From the superintendent’s desk

Thanks to all for supporting district during pandemic

Hello Stockbridge Families,

We know that the last two years have been two of the most challenging years for many people. We wanted to express our appreciation for those in our community who have helped to navigate this difficult situation of enduring a pandemic. We hope that we have progressed through the most difficult portion of the pandemic, but realize we will be managing some aspects for years to come.

We want to thank our families for working with us, as we had to reinvent education while trying to keep students engaged. Families played a much greater role in motivating, guiding and helping their students to navigate a changing environment with changing expectations. We know masking was not easy and isolation and quarantine created more issues in the learning process. We want to thank you for your resiliency and support during this time.

We want to thank our educational staff. Our teachers have been pulled in every direction and have been asked to adjust on the fly and put things in motion with little time to do so. Teachers did an incredible job of meeting students’ educational needs in a very fluid environment. Although we have seen great progress this year, there are still many issues to be addressed as we transition back to a more conducive learning environment for students. Thank you for sticking with it and making a difference in the lives of your students.

We want to thank the custodial staff for keeping our students safe, by cleaning and disinfecting our schools with limited staff members. We understand the tasks that you took on and we appreciate you. Bus drivers provided transportation for our students and never missed a beat. They also helped in food service, custodial, and anywhere else we could slide them in. To our paraprofessionals, we appreciate the efforts you have made to meet the students where they are at physically, emotionally and academically. This has been a challenge as many students returned with habits that were less conducive to learning. Thank you for guiding them back on track.

We appreciate the efforts of our mental health staff, the counselors, social workers, school psychologist, and other support staff that address the needs of students on a daily basis. We know that the students and staff are coming in with various levels of trauma and loss. We appreciate all of the effort that you give to stabilize and provide students with the tools they need to handle a difficult situation and move forward. Thank you.

We want to extend our appreciation to our administrators who found themselves in an ever-changing environment. You definitely needed to be flexible these past few years. It was common to plan and then react to plans that may have changed before they were implemented. Thank you for remembering why we are all here, it is for the students. Thank you for supporting the staff and for balancing the tightrope of pushing and holding back as needed. We appreciate your leadership.

We appreciate that everyone pulled together to bring things back to normal, at least closer than we were at the beginning of the year. Our coaches and advisers helped with this to provide the students with structure and activities to engage, compete and perform.  We appreciate the efforts by the PTO and SAEF to provide activities and opportunities for our students, staff and community. We look forward to the great things to come.

To all of the administrative assistants who are the face and voice of the district, we appreciate you. We know that you have gotten the brunt of difficult situations on a regular basis and yet you manage to keep things moving in a positive direction. Thank you.

To our community, we have asked a lot of you over the last few years. We are excited to prepare for the new school year and have various new resources that will help to provide a positive learning environment for our students. Thank you for supporting our schools, thank you for communicating with us when you are frustrated and are looking for change. We do take your concerns seriously and want to provide the best education possible for students. We ask that you continue to support this great school district and we will remain committed to the mission of providing our students with the tools they need to live and grow into lifelong learners.

Brian Friddle
Superintendent of Schools