001no i'm worried about the sh word we're supposed to keep i tried but i can't find the clean version but that's why we love it a cloud yeah [Applause] [Music] uh diana [Music] okay is feel free to utilize that time yes [Music] may you hear auspicious sharing what you can nothing more nothing less need from the happiness in your chest may you be treated like an esteemed guest maybe you'll get to rest when you catch your breath i made the best of your today's be the worst [Music] is [Music] i want you to help me [Applause] [Music] [Applause] um [Applause] [Music] [Applause] see [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] me [Applause] is bless your um [Music] oh [Music] all right welcome continental family and we want to thank you for all of our extended family that
002came out this morning that's been planning this top secret mission to express our love and appreciation for you because you really truly are loved and truly appreciated each and every single one of you and right now what we would like to do is also thank our board members who are able to make it this morning shelley keith cali and steve austin at this time we're going to be doing the pledge of allegiance but before you stand and i'd like to ask alessandra to come forward will be singing the national anthem and i have mr nathan who will be i don't know what he snuck off too okay i can't see you who is going to be explaining the moment of silence good morning everybody and welcome back one of the things that really excited me
003this week this year um it's kind of set the trend for you so many of you may have heard of hospital 2707 it was approved by governor ducey at the end of last year and it's really just adding to the things that we already have in place here in school so as a school we do the pledge of allegiance every morning um this really what this is adding a one minute of a minimum um of a moment of silence and that's just for everybody to take time to ponder to get their heads fit in the beginning in the morning i'm going to read that house bill to you so we understand what that looks like and then we're going to demonstrate that today um for all of you so house bill 2707 it has six
004steps to it i'm going to read all of those just so that we're all on the same page with it the prior united states tribes that are manufactured in the united states and they're at least two feet by three feet and hardware to appropriately display the united states flag from grades 7 through 12 copy of the constitution of the united states and the brilliant rights that have manufactured in the united states display the flags and according to title 4 of the united states code in each classroom the constitution of the united states and the liberal rights adjacent to the classroom flag set aside a specific time each day for students who relate to children's side of the project regions of the united states number six this one's made for kindergarten buildings one through twelve set
005aside at least one minute but not more than two minutes at the beginning of each school day for students to engage in immediate assignments during which students may not interfere with other students participation a teacher or other school employed may not suggest the nature of any reflection in which a student may engage during the moment of silence each teacher of the class in which a normal science occurs pursuant to this um math shall encourage parents or students in the class to discuss with their children how to best view the moment assignments required by this program so once again we're providing a minute it's just to be an online to start our program to reflect two thank you oh and bright stars [Music] is oh my me [Applause] thank you alessandra beautiful at this time we
006would like to welcome julie cerulli from our continental education foundation to come up she has a message she would like to share with you and it's especially new information for those of you on our staff thank you very welcome everybody this is so great part of the um school educational foundation board which we are a board never seen endowment fund solely for continental school and our mission is to support all of my teachers staff everything continental so um anyway i just wanted to say it's so great to see all of you and i i was a continental parent my kids are now in college and 20 years later i'm still doing this this is a special school and a special place and for all of our new teachers you know this is exciting and welcome
007what i have today is um i probably read the new boxes that's probably grant easiest at least five thousand dollars you can apply for a 250 mini grant for pretty much anything you need school supplies uh maybe on special projects that you want to do it's really easy it's like five lines um there's really no limit it's 250 and sometimes for something special we can do more too but um anyways i hope you guys all take advantage of this you can do it either i really thank you [Music] [Applause] fundraiser is uh saturday february 11th and all of you teachers will invite all of you to come um we give you a ticket and it's a night outfit and come and join have fun it's a big fundraiser we have silent auctions live action uh
008parents getting other community members performing arts center so we just want to get back up and this night is for all of you they put their they put so much hard work into planning that that big event because the money comes back to you and the students so thank you jolie and then next we would like to welcome our superintendent mrs roxanna good rico everyone i am so excited to see all of you and thank you for being parents and students um [Applause] the amazing jobs that we have so i just from the bottom of my heart want to thank all of your parents and students for being here so welcome back to continental um this is us and we talked about our theme of the year and you know how we always have to
