Thank You

5 years. A lot can happen in 5 years. There can be births, deaths, marriages and divorces. Children learn to read and write and run and play basketball and walk down the hall in a line. People form close bonds and learn to trust and count on each other. All of these things have happened over the last 5 years during my time at Thompson. As I said in my last post (yes, I know it was a long time ago), I have many, many memories of the last 5 years of the children, staff and parents I met and worked with at Thompson. The group  above is quite the exceptional group of people. They sang me a song yesterday that made me laugh and cry and confirmed for me yet again, how grateful I am to have been able to work with them.
When I think back on my 5 years, I hope I have left a legacy, although I am not sure what that legacy might be. I hope it would be a legacy of caring and learning. When I reflect on my time at Thompson, I have great pride and no regrets. I know I learned a tremendous amount about how to work with a group of people and I hope I have learned from the mistakes I have made. I did make mistakes and at the moment I made some of the decisions I made, I thought they were the best decision at the time. With time and reflection, I probably would make different decisions when confronted with the same situation. I also have great pride for the things I added to the school and I hope they will also be part of my legacy.

I am still sorting out what it means to me to be a leader and what my leadership style is. What I do know is that one person alone does not lead a school. I believe one person guides others to lead and provides encouragement as needed. I like to get out of people's way when they are on a roll and to be there to provide support. I think the same applies to the students we work with. They are leaders and can be given many ways to show that leadership. We need to listen to them and to really hear their stories.
As I move on to be a Lee Lion, I will continue my learning journey and will do my best to continue sharing my learning.
But now it is summer, which for me means a time for rest and reflection... and sleeping in!