Good Afternoon,

We hope that you have had a great summer.  Late this morning, I was informed by Wakefield Superintendent Kim Smith and Parker Principal Doug Lyons that Mr. Lyons has been appointed and has accepted the position of Assistant Superintendent for the Wakefield Public Schools, effective October 23rd.  We thank Mr. Lyons for his years of outstanding service, leadership and contribution as an administrator in the Reading Public Schools and wish him the best of luck in the next stage of his career.

In the meantime, we will begin the search for an Interim Principal for Parker Middle School for the 2015-16 school year with the intent of conducting a search for a permanent Principal for Parker Middle School for the 2016-17 school year.  We will send you more details in the upcoming weeks.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Reading Public Schools Administration Offices at 781-944-5800.

Good Morning,

We hope that your summer is going well.  We wanted to give you another update on our Capital projects.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to respond to this blog or contact the Reading Public Schools Administrative Offices at 781-944-5800.

1. RMHS Retaining Wall-The project is continuing to move along very well and is nearing completion. The project will be completed by the start of the school year and is on budget.

2. Joshua Eaton Roof Replacement and Parker Roof Repair-The Joshua Eaton roof is also moving along on schedule and will be completed prior to the start of the school year.  The project is on budget.  The masonry work with the Parker roof repair may not be completed by the start of the school year, but it will not affect the opening of school.  if the work is not complete, it will be done outside of school hours.

3. Modular Classrooms-Here is a status of the three modular sites:
   1. Killam-The modular has arrived, the utilities have been connected, and they are ready to set the modular units on the foundation.  The foundation setting should begin today (Monday).  After the modular has been set, they will add the skirting around the bottom of the modular and build the ramps/stairs.
   2. Barrows-Barrows is about two days behind Killam.  The modular classrooms arrived last Tuesday (see picture below).  It is also scheduled to be set this week, with other components to follow.
      1. 

         Barrows Modular Classroom Arrives Last Tuesday

         C. Joshua Eaton-The Eaton modular classrooms arrived on Friday. They will be setting the modular onto the foundation either late this week or early next week.  The rest of the building components will follow.

         

         Joshua Eaton Modular Classroom Arrives Last Friday

We were informed that it takes about three weeks from the time the modular classroom has been set on the foundation to when it should be completed and ready for inspection by the building inspector.  We believe we are still looking at a mid to late September move-in date for our students.

In the meantime, our temporary classrooms are being set up in the gymnasiums and will be ready in plenty of time for the start of the school year.

Good Afternoon,

We hope that you are enjoying the summer months.  This post is an update on the three major Capital Projects that are underway at our schools this summer.  These projects are being closely monitored by our Owner’s Project Manager who has been assigned to each project, our Director of Facilities, Kelly Colon, our Director of Finance and Operations, Martha Sybert, and Assistant DPW Director Joe Huggins, who is also overseeing the Library Project.  For each project, there is a weekly construction meeting, as well as, onsite supervision by our Owner’s Project Manager.

Here is a summary of the different projects:

1. Eaton/Parker roof-The bulk of this project was the full replacement of the Joshua Eaton roof, subsequent masonry work and a smaller amount of roof replacement and masonry repair occurring only above the multipurpose room at Parker.  This project is on schedule.  Barring any major weather issues, this project is scheduled to be completed on budget and well before the start of school.

2. RMHS Retaining Wall-This project is also progressing on schedule. Barring any major weather issues, this project is also scheduled to be completed on budget prior to the start of school.

3. Modular Classrooms-The updates by school are as follows:

• Killam-Killam is progressing along the furthest at this point.  The foundations have been poured and the utilities will all be connected by tomorrow.  The modular classroom arrived today from New York (see photos).

• Barrows-Foundation pouring began earlier this week. Unfortunately, we also had torrential rain on the day of the initial foundation pouring and the foundation work was not completed.  The foundation work should be completed by Monday at the latest.  The modular classroom left Pennsylvania yesterday and should arrive at Barrows early next week.

• Joshua Eaton-Excavation work will begin shortly with the foundation pouring finishing next week.  The modular is leaving Pennsylvania early next week and will arrive either late next week or early the following week.

