March 4

Dear Parents,

We recently had the Swift Creek Principal’s Summit. After the meeting, I sent an e-mail to everyone that attended recapping the day’s events. It was such a wonderful meeting, that I felt everyone should know what happened. Therefore, I am copying the e-mail as this Principal’s message:
Summit Participants,
I want to thank everyone once again for participating in the Swift Creek Summit. I wanted to give you some feedback and let you know about several things we have already accomplished based on the summit after looking through all the information.

1. I need to clarify what is meant by climate. Climate refers to how everyone feels about Swift Creek and what it is like to be a part of the school community. An important step to school improvement is to make sure that there is a great environment for all staff, students, and parents.
2. There was a suggestion to have students participate in the summit and I think this is a wonderful idea. We are currently working on having the same meeting, the Swift Creek Student Summit, for several third-fifth grade students!
3. Several people mentioned beautification of the school - particularly the lobby. I have contacted Marti Crane, PTA president, to create a lobby beautification committee. I will meet with the committee and give them all the feedback from the summit.
4. Several people asked about next steps. Well, there are several. First, I shared summit information with the School Improvement Team. Next, we will share all the information with the staff and get their feedback. We will then get input from the students at the student summit. Finally, we will revisit the climate and 21st Century conversations and create action steps to improve and implement ideas.
5. The school improvement committee used the information to craft key processes for our School Improvement plan. We decided to focus on creating better communication by updating and putting key information on the web site and in the student handbook. We will also create a training for teachers and parents on how to be effective classroom volunteers - especially in the upper grades.

This is a lot of information, but I wanted to let everyone know that we are looking at the feedback and making improvements.

In the second part, I spoke of a student summit. We are actually going to do this on Thursday with the 4th and 5th grade student council and several third graders. I am looking forward to getting their input, also.
Thanks for all you do for the students and staff of Swift Creek. Until next time, keep on ROARing!

Jim