This week, we are highlighting the work that teachers and staff do outside of the classroom to address the many facets of a K-8 school.
One essential role that our staff members take on is committee work. The school has a number of committees that address different topics:
- The Wellness Committee promotes health and wellness for students, staff, and families. The committee organizes activities and provides resources and information to encourage healthy eating, physical fitness, and strong social connections.
- The Universal Team focuses their efforts on defining, teaching, and modeling safe, responsible, and respectful behavior to maximize social and academic success. The team regularly reviews student behavior data to identify areas of strength and need and then plans activities and provides resources to support areas that could use improvement.
- The Sunshine Committee provides small tokens of appreciation or empathy when staff members are celebrating a happy occasion or facing a challenging time in their lives.
- The Leadership Team is responsible for fostering a positive and collaborative culture, facilitating communication among staff members, creating and sustaining an engaging learning community, and developing goals and implementing effective and efficient systems in service of accomplishing those goals. The Leadership Team this year is focusing in particular on the self-study process that we are undertaking as part of our pursuit of NEASC accreditation (more on that in a future edition of the Laker).
- The Technology Committee's work focuses on enhancing, supporting, and increasing the use of technology in order to personalize learning and maximize student achievement.
- The Literacy Committee promotes school-wide literacy through planning events such as book buddies, the spelling bee, Read Across America Week, and hosting visiting authors.
- The Science Committee focuses on developing science curriculum that is aligned with the relatively new Next Generation Science Standards and providing resources and coaching to staff.
- The Safety Committee develops and directs procedures and protocols to ensure the safety and security of the building and grounds. The team provides information and resources for staff members, plans drills for a variety of emergency procedures, and coordinates with town and state officials to ensure continuity in our safety measures.
- The Deerfield Fair Committee works to collect, organize, and display student work at the fair each year.
We are grateful for our staff members' dedication to our school and their willingness to create a safe, challenging, fun, and engaging learning environment for students. Schools are complex organizations that require an "all hands on deck" attitude - something our staff has in spades! We are lucky to have such hardworking, creative, and thoughtful educators in our school!