who has "continued to cultivate many of the best practices I first learned at St. Robert."
God has been good in sending us a larger-than-usual pool of qualified candidates for other open positions as well. Interviewing for primary positions is well underway and we will soon be screening candidates in queue for our middle school positions. We had a promising interview just today with a very excellent candidate for middle school math.
It can be unsettling to let go of the known and embrace the unknown. Our human weakness can sometimes lure us down a path of fear and negativity. While it's always sad to say farewell to partners in mission, it's an important truth that change is growth-inducing on both an individual and institutional level.
Let's step back and be grateful for the possibilities before us as we strategically build a power team to advance our mission into the next decade.
Additionally, a byproduct of the anticipated salary savings of multiple simultaneous new hires, together with an additional $25,000 commitment from the Home and School Association, will enable us to maintain middle school staffing at the current level rather than reducing by one as originally planned.
Our first new hire for the year is an old friend. Please join me in welcoming former middle school ELA teacher Marisa Riepenhoff back after a five-year hiatus. While she was away, Mrs. Riepenhoff completed her Masters in Educational Leadership, led system-wide shifts in curriculum and grading at Messmer schools, and most recently, served as the Vice President of Education at Sharp Literacy (a non-profit that partners with schools to implement research-based shifts in practice) - all while continuing her longtime work providing professional development to teachers through the National Writing Project. Mrs. Riepenhoff is very excited to return to her professional roots in the classroom where she will serve as our new 5th grade literacy and social studies teacher. She is a lifelong learner who has "continued to cultivate many of the best practices I first learned at St. Robert."
God has been good in sending us a larger-than-usual pool of qualified candidates for other open positions as well. Interviewing for primary positions is well underway and we will soon be screening candidates in queue for our middle school positions. We had a promising interview just today with a very excellent candidate for middle school math.
It can be unsettling to let go of the known and embrace the unknown. Our human weakness can sometimes lure us down a path of fear and negativity. While it's always sad to say farewell to partners in mission, it's an important truth that change is growth-inducing on both an individual and institutional level.
Let's step back and be grateful for the possibilities before us as we strategically build a power team to advance our mission into the next decade.
Thursday, May 30, 2019
Until we meet again
The nature of the school year almost invariably brings personnel changes in the spring and summer months. Despite that dozens of staff have come and gone during my tenure at St. Robert (38 by my count!), we have been curiously blessed for many years with very small turnover in any one given year. This year will be different, however, as multiple personal, family, and professional factors have coincided to create a larger than usual number of changes at one time.
And so, it is with bittersweet emotion that we will say farewell to these beloved members of our staff at the close of this school year:
- Kristen Byers, 4K, 2 years
- Jennifer Luna, 2nd grade, 22 years
- Jan Ebel, 3rd grade, 4 years
- Ann Schroeder, 5th grade, 3 years
- Andrew Brehm, 7th/8th grade ELA and Religion, 4 years
- Meg Kinateder, Middle School Math, 2 years
- Alexandra Hoslet, Administrative Assistant, 1 year
Each of our departing colleagues has left his or her unique mark on our culture; and each leaves big shoes to fill as they move on to pursue a variety of next steps both within and outside of the profession.
We are blessed that our paths converged in this time and place for a little while - or a long while - to do God's work; and blessed that our individual pathways will diverge under the guidance of God's loving hand.
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields
and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields
and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
(traditional Gaelic blessing)
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