Our Annual Faculty and Staff Service Acknowledgment Assembly

Each year at this special Assembly we celebrate our faculty and staff on the occasion of the their five-year service anniversaries. On our school website, we describe our faculty as, “confident and creative, curious and intelligent, rigorous and open minded.” To that list, I would add collaborative, supportive, team players, and wearers of many hats.

Our faculty and staff model our school mission of bringing learning to life in the professional growth they display in their own practice. We are a community of lifelong learners who make lifelong learning a priority. A number of years ago, we focused our professional development strategically on our highest priority goals and it is amazing what our teachers and staff have accomplished since then. A few examples from this school year follow.

All faculty have participated on teacher task forces, which involve studying and taking action on academic and program goals outlined in our Envision 2020 Strategic Plan. For example, as a specific focus this year a teacher leadership cohort worked intensively with instructional differentiation specialist Amy Symons Burke during the summer and then helped her to train all faculty this fall. In addition,a lengthy list of development and training accomplishments and opportunities enjoyed by our faculty follows.

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In addition, our faculty and staff visited peer independent schools in California and in other parts of the country, as well as participate on accreditation teams at other schools. Likewise, we have faculty pursuing advanced degrees and professional certifications. I extend a special acknowledgement to Director of Finance and Operations Jennifer Maciasfor being the first graduate of the Independent School Management Business Officer Certification at the Executive Level program.

Upcoming training opportunities include a SCOE invitation to our faculty to participate in a training at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles this spring and all faculty and many staff members will attend the National Association of Independent Schools annual conference in San Francisco at the end of February.

I also recognize and honor SCDS faculty and staff for their five-year service anniversaries and invite you to listen to my remarks in this video excerpt from the Assembly:

• Ms. Armstrong, Ms. Prothro, Ms. Lake, Ms. Thomas, Ms. Wang · five years
• Mr. Pile, Ms. Schmidt · ten years
• Ms. Gleadall · fifteen years

I closed the Assembly with this quote from Mr. Schuster, one of the main characters on the hit television show Glee:

The best teachers don’t give you the answers, they just point the way and let you make their own choices, your own mistakes. That way you get all the glory. And you deserve it.

Brad Weaver, Ed.D

Head of School