Principal's Newsletter

February

January 31, 2008

Dear Parents,

As you know, schools across the district and state are focusing on one character-building quality each month. Our February Core Essential will be “Kindness” - showing others they are valuable by how we treat them. I am happy to say most of our students at Heritage demonstrate kindness on a daily basis and we will continue to work on this essential.

One core essential that I must revisit is Responsibility. The basis for this stems from our over flowing Lost–n-Found. It is growing like an amoeba as we speak. Few schools have a Student Council like ours that returns lost items to their rightful owner, provided their name is in it. I know of several schools that if a jacket, lunch pail, backpack, etc. were to be left on the playground, when the student went to retrieve it, the item was long gone. My point is, our students don’t care if they leave their jackets on the playground, and they know it will be there or in the lost –n-found when they miss it. I asked one student why he was tearing the sole off of his tennis shoe and his reply was, “I want my parents to buy me a new pair of Nike shocks.” I know our students are privileged and many are pampered more so than you or I when we were growing up. Perhaps if your child had a consequence when they lost their coat, lunch, backpack, etc. Maybe I should not allow our Student Council to return lost items. Whatever the decision, I would be remiss if I didn’t share my concerns with you. I have attached an old letter I wrote to my middle school parents several years ago when I was an administrator in Coppell. I will be the first to admit, I too was guilty of being a helicopter parent (One who flies in to the rescue) from time to time. Obviously, as a principal and a parent I spend much of my time dealing with a lack of responsibility on the part of students, staff, parents, and myself, therefore, I want to share a couple of thoughts on the subject. Responsibility is not instinctive in children. It must be taught. As a parent you play a key role in this process by modeling these for your children and helping them recognize the consequences that result from disorganization and irresponsibility. As adults, we need to help children see that even though consequences may often feel like a ‘punishment’ they are actually invaluable life lessons. The ‘pinch’ that is often felt with a consequence merely reinforces the importance of the task or the decision. It is an essential growing pain on the path to autonomy and independence. As parents our natural inclination is to want to shelter our children from the discomforts of life. In doing so, we actually stifle their emotional growth and maturation.

Children need parents and mentors to facilitate the acquisition of these essential life skills. You need to help them develop organizational skills and a daily routine when homework and assignments are reviewed, completed, and made ready for their return to school. Don’t do it for them, help them master the routine while encouraging them and guiding them along the way. Praise and reward them as the skills are developed. Of course there will be days when class work, or textbooks, or lunches will be forgotten and left at home. Rescuing your child from the natural consequences of this occurrence will not develop these life skills. No child at Heritage will ever go without lunch. If a lunch is forgotten, a basic sack lunch will be provided or you can establish an account so that a lunch can be purchased. Help your child understand that the penalty of a “late grade” is unfortunate but not catastrophic and work with them to develop a plan so that all future assignments are turned in on time.

Well enough on that subject, chances are if you are reading along, you are one of the parents that are already doing these things. Now I must move on to child safety. As you know our Safe Doors have been very helpful in eliminating surprise visits to our classrooms. Last week one of our Lewisville schools had an unfortunate incident occur when a former student of that school came back to visit. Because of his actions and to prevent other incidents from occurring, LISD has changed their policy regarding visitors. It is as follows: Effective immediately, we will not allow former students (who now attend middle school, high school, college, etc.) to visit their former teachers when our current students are being instructed during the school day on any of our campuses. As before any visitor must have a scheduled appointment with the teacher during their planning time . We continue to be diligent in our quest to keep our children safe. Thank you all for following our rules to help Heritage be a safe place for students. I do appreciate you for being a partner in your child’s education. We are happy to serve both our students and parents.

Sincerely,

BeLinda Nikkel

Principal