Dear MTUESD Community,
I was out of the office all last week, which is not my Zen, and I was a little stir crazy although it was a good and productive experience that I was engaged in related to our special ed program programing county-wide. On Friday, I received a scholarship to attend a superintendent roundtable at UC Davis. I don’t spend money on conferences when we have 36 kids in a class, and as I was driving down there at 6:00 a.m. on a Friday morning, I passed the huge bird’s nest, high atop the telephone pole near Burson on Highway 49.
I have loved those nests forever and ever and ever, and every time I drive by I marvel at them. If I miss it because I am not paying attention, I feel cheated! On this beautiful day, the huge, proud bird was perching straight out of its nest like she was seated on a throne surveying the sunrise. You look at those nests and it’s just unbelievable how they’re built. You imagine stick by stick in a bird‘s beak being picked up from the ground and flown over to the pole and tucked in and then repeat, repeat, repeat. Granted, they have a base structure from last year, but those birds remodel every year and it gets bigger and bigger and better and better. I kind of view this little district like the relentlessness of that glorious bird. Our nest is getting pretty good. I feel the effort of endless hard work of the students, staff, and families that is bringing that nest together stick by stick. I see the young ones that are nurtured in that nest that are fed and taught and loved and warmed so they can go out and fly. We have challenges folks, no doubt about it, but what’s going on is really taking flight.
Spring is soon upon us, and we continue to do a real push into academics as we gear up for state testing. I want to remind everyone that we are not ONLY looking for kids to pass. We are looking for improvement. That is a huge reason we want students to make their very best effort. We know students have gaps and that’s why we’re here, but our job is to move them closer and closer to that goal, so when they leave us, their wings will be strong to fly them to be successful in their next nest. We are RELENTLESS.
Our job is to get our kids ready to soar.
Sincerely yours,
Louise Simson
Superintendent
650-996-3290