We continue to anticipate that students will be in their temporary classrooms in the gymnasiums of each school until mid to late September, depending on the school.  With the current schedule, Killam will be completed first, following by Barrows, then Joshua Eaton.

We are beginning to set up the temporary classrooms in the gymnasiums at each schools.  Teachers and staff are beginning to move furniture and materials into those spaces.  Those classrooms will be ready in plenty of time for kindergarten families to visit prior to the start of school. Our Building Principals will be communicating more information to Kindergarten parents as we get closer to the school year.

Good Morning,

This is an important message for all students who attend summer programming at the Wood End Elementary School. Due to yesterday’s storm, there is still a power outage at Wood End Elementary School. Therefore, there will be no summer programs at Wood End for Wednesday, August 5th. There will still be summer programs at the other schools. We apologize for the inconvenience that this may cause.

Thank you and have a great day.

We hope all is well and you are enjoying your summer.  The purpose of this blog post is to update you on the modular classroom construction at Killam, Barrows and Joshua Eaton.  Over the last several weeks, I have been kept updated by Director of Finance and Operations Martha Sybert, Director of Facilities Kelly Colon, and our Owner’s Project Manager, Gale Associates.  There have been weekly construction meetings which have discussed the timeline of the project, including when the modular classrooms would reach substantial completion and be ready for our students.

Although there were some delays early in the process, we were reassured by the contractor that the project could be completed by the agreed upon substantial completion date of August 24^th.  Recently however, it became evident that this timeline was not attainable.   There have been several delays in the project, including the submission, re-submission and final approval of construction and foundation design plans, some unexpected delays during excavation at Killam and Barrows, and delays in the transit of the modular classrooms from Pennsylvania.  Therefore, due to these delays, the modular classrooms will not be completed by the end of August.  In conversations with our Owner’s Project Manager, it is now expected that the modular classrooms will be completed for occupancy by mid to late September.

In anticipation of the delayed completion date, we are making plans for temporary classroom space for our kindergarten students at their assigned elementary school.   In the next 48 hours, Principals Eric Sprung, Cathy Giles, and Heather Leonard will be communicating to their school communities the specific details of those classroom spaces.

We are certainly disappointed with this latest information that we have received, and we will work diligently to assure that our kindergarten students and families will have a smooth transition to their new school.  As we move forward, our building principals will be keeping you updated on the progress of the modular construction at your school and all current information regarding the start of the school year.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Reading Public Schools Administration offices or your building principal.

Sincerely,

John F. Doherty

Superintendent of Schools

Good Evening,

The following message below is an important message from the Reading Police Department.

On Tuesday 06/30/15 at 8:30pm, a 13 year old male was riding his bike in the area of Grove Street, when he was approached by a silver 4 door sedan style vehicle, being operated by an older white male with gray hair and a deep voice. The older male spoke to the youth through the passenger side window. The youth rode his bike away and the male did not follow him. NO abduction attempt was made, however the interaction was odd in nature. If you have any further information please contact the Reading Police Department at 781-944-1212.

Thank you

THOUGHTS ON SCHOOL CULTURE

By Sherri VandenAkker, Ph. D.

Parent Co-Chair of the Joshua Eaton Task Force

Establishing a Firm Foundation for the Future

Since November, I have had the privilege of co-chairing the Joshua Eaton Task Force (TF) with Assistant Superintendent Craig Martin.  Comprised of parents, teachers, and administrators, the Task Force was established to bring the school community together to help address the school’s Level 3 accountability rating, and more importantly, I feel, to begin the process of helping the school move forward.  As we close out our work, I want to report on what we accomplished, as I see it, and on what I learned about school change and the importance of school culture in the change process.

In today’s educational climate, it can be difficult to define and “measure” success other than through standardized test scores.  The decline in test scores that led to our lowered accountability rating was the catalyst for taking stock at Joshua Eaton; and of course our community is intent on seeing our scores and rating rise.  But I feel that we are even more invested in improving the conditions that contributed to the decline–rather than resort to superficial measures to “fix” our numbers, we want to lay the foundation for genuine, sustainable, and continuous improvement.

