2017 Five Star Journal Winter Issue

SUPERINTENDENT MESSAGE
ELEVATE brings out the best in what it means to be a
part of the Five Star community
Many of you have either participated in or heard about ELEVATE. It’s a year-long process we’re
undertaking to identify what’s the very best about Adams 12 Five Star Schools, and how we
can amplify that and elevate how our district and schools serve students over the next five
years. The end result of this process will be a five-year plan that sets the course for achieving
the hopes and dreams of our students, parents, staff and community members.
A part of the ELEVATE process is listening to and learning from people’s stories about a time
when the Five Star District and our schools “did right” by a student. From these stories, we
asked participants ranging from parents, students and staff to pull out some of the strengths
of the district. Through this process, many strengths are coming to light and I want to highlight
two of them.
Care and support for the well-being (academic, social, emotional and physical) of each
child through authentic relationships with staff.
We’ve engaged staff in ELEVATE at every one of our schools and we’ve heard stories from our
parents and community members at four community-wide conversations. Over and over, the
strength of care and support for the well-being of each child comes up.
Here are a few examples of what that looks like in action:
1. A teacher who sat side-by-side with a student who was having a panic attack, calming her,
reassuring her and helping her build confidence.
2. A fifth-grade student who had numerous teachers and service providers work together to
show personalized attention in speech and language support.
3. An inspiring story about an at-risk student from a broken home who received the individual
care and support from teachers, propelling the student to graduate high school and
continue on as a nursing student in college.
Staff across the district and our schools working collaboratively for the success of all students.
One of the Five Star District’s core commitments is “collective responsibility”. What unites each
and every one of us is that collective commitment to support the success of all our students.
4 | Superintendent Message