On behalf of the D’Evelyn faculty, staff, and administration, I hope that you and your family had a great Winter Break and that your new year is off to a great start. I am looking forward to 2018 both personally and professionally. I extend my best wishes to you for a great year in 2018! It has been a great first week to the second semester for students and faculty. Classes are back in session, and I have had the good fortune of observing countless examples of productive teaching and learning throughout the school this week, both in and out of the classroom. In keeping with the spirit of ‘New Year’s Resolutions’, I chose to start the year by sharing one of mine. One of my primary objectives for this year is to renew my focus on leading the school in a manner that keeps the primary focus of the academic day on student learning. D’Evelyn students are busy - in addition to the rigorous academic routine, students have important commitments to their families, as well as involvement in sports, clubs, music, and art, programs. The benefits of extracurricular engagement are numerous. I encourage D’Evelyn students to maintain these commitments as a strong complement to their academic pursuits in their full personal development. Additionally, I am aware of the many pressures and challenges faced by adolescents everywhere, whether it is the pressure of the college application process, earning high grades, enrolling in advanced classes, struggles with peers, siblings, or family members, balancing the many demands on their time, or becoming more independent as they grow older. Adolescence is a challenging time, and we will continue to work as a faculty and staff to support students through the ups and downs in their time at D’Evelyn. I respect and admire D’Evelyn students for their ability to manage their lives so well, and maintain excellence in so many areas. I also sincerely believe in the short and long-term benefits these students will enjoy because of the rigorous liberal arts program offered by the school, and as principal, I aspire to lead the school in a manner that supports all students in reaching the goal of graduating from D’Evelyn with a multitude of options for their respective futures. My resolution - As D’Evelyn principal, I hope to lead, model, and sustain a culture where students and teachers can direct their primary focus during the school day to the foundational purpose of the school - student learning. Within the school, we focus on minimizing disruptions to class time, and providing our teachers the time and resources they need to teach bell-to-bell. We intend to create a learning environment that is distraction-free, so that students are not interrupted throughout the course of a class period, and that they may dedicate their undivided attention to the lessons of each day. I request the support of parents and family members in helping their student(s) maximize the benefits of each academic day throughout the year. My sincere hope is that each D’Evelyn student enjoys the enriching and empowering benefits of the liberal arts academic program they experience in grades 7-12. While some days will be more challenging than others, the benefits of the D’Evelyn experience will carry with our students for the rest of their lives. It is my deep belief and great hope that 10, 15, and 20 years down the road, D’Evelyn graduates will remember the content of the lessons learned more than the grades they received or the test scores they achieved. I ask all D’Evelyn community members to join me in the effort to honor the value of the learning experience, and support our students in their effort to maximize learning over the course of this school year and beyond. Thank you for the ongoing and continued support of your student(s) and the D’Evelyn program. I am confident in the great value your support plays in the life of your student(s). Please accept my best wishes on a very successful second semester of learning and development for all D’Evelyn students.
Christina K Dinegar
1/13/2018 12:36:23 pm
Thank you Josh/Mr. Griffin for leading our children!!! We could not ask for a better principal and are so grateful for your and the D'Evelyn administrations' and teachers' exceptional dedication, care, leadership, nuture, and educating of our children. We are so blessed! Comments are closed.
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