In an effort to highlight the great things our staff members are doing, we appreciate you sharing Swansfield Staff Shout-Outs.  This week's shout-out shares praise for the 4th grade team of Ms. Miller and Ms. Narron as they worked proactively with a student's parents to help him overcome behavior issues in the classroom.

My family would like to formally acknowledge the teamwork and commitment of Ms. Miller, Ms. Narron, and Mrs. Richter as they worked to help our son mature and make better behavioral decisions which are directly and positively impacting his MAP test scores.   At the beginning of the school year, he was routinely joining in with his friends in class – being disruptive, unfocused, and generally not paying attention.   Ms. Miller reached out to me to see how we could partner to understand the factors motivating his behavior.   Frankly, we faced disappointment after disappointment for much of the fall and into the winter break.  While my husband and I felt defeated and hopeless,  Ms. Miller would not give up.  With her direction, I reached out for additional assistance from Mrs. Richter.   Mrs. Richter set aside a hour to review the situation and try to understand the issues there were driving our son's behavior.   This resulted in a positive rewards system based on him making the correct behavioral choices.    This system places more work on Ms. Miller and Ms. Narron to track and report daily actions, but thanks to their diligence, we are finally beginning to see real progress.   
 
In today’s environment of negativity and sky is falling perceptions, I felt it was important to press pause and record my experiences.   Children today are under so much pressure and have so many outside influences that we as parents would like to be able to control.  Could I have taken the position that my child was blameless in his behavior and simply a victim of being exposed to other children that were misbehaving – I know some would and do.  However, that would be completely misguided.  It is my child making his own decisions and it is totally my job as a parent to inform him and arm him with the knowledge regarding the consequences of his decisions.  I have to be the parent.   He has to learn as the child.   No one said it would be easy.  We are just so fortunate to have amazing partners in our journey in the educators (and emotional counselors / therapists) in Ms. Miller, Ms. Narron, and Mrs. Richter.