Month: August 2023

New teachers!

Our wonderful HR department is kicking off the morning by welcoming all the new and new to Fife teachers. Very busy day! Superintendent Kevin Alfano welcomed everybody to get the festivities underway!


The new teachers will hear from a whole bunch of people dedicated to supporting them. They’ll wrap up the day with our TLI department and bus tour of the district!

I had the chance to chat with a number of the new teachers during breakfast, including some brand new, right out of college teachers. It might be hard to believe, but I can easily remember the feelings of being a brand new teacher. At the other end of a career now, I am revisiting my Top Ten Tips for New Teachers. I stand by these, to this day.

Ten tips for new teachers!

Best of luck to all our our new family members. You have landed in a wonderful learning organization. You can make an amazing career here!

Dear Fife,

We’re at our 2nd day of our leadership retreat. We’re at the point in the afternoon where our building teams are hard at working talking, planning, dreaming, and scheming. It’s wonderful to listen in!

I’m in a reflective mood and guess this will be a bit of a state of mind over the 2023-2024 school year. My 40th year in our district. Probably the year I’ll retire. I’m thinking of a quote I just read in a book, “At some point your conversations become more about memories and less about dreams.” I’m not sure if I’m fully there yet, but can sure understand the sentiment.

One of my former students and wrestlers, Chris Feist, made a video last year, based upon an amazing activity he had his athletes do. I think his seniors. They each write a letter to wrestling, talking about the impact the sport has had on them.

Chris did one too. It’s stunning, impactful, and beautiful. I’m so proud of him and all he’s done, is doing, and will do for young people.

I’m thinking about a letter one could write to their workplace. Dear Fife, in my case. I’m not ready to write it yet, but as we inch ever closer to another school year, as I hear the happy laughter and collaborative planning going on around me, I am also thinking about what I would say in a letter to Fife.

I’ll continue to think on this as the year unfolds. I have some ideas and look forward to using the letter to talk about memories and dreams.

Dear Fife.