Happy New Year

For those of us in education, and for our young people, the real Happy New Year is the start of a new school session!

Welcome back to North, and to the 2011-2012 school year. It has been an exciting week at North with the return of students, the introduction to our new freshmen - the Class of 2015 - and our evening parent orientation meetings.

North begins 2011-2012 with a new Mission Statement. Our mission is "Excellent instruction, every class, every day". Every staff meeting, every teacher professional development experience, every professional learning community meeting is focused on the same thing - providing every student an excellent experience every day. In the words of Bill and Ted (for those of you old enough to get the reference), our goal is to "Be Excellent".

North is coming off an outstanding year with achievement standards and gains that will be a challenge to match, but with our philosophy solidly grounded in putting kids first, everyone here is committed to making our already outstanding school an even better place for the young people we serve.

Our staff began the year with an emphasis on project learning, and you will see our initiative to make this approach an integrated, embedded part of instruction in virtually every class. Our teachers are committed to cultivating creative problem-solving skills in their classrooms.

North High School is all about kids - we pride ourselves on the relationships we build, and the results those relationships garner both in student achievement and in real connections to our students. For our returners, welcome back, and for those new to North, welcome.

Happy New Year Norsemen!!!