Tara Lechner
I have been an educator at Sherman School for twenty-three years. Throughout my time here, I have served as a basic skills teacher, classroom teacher, and administrator, and our school has always shared in the district’s mission. The belief in shared responsibility is the driving force for our school.
The mission of the Roselle Park School District is to provide a quality education through shared responsibility in a safe supportive environment for all students to meet the challenges of a global society.
By unpacking this mission statement, I have created a shared vision for Sherman School and established core values, practices, and expectations. The shared vision of learning reflects students’ needs, not only academically but also emotionally and behaviorally. I have communicated our core values to all stakeholders. The core values include; all students have the potential to learn, high expectations for all students both academically and behaviorally, personal responsibility is a key component to growth, and always stay humble, work hard, and be kind.
I have communicated high expectations for both students and staff and have implemented programs to support these expectations to promote continuous and sustainable improvement for Sherman School. The entire Sherman Community understands and is committed to the district mission, school vision, and core values that will lead to the academic success and well-being of each student.
Parent Communication and Involvement: Is a key factor to our students’ success.
An essential component for promoting schools of excellence is to have meaningful partnerships with all stakeholders. Promoting a positive home and school partnership is a priority at Sherman School. Family and school partnerships will support our school’s vision of high academic and behavior expectations for every student.
Research studies have shown that there are benefits for teachers, students, families, and the school community. School that invest time in building parent partnerships will see improved student performance, behaviors, attendance, test scores, and motivation to learn.
The staff at Sherman School place a strong focus on strengthening the home-school relationship. Throughout the school year, the staff and students work together to instill self-motivation, establish learning goals and increase achievement. Through hard work and consistent reinforcement, our students will grow in academics and behavior. We want our families to support our vision and believe with their support, we can achieve great success throughout the school year.
Our school and district offer several opportunities for parents to participate and serve on committees, advisory councils, and planning teams. Including parents on these committees allows them to voice concerns and offer suggestions to promote a positive school climate and student success. Listening to and implementing parent input when appropriate, further strengthens the home-school relationship.
