Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Let’s Gear Up for
a BIG School Year

You may notice the BIG letters around town. With recent employee kick off events under our belts and staff training under way, I’m here to tell you that our BIG year has begun.

The B in BIG says to believe in the Mesquite ISD vision: Success for All Students.
The I is to infuse rigor and excellence. G is giving your best.

While the BIG message will influence our staff development all year, it’s also meant for students, parents and our entire Mesquite ISD community.

We are asking our teachers to teach BIG, but we are also asking our students to learn BIG.  We are asking each other to only be satisfied with excellence.

Colin Powell said, “If you are going to achieve excellence in BIG things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.”

As we strive for excellence, every school day matters. Every hour matters. Pushing students to achieve BIG results every day of their 177 days in school is the BIG commitment every adult in our district must have.

We’ve enhanced the district’s 2014-15 school calendar to help families plan ahead and our students be prepared like never before.  This tool offers much more than just school days and holidays. You’ll find grading periods, key state assessments and high school graduations among many other dates and times important to each student’s schedule. Please take time this summer to transfer key dates to your personal calendar so we can start the school year BIG.


Thursday, July 10, 2014

Will Your Kids
Read Today?


Simply put, reading reaps rewards and plenty of them. Solid reading skills are crucial to optimum school success. Just 20 minutes of reading a day can prevent a child from losing literacy skills over the summer break.

Mesquite ISD’s Let’s Read Together! YouTube video is a popular resource. It gives tips on how to help a child grow in a love for reading.

As a lifelong reader myself, I urge you to find books of interest to your child, regardless of age. We know that even small babies can enjoy books, but keep promoting reading for pleasure to your elementary and secondary age students, too. Remember, proficiency in reading is crucial to a young person’s future.

So what will your kids read today?