The Director's Cut: #Hope #Passion #Strength #Love

As you welcome your staff back to work tomorrow think about the message you are sending them when you first see one another. How about starting positive chain reaction? For those of you that were not able to make it to Great Beginnings on Friday, let me explain how we welcomed the new teachers to FSUSD. All district and site admin lined the front breezeway and created a cheering line. As each employee walked through the doors they were greeted with cheers, claps, and high fives. They walked down the line and were showered with appreciation. The Welcome Line The smiles were bright and some people were unsure of what to do or how to react. They were not expecting a welcome of this kind. The board room filled quickly with the hundreds of new teachers. What had the enthusiastic welcome done? It had created an environment where people felt wanted, appreciated, and yes, loved. That feeling propelled the individuals to be more in the moment and let down their guard. It set the stage for a very productive day. What if we did this with our students?

Take a moment to think about a positive chain reaction. Engaging in one positive action for another can cause a ripple effect. What if all of our #FSUSD students were greeted on Wednesday to cheers of appreciation that they were on campus? What if we showered them with HOPE and LOVE? What if we focused on the HEART before the HEAD every day with ALL of our students? People want and need to be loved. Dr. Jeff Andrade, keynote speaker of "Growing Roses in Concrete" and now the Growing Roses in Concrete Community School http://rosesinconcrete.org/ has said that having just one caring adult in a child's life can be the difference between a child finding success or not. If you have never heard Dr. Andrade speak, you must. Below is a Youtube link to one of Dr. Andrade's presentations from 2015.

The community came out on Saturday and created a positive chain reaction at the Back to School Resource Fair. The smiles and excitement on the children's faces when they received their wristband for a backpack filled my heart. The first student in line had been waiting since 3:00 AM!! The 1300 students that received backpacks can now begin school Wednesday with confidence that they have the needed supplies. Families were able to visit the mobile health clinic at the fair and find out about the many, many other available resources in the county. The resource fair is just one example of giving individuals #Hope and #Love. Once they are empowered with hope and love they can begin to pass that on, and there begins the positive chain reaction.