I came to see that in order to do that, we needed to focus even more intently on how than on what—for it is the how (or the process) that ultimately will define the school’s success more strongly than the what (the specific actions that we decide to take).  If all sectors of our community—school leadership, teachers, parents, and of course the children– are able to collaborate authentically, respectfully, and thus effectively, we will be able to transform our school culture for the long-term.  I believe that our TF was successful in helping restore our school’s ability to collaborate, and thus I am proud of the work we did to establish a sound foundation for the school to move forward in accomplishing its emerging goals. In many ways, I feel that the dialogue and open exchanges of the group have modeled the type of culture our community values and is so essential for an effective school.

The Task Force’s Work

In late fall, the TF was given the following charge:

. . . to develop and oversee a comprehensive plan to elevate Joshua Eaton from the DESE’s Level 3 accountability rating and to continually move the school forward in a positive direction. This will include looking at all aspects of the school community, reviewing input from the DSAC [District and School Assistance Center] survey, providing additional avenues for community input, recommending specific and sustainable action steps to the School Advisory Council and/or Reading Public Schools administration, and establishing an effective means of communication among all school stakeholders.

As our charge indicates, our primary goal was to make ourselves obsolete by embedding our mission and purpose into the very culture of our school.

Here’s how we went about it.  In (nearly) weekly meetings from December through the end of March, we examined: data from the state-authored survey sent to parents across the district in October; input gathered at the World Café meeting held at Joshua Eaton in February; and input from students gathered during Open Circle time in March.   In our discussions, school personnel also shared their insights about factors related to the decline.

We discovered that there was no single cause for our school’s decline and thus there could be no “quick fix.” We saw that our school needs to progress in the areas of Teaching and Learning; School Culture; School Leadership; and School/Family Communication and Engagement.  Each of these areas is multi-faceted and complex; none could be “fixed” in one year.  Yet we are happy to report that meaningful work is underway on all of them—at Joshua Eaton and across the district.  Here are just a few highlights:

• At the request of the TF, Assistant Superintendent Craig Martin authored a detailed report on the numerous (and impressive, in my view) measures underway to improve Teaching and Learning; they include establishing effective Professional Learning Communities across the district, examining curriculum pacing, studying our special education delivery, and revamping professional development delivery. (Click here for a summary report.)
• Craig Martin also shared work with the TF that he has presented to educators across the nation, throughout the state, and in our district on building and sustaining healthy School Culture and effecting school change through research-supported methods.
• Incoming principal Eric Sprung held two well-attended meet-and-greets to give our community a sense of his School Leadership style and hear what’s on our minds.
• Sprung met with our current School Advisory Council (SAC)–comprised of teachers and elected parents–to discuss how he will empower next year’s group to provide School Leadership, in part by creating a strong School Improvement Plan.
• Sprung promised to strengthen School/Family Communication about the ongoing “state of our school” by holding meetings for the Joshua Eaton community throughout the next academic year to keep us updated on progress.
• TF member and communications specialist Kate Moran met with Superintendent Doherty on improving School/Family Communication across the district.
• Under the direction of current co-chairs Principal Karen Feeney and parent Eileen Manning, this year’s SAC sent out a survey on School/Family Communication that will be used to set direction for next year.

Clearly the TF itself did not spearhead all, or even most, of these actions.  Many are the result of ongoing work being done across the district, and some resulted from the change in our school leadership.  But the TF was able to use data and information to verify that Joshua Eaton’s critical areas of need are being meaningfully addressed, and to ensure that our school will have strong structures in place next year—and beyond—to sustain and build upon the work already underway.

In our final TF meeting this past week, we formally handed over our responsibilities to our re-empowered SAC that will be co-chaired by Principal Sprung and a Joshua Eaton parent.  This group (comprised in much the same way as the TF) will establish goals and action steps for the year ahead, and monitor progress toward meeting them.

The Role of School Culture

The TF also realized that the actions we as a school undertake to improve school performance will succeed only if they are done within the context of a healthy school culture marked by mutual respect, authentic communication, and effective collaboration. We understood this from the outset, but the health of our school culture took on new importance in the spring when some unexpected developments occurred.  Principal Feeney announced that she was seeking a new position.  We also learned that our teaching staff will experience significant change: we’ll have three new teachers (two of our veteran teachers are retiring and we’re adding an additional teacher due to growth) and additional long-term substitutes for teachers going on leave.