009have a moderate mantra in our heads and as mrs forbus was talking and we're talking about our climate surveys and our goals for the year and really this is us this is who we are this is our staff this is the community that we serve those are our students so that's going to be right for me again my mission statement and we can't say it enough it's posted interviews and posted everywhere in our building but truly continental school districts will provide a community environment in which all individuals all individuals are challenged to achieve excellence in academics character and life skills and we have to we have to believe it we have to behave that way it's what we expect from our teachers our students and our family members our vision student building for the future
010learning cooperating and caring for all and it really is about learning about cooperating and caring we have to care for each other and we want to be able to provide that learning environment that kids need and it takes a village right we have to cooperate so just a few facts did you know our demographics one percent asian 1.4 black 0 pacific islander and 35 light this is us this is who we serve our pre-reduced and as you know we have to be at 40 fully reduced in order to continue to receive federal funding in our grants and um this year there's a new legislation a year and it's been reduced probably by 60 000 from last year every year it keeps going down but that's where our free reduce rate makes a difference right and
011they base it um on that our tighter grants or whatever they are and to tonight for summer school meetings for special material curriculum professional development tax credit funding 66 000 and that sustains all club sports and tutorials that's how we we we do have extra money in that fund but just tax credits are so important so again we need to get the word out because it's dollar for dollar and there's no other place that i know of that can sustain their current sports and tutorials on tax credit funds so i think we're going to give you and our parents another round of applause [Applause] is for school operations okay is there so empowerment again staff and students must have the confidence and skills to empower very themselves of empowerment one must be able to take
012responsibility and ownership of their teaching and learning and that's all staff and our students we have to be confident that we have the skills to teach our students and students have to have the confidence that they can learn the material being presented parents trust us and they also have confidence in themselves as parents with our staff and with our students you've heard me talk about this several times for years this is my sixth year here and i'm so excited um to be able to continue my leadership as we talk about our climate surveys and we talked about our goals again and talking about the climate and the culture of our school you know be impeccable with your words what matters is when you're saying helpful or hurtful heighten awareness of your words emotions you express
013your attitude and your actions and have i heard this and it says behaving the way that gets you the life you want so if you just think about that behave in the way that gets you the life you want [Music] under the damage when i talk about our bus drivers they are the first people that our students see in the morning or those of you are parachutes who are at the gates or teachers who are at your duty spots are you going to be impeccable with your words and are you going to be able to be that person that missed the student's heart first thing in the morning or when they get off the bus are they going to be drained and need to find seven positive people or when they have that interaction with
014you so again be that positive influence be that person that if somebody's had a bad day you're one of the positive people they can encounter to make them feel better don't take anything personally nothing others do is because of you it is a projection of their own reality and as i love you loving logic and being a mom and being a teacher you know it's hard to not take things personal because we're working hard we're doing the best we can but we can't make it personal we have to continue that journey and every day continue to make the difference don't make assumptions find the courage to ask questions and express what you really want so many times we expect people to read our minds we assume people know we assume kids know what we're seeing
015well we've taught it but they didn't get it we need to teach it a different way we assume that it's the best way but it may not be because kids learn differently and about each other right i always say assume good intention i always say nobody gets up in the morning and says well i'm going to see how many kids i can upset today or kids don't give up we make a a one day to difference on another challenge and learn something new always do your best your rest will change from moment to moment it will be different for when you're healthy as opposed to sick or stressed under any circumstance always do your best and avoid regret right if you've done the best and you can go more for the evening and say i
016did the best i knew i could do today and tomorrow's another day that's all we ask is that you do your best and that you have a great positive attitude about it the fifth agreement that was that came out is be skeptical but learn to listen right it talks about the control to avoid gossiping and don't comment on other people's ignorance or prejudices in other words don't take life too personally right we have to be skeptical but learn to listen because who's to say that our thoughts and our views are better than our colleagues we're better than the students and the parents that we serve we can be skeptical but we have to be willing to listen to each other and give that mutual respect you are never just a teacher people say i'm just
