Superintendent's Message [5]

 

One thing that I firmly believe in is the power of hard work!   Too often in life, and in schools, we blame our failures or shortcomings on bad luck, poor timing, lack of resources, poor officiating, or any number of excuses. I find that if you dig a little deeper you will find the answer to be none of the above. The answer is quite simply you did not work hard enough or the other person/team out-worked you. 

 

I look forward to the hard work that lies ahead of us to move Dayton Schools, the students of Dayton, and the community of Dayton forward.  Our work will not be easy and it will take a focused TEAM approach to make the necessary progress. Some things to keep in mind as we move forward are:

 

1.      Show Up! You can’t have success if you don’t show up. 

2.      Be Nice! We all know that it is nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice!

3.      Do Your Part! Whatever your part is, do it!!! There are no small parts!

 

One of my favorite quotes is from President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt. It is called the “Man in the Arena”:
 

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

"Citizenship in a Republic,"
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
 

I encourage everyone to join me in the “Arena of Education” to move Dayton Independent Schools forward.

 

 

Submitted by Superintendent of Dayton Independent Schools, Jay Brewer