Thursday, November 23, 2017

A Message from Chris Cotter

Good morning to all,

WOW what a week! I would like to just take a moment of your busy lives and wish you and your families a very Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you for ALL you do for the children of New Bedford. Although you may hardly, and some may say never, get the Thanks you deserve, please know that these children truly look up to all of you in their best days as well as their bad. I can tell you that there are far more parents that you may not be aware of that praise the work you all have been doing and are grateful for having you in their children’s classrooms and lives. The moral of this is to again say THANKS and to know how those you may not hear from actually are Thankful for you in all the effort and work you do. So HAPPY THANKSGIVING and enjoy the time with all you families and loved ones.

Chris Cotter

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful message. Thank you Dear Officer Cotter. A Happy Thanksgiving to you sir!

Anonymous said...

Thank you Mr. Cotter! You are truly our hero , we need more people like you to support us.

Anonymous said...

Chris, can we begin the search now for a Durkin replacement? Why wait any longer? Lets get the ball rolling ASAP. The quicker a replacement is announced, meaning before the end of the school year, the better retention the district will have going forward. Someone who can address the teacher body before summer vacation. Get someone who is genuinely likable, eager and able to embrace the NB culture, and ready to empower teachers with natural energy, not a teacher's appraisal form.

Anonymous said...

I think she announced her departure early to try and curb the premature retirement numbers in her final year here. Some may rethink retirement this SY now that she won't be here in 2018-2019.

Anonymous said...

I'm still retiring even though Durkin is going. I am exhausted and no longer want to teach. She accomplished what she set out to do, I dislike teaching now.

Anonymous said...

Yes, she did. I don't think this was the only place where your sentiments may be acknowledged.

Anonymous said...

How about placing teachers on the Superintendent Search Committee from the High School, Middle School, and Elementary Schools who have shown the highest levels of SGP student growth over time. The reasoning behind adding these teachers to the committee is to test and quiz a potential new hire on pedagogy, pedagogy that works. One of the issues with the current Superintendent is that she is inexperience on how to run a classroom, along with many Principals, but yet each is highly critical teachers, especially those that show good to excellent results. This type of criticism erodes peer to peer camaraderie and becomes a huge problem with retention. The district needs a Superintendent that truly listens to the teachers, not just Principals. As has been shown over the past four years, adversarial relationships don't work.