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Welcome! Stepping cautiously into our new technology, we have decided to create the first ever Nysmith blog. The purpose of this blog is to increase communication between parents and school administrators but the actual direction of this blog will be primarily determined by you. Of course, you are still welcome to stop in and chat about whatever is on your mind. If your time is limited, I would encourage making an appointment; we have many tours and meetings. However, over the years we have received many insightful questions and we have not had a simple way to answer these questions for the parent community as a whole. We hope that this blog proves to be perfect for that purpose. If you do not have the time to come in for a personal meeting or would like to submit questions anonymously, you can still get your answers directly from the proverbial horse’s mouth. If you provide your name, I will leave it out if you mention that you would prefer it that way.
Since we are talking about communication, I would like to dispel one of the misperceptions that is floating around. We do not have gatekeepers or people by any other name to restrict access to anyone. Carole, Nora, Gloria, Mona, the teachers, and I are readily available. True, we cannot have the teachers drop everything they are doing with their class and talk with a parent, nor can a director interrupt a meeting that has been previously scheduled. However, any parent can set up an appointment with anyone. For administrators, just call the front office and ask to be put on our calendars. For teachers, leave them a voice mail or email asking them to call with a time they can meet with you. We are partners in this endeavor. Please let us know how we can help your child. We are here to help.
Sometimes parents ask how best to solve a problem. If it’s a minor problem such as a child does not understand the instruction or if the story your child brings home does not sound quite right, I encourage parents to talk with the teacher first. Please note that I did not say fire off an angry email or leave a harsh or threatening voicemail. Both are guaranteed to make the teacher defensive and get in the way of a positive parent teacher relationship. If, for what ever reason, you do not feel that you have gotten the right answer or if your concern is urgent, then by all means talk to one of the directors or me. We will look into the situation and will resolve it. We cannot always tell you how we have resolved it, but I guarantee, we will look into the situation and take appropriate action.
If you hear something about the school, or a policy, or anything that does not sound reasonable, feel free to talk with us. I do not have a problem with anyone asking, “Ken I hear that …… “ I am happy to explain and/or clarify anything relating to the school. I cannot guarantee that you will agree with me, but I feel confident that you will at least see the reasoning behind the decision and agree that we are working in the best interest of the children. I will be the first to admit that I have made mistakes in the past. I still cringe when I recall the club fax signup fiasco a couple years ago. I am sorry, I had no idea that people would be at Kinkos at 2:00 am…. But if you give us the benefit of the doubt, I feel very confident that you will see that we go to great lengths to help children and parents in every way we can.
For Comments please email Blog@nysmith.com.
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