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“We are what we repeatedly do…Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” - Aristotle
The school year is underway and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the parent community for their tremendous showing at Back to School Night. I consider our school community fortunate to have such a supportive parent population.
One of the critical components of highly effective middle schools is the ability to “institute structural leadership systems that allow for substantive involvement in decision making by students, teachers, family members, and the community, and that support effective communication among these groups.” To this end, I am developing an “Excellence Committee” which will meet approximately 8 times during the school year. The committee will consist of students, parents, teachers, and administrators. Thus, every aspect of our school community will be represented. It is through this group that we will discuss and determine ways to make Hammarskjold a more effective learning environment to help our students to succeed. It is important to note that the primary focus of the Excellence Team centers on students.
Due to the high interest for this group, I will be selecting members for our Excellence Committee through a lottery system format. Please be able to commit to 5-6 meetings this year through May, 2008, after school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 3:10-4:10 PM. To be included in a lottery to represent parents on the Excellence Committee, please email
Hammarskjold_Middle_School@ebnet.org with your and your child’s first and last name, no later than Thursday, November 1, 2007. The lottery will be drawn on Friday, November 2, and parents who are selected will be contacted by Monday, November 5, 2007. Our first meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 13 at 3:10 PM. Research reveals that “the best group size is 3-15 people” in order to achieve what is set out to be accomplished. Therefore, our group will consist of 5-6 students across grades and houses, 2-3 parents, 2-3 teachers, and 2 administrators, totaling 11-14 members.Numerous topics were discussed last year and we will review these at our first meeting, along with new items. We will commit to a maximum of 1 hour in length for our meetings. Therefore, after 45 minutes, I will call general meetings to a close and summarize the topics to prepare for our next meeting and topics.
I look forward to exploring ways with the Excellence Team to make Hammarskjold a more effective middle school community for our students.
Mr. Michael Gaskell
Principal, Hammarskjold Middle School