December 2013 Norris Superintendent's Report

The December 2013 Superintendent's Report to our Norris Team is posted here - happy holidays! Thanks to all who exhibit the spirit of giving this season and demonstrate outreach toward those who need it most.

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Superintendent’s Coffee Talk for May, 2017

Superintendent’s Coffee Talk for May, 2017
Upcoming dates, events: May 10th Honors Convocation, final HS concerts 5-15, 5-16, commencement is Sunday, May 21st, last student day Mon. May 22nd. (Teachers are on contract for two days following the end of the student year). Seniors are finishing up May 10-11; seniors traditionally finish early.

Thursday, August 17th is the first day of school for the 2017-18 school year. The full calendar is available at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzNNwJp2xvrKUTFaZ0RDQVNGY28/view

Commendations: Spring activities success has been tremendous - top-ranked baseball team, quiz bowl state champs, Skills USA and FFA national qualifiers, the list goes on!

Thanks: We are grateful for the tremendous parent volunteerism that made post-prom a huge success and is spearheading another great PTO Fun Run event scheduled for Friday, May 5th.

Foundation: The Norris Foundation will award more than 30K in scholarships to graduating seniors at the May 10th Honors Convocatio…

Human Resources: The Role of the Superintendent: Talking Points for Doane Cadre

Talking Points for Doane Cadre Panel: June, 2015
What is the role of superintendent in the overall design, policies, culture and practices of HR?
Policies need to delineate roles and responsibilities clearly. Practices need to be professional: have a process that gathers multiple inputs & allows district to weight most important candidate characteristics. Practice the practice. Train up on it. Review it, recite it, so you abide by it or you will end up with slippage and quality control problems. Practices need to be both consistent and have an inherent degree of flexibility to capitalize on unique circumstances. Culture of HR should equate to culture of organization- hard to credibly say you are collaborative culture if selection decisions are made unilaterally.
What is your role in working with the Board and staff (such as principals) in implementing HR?
With board members, the most important thing is understanding protocol and for all of us to know and abide by our roles. Staff (pri…

Difficult discussions are opportunities for growth: let's grow together!

Here's some advice for helping ourselves through crucial conversations which we must have, every day, with many others. . . . sometimes planned, often unplanned - and deep in the fourth quarter of a school year, staff tensions, parental conflict or dissatisfaction from a stakeholder may be the impetus for these school-based conversations. They offer great opportunities for personal growth and organizational improvement, so embrace them as such! Here are some reminders to educators for positive and productive outcomes from difficult discussions:
Remember that if someone is talking to you - that is good! They value you, they believe you can help, they believe you have the power to positively assist them. Listen first, then talkRehearse empathy statements (sometimes that's only a "thank you for sharing that" but often it can be more meaningful than that)If you are mad or defensive because you feel accused, count down before responding or wait it out until you realize you…

Skretta's Scintillating Salutations

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