017a teacher so oh ah this is a short youtube video from dr jules zenfone where you are and he's a superintendent of a small town amazing you guys and i have energy reaches through this guy um and so i wanted to share this little clip so hopefully we'll be able to get it up but his book is building intention connection and direction in our schools and he talks about if we don't tell our story someone else will somebody else will tell the story about continental based on either their good or bad experiences and it could be from 10 years ago it could be people's perceptions or their realities so how are we going to tell our story and how are we going to share the good things that happen at continental um some neighboring districts
018teachers are going back to school and i'm hearing comments like texting each other or do i really have to get them to go to work today if that's how you truly feel it is that's the video extremely perfect try it again well you will be remembered that's the message whatever we're doing in the day whether that's going to be somebody's first impression early impression right so we have to remember that first impressions are super important and we want to tell our continental story it gets into you know if something bad happens and about a bad experience you have had and how many people you tell about that bad experience when you have a good experience how many people do you tell about how great that was a little restaurant if the service is bad and
019everybody has to fill out the survey but how many times do you fill out the survey to say you know what it was a great meal there's great service so we have to think about first impressions we will send you that week because you're never just a teacher and first impressions matter and you are thinking about meeting your needs and being balanced our fair basic needs remind your balance is the key you have to know yourselves know your team members and know your students and every person requires more of one of these four um basic moves than the other so you know i know those of you who require more level belonging who are more intentional about reaching him in who need more freedom just like your own personal kids and our students in the
020classroom so balance is the key and know when you're currently not balanced when your skills are tipped and planned for whatever it is you need so that you can be the best you for our students let me try it that's okay we'll just do that one later but there's one at the end that i really hope that we can see okay so the challenge for the year and there was a real pretty little sign that said this is us on the right of the flight but um be ready to positively share and tell our continental story make a difference every day and every child matters again this is us let's see if we can see this video albert said it's because i didn't restart my computer good old technology right you know we have to
021be patient um but again as i was going back to share how people were texting each other do i really have to go today do i want to go to work today and i'm thinking what else would you be doing you know what what else would you be doing like we our lives and our jobs matter to our students so i just want to make sure that we um stay positive and stay focused and on that video is it going to work no okay well on the video and we will do afterwards because it really talks about everything that you do matters and what i'd like for you to do right now is get your cell phone out if you have it and i want you to just text a thank you to somebody that
022matters in your life somebody that's made a difference somebody that's helped you yeah i was asked to share with you all something about leadership as i began to think about the things that i could say about leadership my mind sees the communication commitment patient sympathy the things that are most visible to us all in the practice of leadership but as i thought more about the position we find ourselves in what we you see courage is necessary yes so is communication and we're likely not really far we're not committed with patience [Music] of us we matter to each other our communities think about this in the middle of the season of uncertainty each and every one of us has been asked to spend our days not focusing on ourselves but to focus monday through sunday no
023compromise no excuses [Music] we [Music] you may [Music] you should but that doesn't change the fact that you follow where you are and it's in a position of significance and everything between submitting to me doesn't matter because you know so i have some take a videos take a screenshot whatever it needs to be a few seconds admit it to yourself and say to yourself i believe it matters do it because you do from there i want you to tell someone else [Music] a lot of times [Music] thank you very awesome yes then you can take your selfies mr davis tomorrow [Applause] [Music] courtney happy birthday happy birthday happy birthday [Music] so i always get scolded because i have like 30 000 tabs open on my computer and that is why the video was my plane
024sorry i closed them all it'll work now next up we have mr lee thinner director of student services [Applause] putting 10 people behind the vote expensive so we just kind of deal with our family and so we went to florida to visit family and go on vacation and we decided we were going to take our kids very safely so we went to the parking lot with [Music] each one of us had different feelings some of us were super excited some of us were scared some of us were nervous some of us were indifferent i'd like to reflect on the school year some of us sitting here now [Music] mr ferguson we walk up to a tent there's a lady this lady right here [Music] what and she says that's what we just didn't think for
