To our community,
Amidst the significant challenges of this past year, our schools find moments of great joy and clear progress. They have provided their students with holistic care and high-quality academics. They have supported their teachers, engaged their families, and have been flexible, strategic, and compassionate in the face of a destructive hurricane and an ongoing pandemic. I am grateful for this.
At NSNO, we have celebrated progress, too. Among other things, we are proud:
- To have created the official job site for public schools in New Orleans,
- To be dedicating $14.3 million in support for educator recruitment and retention efforts,
- To be connecting and celebrating principals, and
- To be launching and funding professional development work in trauma-informed practices.
As I personally reflect on the last year, I am also feeling immense gratitude for my time leading NSNO. As many of you know, I will be transitioning from this role in the spring. I will continue to work closely with New Orleans’ public schools, but I recognize the frequency with which I connect with many of you may change. My belief in this system, its educators, and our wonderful students, however, is unyielding, as is my confidence in the NSNO team.
As we step into 2022, I am clear-eyed about the difficulties that remain before us as a system of schools, as a city, and as a world. But I am also immensely hopeful, grateful, and inspired – when you connect with our students, meet our teachers, and step into our schools, it is hard not to be.
I remain, as always, for the children,
Patrick