Greetings Gunston Families, Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  I hope you feel a sense of good luck today.  It is a good practice to acknowledge the things for which one is grateful, and I am grateful to be a part of this great community.  Your children make me smile. . .most of the time! This week […]

Greetings Gunston Families, It was so great to see many of you during conferences this Thursday and Friday. I very much enjoyed the chats with families and students, hearing about what was going well, and hearing what students were proud of at this point in the year. One mom commented she liked the format, she […]

Greetings Gunston Families, The school year continues to move along at what feels like an increasingly rapid rate. Perhaps the 80 degree weather in February adds to that feeling but we are already approaching the mid-way point for the 3rd quarter. The due date for the IPR (interim progress report) grades is next Tuesday, February […]

Greetings Gunston Families, It’s been a difficult week this week. I think this is so for anyone who is a family in APS, but the tragedy and incident at Wakefield felt a little closer to Gunston as Wakefield is our feeder high school; we know staff and students that are there. Plus, the student who […]

Greeting Gunston Families, Well, we are actually at the halfway point for the year.  I imagine 6th grade families are seeing their children look and behave more like middle schoolers and less like elementary school students. And for 8th grade families, your middle school babies might be looking a lot like high schoolers!  It is […]

Greetings Gunston Families, I hope that you have been enjoying the gift of milder weather. It was especially nice today to see the sun shining. I don’t know about the prospects for weather events that disrupt the school schedule but the milder temperatures and drier conditions have been welcomed. Students were able to eat outside […]

Greetings Gunston Families, This morning, during the announcements, I thanked students for their positive participation in the standardized testing this week. Most students brought a charged iPad to school and most were able to navigate the 2-hour delay schedule we implemented when testing was finished! It feels good to have that big testing task done. […]

Greetings Gunston Families, Thank you for the grace you extended to us this week. And thank you for the extra attention shown to your child. It was a very difficult and sad week. We will move forward, but grief is tricky. There is still a lot to process. Please continue to keep a close eye […]

Greetings Gunston Families, You would have loved being a middle school student this week.  Our modified early release schedule, I think, was a hit.  The change of schedule served two purposes. One, was to limit the number of transitions on a short day with all 7 classes, TA, and lunch!  And two, really, was to […]

Greetings Gunston Families, Just a quick message to wish all families a very Happy Thanksgiving.  I hope that you will be able to spend time with family and friends, that the meal is memorable, and that you can find many things for which to be grateful.  Sometimes creating the gratitude list is more challenging than […]

Greetings Gunston Families, I know, it has not been easy to get into a good school rhythm. Last week was a full five-days of school. This week, just three! It is good that students are flexible. They might manage the changes better than the adults! I did, however, ask a student yesterday if the day […]

Greetings Gunston Families, It was great fun to see many families last week for Parent-Student-Teacher conferences.  I particularly enjoyed asking students what they were proud of from the first 7 weeks of the school.  It is not easy growing up and navigating increasing responsibilities and increasing expectations.  Asking students to think about and share what […]

Greetings Gunston Families, “Progress, not perfection” was a phrase I would often say last year, while we were navigating our recovery from the pandemic. But that sentiment does not only have to be a form of encouragement for pandemic times, it’s a good phrase for the present. And it’s a good phrase for today! Four […]

Greetings Families, We are looking forward to connecting with you during Family-Teacher Feedback Day, otherwise known at Parent-Teacher conferences.  Based on the feedback about our last year’ structure, we made changes.  One change is we are being more intentional about including your children in the process.  We hope they will attend the conference with you […]

Greetings Gunston Families, I hope this email finds you well. It was a pleasure to spend some time with families this week during our Town Hall sessions. I know that it may not have been the best lesson; we did share lots of information and did not leave a lot of opportunities for interaction. We […]

Greetings Gunston Families, It was great to see so many families on Tuesday during Back To School Night.  I liked being able to meet families, make connections between emails and faces, and to see some of the students’ support team.  I hope that you had a good time too.  Plus, it brought me a little […]

Greetings Gunston Families, Happy rainy Friday! Even though it is raining while I craft this message, there is abundant sunshine in my heart! I have been to two performances of “Once On This Island Jr.”, Gunston’s first musical. It made me smile, made me laugh, and even a few tears of joy leaked out of […]

Greetings Gunston Families, I hope this SchoolTalk message finds you well and leaning into the routines of school.  While we continue to make adjustments, there is a familiar flow to school.  In addition to managing the extras that come with in-person schooling in the pandemic, like lunch duty outside, contact tracing, and COVID testing management, […]

Greetings Gunston Families, Well, we are in the 6th week of the 2021-22 school year! For me, from one perspective, it feels like we have been back a lot longer than 6 weeks. And then, from another perspective, I am amazed that today is only the 23rd actual day of school. I hope you are […]

Greetings Gunston Families, The Gunston garden continues to grow, our plants are showing signs of flourishing and we continue to make adjustments. In regards to growth, our current enrollment is 1,111 students. We also are in the process of bringing two more teachers to Gunston, one for Special Education and one for our English Learners. […]

Greetings Gunston Families, Woot! Woot!  We made it through the second week of school!  I am not counting down but rather counting up.  I don’t want to miss an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate our successes. Each week of navigating schooling in the pandemic part three, to me, is reason to celebrate! This coming week […]

Greetings Gunston Families, We made it to the end of the first week of in-person school!  And for your perseverance, patience, and positivity, please enjoy five school-free days, as my gift to you.  Ok, no, I do not have the power to grant school-free days, and your children are not expected back at Gunston until […]