025a week these guys [Music] conversations [Music] okay [Music] and [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] more silence [Music] communication issues they're not making connections get lost [Music] communicating back [Music] takes over and he says go ahead and sit on the back deck he puts me in one side he goes right by the same size on the other side [Music] is [Music] says [Music] is [Music] which is our habits straight up and harness straight up but because of the weight remember it changes so you can see when the harnesses are clipped directly above their heads and the [Music] so here we go [Music] is [Music] and let me tell you instantly peace [Music] this is amazing we could do this forever the captain decided to do something different it's called the form of assessment [Music] as [Music]
026gary [Music] sometimes things are scary sometimes things are hard sometimes it's something you don't want to do but it's one of those experiences [Music] the captain's job is to make sure that you enjoy the ride and that you experience life to its voice all your mind keeping in your safety i'm so privileged to be the first mate here at continental school i love each and every one of you and i will balance tirelessly to improve myself to listen to my captain and my tenants my superintendent who gives us that guidance and we will continue to try to increase our communication so that we can better in turn serve you as our teachers as our bus drivers our students our approval assistants our partners our web staff and we live in this room our goal is
027to make this year the past year ever and i know you're going to have an awesome and amazing time and so sit back and enjoy the ride thank you thank you mr lathan welcome to the 2022-23 school year [Applause] [Music] [Applause] we have been anxiously awaiting for your live home and are so happy that you're here it's a new school year a new start there are many in this room who are heading into 25 plus years of working in education and others who are striving to reach that 20-year mark there are those who it's their first year maybe not in education but here with us at continental there are new faces new continental family that will welcome on board with us if you are new this year to our staff if you can please stand
028[Applause] [Music] we also have new student colts who will be joining us as well one of them i know i don't know if she's still here but she was so excited to be here this morning her name is grace and she's going to be in sixth grade but she's so excited to be here and get to know all of her teachers we have over 100 staff members and over 650 students we are teachers support staff grounds and maintenance custodians bus drivers cafeteria staff clerical staff school admin district admin governing board members we are moms dads uncles aunts sons daughters cousins grandparents friends we have stories and backgrounds that can and will impact one another we have special talents some we will not even have even discovered yet we have hearts we have compassion we make
029mistakes we cheer each other on we give praise we care we love look around this is us if i could please have kelly allen parent and board member come forward [Applause] good morning guys um i'm really happy to be here mostly because i'm super excited for the kids to go back to school um it's been a long summer you guys um i have been on the board for a whopping year and a half um one of the first things i did is i sent out a bunch of random emails to many of you asking for feedback because you know i don't know what i'm doing you guys are the educators and the ones that do this for a living so the the most precise feedback i got was that we needed a new ela curriculum
030i might be super wrong on this but it sounded to me like we had a lot of ela curriculums and they didn't talk to each other and so it was hard going from right to grade there was no continuity um so okay i had a cause i had a mission i was going to make sure we got a new ela curriculum so come to find out it was already slated to be reviewed uh last year so you're welcome mission accomplished good job um and so that's what i was going to leave with i you know we got you a new half curriculum we got two new ela curriculum science up is up this year um so this is all good stuff i'm sure this is all curriculums are a big deal right when i started
031throwing new curriculums at you might be a whole lot of work for you guys so you have to learn the curriculum i'm assuming i mean we're giving you a whole week this week to learn the new elin one so we're also expecting test results to look like you've been using these curriculums your entire lives no pressure um but we we know we're throwing a lot of things at you teachers you hear that all the time um and it's not gonna stop um i have been a cold parent i think this is going to be my my 12th year uh being a cult parent i've got two teenagers at walden and i have to have a second grader so you would think with all this experience i would be a whole lot better at it um
032being a parent to school children is very hard um and and there's a lot of ego that comes into play i think with parents because they are your babies no one knows better than me what they need um but my my youngest my second grader she started school um fall 2020 in kindergarten on her laptop a five-year-old on her laptop at my kitchen table reminding me every single day how terrible i am kindergarten on laptops probably not the most effective way to teach on reading right um but but we got through it and i i grew a lot as a as a parent of students through those months um at my kitchen table with all those laptops um it i've always wanted to be one of those parents that you guys could always rely on
033i'll bring the cookies i'll volunteer i'll cut out all your shapes for some project i really wanted to do the workday wednesday that has been a personal goal of mine for several years i have shown up zero times i did do the cold bug store once it was the very last cold box store before the pandemic so i had a really good run there um but that's not what i'm good at i have had to decide to come to terms that i will never be one of those parents my mother was but that's not who i am i'm good at a lot of things i'm very talented but this is just not one of those things and that's where you guys come in you're always hearing that you're making up for us and you feel
