January 3, 2019

Dear Member of the Beacon education community,

Happy New Year!  As many of you know, in November the Beacon Board of Education endorsed and launched a long-range planning process for the district that will result in a focused and aligned community vision of student success beyond school.  Having engaged the community in the identification of the most critical attributes of success for a Beacon graduate, the district now seeks to improve the district’s ability to ensure that every child develops those same qualities.

To involve as many constituents as possible in this process, we would like to invite you to contribute your thoughts to a community conversation on this topic.  Using a platform called Thoughtexchange, you will have the opportunity to share your thoughts, then read those of other participants, and then to assign “stars” (from a low of 1 to a high of 5) to show how important each idea is to you.  Finally, you will also have a chance to discover the top-rated thoughts in the conversation and visit the site often and add more comments throughout the process. The planning team will use the results of this Thoughtexchange to inform the creation and implementation of improvement strategies on a district level.

Notes about this process:

1. It could take you as little as 5 - 10 minutes to participate.
2. You can complete questions at your own pace and come back to review your answers at any time.
3. There are no limitations on what you can write, but any suggestions that are personally hurtful, isolate individuals, or include abusive language will be screened from the pool of reviewable answers.

If you know someone else who would like to participate, you can forward this invitation.

Please click HERE (embed hyperlink to exchange) to participate.

https://my.thoughtexchange.com/#258626618

We hope that you will contribute to this interactive experience to help us ensure that we are reflecting the values and aspirations of our entire community while providing outstanding learning opportunities for our students.  Thank you for taking the time to share what is important to you.

Sincerely,

Matt Landahl, Superintendent

October 25, 2018

Dear Beacon City School District Community Member:

At a recent meeting, the Beacon Board of Education endorsed a long-range planning process for the district that will result in a focused and aligned community vision of student success beyond school.  The first step of this process is to build a consensus regarding the critical skills and attributes we believe are most essential to future accomplishments and to then use them to guide our planning and decision making.

To involve as many constituents as possible in this process, we would like to invite you to contribute your thoughts to a community conversation on this topic.  Using a platform called Thoughtexchange, you have the opportunity to share your thoughts, then read those of other participants, and then to assign “stars” (from a low of 1 to a high of 5) to show how important each idea is to you.  Finally, you will also have a chance to discover the top-rated thoughts in the conversation and visit the site often and add more comments throughout the process.  The planning team will use the results of this Thoughtexchange to help them create “A Profile of the Graduate” that will define our working model of student success.

Notes about this process:

1. It could take you as little as 5 - 10 minutes to participate.
2. You can complete questions at your own pace and come back to review your answers at any time.
If you know someone else who would like to participate, you can forward this invitation.

If you need technical help, please call Thoughtexchange at 1-800-361-9027 ext. 4 or email feedback@thoughtexchange.com.

Participate in this exchange by using the following link: https://my.thoughtexchange.com/#713723496
Alternatively, you can also use the Thoughtexchange app on your iPhone (there is not an app for Android people like me)  or go to thoughtexchange.com and enter the code 713-723-496

We hope that you will contribute to this interactive experience to help us ensure that we are reflecting the values and aspirations of our entire community while providing outstanding learning opportunities for our students.  Thank you for taking the time to share what is important to you.

Sincerely,
Matt Landahl
Superintendent

Dear Beacon City School District Community:

 I am thrilled to be starting another school year in Beacon.  It is such a distinct pleasure and privilege to be serving the Beacon community as the superintendent of schools.  I cannot wait to see all of our students on Wednesday, September 5th!

 My themes for the district this year focus on the ideas of Excellence, Equity, and Communication.  With that in mind, here are some things I am excited about this school year, some of my goals for the year, and meet the teacher night dates for each school.

 Things I am excited about for the upcoming year:

• Fourth grade instrumental music will begin for the first time ever later this fall as a result of the grant we won last June
• Rombout Middle School will have a fully 1:1 learning environment with every student receiving a Chromebook this fall
• Elementary students will experience Physical Education class every other day instead of two out of every six days
• Elementary class sizes are further reduced with the addition of three additional teachers
• Interactive teaching screens will be added to Rombout Middle School and Beacon High School
• Further planning and development of the Capital Project with construction the summer of 2019 on the Turf Athletic Field behind Beacon High School

 My goals for the upcoming year:

• Create and facilitate a student advisory council for the district
• Create and facilitate a strategic planning process including forming a strategic planning advisory committee
• Increase and improve the quality of district communication in a variety of formats
• Help to create building and department leadership teams including the participation of parents and community members
• Facilitate equity leadership work in the district
• Maintain a high level of community and staff engagement through open forums, individual conversations, and online tools

 I will be sharing more about these goals as the year progresses.

 Meet the Teacher Nights

• September 12- Rombout Middle School
• September 13- JVF, Glenham, Sargent
• September 20- Beacon High School
• September 27- South Avenue

Have a great first day and a great year!    

Matt Landahl