Do you know what's happening at Lamar these days? Have you seen the changes, heard about the changes, all the good things going on over there? Last night, the new Lamar principal George Llewellyn presented to HP parents at our school. Those of us in attendance were impressed by the message delivered. Mr. Llewellyn spoke of Japanese and French classes, an alignment with McCallum in various art specialties (dance, theater, possibly musical theater), rigorous pre-AP math classes designed to have students ready for high school offerings, and more. He shared with us his plans to beef up all content areas, spoke of a new assistant principal coming on board who is known for her work in the area of science, and he talked about the work his team is now doing with McCallum, UTeach, and mindPOP in all areas. Truly, so many good things that I simply cannot mention them all here. Former Scottie parent reps, Blake Stanford, Sandy Muir, and Jodi Leach were on hand as well to provide input on their experiences and to share how much their kids love the school. Mr. Llewellyn is personable, engaging, and, most importantly, knows the ins and outs of scheduling, school behavioral management systems, and the types of curricular changes it takes to make Lamar a school aligned to high school and a school that truly gets our kids on the path to college, career, and life. He stated more than once he has a 90% open door policy (the man must get some work done in his office I'm sure:), and that yes, he is a parent principal but really a kid principal above all. I have the impression he really gets the parent-school connection and the importance of us all working together.
My admin team was so impressed that this morning we drove over to Lamar to check it out first hand. Mrs. Land, Ms. McDaniel, and I were greeted by a fresh coat of purple paint, new plantings, and a clean and orderly building. We saw James in band, Skylar coming from orchestra, and Hannah, Addie, Makenzie and many other lovely former Scotties (how time flies!) headed outside with their teacher for a Socratic questioning activity. Seriously, check it out if you haven't lately. Mr. Lewellyn and his AP Mr. Bennett also graciously invited all HP parents to attend a special arts showcase with their current students on October 6, 9:30 am, at McCallum HS. This opportunity is open to their feeder elementary school parents, so you won't want to miss it. Go Dawgs!
Of course, our week right over here on our own campus has been super busy as always. Classroom observations and walkthroughs are going well, Mrs. Hunter hosted some UT theater students who wanted to see creative strategies in action, Mrs. Read and Ms. Kilgore hosted a math parent night surrounding all things Making Math Real, and we're just now gearing up for the installation of the Aquarena Springs shade structure for the front of our school. This long standing project (those of us involved have been talking/working on this for a few years now) is finally around the corner, with Phase I (the structures) coming any day now. We'll keep you posted on specifics as it may relate to some minor traffic flow adjustments, but the team is super excited to see the dream come alive. Thanks to Therese Baer, Sean Compton, Wes Amberboy, all PTA boards and members past and present, as well as the many others who have given time, energy, talents, and funding to make this happen for our school and community.
Connections to our feeder school, connections to former Scotties, and connections to each other right now. Yep, a good week at HP!
