Much has happened over the last month....a new governor, a renewed president, and, for me, a new school which involved much packing, unpacking, and re-orienting!  Although moving after the school year started was stressful, it was for a good cause.  Our district has committed itself to creating an exemplary autism program and I get to be part of this effort. There is much work ahead but I am encouraged by the active support of our district leadership.  Stay tuned for our progress!

Unfortunately, the start of something new required that I say good-bye to my dear school family at Toisnot.  This was my first school where I felt truly part of the total school team.  A real testament to the power of collaboration and integration, our special needs students made tremendous gains and became involved, active, accepted members of the school community. I was blessed to work with many amazing teachers including our current Wilson County Teacher of the Year, Tracey Leon.  I will miss them all.

Regional feedback:
My next state meeting as your Regional TOY will be December 12th.  There will probably be two big topics of discussion:  1) The new standard 6 on teacher evaluations and 2) the 3rd grade reading requirement proposed by our new governor.
1) Many of you may have heard that starting this year, our evaluation system will collect student performance data per teacher to show a trend of student performance over three years.  This information will be used to "grade" teacher effectiveness.  If you have thoughts that you would like to share about this item, please reply

2) Our new governor has proposed that all 3rd graders pass a specific reading proficiency test to promote to 4th grade.  Those retained would receive remediation but no promotion until they pass the test.  What do you think of this proposal?