Discipline improvements for the New Year

“You better not pout,
You better not cry,
You better watch out,
I’m telling you why…”

Think you know the next line? It has nothing to do with Santa Claus and everything with being naughty or nice. After a long discussion with Taylor teachers and staff at our staff meeting on Monday, we identified three areas of needed improvement in our student discipline approach. I want to share these areas with you and advise you of what we are doing to address them. Three big areas of concern were:

Lunch Detention: Staff was concerned that the setting of detention (office conference room) and relative lack of structure made lunch detention less effective than it could be. We have made the following changes to detention:
• It was moved to the Home Economics room 208 which is quieter and easier to supervise.
• We implemented stricter rules for student behavior in detention
• We will increase adult supervision in the room

Lunch Supervision: Staff was concerned that there were not enough adults in the halls and on the patio at lunch and during passing periods. Teachers have redoubled their efforts to be in the hallways during passing periods to make sure student behavior is appropriated. Teachers have also volunteered to give up their lunch break to help with supervision. Finally we have redeployed custodial staff to the patio at noon to assist with supervision. Finally we need parent volunteers to assist with supervision. If you want to help us out, please call Mr. B if you are interested.

In-School Suspension: We are going to begin our ISS program on January 7th. We have purchased the prep periods of four teachers who will supervise students assigned by the principals to ISS. The new room will be housed in the 100 wing in space currently used by our OT/PT staff - they are moving to room 310. ISS will largely take the place of Saturday School which is being phased out.

These improvements will require changes to the Taylor Discipline Matrix. Mrs. Meyer and I will be working on this over the holiday and will post the new matrix on the Taylor website in January. We are also working on the plan to give lockers to students – more on that in next week’s issue. I hope you all have a wonderful week.

The taste of heaven is sweet.

Since I last wrote many weeks have past. It seems my heart is transitioning through many twists and turns in the road. Last letter as I explained my direction to approach the table of God's healing

His Love is Everlasting

In the same way as the phrase (His Love is Everlasting), is repeated after every line to express triumph, as David wrote in the psalms, I have been put in touch with this triumph as of last Sunday and since. Last Sunday at the charismatic mass I experienced the glory and Lordship of God. It stirred up a joy and hope within me that reassured that Christ is my deliver and my healer and He will not disappoint me. With that, an abundance of card and letters have carried me along in that hope of my savior. May God be praised for the love He bestows on His people which they so generously share with me. And in this joy, I can more easily offer up the trouble times physically and emotionally for those I know are hurting and so needing the graces from their Father to be more fully alive. Please don't put me on a pedestal, as it is your prayers and acts of love which poor forth His grace to bring me to these times of joy. And then I falter with drama as my will raises it head and shouts no I can't under go another medical test or see another Dr. So empty I feel after such times that I have refused the grace to rejoice in all things and failed to ask Mary for her help clinging to her as I know such a choice has never failed me. I as journey deeper into God's reality that I am to be dependent upon the gifts of others in the body Christ as they are to be dependent on mine, I feel a sadness of the smugness I let deceive me into thinking that I was self sufficient. Thanks be to God for His mercy in not abandoning me in my blindness,but allowing me to come to this realization out of necessity. To all that are loving me in spite of it thank you so much. May hope and peace be given to each of us as cooperate with He who has bought and payed for us as He prepares us for eternal life with Him in heaven. All my gratitude, hopes and joys I share with you, to treasure them with me as the light which guides our way in the darkness and calls us forth. Love and prayers, Lynn

Mayo Clinic a bend in the road

Greetings friends,
I have returned from Mayo clinic and now know that I have the bulbar palsy version of ALS. My family was aware of this as a possibility and we are now allowing this new knowledge to reshape our lives a bit. In essence very little has changed. My God loves and cares for me through his personal touch of love and His touch of love through others. My kind and loving husband is still flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone. My beautiful family of 8 children are still the treasures of my life. Now with 4 of the children married we are blessed with 2 wonderful son-in-laws and 2 beautiful inside and out daughter-in-laws. From their sacrament of marriage, we all love and embrace 5 precious grandchildren, with one on the way. The out pouring of love and prayers from my 4 sisters, as well as friends, has been incredible. This loving ministry to me has found me coming up short in the loving ministry I have offered to others at times. These lovers of me are teaching me to love more deeply with more of my heart. For this I am filled with gratitude. Maybe this intertwining of love will be the very air we breathe in heaven. And I feel also the love of my God, so tenderly present here with me, sharing my grief as it ebbs and quiets into peace. All of you that I have mentioned in this blog are a facet of God to me and rare in beauty. I love you all. Love and grace in Christ; Lynn

Why a blog?

I have been journeying with personal physical symptoms the past year. The cause for these symptoms will be determined at Mayo clinic next week. During this year and it's challenges, fears, and uncertainties, I have thought now and again of the possibility of having a blog to share my experiences in part, but more to invite you to share your insights of heaven with me as I share mine with you.
During this year the reality of heaven has come to the forefront of my being at set times to give comfort, strength, and direction. A diagnosis of a serious illness would make the reality of heaven more tangible for me as it has in moments of reflection and questioning this past year. I now hope that a sharing on heaven would glorify the God of heaven, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, while bringing hope, comfort, and direction to us now on earth. Peace and joy in Christ, Lynn

First Post!

Welcome to my blog, after Matthew 11:28-30.

I will be posting more soon.