Wrapping Up 2014

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

It was nice to see the well organized and well run Christmas\Holiday Store at Chauncey Davis Elementary this past week.  I have never seen anything like it!  The selection of gifts (and all for a quarter!) made at least two little girls (my own) very happy to be able to buy presents for their family.  I talked to several other students about their "shopping experience" and all were very excited for their purchases, and grateful for the opportunity.

After touring the store, I walked down the hall and saw the smooth running gift wrapping team!  What a great tribute to our community--all of the caring people giving up their time to serve the

students of our school.  They made a lot of children happy and I was glad to see this great event.  Elementary students donate much of the proceeds to the HAVA Animal Shelter.  Thank you to Linda Buchanan and Bev Buchanan for all the hard work, and to everyone else involved who helped make this event possible.

District Updates

As we end the week prior to Christmas Break, I wanted to give some recent updates on a few things in the district.  The year is flying by and we have had lots of things happening!

You may have seen the new emergency defibrillators in the district.  We have one located in the elementary hallway and one also in the Koplitz Field House lobby.  Because the buildings host such a wide variety of public events, and the fact that we employ 100 people, I think it is a good idea to be prepared.  We are working to organize First Aid/CPR training for staff.  I will share more on this in the near future.

Elementary staff may have also noticed workers installing a classroom intercom system this week.  The intercoms are connected to the campus intercom system and should be a big improvement in alerting elementary classrooms to various events or situations.  Thanks to Gary Wilson and his entire crew for all of their work and efforts to install these systems!


Smarter Balanced Resource Site

In January, we will be doing some work around the new state testing logistics for this Spring.  We have been developing resources for staff to utilize to familiarize themselves with the Smarter Balanced exams.  You can preview the Smarter Balanced Assessment Resource Page and provide any feedback you might have.  The page contains information on the new tests, sample questions, and other useful content.  More to come on this...

Have A Relaxing Break!

I hope all of you have a safe and relaxing break these next two weeks.  We have a great staff working hard to educate kids here in South Bend.  It is certainly a pleasure for me to work in such a fine school district.