As a result of these unexpected changes, the TF had to shift gears:  we needed to think less about what to do to reshape our existing school landscape and more about how to prepare to navigate a very different one.

While actions (including those listed in the bullets above) to address our challenges continued, our community undertook searches for a new principal and for three new teachers. As we know, the search for a principal did not yield a permanent replacement for Principal Feeney.  While that was disappointing, as conventional wisdom tells us, crisis can be transformed into opportunity. We are fortunate indeed that next year Joshua Eaton will be under the leadership of Eric Sprung, an experienced Reading Public Schools principal who will be “on loan” to us from Birch Meadow.  Having an experienced and successful “local” principal ready to lead our school (indeed, he is already a strong presence in it) rather than someone new who would need time to “ramp up” meant that the TF could hand over our responsibilities to our reinvigorated SAC and our School Leadership Team (comprised of the principal and teachers from every grade) much earlier than we had foreseen.  In my view, the TF has returned its work to where it rightfully belongs:  the structures embedded in our school.

These structures only work, however, if the culture in the school is strong.  The term “school culture” probably sounds nebulous to many of us, and to some degree it is, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not real or important.  I came to believe that it’s both.

We readily accept the notion of “American culture.”  We might have trouble describing it beyond its superficial and stereotypical elements like burgers and blue jeans, but it’s “real,” runs deep, and is held dear.  I believe that the same can—and should—be true for our school’s culture.

In truth, I was initially skeptical that school culture is truly fundamental to school success, and thus unsure that the TF should devote so much energy to fostering it, so I did some research.  I learned that the business community readily accepts that creating and sustaining a strong culture is vital to success.  Management consultants Bain & Company report that 91% of senior executives they surveyed “agreed” with the statement that “culture is as important as strategy for business success.” Lou Gerstner, who is credited with turning around IBM, noted, “I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn’t just one aspect of the game – it is the game.”  In fact, when I did a Google search for the three keywords “culture,” “business,” and “success,” I got nearly half a billion hits, and what I saw impressed me.

I also discovered that respected school change agents have much to say about the importance of school culture. Roland Barth notes that “A school’s culture has far more influence on life and learning in the schoolhouse than the president of the country, the state department of education, the superintendent, the school board, or even the principal, teachers, and parents can ever have.”  Michael Fullan argues that when turning around a school, “Reculturing is the name of the game. . . . Transforming culture–changing what people in the organization value and how they work together to accomplish it–leads to deep, lasting change.”  In fact, I discovered that there’s a lot of research indicating that when a school’s culture improves, its academic performance does too.

Through the TF’s work over the past several months, I developed several beliefs about school culture:

• It’s created by everyone within the school community: administrators, teachers, staff, students, and families;
• It can–and must–be set and nurtured intentionally;
• When it’s left to happenstance, it will go awry and likely be difficult to repair.

I also learned that there are many reliable and identifiable indicators that a school has established a culture conducive to success.  These include:

• Commonly held educational goals;
• effective collaboration on setting and teaching the curriculum, and assessing learning;
• clear, consistent, and high expectations;
• productive two-way communication and genuine goodwill amongst all of the school’s constituencies;
• genuine willingness to evaluate progress, admit mistakes, address problems, and start over; and
• adept leadership to coordinate and guide the school’s work.

(If you’re interested in learning more, check out the short essay “Good Seeds Grow in Strong Cultures” by Jon Saphier and Michael King.).  Given this extensive (but not exhaustive) list, it’s easy to see why school culture deeply impacts learning.  And given that each indicator on the list is connected to every other, it’s also easy to see why it’s difficult but critical to create a healthy culture.  Clearly I became a “believer” in the importance of the TF’s work on rebuilding our school culture.

Looking Forward

Effective collaboration is the lifeblood of all of these elements of school—and it is also the key to success for the actions the TF, school, and district have been undertaking to improve Joshua Eaton and the RPS system.  I believe that through its actions and its honest but respectful dialogue between school personnel and parents, the TF has helped improve our community’s ability to collaborate and thus has helped “grow” our school community’s capacity.

