From the Desk of Dr. Einhorn—

What a wonderful year we’ve had so far! Many thanks to all of our parent and community volunteers for getting W.T. Sampson off to such a great beginning! I’d like to address four specific items this month. First of all, we love parent visits to the school, and we’re in the process of designating two parking spots in front of the elementary as “10 minute parent/visitor” parking spots. However, I would request that parents not use these spots during bus drop-off or pick-up for safety reasons. Please use the parent drop-off parking area at the side of the school between the hours of 7:20-8:00 a.m. and 1:50-2:20 p.m. That will help ensure a safe environment for all W.T. Sampson Sharks! This year, we’re offering monthly Lunch n’ Learn sessions for parents with a focus on instructional expectations at all grade levels and the DoDEA strategic planning process. We started with 3rd grade in October, and will have a special session for parents of high school students on Tuesday, November 10th. Our 4th grade program will be featured on Thursday, November 19th. Look for E-mail invitations to these events! Attendance at our first School Advisory Committee (SAC) meeting was excellent, and we’re now in the process of refining and aligning our procedures with the DoDEA regulation for advisory meetings. We’ll have four voting members of SAC who will address school-wide issues at meetings in January, April, and May. Additional concerns may be addressed through lunchtime “Chief Chats” with school administrators beginning in December. As always, parents should always contact their child’s teacher first with any questions or concerns about the classroom.  Last but not least, I just finished reading an excellent book, Disrupting Class, which discusses the impact innovation is having and will continue to have on education. There’s also one short chapter on the impact of the earliest years on students’ success. The author, Christensen, discusses the correlation between words spoken to a child face-to-face—“deliberate, uncompromised, personal adult conversation”—and a child’s I.Q. To quote the author, “80 percent of the variation in public school performance results from family effects such as those summarized above, not school effects.” Time spent with your child—talking, reading and playing—will ultimately add to their success in school and in life.