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As we venture into this incredible school year full of possibilities, I would like to remind everyone the importance of a positive attitude with a story that one of my best friends shared with me. It goes something like this… A 92-year-old, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair fashionably coifed and shaved perfectly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready. As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window.
"I love it," he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.
"Mr. Jones, you haven't seen the room; just wait."
"That doesn't have anything to do with it," he replied. "Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged ... it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. "It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away.”
This story provides a powerful reminder that our life is like a bank account. We withdraw from what we've put in. Together, we need to deposit a commitment of involvement to the educational system in the bank account of memories for the sake of your children/our students! For they deserve the VERY BEST! Together, we can make a DIFFERENCE!
The past year Birch Grove Elementary School for the Arts made some amazing strides. We were the recipient of the Magnet School of Distinction Award by Magnet Schools of America (MSA). This national award is based on a commitment to high academic standards, curriculum innovation, successful desegregation/diversity efforts, and the consistent delivery of quality services to all school stakeholders. In addition, Birch Grove received the Escher Award from NWSISD for the greatest transition in becoming an Arts Magnet School.
As we continue our steadfast focus on academic excellence in and through the arts we will continue to need YOUR support! Your active involvement in all facets of Birch Grove is not only necessary but imperative to ensure success on behalf of your children/ our students. We believe that “all” children can and will learn if provided the right environment and support. My dedicated staff and I will expect nothing but the very best from each and every child. In order for each child to thrive on excellence, we also believe that this is not a one man job. Our philosophy is that “It takes a village to raise a child.” We must all do our part to sustain greatness. We need each other to ensure success on behalf of each child invested in our care.
Parents, students, and staff will be expected to sign a partnership contract. This contract is available in English, Hmong, and Spanish. By signing this contract, we are in agreement that we will hold each other accountable to excellence. Actively, if we do our part, each and every child is guaranteed the very best education possible. Truth be told, we will not settle for anything less. There are no excuses for anything less. We owe our children the best education possible and must be willing to do what it takes to make this philosophy a reality.
This will be BG’s second year using the Responsive Classroom Approach to teach students to take ownership of their own problems with positive modeling of ways to proactively solve their own issues will result in guiding our young ones to becoming great problem solvers for the future. Please take time on a daily basis to go over our school-wide rules and class constitution with your children.
Many thanks to our committed leadership team at the district level for finding ways to sustain all the great value-added programs we have in place for our students this year. BG and Company Troupes are bigger and better every year. Students will audition like last year and selected students will be given an opportunity to be in a performing troupe! At Birch Grove, we believe that each child shines in his or her own special artful way while not only sustaining but thriving on the integrity of state and district standards!
School uniforms results have been reached. When we surveyed last year only a small percentage of parents participated. So, I re-surveyed this year. We had 400 surveys returned. Unfortunately, we do not have enough interest to move this idea forward. 68% of our families supported school uniforms at Birch Grove but 32% did not. With this said, please make sure that your children come to school appropriately dressed. Our site and district dress code policy will be enforced on a daily basis.
Most sincerely,
MaLie Lee, Principal
Birch Grove Elementary School for the Arts
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