Principal's Message

Happy Tuesday Redwood Families,

Yes.  I know.  I promised a Monday edition and lo and behold, here it is Tuesday and finally the latest edition of All Things Redwood has finally come to fruition.  For those not in the know, I'm a huge fan of Monday, and yesterday was a Monday with a proverbial cherry on top.  Why?  You may be pondering at this point. Obviously this may be a two-fold explanation.  As in, why Mondays and more specifically, what would make the said Monday in question a literal dessert option in your mind?  For those not in the know, I've always been a longstanding Monday advocate, which certainly places me in the minority when chatting with the Friday/Saturday fanclub folks, yet I find the structure of the day surprisingly grounding, especially after two days of open-ended time.  Returning to a predictable rhythm reduces my executive overload and brings back a sense of purpose.  Weird huh?  Yet, when it comes to my role in education it truly is kismet.  As a quick digression the word kismet originated from the Arabic word qismah, which means lot in life, and to that end education has been my lot in life for over thirty years and counting.  It's truly amazing when things just work out, and things certainly worked out for our first day back with all SUSD staff.  Thus the dessert reference, although it must be noted that I am not a fan of cherries, unless they are fresh from the tree.  Cherry pie may be my least preferred dessert option, which raises the question if you are a cake or pie person, yet we can save this controversial topic for another day.  Circling back to the topic at hand, the room was abuzz with the energy that only a new school year can bring.  It's the one time of year that we are all together as one, and it has all the feels of a reunion and celebration wrapped into one.  Our keynote speaker, A.J. Juliani set the tone with a scintillating presentation about instructional innovation, wherein the topics of AI, student engagement and best practices interwoven into an informative and entertaining launch for the school year.  If that wasn't enough the RMS staff spent the afternoon setting the stage for the year ahead!  After it was all said and done I was both exhilarated and exhausted.  Thus the Tuesday newsletter...  

In any case, if you haven't surmised, we're super excited to start the year!

See you on Thursday!

Steve