Woodlawn Principal's Blog 2/18/22

We continue to roll through February.  This has been a week.  Regardless of where you stand on the topic of masks, D96 has been consistent in their approach.  Everyone should have received messages from our Superintendent of Schools, Julie Schmidt.  The thing that I am proud of is that everyone was respectful of the others' decisions.  Thank you to everyone for your understanding.  


Just a reminder…there is no school this Monday, February 21st.  2/21/22


This Tuesday, February 22nd is an early dismissal. Students are dismissed at 1:30PM. 2/22/22


Calling all 7th Grade Parents!

Next Wednesday, February 23rd, the PTO is celebrating our 7th graders "Half Way Through Middle School' with a pizza and ice cream lunch.  We are in need of additional volunteers to help serve so if you would like to help, please email PTO Co-Vice President Juliann Boardman at [email protected] and let her know.  Arrival time is 10:45am and parents can  plan to stay until around 11:40am.  Please remember that all volunteer guidelines for covid are still being followed.



*NEW* SPRING COLLABORATIVE CONFERENCES*

The collaborative conference dates are Monday, March 14th from 5:00 PM to 8:30 PM and Tuesday, March 15th from 10:00 AM to 1:30 PM.

We will be using Meet the Teacher as an electronic sign up for collaborative conferences. A School Messenger email will be sent to families on Thursday, February 24th at 6:00PM with a link to sign up for conferences.

Collaborative conferences will be held over zoom unless parents request an in-person conference using the instructions below. A document with all the staff zoom links will be sent out on Friday, March 11th. 

REQUESTING AN IN-PERSON CONFERENCE

After selecting the teachers you wish to meet with and choosing a time for each conference, Meet the Teacher will prompt you to save the appointment and ask if you want to add a message for the teacher. If you want to have an in-person conference with the teachers, you must notify the teachers via this messaging feature (see picture below).


 



Congratulations to Woodlawn’s Geography Club teams that competed in the Stevenson High School Geography Bowl last Friday. Team 1, led by Noah Hanif and teammates Aiden Siocon, Madden Zuccaro and Sanjay Devabhaktuni, came in 2nd place and Team 2, led by Jingyi Wu with teammates Ben Aleksick, Taneesha Pahari, Advait Nagarkar, and Connor Dessing, came in a very close third place. These students showed a vast range of knowledge about geography!



NEW *Covid Metrics*

To stay up-to-date this school year on local metrics, please visit the COVID DASHBOARD for District 96. Our priority remains to keep our students safe and follow guidance from the CDC. If your student is identified as a "close contact", you will be notified individually through the contact tracing process. 


Click here to see the Woodlawn Daily Announcements


Click here to see the PTO Monthly Blog


For all of you who responded to Mrs. Grana’s post last week, you are all very kind.  Now let’s get back to focusing on the main event.  


Finally, it is happening to me again, I am being broken up with. Sure it is easy to say that this was inevitable and that she was headed for a more stable, long term relationship, but it still stings.  I still after all of these years, tend to look at these things as an “It’s not you, it’s me” type of situation.  

For those of you who do not know, Michelle Garlick was named the new Principal at Country Meadows Elementary School earlier this week.  This is a huge win for Country Meadows as they will be able to keep their momentum going with an extraordinary educational mind and a person with a tireless work ethic.  With all of that being said, I am not understanding why these amazingly talented and intelligent women keep leaving me.  I am not going to lie, it brings back bad memories.  In fact, this is how our first meeting will go in August when Michelle and her new Assistant Principal will show up at our district office for Administrative Team Meetings.  

First we will see each other from across the room and give the ¾ wave.  We will meet in the middle of the room and start off with the usual pleasantries:

 “How are you? How was your summer?  Kids alright?”  

About this time, her new Assistant Principal will come over and this is where it gets awkward.  “Greg this is Skip.  He has been doing amazing things at _______ elementary  school and we are off to a great start at Country Meadows.”  Michelle will be pulled away because she is a celebrity new principal as Skip tells me that he’s heard a lot about me.  I shrug and tell him, “don’t listen to the bad stuff”.  We both have a laugh and drift off to different sides of the room to eat a breakfast bagel.  

At some point, Michelle and I will talk again and she will suggest that we get lunch together.  I smile and nod but know deep in my heart that this one is headed for superstardom.  

In all seriousness, Michelle Garlick is already a star.  If you have a child at Country Meadows, consider yourself extremely lucky.  I give my A.P.’s a lot rope to work with and Michelle has run with the reigns from the start.  I am so proud of her and happy for her two little ones, Kinley and Nora and her awesome husband Steve. Congratulations MG! 

 

If you have had the pleasure of working with Michelle and would like to shoot her a congratulatory email, [email protected] is where you can find her. 

 

I'll be in my office listening broken hearted country songs.