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.