It’s hard to “see” improved capacity in the early stages—it will become manifest in successful initiatives and improved learning next year and beyond.  But, for me, it has been easy to “feel” our improved capacity: the disappointment and frustration that I felt in the fall has been replaced by optimism and excitement for our school’s future, and I hope the same is true for others in our community.  I look forward to watching our collaboration unfold as we set and act on common goals for our children’s success in the next school year, and far beyond.

In closing, I want to thank Craig Martin, Principal Feeney, Principal Sprung, our teachers and staff at Joshua Eaton, our parents, and especially our children for working so hard this year to rebuild our community and to renew our school culture. Our collective strength is tremendous.

Thank you especially to the teachers and parents who served on the Task Force for their time, insights, energy, and honesty over the past several months—and thank you in advance to the School Advisory Council members (just recently announced) who will continue this important work.  Since our goal is continuous improvement, we know that the Task Force’s work is not finished—indeed, it never will be.  But we are confident that it will be continued in new and exciting ways.

 

— Sherri VandenAkker, Ph.D.

Joshua Eaton Task Force Parent Co-Chair

Congratulations to the RMHS Girls Softball Team, who won the Eastern Massachusetts Division 2 Title last night by defeating Norton, 3-1, in Lowell.  The team now moves on to the Division 2 State Finals on Saturday, 4:00 pm at U-Mass Amherst against Hampshire.  The link to the Boston Globe story is here.

Congratulations to the team and good luck on Saturday!

Good Morning,

We hope that you are having a great weekend.  Below is the link to the Pathways Newsletter for this week.  There are several items of interest including more coverage of the RMHS graduation that was held last week, the RISE End of the Year Picnic, the Wood End Hats Off Fundraiser for Multiple Sclerosis and Senior Citizen Dinner, and more!

Have a great week!

Pathways Newsletter V1N38

Early this afternoon, 304 students from the RMHS Class of 2015 received their diplomas on a beautiful cool and sunny day at the Walter Hawkes Field House.  The graduation ceremony began with the Processional played by the RMHS Band, under the direction of Dave Bunten.  Student Council President James Bedingfield led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance followed by Senior Paul Sanford singing the National Anthem.  The Valedictory Address was given by Class President Nicholas Stevens and the Salutary Address was given by Alexandra Sahagian.  During the ceremony, the RMHS Singers performed the song, Omnia Sol (Let Your Heart Be Staid), under the direction Ms. Kristin Killian.  Mr. Adam Bakr gave the Principal’s address, followed by the presentation of the Scholastic Honors by Director of Guidance, Mrs. Lynna Williams.  After the Scholastic Honors, Dr. John Doherty gave the Superintendent’s Address (see below), followed by the conferring of the diplomas by current School Committee Chair Charles Robinson, and past School Committee Chair Chris Caruso.

Special thanks goes to the Class Advisors for the Class of 2015, Beth Dalby and Frank Buono, and the Marshals for the Graduation Ceremony, Ellie Wilson and Parker Webb.

High School Graduation Speech-Dr. John F. Doherty

Good Afternoon,

Mr. Bakr, School Committee Members, Fellow Administrators and Faculty, Family and Friends of the Graduates, students, other guests, and most importantly, members of the Graduating Class of 2015, it is my honor and privilege to address you today as you complete your graduation requirements and commence the next part of your journey.

To begin my remarks, I am honored to announce this year’s recipient of the Patrick A. Schettini, Jr. Memorial Scholarship Award.  This year, I have asked School Committee Vice Chair Jeanne Borawski to present the award to this worthy recipient.  This award is given in memory of Superintendent of Schools Patrick A. Schettini Jr. to a graduate who exemplifies the qualities that he most cherished:  A hard working, high achieving student both within and beyond the classroom who enjoys and excels in the STEM fields and embraces life-long learning.  The student selected this year is a leader among peers, very active in community service and is a person passionate about physics and engineering.

During her time at RMHS, she has participated in and has been a leader on the Reading Robotics Team, Operation SMILE and the Interact Club.  She has presented at the Worcester Polytechnical Institute’s annual Project Lead the Way Conference and has participated in the Women in Science and Engineering program.  This student will be attending Bucknell University in the fall.  It is with great pride that I present the Patrick A. Schettini, Jr. Memorial Scholarship to Caitlin Mahoney.

