Mr. Strouss - HBRMS Principal

It is hard to believe that I am well into my 17th year at HBR and the 14th at HBRMS and yes I know this means Mr. Edwards and Mr. Bastian are getting older. From the time I began at HBR , I describe our school and the entire district to people as a place that is very special and that I am honored to work for and with people. I am very proud of our students, families, and staff coming together under unique circumstances to continue to teach our students and provide remote and in-person learners with quality educational experiences, albeit not perfect. The teachers, staff, and I continue to take great pride in building meaningful relationships with ALL our students. One of the ways we try to help build our moral is having a riddle or a short quote on our sign out front. The students and staff enjoy reading and having their joke posted. One of the recent ones that missed the sign posting was Why do vampire’s read the Big Rock Crier and Hinckley Update? They heard they have great circulation! :::::😊

Blended Learning Activities:

To support our teachers during this 20-21 school year, we have partnered with BloomBoard to offer continued learning opportunities for our staff specific to The Foundations of Blended Learning. BloomBoard is a leading organization known for providing meaningful professional learning experiences for teachers. BloomBoard offers continued learning for teachers through both professional development/training and micro-credential/endorsement platforms. As a district, we are experiencing both platforms this year.

In our District, we have 11 Blended Ambassadors who are completing the Foundations for Blended Learning micro-endorsement. They receive support from a BloomBoard Blended Learning Coach and engage in structured learning through weekly PLCs. They also provide support to the remaining staff in smaller cohorts.

The remaining staff can engage in 7 synchronous 90-min Learning Sessions, led by a BloomBoard Blended Learning Coach. While these individuals are not working to obtain the micro-endorsement, they are participating in professional development and provided monthly opportunities to dialogue with their HBR colleagues as well as the BloomBoard Blended Learning coach.

The administrative team also recently completed a book study on blended learning called “Blended: Using disruptive innovation to improve schools” by Michael Horn and Heather Staker. The book has been a great conversation starter to discuss students’ learning experiences this year. Parents or community members, if you would like more information on blended learning, please let me know I would be happy to send it to you.

HBRMS Commitment to our students 20-21:

We at HBRMS continue to be committed to providing opportunities to enrich ALL our students’ learning using technology. We provide opportunities for students to effectively communicate and express ideas through a variety of digital platforms. We encourage students to think critically, logically, and independently, as well as work cooperatively with peers and teachers both remotely and in-person. Students continue to be prepared to be career-ready graduates who have the skills and motivation to pursue a self-directed goal, adapt to challenges, and know the options to obtain their post-secondary careers. Also, if it would be at all possible, we continue to encourage our students to go to work with their parent to have that opportunity to learn what mom and dad do for a living. This can be done remotely also. We are hoping that we will be able to have our annual career day sometime in the 2nd semester.

Social emotional and academic help for our students:

HBRMS encourages all students who are struggling to reach out to a staff member during their personal development classes. Teacher’s also have periods and times when they can be reached via email, phone or meets to get help. If you need help with connecting to your teacher, please contact our office or see anyone in the building and they will be happy to help. Mrs. Neidigh, or any other district staff member, is available daily for any social or emotion needs.

It continues to be a privilege to work with all the parents, community members, staff, and teachers throughout the school year. As always, please do not hesitate to contact me with your questions and concerns. We are always looking for way to improve and make our school better.