Week 15: Being Mission Focused

Happy Friday!

I sincerely thank you for everything you have done this week to educate our students despite some really rare and harsh distractions. I especially want to thank our security and law enforcement members for leading us through multiple bomb threats earlier this week without incident. Last year, on Wednesday, November 17th, there was a bomb threat made at the high school and there were two major differences in results from last year to this year: one, there was much less communication between students and parents keeping the crowds away; and, two, there was an arrest made.

These positive outcomes happened because of reflection on past performance, learning from mistakes, making corrections, and improving training. We are especially grateful for the smart actions of the MMS office staff. If they had not taken the steps they were trained to take, law enforcement would not have made an arrest as swiftly as they did.

This week’s Wrap-up has some news and updates but I would like to center it around our actions to stay on-mission as a way to deal with all of the distractions taking place now and in the future.

Mission Focused

There is a sentence in our mission statement that says, We exemplify personal accountability by celebrating successes and learning from failures without abandoning purpose. The way we all responded to the bomb threat on Tuesday was better than what we did before because we recognized mistakes or failures. When we recognize our faults in such an important task as dealing with an emergency, we certainly cannot give up and admit that we are not good at it because the consequences of giving up would be very terrible. We do not abandon our purpose because it is so important to others who may depend upon us.

Having a mission also helps us to focus on others instead of ourselves. In many instances of emergency, there is a lot of chaos because people become concerned with their own survival. We depend upon trained professionals who have a specific mission and focus on that mission to help others. They bring order to the chaos and reassure the rest of us that we are safe or show us what to do so we can become safe.

Our professional and personal mission(s) in life and work is how we restore and retain order when there is chaos. When we internalize these reasons for working or living, they help us to guide each other and ourselves toward the safety and comfort that is disrupted when unpredictable emergencies or tragedies take place.

When we are in our normal routines, our professional mission in work helps us build strong professional relationships with those around us. It is important that our relationships with students and colleagues are mission-centered in order to keep an even keel. If our relationships are not mission-centered then they are only established by emotions, and we know how emotions can impact relationships when emergencies arise. When we lose sight of the mission and focus on emotion, we can say and do things that hurt ourselves and each other. So, stay mission-focused.

Cybersecurity

Many of us are aware of computer ransomware and malware attacks that have happened close to home. Our hospital suffered such an attack not long ago and some school districts have, as well. But the latest attack on the Little Rock School District has caused great concern in the state. When the best way out is to pay a quarter of a million dollars to your attacker, which is what LRSD did, the rest of us want to make sure we are not faced with the same problem.

So, starting in the next month and through the school year, Nathan and the tech team will be taking action to make our network more secure. Some things will not impact you, but some will. I am sure there will be new legislation coming from, as well, that will force new policies and procedures upon us. As for now, be aware that the district will be taking actions that will require your cooperation to bring about the best outcomes, which is to keep your data, district data, and our students’ data protected.

Closing

The Christmas concert performed by our choirs last night was outstanding! There has been much improvement in our choral students since their first performance earlier this semester. Thank you, Mrs. Tilley, for your efforts and we are looking forward to hearing Mrs. Dickinson’s elementary choirs.

Our wrestling teams will be competing close to home next week at Acorn. We do not have any home meets in this first year; so, if you want to watch some of our matches, we will be wrestling at Acorn on Monday the 12th starting at 6 pm.

This week, we finalized the budget for the remaining ARP funds to complete the polished concrete on all campuses and we added the dark stain to help the aesthetics of the floors. Also, the cost of the outdoor pavilions is now too high, so we have allocated all that is left to the floors.

Our district goals continue in the same trends as they have in weeks past; however, I do want to call your attention to some good details for attendance. This link will take you to a breakdown of attendance comparing last year to this year. Notice that MMS and MHS both have better attendance than a year ago in all grades. This is very good considering that secondary students have more control over how often they attend school. This also reinforces the fact that illness among our younger students has hurt our attendance. We do, however, still have students who are chronically absent and we continue to look for ways to address that problem.

Our basketball teams have been having a great season thus far. Both of our senior teams are in the Alma Tournament through this weekend and we have home games next week on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Please come out and support the Bearcats!

Also, congratulations to our Quiz Bowl team for earning a second-place award in the Mineral Springs invitational meet this week!

On a more somber note, we have many Bearcats close to us who are suffering in some way. There are students and staff members suffering illness or the loss of a loved one. In our shared values we have stated service to others as a top priority in our mission to create a kind community. There will be opportunities for all of us to help both public and private. So, please, when you see the opportunity to help, consider it an obligation.

At Mena Public Schools our students are prepared, our staff is supported, and our community is confident.