Incoming Superintendent Green: Great expectations for the future

Following is a letter to the AAPS community from Dr. Patricia Green, who starts as the district's new superintendent on July 1:

June 22, 2011

Dear Ann Arbor Public Schools Staff, Families and Community Members,

Shortly, I will be joining the Ann Arbor Public Schools, a district that has demonstrated its ability to inspire the imagination of young minds and to open young eyes to the world beyond their normal, everyday experience. Ann Arbor is a district that enables children of all ages to develop curiosity and resourcefulness, to care for others and to create their place in a world of tremendous, global change.

Ann Arbor is a special community and I am enormously proud to join its heritage of excellence. Throughout my career, I have always believed in the concept of “Great Expectations … The Best Is Yet To Come!” in which all community members join together with the highest of expectations and strive to create the best world in which our children can learn and grow.

As educators, our children sense our expectations intuitively. A knowing glance, a raised eyebrow, a smile of encouragement, all bring meaning to a child no matter what their age. Each of us in a school community plays a dynamic role, whether we actively realize it or not, in helping our children develop the critical skills needed to create and achieve a vision for their lives. The skillful balance between academics, the arts, athletics as well as social and emotional learning help our children become caring, scholarly individuals today and in their future years.

As I prepare to join the district in July, it is clear to me that Ann Arbor Public Schools is bound together by its educational workforce and its committed and dedicated community in a constant quest for excellence. When a school district and a school community embrace great expectations together, we all help our children construct meaning from the world they inhabit today, as well as help them dream of the possibilities for the future world that they will create.

There will always be challenges, but when we join together to help children create a portrait of their possibilities from a productive, school-community experience, we enable young minds to capture the spirit of who they are and what they can achieve.

As we look toward the 2011-12 school year, let’s unleash the power of “possibility thinking” for our children because to see a child is to see the possibilities of the future. With great expectations, the best is yet to come for all of them.

I am looking forward to being a part of this exceptional school district.

Sincerely,

Patricia P. Green, Ph.D.