A new school year presents opportunities for various beginnings- new classes, new faces, sometimes-new courses, and often-new materials.  Summer and vacation can be great healers; and as we approach the opening day of a new school year, the end-of-year pressures that plagued us in June seem quite remote and inconsequential.

Newness alone, however, cannot produce transformation.  We ourselves must be willing to be caught up in the rebirth that is possible with each new year.  Starting a new year gives us the opportunity to make new plans, design new strategies, and implement new ideas.  There is a special kind of joy and satisfaction in planning lessons and activities for new classes; for although the subject or grade level is the same, the students are new, and they appreciate the planning that is done for them.  Whether one’s responsibility is administrating, supervising, teaching, maintaining a building, or managing an office, there is always room for improvement and for new ways to do a good job even better.

We can be proud of what we achieve in Steller- in our classrooms, in our offices and on our stages- but our achievements are not due to complacency and satisfaction with the status quo.  Our program is what it is because a staff of dedicated, aspiring men and women have a common goal- to do what is best for students and are always looking for ways to achieve that goal.

This year, as in the past, we must concentrate on the processes that spur continuing advancement; evaluating what we have, determining what we can do to improve, and identifying what we need to make those improvements.

Let us make 2009-10 our best year yet!

Harlod Green