The Voice of the Turtle - Saline Style

For, lo, the winter is past, 

The rain is over and gone; 

The flowers appear on the earth; 

The time of the singing birds has come, 

And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. 

Solomon 2:11-12

As a young boy growing up in Michigan, I always looked forward to Ernie Harwell's rendition of the Voice of the Turtle as it signaled not only the end of winter, but more importantly to me, the start of Tigers baseball.

On Tuesday, September 3, more than 6.000 students, teachers, paraeducators, bus drivers, food service employees, buildings and grounds employees, clerical employees, technology employees and administrators will begin a 175 day journey together. Much like the start of baseball season, I hope everyone feels the same sense of excitement and anticipation as I do.

The Voice of School - Saline style:

For, lo, the summer is past, 

The heat and humidity will soon be over and gone; 

Fall colors will transform the landscape; 

The hum of excitement fills the air, 

And the voices of children will be heard in our land. 

Enjoy the 2013-14 school year!
 

The Not-So Secret Ingredient

During the summer months we are fortunate to have time to reflect upon who we are and what we do, develop and refine strategic plans and create action steps to help us achieve our goals. During these discussions we often try to identify key indicators of success - secret ingredients if you will.

In addition, when screening, interviewing and ultimately hiring new TEAM members, (whether bus drivers, cooks, custodians, para educators, teachers, administrators, etc.) we spend a tremendous amount of time trying to identify candidates who will succeed in our organization.

In both strategic planning and hiring, attitude counts. Frankly, attitude counts quite a bit. As Tracey Bates Leone said, "People are either positive or negative, there is no in-between. The in-between people are categorized as negative."

Be positive!