written by David Núñez, Head of School

Dear GRS Community,

Happy Fall everyone! The school year is off and running!

One of our biggest celebrations so far this year has been the success of the fall Key Experiences (still underway in Elementary). While there were challenges to the trips, as always, the staff and students rose to those challenges and had some truly formative experiences. As a staff we will be meeting to process how we can improve upon the trips for next time, but you are welcome as community members to send feedback to me as well. Thank you all, students, staff and families, who helped to make these experiences come together.

You may have noticed that last year’s MCA scores have been posted on the MN report card, alongside other schools in the state. Two years ago, similar to all other schools in the state, our scores dropped post-pandemic. I want to assure you, no matter your thoughts on standardized testing, we continue to take this drop in test scores seriously, and continue to focus on the health and wellbeing of our students. In fact, we saw a significant rise in our math test scores this last year as we continue to recover from the pandemic. Those scores still do not reflect our math scores in 2019, however. As always, we know that students need to be in a good place socially and emotionally to succeed academically and so we are offering increased SEL support and increased academic support this year. Individual score reports have just arrived at the school, are being addressed and should be mailed home in the coming weeks.

If you didn't know it, we are coming to the end of National Hispanic Heritage Month. That means these weeks are a time to celebrate the vital role of Hispanic people in American history and highlight the accomplishments of people who identify as Hispanic. Jordan, our Equity and Inclusion Facilitator has been sharing resources with staff this whole month and, as always, I continue to encourage you and your family to do your own work in this area as well.

Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

Have a great Fall everyone!

Peace,

David