Caitlin is just one example of a student in your class who has made a difference during her time here at RMHS, but there are many more of you who have positively contributed to our school community by finding your own unique pathways based on your interests, your values, and your passions.    Here are a few of the many examples.   Jenna Choi was born in Korea, could not speak English when she first arrived in the United States, took ESL classes, and now finishes her high school career as a four year member of the jazz band, and has completed eight Advanced Placement classes, the most ever by an RMHS student.  Sabine Michaud has been a quiet leader in the arts, excelling in the visual arts, and performing as the stage manager for several shows during her four years in the RMHS Drama Club.  She has constantly led by example and has been the true glue behind the scenes of each drama production.  Madison May chose to take a different path and enroll in on-line courses and participate in dual enrollment classes in order to fulfill her goal of traveling.  She spent an entire month in Malaysia exploring another culture and it has inspired her to pursue nursing, more specifically healthcare for women worldwide.  Jona Lee has pursued her passion for a sense of justice by using her compassion and her determination to educate our community on the issues that LGBTQ students face on a daily basis.  Her presentation at our annual Educational Institute in April on raising awareness in order to help educate and support students questioning their sexual identity was an inspiration to all who attended.    Ian Brown has overcome significant medical issues, spending his early days in the Reading Public Schools managing his academics with his demanding dialysis and hospital clinic visit schedule.  Successful transplant surgery in December of his sophomore year made finishing high school in four years a challenge, one that he met head on and with success.  Ian is going to major in political science and is currently serving as a member of Reading’s Town Meeting.  Charlie Kellogg has used his technical and theatrical talents through the RMHS drama club to model how to be true to yourself, help others recognize the importance of being proud of who you are, celebrate differences, and not hide behind what others call the norm.  He has been a role model to his peers and staff at RMHS, as well as the children in the RISE program where he served as an intern this past year.   Last, but certainly not least, there is Kaitlin Powers, who has struggled academically and emotionally since elementary school, but with the support and patience of many teachers at Killam, Parker, and the High School, along with her own will to succeed, completed college level courses at North Shore Community College and will graduate today as a proud young woman thankful for all that have been offered to her in her time here.

We also have two members of the Class of 2015 joining our armed forces. James Beddingfield will be attending the United States Military Academy at West Point and Matthew Erwin will be joining the United States Army.  James and Matthew, thank you for making this important choice in defending our country and doing such important work. We wish you a safe journey and Godspeed.

These individuals, of course, are just a few examples of the many personal accomplishments represented here today.  Each of you have found your niche and your talents and have made contributions to our school and our community.  You should be very proud of yourselves as a senior class, where you have been outstanding leaders and role models for the underclassmen.  Collectively, this year alone you have had some amazing accomplishments. You have excelled on the athletic playing field with a state championship in Girls Ice Hockey, 5 Middlesex League Championships and spring sports teams still in tournament competition.  In addition, Matt Dynan won a state championship in the mile run and Adam Morton won a state championship for his weight class in wrestling.  You have shined in the visual and performing arts with four outstanding drama productions, a regionally recognized choral program, and award winning jazz band and color guard.  Lauren Walsh, has earned many awards for her outstanding work in photography, including two prestigious gold keys in this year’s Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and a National Gold Medal which she will receive later this month at Carnegie Hall in New York City.  In addition, our Robotics Team is among the best in the state, finishing strong and receiving the prestigious entrepreneurship award.  Members of your class have also achieved academic success with 16 national merit commended scholars and one of your classmates, Peter Satterthwaite, received recognition as a national merit scholar and, was one of only fourteen students in Massachusetts who qualified for the prestigious United States Presidential Scholars Program.  And, finally, all of you deserve congratulations for completing the necessary graduation requirements to be here today.  Class of 2015, please give yourselves a round of applause.

Today, as you all prepare for the next stage of your journey, my hope with my remaining remarks is simply to provide some possible compass points by which to navigate your way.

As you may know, Rotary International is one of the largest community service organizations in the worId, and their motto is “service above self.”  I have had the privilege of serving as Reading’s Rotary Club president this year, and some of you are also part of the Rotary-sponsored student Interact Club which has participated in many community service projects—and I have had the privilege of working with you as well.

