The Principal's Perspective

THE PRINCIPAL’S PERSPECTIVE

“It is not the critic who counts. The credit belongs to the person in the arena who strives valiantly and at his best knows triumph and if he fails at least he fails while daring greatly.” Theodore Roosevelt

There are so many people who come together to make Boston Higashi School the exceptional learning community that it is each and every day. No matter what their job title, all of our employees are role models for students. We live the mantra “it takes the best in each of us to bring about the best for all of us”. The work that we are engaged in can be challenging on the best day. There are many moving parts and systems that have to coalesce to get students from one day to the next while keeping them on their learning paths. Everyone is committed to the mission of the school and strives to make Higashi the very best school both in our day and residential programs. Providing 24/7 education and care for our varied autistic student population is both energizing and exhausting! Add some winter weather commuting challenges into the mix and see our resilience really dazzle!

I have come to observe and appreciate so many things that make us all Higashi strong. We are really good at social construction, which involves people building ideas together through shared understandings and events cementing them with relational experiences. Our staff corral creative potential and blend it with confidence and enthusiasm that turns into the positive power that informs the heart and the spirit to rise up to live our school motto: “Challenge, Believe, Together”.

As the days get brighter our thoughts begin to turn to the annual Higashi rites of spring. We are preparing for our Emergence Division Formal Dance and Graduation Ceremony. It is truly a moment in time when we pause and reflect on how quickly time passes. Our children become young adults before we are ever ready to release them. The hardest part of loving is indeed letting go!

We recently completed the re-accreditation process with National Commission for the Accreditation of Special Education Services (NCASES). This is a comprehensive review that includes all departments and levels that measures us across fifty rigorous standards. This endeavor is in keeping with our school theme “Be Brave.” It takes courage to engage in selfstudy and reflection, school wide program evaluation and analysis. We were very pleased with the outcome and expect to receive the formal report this spring. Amazingly, we are almost at the half way mark in this school year. Six months have passed since we began the 2018-2019 year with our theme “Be Brave.” There is not a day that has gone by without observable practice-based evidence of how very brave our students, parents, and staff are. I remain inspired and honored to be part of this culture of courage, compassion and collaboration. May we continue to voyage bravely!

Deborah Donovan Principal