Difficult day . . .

Today was my last Educational Leadership Team (ELT) meeting as superintendent.  It is the monthly meeting of administrators in our district and one of three opportunities I have each month with these individuals with formal leadership responsibility in our system.  As I shared with them, losing these opportunities to share learning and support growth will be one of the most difficult losses in retirement.  It will rank up there with the respect, appreciation, and sense of accomplishment that I get from working with our school board.

We have a quality leadership team and I take pride in having had some small influence on their capacity to create, implement, and sustain the adaptive changes necessary to meet the accountability measures imposed by federal and state mandates.  More importantly, they have the capacity to continue our "Future Ready" initiative to ensure that all Tahoma graduates are prepared for success in post high school learning and work. We are positioned for continuing success as Rob transitions seamlessly into the superintendency.  I am excited with the combination of commitment to what we do well and adaptive thinking that he is bringing to the work and to following our progress over time.

It will be no surprise to those that know me that my last message was about leadership.  It was about passion, beliefs, collaboration, collective capacity, transparency, humility, learning, and our purpose for being our YOUNG PEOPLE.  I chose to use the quotes on the slide below to end my short presentation, just before I got emotional and embarrassed..

The day ended, however, on an upside as it was the annual Board meeting to honor retirees and those with 20, 25, 30, and 35 years in the district.  Board President Mary Jane, made it easy for me by allowing me to sit while the kind words were said.  It was fun to honor the other eighteen retirees and multiple Years of Service Award recipients.