By now you may have seen the renderings of the new high school on the eastside of Montgomery. The new high school will be on the access road between Ray Thorington Road and Taylor Road near Taylor Road. The site is beautiful and the new school will be impressive. The school has been a dream for many years and we are pleased to say we will soon break ground on the site and expect it to open by the fall of 2013.

Every New Year brings a batch of resolutions – lose weight, improve your financial situation, get organized, stop smoking … the list goes on and on. Unfortunately, statistics show that while about half of us make resolutions, only three percent of those are kept.
Change takes commitment. And while I hope you keep every resolution you make, there is one that is worth all your effort – spend more time with your children.

It seems like the school year just began, and we are already preparing for the winter break.

The schoolyard bully has been around as long as there have been schoolyards. However, in recent years bullying has escalated from mild verbal attacks and pushing to real violence and attacks through cyberspace that too often have tragic consequences. Montgomery Public Schools has a variety of tools we use to help minimize bullying including Peer Mediation, Character @ Heart, and many others.

AYP – it is another label in the alphabet soup of educational jargon. Most non-educators, and some educators, don’t understand fully its meaning or why school systems are judged by it.

In August of 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered one of his most famous speeches. In it he said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Character matters. In fact, when it comes down to it, it should be the only thing that does.

Albert Einstein was right, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Solving problems requires change and while there may be discomfort in change, it is necessary for growth. As I end my second year as superintendent of Montgomery County Schools, the list of changes – all focused on our goals – is yielding significant positive growth.