Superintendent

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November 15, 2024

GLPS Families,

As we close the book on the first trimester of the 2024-2025 school year, it is hard to believe that one third of the school year is behind us already. We have seen wonderful growth in our students over the trimester, as measured not only by our classroom and standardized test scores, but also by what they are doing on our athletic fields, in our art spaces, and throughout our schools. 

Before getting into the academic portion of my message today, I want to start by recognizing that Monday was Veterans’ Day, when we take time to reflect on and appreciate the service and sacrifice of our veterans and members of the armed services. Thank you for all you have done and are doing to uphold the freedoms that we all enjoy.

As for the rest of my message today, I want to remind you that I sent a survey out earlier in the year, asking you what topics you wanted me to write about in my weekly updates. I thought this would be a good time to highlight how we determine what students are learning, since 52.5% of you expressed interest in the topic on that survey, and we are transitioning to a new trimester next week. Here at GLPS, we have established a set of essential learnings, or important topics that we want to ensure all students learn. These are fully developed in BK-8th grade, and we are in the process of developing them for high school courses. These essential learnings were developed through teacher collaboration, and they are aligned to state and local assessments, as well as state standards. In addition, they are set up to help students achieve the important skills they need to be successful in their current grade level as well as to be prepared for the next grade level.

A key component of essential learnings is ensuring that everyone in the system knows what they are, and that includes staff, students, and families. While we are continuing to work on that communication and ensuring that they are understood by all, as families, you can find all of our essential learnings, by grade level, on our Academic Services page. Each of the links will take you to a document that outlines all of the essential learnings for that grade level. As I mentioned, high school documents are currently under construction, primarily because of the sheer number of courses, but we expect them to be available for the fall of 2025. These essential learnings form the backbones of our lessons, and guide our teachers’ planning, instruction, and assessment, as well as our data analysis processes and interventions. In short, they are the foundation upon which our learning occurs on a daily basis. As always, if you have any questions or concerns about the essential learnings for your children’s classes or grade levels, please reach out to their teachers. In addition, they should be a part of your conversations at conferences. 

We firmly believe in the partnership between our district and our families, and making these documents available is important so that we are all on the same page, and we can collectively support our students, so I encourage you to take time to review the documents.

In the meantime, as we head into the weekend, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for giving us the opportunity to work with you and your students every day. GLPS is a wonderful place to learn and grow, and as always, I am #proudtobeacomet!

Dr. Bill Barnes
Superintendent of Schools