Principal's Page

Dear Families,

As Principal of Richmond Intermediate School (RIS), it is my honor and privilege to welcome you to our school! Richmond Intermediate will be a unique learning environment designed to meet the needs of ALL students.

As we develop the learning environment at RIS, five critical components emerge as themes. Connections, Community, Communication, Character, and Culture are all interwoven threads of the fabric proposed in this intermediate school. These five components all intertwine to serve as foundations for developing and enhancing student learning, our most important primary focus as well as the bottom line for ALL students, staff, and the greater learning community.

Connections: Making meaningful connections is a vital skill for adults in every aspect of life and is a skill that our students will continue to develop. The content and skills speak directly to the curriculum our students will receive. The students will experience the same curriculum students across D303 will receive, however the instructional delivery and facilitation will be different. The addition of World Language(s), science and technology all open tremendous opportunity to create connections in their learning across content areas. Additionally, students will be able to share what they know in multiple mediums.

Socially, the blending of our learning communities provides St. Charles students connections that would typically occur in middle school. The blending of the learning communities will allow our students to network, in many ways and on a larger scale, prior to entering a much larger setting later in their school experiences.

Emotionally, we will create an environment where each student feels unique and is approached as such. Richmond Intermediate School will be structured in a fashion to have a smaller feel, a school within a school if you will, at each grade level. Staff will have deep knowledge of the students academically, socially, and emotionally.

Connections across cultures relates directly to World Language learning, the diversity of our learning community, diversity in thinking, and diversity of perspectives. The ability to communicate with people around the world using technology and other languages offers our students a globalperspective.

Community: The learning community within the walls of the intermediate school will continue to be a safe and caring environment for students. We want all of our learners to feel safe taking risks in their learning, to develop new skills and the ability to apply them beyond the walls of school, and the ability to adapt to meet the needs of the shifts occurring in the world outside of school. Outside of education, businesses take risks all of the time. Our students should feel empowered to take educated risks to find what works.

Each student should feel cared for and connected to our staff. The message I hope our school delivers and embodies is that our school cares so much about your child, that we won’t let them fail.

Our students should feel connected to, and part of a global community. The generation in which our students are growing up will be faced with problems that have yet to be identified, solving issues developed by other generations, and working in jobs and industries that are yet to be created. The ability to connect and communicate with people from around the world will help them to develop ideas and solutions that will impact their future as well as the futures of their children, thus helping students to feel part of something larger.

Our faculty will work with the PTO organization to bring our learning community together as one. We will work together to focus our work on enhancing student learning, and developing the character traits needed to be successful in the 21st century. Finally, our students should develop a sense of balance between being part of something larger, as well as feeling unique and valued.

Communication: We live in the age of information and the ability to communicate is crucial. Students at the intermediate school will develop adaptability to communicate across multiple mediums including verbally, in writing, using technology, as well as methods of presentation and demonstrating their learning. Research has shown that learning multiple languages increases student achievement, something we would want for all of our students. Developing, using, and manipulating language will enhance our students ability to read, write, listen and speak. Learning to communicate using multiple languages and across cultures will allow our students to connect and become deeply involved in a global society which is important both now and in the future.

Character: The component of Character includes many facets. We want to help students develop integrity. Our students should follow through on commitments in learning as well as in life. Respect is a character trait our students should emulate everyday through our actions, interactions, and the manner in which we conduct ourselves with others. Our students should show responsibility for who they are individually, who they are in larger groups, and what that means to others. Building upon this idea, students should continue to seek additional responsibility and leadership opportunities in their learning and beyond. We want to instill and cultivate curiosity in all of our students. Curious minds ask good questions, seek information, and develop solutions. Seeking understanding is a critical skill for all to learn, which walks hand in hand with curiosity. Learning about different perspectives and comparing and contrasting those perspectives with others help students to gain deeper knowledge. In academics, seeking understanding provides students with the ability to make connections and network their knowledge across topics. Seeking understanding across differing cultures allows students to move beyond tolerance toward embracing differences as strengths.

It is important to note that these character components are important for students, but they are equally important for our faculty. Our faculty should live this character component each and every day. These character traits are essential pieces of developing the culture of our building.

Culture: Developing the culture of our learning community will take the combined efforts of our faculty, parents, and students. Our culture should reflect a future orientation. This future orientation includes language learning and technology as ways to communicate and collaborate in a global marketplace, while developing flexibility and adaptability in how communication takes place. It will also include scientific thinking and problem solving to help us see opportunities and solutions.

We will develop a community of learners. This concept applies to students and faculty. Our building should focus upon continual improvement, seek patterns of behavior and results, adapt to meet needs, identify and personalize learning, and recreate the vision of the future, for it is different for everyone; and it should be. We should develop a sense of togetherness and team. We are all working to ensure the success of every individual, but we must do this together for we are much stronger when we are united. Our building should be open and honest, with tact. We want to be very clear about what the learning is and why. Along with this, our building will welcoming to all who enter our doors. We will learn together.

Finally, we want to explore and establish traditions as a new and united learning community. We will work together, students, faculty, and parents, to strengthen our learning environment, gain a deeper appreciation and understanding of our community in St. Charles and beyond, and funnel every decision made at the intermediate school through the filter of what is in the best interest of our students.

Working to develop the intermediate school has caused me to identify with a statement made by Christopher Columbus as he ventured into the future; “Following the light of the sun, we left the Old World.” Our building can and will do great things for students. The learning experience will be unique and will combine the best of what is now with the best of what is on the horizon.

Once again, welcome to Richmond Intermediate School!
Adam Zbrozek
Principal, Richmond Intermediate School
adam.zbrozek@d303.org