Hello, I would like to present to you a new feature of the GESD website called the Superintendent's Corner. The purpose of this initiative is to foster communication to you - the community - and allow for your input, questions, comments, regarding the Gloversville Enlarged School District. Often, information you receive is either second or third-hand and sometimes loses accuracy along the way (similar to the old telephone game we played as kids!)

Educating our students today brings many challenges. The communication technologies such as cell phones, internet-ready devices, and other personal electronics that were not around just a decade ago have changed our society. Thanks to instant communication around the world, our students have to be prepared to both compete with, and exchange ideas with, citizens from every country as we find ourselves connected throughout the globe.

That being said, I think it is good to remind ourselves of the important role of teaching the basics. One of the best books to read is: All I really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum:

“All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.

These are the things I learned:
• Share everything.
• Play fair.
• Don't hit people.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Don't take things that aren't yours.
• Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
• Wash your hands before you eat.
• Flush.
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
• Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
• Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
• Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
• And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.”

[Source: "ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN" by Robert Fulghum. See his web site at http://www.robertfulghum.com/ ]

Certainly, these concepts of a strong foundation are paramount to remember as we continue to grow and learn.

I look forward to updating you regarding issues that surround the world of education as it affects all of our lives here in Gloversville and hearing from you as the school year progresses. I appreciate your interest and invite your comments; you can email me at rdelilli@gloversvilleschools.org.

- Robert DeLilli

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