I think this organization’s four key questions (called the four-way test) may provide a possible compass to help us make decisions along our personal journeys and help us navigate the challenges that we face each and every day.

The first question is, Is it the truth? Although this seems obvious, the question is asking are we being truthful and forthright with others, without lying or being deceitful.  The development of trust is one of the most important qualities that you can have with your friends, your family, and your colleagues.  Without trust, it is much more difficult to build relationships and move forward.  One of the biggest obstacles to progress or compromise is the lack of trust between individuals.  Be honest in your communication with others and follow this important principle.

The second question is, Is it fair to all concerned?  When a decision is being made, does it hurt someone else?  Are you letting your personal preferences get in the way of the greater good?  Think back to when you were in kindergarten and you first learned and heard about the Golden Rule.  This rule helped you learn the importance of treating others as you would like others to treat you.  All too often, this rule is broken when we begin to judge people, particularly because of race, gender, sexual orientation, or because they are just different from us.  When we make a decision, we need to make sure that those decisions does not hurt others.

The third question is, Will it build good will and better friendships?  Each action that you take will have an impact on someone else.  Be positive and cooperative with others, regardless of who they are or what they believe.  Take the time and the opportunities to build friendships with many different types of people.  The collective strengths of many is greater than the individual strength of one.  It is important to build those productive relationships and meaningful friendships that will last forever.

Finally, the fourth question asks, Will it be beneficial to all concerned?  All too often, when decisions are made or actions are taken, only one side benefits.  This can have a negative impact on a person or group of people.  Working together towards a common good eliminates unnecessary competition which may hurt others.  It reminds us to think and choose our words carefully, as once they are spoken, posted, tweeted, texted, or sent, they cannot be taken back. This compass point prompts us to think about if what we are saying or writing is beneficial to all concerned.

I want to give you an example of how these four questions can guide a group’s action.  Recently in the news, you may have heard of School Principal Courtney Vashaw of the Profile Junior Senior High School in Bethlehem, N.H. who told her students that she had been diagnosed with a rare form of an aggressive cancer and that she would be out of school for a while.  The students, who had know Ms. Vashaw for six years, were devastated because they loved and respected the work that Ms. Vashaw has done in leading their school.  Unselfishly, the senior class, all 180 students, unanimously decided to give to Ms. Vashaw every dollar that they saved over the last four years to help defray her medical expenses as she fights this potentially deadly disease.  The funds, over $8,000 were originally raised for their senior class trip to New York.

When Mrs. Vashaw found out the news, she wept and said, “IT IS VERY HARD FOR ME TO ACCEPT HELP, AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO SAY.”

The Students said, “SHE’S JUST VERY CARING, VERY SELFLESS, AND WE WANTED TO BE SELFLESS TOO. EVERY ONE OF US HAS A CONNECTION WITH HER, AND SHE’S GIVEN SO MUCH TO US THAT WE JUST WANTED TO GIVE BACK. SHE’S ONE OF THE STRONGEST MOST DETERMINED WOMEN I KNOW, AND TO SEE THAT HAPPEN TO SUCH A STRONG PERSON”.

This generous act by a group of high school seniors is one example of how the four way test can be applied to make a difference in this world.  Soon, you will be starting your own new journey, a journey with unknowns and challenges, but also with hope and opportunities.  The decisions that you make will change your path many times.  You may not always choose the most obvious path, and that it is ok.  However, if you use the four compass points of

1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? and
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

your decisions will be easier to make.

I challenge each of you to use the four way test as your guide.  Whether you are living away at school, commuting to school nearby, starting a new job, taking a year off, or joining the armed forces, these four simple questions can help you make good decisions, build strong and trusting relationships with others, and become successful, no matter what you choose to do.

So, Class of 2015, as you embark on the next chapter of your life, make your choices wisely.  You are the leaders of tomorrow who will guide our community, our country, and our world along its continued journey.   What you have accomplished during the last four years at RMHS has been remarkable and your parents, your teachers, and other significant adults and friends have prepared you for your next steps.  The decisions you now make may help solve the problems of tomorrow.

On behalf of the parents, the educators, and the Reading Community, I congratulate you on your graduation.  I wish you good fortune, health, and happiness on your journey ahead.

Thank you.