034a lot like babysitters a lot of times i'm sure there are things that you guys have taught my kids that probably should have been my job i don't know where my son learned to tights too just one day he did it so thanks probably someone in this room um you guys do a lot more and teach the curriculums and go through that and this school is made up of a lot more than just curriculums and a lot and and teachers um the relationship with uh the bus drivers your relationship with these kids is probably very different than someone in the classroom you see the kids in different circumstances and maybe when they're exhausted or goofing off with their friends so you see a different side to them and you guys are constantly having to analyze
035these kids and their needs and work on a partnership with all of these like super mall grade to get stuff done parents um and that's why you guys will never be replaced by robots because humans are messy humans are complicated and little humans are even worse and so thank you very much for picking up my slack over the last 12 years we've got six years to go so you're not getting rid of me um and thank you for all that you do helping these humans turn into good humans as grown-ups that's that's how i try to parent just trying to make good grown-ups out of them needing the least amount of therapy is possible not even that great my daughter's a lot of work okay not the little one she's cool um the older one's
036a lot of work and she would never have made it through through school if it wasn't for very many um people here in this room and you hear the term it takes a village and you guys are your own village you have all these extensions all of these coming and goings different kids different parents all in different circumstances and you band together every time new curriculums are not um pandemics or not the job gets done and you guys never get the credit that you deserve do a lot of lip service so i'm here giving you more lip service about how awesome you are but know that you are very seen and very appreciated and i am here to help you guys as much as i can i love getting emails from any of you i'm
037walking around in the dark without your direction so thank you guys very much for all the input i've received over the last year and a half as a board member thank you very much for helping me raise my children and you guys are loved and a very important part of this community thank you guys [Applause] thank you kelly next we have olivia frazier if she could come forward hi my name is olivia frazier and today i wrote a poem about first impressions first impressions can be strong about those we see around yet how often are they wrong that is the truth i found not all who cry are weak not everyone who looks can see not all who quiet are meek not all who not agree now i'll have crazy hair or lazy not all
038just now or cruel not all who smile are kind not everyone clumsy is a fool not all who wonder are lost we never know people's character in just a single instance we never know who people are by judging from a distance whether we like it or not we'll always be around people and that is why on the first day of school first impressions matter [Applause] next up we have chloe [Applause] all right in august 2020 i started going to school at continental school district i was really excited and nervous at the same time too i sat in my chair in the corner at the front of the room i wish that i would have sat in the back but if i kept still enough and said not a word maybe just maybe no one would
039notice me at my desk pretending to look busy so i didn't look awkward i exhibited my pencil with great fascination and trying to be quite as quietly as i could so i wouldn't disturb any of my other classmates i thought of what the day would we coming into the school was like a new opportunity to be more confident and cool on everyone's favorite person chloe corwas the coolest kid in fifth grade has a nice ring to it don't you think when i was at my desk examining my fingernails in awe desperately hoping that someone would say hi and join me at the same time why was i like this why was i so shy and awkward everyone was catching up with boyfriends talking and laughing while i was trying to make myself invisible thinking about
040how i was going to make through the day without saying anything save myself some embarrassment if you will all this goes through my head at the first minute of class does it sound familiar to anyone just as i was going to accept the fact that there was not going to be any me and i will always be the quiet kid in class i looked up to my fifth grade teacher mrs adams she smiled and waved mr adams might not even remember this but i did for two years i've remembered this simple gesture the simple gesture that somehow powered me up again maybe it was the fact that someone knew i existed or just that someone believed in me but the simple smile and wave turned my whole day around no i didn't have a million
041friends and i probably didn't even talk to five people that day but if mrs adams believed in me then i believe in me reason i shared this with you all is because i wanted to give an example of the impact my fifth grade teacher made in my life and it's not just that one teacher this school school is one of the most amazing teachers and staff on earth other kids are not so lucky when i was in second grade i didn't really hit the jackpot with my teacher i was almost sure that the only reason why she taught second grade was to be able to have some kids to torture at a hand's reach this teacher was just overall a movie and she hated her job so it seemed that she took out all her
