Transportation Appreciation

We love our bus drivers and appreciate all they do each and every day.  I've put together a video that includes interviews with several of our drivers, where I ask them what they like about driving and what the challenges are with driving a school bus.  I also heard from the students about what they think of their drivers.  Finally, I rode on one of our buses as it took students home from Westside Elementary.  I hope you will take a few minutes to watch this special video that highlights our drivers and the job they do.

Transportation Appreciation  (video)

 

Honoring our Veterans

Today our schools are closed in honor of Veterans Day.  On Thursday, there were activities and ceremonies throughout the division to celebrate Veterans and their service.  I have never seen a school division and community celebrate Veterans Day quite like Isle of Wight County!  So I had to do a Veterans Day video blog.  The video below is from the Westside Veterans Day program.  One of the Veterans who attended the ceremony for the first time shared the following with us:

It was an honor and a great privilege to attend today's Veterans event at Westside Elementary. Today has been the most patriotic and heart felt event I have attended in my 23 years of service. I am still in awe about the love and support the students and staff showed us. I never thought our children in public schools cared this much. My children ages 11 and 8 do not have these events for holidays like this. I have to take them out of school, because those days are usually snow make up days. We will go volunteer somewhere to give back to those who have gone before me. Thank you so much for teaching our future generations the importance of supporting Veterans. I wish more districts would follow your lead on this, it really brings our communities together. Thank you all! 

Thank you again to all of our Veterans. 

I hope you enjoy the video.

Veterans Day Ceremony at Westside Elementary School (video link)

Giving Students a Chance to be Heard

Recently I started visiting schools and sitting down with students to hear from them on various topics.  These Student Advisory Committees are informal conversations between me and the students that allow them to share their likes and wonders about school.  They are usually very eager to tell me about their experiences during their time in IWCS. I asked them about classes or teachers that made them feel successful, and their comments reinforced the importance of developing positive relationships.  The video below is a compilation from a few of the groups talking about those teachers who had a significant impact on them.  One student calls his teacher his "lucky charm"! There is a lot more to share from the Student Advisory meetings, which I'll highlight in future blogs, so stay tuned!

Superintendent's Student Advisory Committees (video) featuring students from Windsor Elementary, Hardy Elementary, Georgie Tyler and Smithfield Middle schools.