Week 34: Teacher Appreciation Week

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.

Closing

I want to recognize our Child Nutrition Team, especially Amy Bartow and Susan Bodey for the effort they have put forth on the district’s behalf. The latest news is a $20,000 grant from No Child Hungry and a portion of that grant will be used to buy new equipment for our schools. They will also continue our summer feeding while school is out. There is more about that and the additional backpack program supported by our community leaders in the next issue of RED Around Town, which I’ll provide a preview of in next week’s Wrap-up.

Do not worry about buying eclipse glasses for your students! The solar eclipse is happening next April but people are already getting ready and one of the early preparation being sold are the protective eyewear to view the eclipse through. Mrs. Simms has already made arrangements to purchase these for all of our students at Mena Public Schools so there will be some made available when the time comes.

Our Ladycat Soccer Team ended their season yesterday in the first round of the state tournament. Congratulations to those players for making it to the state tournament and having one of the most successful seasons in quite some time!

Last week, our Ladycat Softball Team finished out their season in the first round of the regional tournament and I want to congratulate them on a great season that included a conference championship and conference tournament runner-up.

Elliot Dugan, our track star who is the Class 4-A State Champion High Jumper, competed in the Meet of Champs against athletes from all classifications and finished sixth place. This is a tremendous accomplishment for a freshman!

The Mena FFA Alumni 2nd Annual Dinner and Auction is tomorrow at the Dallas Avenue Baptist Church Multipurpose Building starting at 5 pm. There are a lot of donated and student-made products to be auctioned off. Please support our school-affiliated fundraisers whenever you can!

Please use this form to notify us if this is your 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, or 30th year at Mena Public Schools or if you achieved major accomplishments this year such as an advanced degree or credential. We also want to recognize accomplishments in your classrooms related to our district goals. We will have our end-of-year celebration on Wednesday, May 24th, in the PAC at 11 am with lunch immediately after. Our lunch is being prepared by Christ Community Fellowship and it is sponsored by American Fidelity, RePops, Montgomery Shelter Insurance, Farm Bureau, Edward Jones, and Non-Stop Fitness.

It was a really good week at Mena Public Schools!!

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

Have a great weekend!!