Here’s a heart-warming story I’ve just picked up from kitchen table math in the USA.
Catherine Johnson co-founded the Irvington Parents Forum in 2006 with the aim of providing an open forum for the discussion of public school quality and spending in Irvington, New York.
One of the schools in the Mendham School District has as its motto ‘Every student, every day’, which means ‘every child counts, every day’! What has got Catherine fired up is the fact that the district has just appointed a new superintendent, Kris Harrison. The difference between Harrison and many other superintendents is that, apparently, Harrison believes in the philosophy behind the motto and is serious about it.
He is, as Catherine describes him, ‘a school leader who believes in accountability: a school leader who believes schools should be mission driven, and who believes the mission is student achievement’.
So, what is your school motto? And, is it meaningful and is it upheld?