Every school day morning Patti and Ron Reagan did this:

[LWolf]

6. I've spent

most of my career in non-traditional public schools, and we strive to do those things, within the limits of funding and legal mandates. And the thing that makes the biggest difference, regardless of any kind of instructional philosophy or methodology, is building relationships and community, between teachers, students, and their families. Accomplish that, and the rest follows easily. I've found it much easier to do so in smaller schools.

My current school is a smallish (400+ students) K-8 serving a rural community. Our families are under-educated, and poverty rules. We have a much higher percentage of students with special needs that the average. Public schools in general always have students and families in crisis; we seem to have more than you'd expect per capita, but that may just be that we know more about those crises because we are a smaller community.

I'm excited about the great things we have planned for this next year, even though we'll be scrambling to find enough staff, time, and $$ to meet every need.