042anger on his poor innocent little second graders but after all these years i still remember how this teacher broke me down i was having a lot of trouble with math and her class and all of her lessons were super outdated and bland if you're not enjoying what you're learning then it doesn't seem to stick to your brain so me being an impatient fidgety little seven-year-old tended to zone out a lot one day she was journeying on and on it seemed never ending an infinite pile of wooden wish that was coming out of her mouth blah blah blah all day long then in the middle of her blah blah blah i heard my name hello chloe are you there she said tell me the answer to number four i looked in my mouth packet um 14
043i asked she gave me a dirty look and slapped her pointer on my paper wrong page she said through gritty teeth i practically flipped the pages in my packet until i saw number four on the other piece of paper at this point i was really embarrassed and could feel the heartburn of my classmate's eyes on my face i answered the question with some trouble and after i did she told me something that i've held on to for years in a negative way she basically said that i was too slow and math in her class and she didn't think that i was going to be able to learn what she was teaching i think that year in my life was one that was the one where i lost a lot of confidence i left it off
044the front door of my second grade classroom after five years everyone with that second grade teacher the one that made me believe that i set that math and the one who stole my confidence from me our students really look out to our teachers so the things that they tell us really stick when i left last school i sort of expected the teachers to be like the ones in my old school why was i wrong i could make countless wonderful actions and needs that this school's teachers and staff have done for not just me but for all the students in our school i feel so much more happy in this school thanks to the people that make it what it is simply amazing so i just want to say the last thing for all the teachers
045and staff thank you for all you do for our students because we realize it and appreciate it and also good luck because this year is going to be a year to remember [Applause] right now before we have our last student speaker we're gonna go ahead and just open up the mic if there's anybody who wants to share anything or say anything you did it you are the best you are the seal team six of education you are the only district in pima county that successfully navigated two and a half years of the most difficult challenge ever faced by education this is us this is what you did give yourself a big round of applause there is no one at anfield no one at sunnyside now what a whale can do what you did you led
046education you led families you led children this is us you are the best you did it now we're going to ask you one more time set those alarm clocks from 5 30 get up come and do it again because you are the best we expect the best and we know we'll get it thank you for everything you do [Applause] thank you is there anyone else you can't see with the spotlight all right on that note we would like to welcome [Music] come azariah [Applause] [Music] good morning teachers first off i want to thank you for everything you do for us kids we all know it isn't easy but you still show up and push us to do our best even if we don't think we can do it ourselves next week we all come back
047to school and let me tell you i'm excited to keep up with you instead of with my mom and the kardashians [Laughter] are you excited to come back to your favorite place excited to see some of your favorite faces [Applause] it's because of you we are ready to come back can i let you in on a little secret just like you believe in all of us we believe in all of you it's true somehow when you think something is impossible you come round and show us nothing is impossible you help us grow to follow our dreams we need you to continue giving us the knowledge to accomplish big things in our future because you believe in us we can keep writing our stories and making our dreams come true [Applause] for coming back and being
048some of our biggest supporters believe in yourselves the way we believe in you it's gonna be a great year see you next week [Applause] over here i think the most important words we hear are from the words of the students that we serve right [Applause] they love you and i know that you felt that i felt it and um they're excited to come back you've made this school what it is and we thank you for that for your dedication for your passion for your service for the days that you feel that you can't do it anymore and you still show up every single day and we thank you for that so thank you for the wonderful words of praise and encouragement for our beautiful teachers and our beautiful staff together we will continue to make
049a difference together we will continue to learn together we will continue to grow and celebrate our school community and all that makes us the special school family that we are together we begin this new year's journey the best way we know how the continental way thank you for the for being here for our opening ceremonies are you ready for the school year you to our community who came out this morning to surprise everyone and we love you all very much i'm humbled to be your principal it's hard it's a hard job to do but it's the best job that i've ever had and i don't think i'd feel that way if i would have been any other place but here because i love you guys and i know that you know that and i'm so
050happy for all of you that have just joined on board with us it's going to be a great year you joined a really great family thank you and thank you superintendent rico and mr nathan and every [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you everyone [Applause] we're going to be setting up snacks and we also want to thank tiffany morgan and her family who came and have been centered up and working tires tirelessly to set up in here to surprise you yes and this is the time that if you have your boards made the collages to get them and then you can head back if not we're just gonna go around here a little bit and share what you do [Music] of all of you welcome back have a great day [Music] okay is [Music] if [Music] is
051[Music] okay [Music]