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.

Author: Jnelson

Jeff Nelson Fife School District Assistant Superintendent:Teaching-Learning-Innovation 40 years as an educator. 16 years teacher 3 years assistant principal 12 years principal 9 years Assistant Superintendent BA, Washington State University MAEd, Washington State University Previous member of AWSP Legislative Committee Previous member of UW Tacoma PEAB, Administrative Certification Established and maintained Fife’s first website for 7 years Present work includes establishing the first Teaching/Learning/Innovation department in the Fife School District. Examples of responsibilities include: teacher/administrator professional development, assessment, TPEP, curriculum/materials review, 24 credit requirement, technology levy leadership, teacher/administrator bargaining. Initiatives underway in Fife, as a result of new TLI Department: AVID, OER, Curriculum and Materials reviews, Student Perception Pilot with CSTP, Google Expedition Cofounder of Educational Internet Communications, LLC. Marketed and sold one of the first online grade checking programs in the US. Consulted with Seattle Educational Internet Company for 2 years. jnelson@fifeschools.com twitter.com/jeffnelsonTLI

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