Episode Details

Happy Friday!

Thank you for all you did this week! In case you missed it in our District Updates done by Ms. Albin’s journalism students, here is a message to teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week. Our Facebook has been full of posts about the appreciation shown to you all by our community partners and parents. It has been a really good week of appreciation, reflection, and planning to bring us to the final full week of school next week, along with the anticipation of summer and a new school year full of accomplishments!

Speaking of accomplishments, our district goals continue to track well. The gap in discipline referrals is widening again but the end of school is always a challenge; so, keep your expectations high and your students busy. It is mathematically impossible for us to hit our attendance goal but our other two look to be attainable.

I want to take this opportunity to get some feedback about our district goals. I have created two Thought Exchanges - one for reflecting on all of our goals and one for reflecting on the goal we did not attain - attendance. Please take some time to complete these. This will help us this summer as we plan for next year. These will close on Tuesday, May 23rd, with results shared on Wednesday the 24th.

Investing The Appreciation

Probably the most meaningful Teacher Appreciation action that took place this year was the increases in your salaries paid through state surplus and LEARNS. Our leaders are better at recognizing the need for good teachers in every classroom and every school and they have taken action. Now is the time to not just improve your standard of living but to also prepare for your future.

In this Inc.com article by Elle Kaplan, she highlights the wisdom of Warren Buffet’s “20-Slot Rule”. This rule, “Improves your ultimate financial welfare by giving you a ticket with only 20 slots in it so that you had 20 punches--representing all the investments that you got to make in a lifetime. And once you'd punched through the card, you couldn't make any more investments at all ... Under those rules, you'd really think carefully about what you did and you'd be forced to load up on what you'd really thought about. So you'd do so much better.”

Now, it is good for our local economy for everyone to upgrade their housing and their vehicles and even to purchase boats or ATVs, but the point of this article is that some investment should be in savings. In the past, many young teachers did not have the ability to save but with these new salaries, you will. Be looking for an email blast from American Fidelity. They will be giving you an opportunity to have in-depth discussions this summer about investments and savings beyond teacher retirement and I encourage you to take advantage of the opportunity.

Feed a Bearcat

At the end of the year we always have meal accounts that are in the negative and thank goodness for those who donate or work for our Feed a Bearcat account. This year, however, the funds in FAB do not quite reach the full debt. This is not a solicitation for donations. We have another plan but when the FAB fundraisers are presented, please take notice. In the future, we are planning ways to help without having to make donations. Also, if you owe a meal balance for yourself or your own kids, please get those paid so we can close out those negatives.