I am excited about going into our second year together!
I have learned a lot about YA over the course of my first year as principal. I have learned about where YA has been, where we are at, and where we need to go.
Last year, we focused on Social Justice Through Academic Excellence but I then realized that we weren’t taking the time to build up our students’ moral character. This is why we have expanded our focus to include responsible leadership making our focus this coming school year to be
Social Justice through Academic Excellence and Responsible Leadership. To address developing responsible leadership, we will be adopting the
Leader in Me program that is centered around the 7 habits of highly effective people which you can read more about
here.
This time next year, I want to see a more caring and thoughtful community that shows each other kindness and respect. In order to help us to accomplish this, we will be training all staff on the 7 habits of highly effective people. The adults who work with your children must get on the same page as to how we work with each other and students so that we can model the habits we would want students to exhibit. Every action must first start with a thought so in order to change one's actions we must first take a look at the thought process itself. This is what the 7 habits are all about.
The 7 habits will also give us a common language in which we can use to both think about how we can reflect on our own actions but also think about how we interact with each other. The 7 habits will help us to model and teach students how to exhibit the values of S2R2: Safe, Supportive, Respectful, and Responsible.
Our goal this year is to create the environment necessary to foster Social Justice through Academic Excellence and Responsible Leadership. I look forward to building a great team between parents, students, staff, and the community. It is through teamwork we will see the true potential of our students shine for all to see. I truly value your thoughts and ideas so please never hesitate to get in contact with me. Please read the
Young Achievers School Mission as this will be a key driver to decisions I make for the school.
Thank you,
Sean Guthrie
08/22/18
