Happy Holidays IA families!

What an incredible first semester. It seems to have simultaneously started yesterday and a decade ago.

Thank you all for your support through this year.

We received feedback from our SGC survey, and we are going to continue the engagement with some focus groups. I have attached the slideshow to this message.

It was great to see that most of you feel we are executing on a mission and vision for the school.

There are some clear areas where families do not feel like we are aligned. Our virtual courses and the lack of sports were two areas where parents did not feel we are aligning with our mission. We are always looking at the impact of our programming, so we’ll take some time to review. In the January Beacon, we will share more of the rationale behind these aspects of our school.

One big area for growth is in our pathway communication. It’s often hard to get critical feedback, but this is a great example of why that is important. I honestly have not considered the desire to have ongoing communications directly from the pathways. We’ll be working to make this better in the new year.

Another concern addressed in the comments of the feedback dealt with communication as well. We’ll continue to review this to see how best we as a staff can respond more quickly to parent questions and concerns. Several comments addressed my responses to you as well. Many were anonymous, so I’d like to offer a blanket apology for any parents I have not responded to. It’s important for a principal to be available for their parents, and I work hard to do so, but I have occasionally fallen short of my own expectations in this regard. I won’t make excuses, but I will only ask that you give me the benefit of the doubt. There is an adage known as Hanlon’s  Razor which says “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” I am sad to admit that my slow responses to parents is adequately explained by stupidity. I would never intentionally avoid a response to a parent concern or request, but I am still working on a system that helps me respond to all emails more successfully.

In all, thank you for the feedback you have shared. It will continue to make us better as a school.

On a lighter note, I have not had a chance to share our PSAT scores. Our teachers and students have done exceptional work, and we have fantastic scores across the board.

  • 9th Grade: ​
    • Mean Score: 1040 ​
    • District Mean: 874  State Mean: 921​
    • Testers 374​
  • 10th Grade: ​
    • Mean Score: 1098 
    • District Mean: 929  State Mean: 876​
    • Testers 428 ​
  • 11th Grade: ​
    • Mean Score: 1202 
    • District Mean: 989  State Mean: 1005​
    • Testers 242​
  • We had four students who scored a perfect score!​

I am very proud of the work we have done.

I am also continuously impressed with our students ability to do so well with these standardized scores and to impress our business and community partners. This Thursday over 100 of our students participated in our Moonshot Expo, and I have had several calls from our partners asking to have more opportunities to engage with our students because they are so talented and insightful.

While I am ready for a few weeks off, I have to say I am readier than ever for second semester. Our students and staff are hitting a good pace, and I expect our second semester to be more phenomenal than any so far.

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