What I really like a lot about our local school

Yesterday's post was prickly, but I have good things to say about school, too.

1)  teamwork, at every level
From the start, our school has given me the impression it's doing more than just going through the motions.

Every day, our principal or assistant prin., or both, is just inside the main doors among the students. They are visible. They greet every student and parent coming through those doors personally. They make it clear they are on top of things, but at the same time, they don't behave like prison wardens. It's clear also that they put a lot of trust in the staff and believe in the students.

Professionalism plus warmth. It's a balance that not every school administrator can strike effectively.

The same attitude carries among the faculty, too. They pull their own weight, but they cooperate and help each other, too. We see evidence of team planning as well as friendly exchanges. They seem to genuinely like what they do.

No school is without its problems (and many of the problems schools have, I think, are more indicative of failings at the larger institutional level, not the individual building level). But when the people in charge really know what they're doing, they can make it work.

2) community
We like where we live, and we have some good neighbors. Every family's busy doing its own thing, though, and we don't see them all that often. I'm a little bit of a loner myself, but the kids really love seeing each other. Unfortunately, almost every time the kids ask to go play with their neighbor friends, it isn't a good time for one or the other family.

But this year, Boy 1, one of the girls next door, and the boy behind us all are in the same class. I like that they get to be around each other, even if it isn't play time.

These kids were in some ways a community already, but I'm willing to bet they're learning something extra about what makes a community now that they work together in addition to knowing each other as friends. That's one of the good things about neighborhood schools in general, I think. The school is itself a medium for bringing together people from all over the area it serves. It has little to do with education, but it's a benefit just the same.

3) getting it done
Yes, I think the homework is over the top, and a few other things (yesterday's post again) make me grit my teeth. But from what we've seen so far, this school is getting the job done.

And getting it done better than I believe I could do myself.

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And that actually gives me a nice lead-in to the last topic tomorrow, so I'll leave it at that for now.