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November 14, 2025
GLPS Families,
As we close out the first trimester, this is a good time to reflect on all of the good work that has happened throughout the school year so far, and also provide a couple of updates and a couple of reminders. To those ends I want to provide a few callbacks to messages I sent earlier in the year and share a few things happening around the district.
First, last week I sent a climate and culture survey, and asked for feedback. I appreciate all of those who filled it out, and I want to provide it again here for those who did not. This data is helpful to us as we work through leadership professional learning with an organization called Boldly Moving Education Ahead (BMEA). BMEA is helping our district leadership further develop student-centered and restorative environments in all of our buildings, and the data helps us identify our strengths and areas for improvement.
Next, I want to remind you that next Thursday, November 20th, will be our first Caregiver School Improvement Team (CSIT) meeting of the year. As you know, we are committed to serving students, families, and the community, which requires strong two-way communication, and CSIT is a forum for parents and caregivers to meet, discuss district goals, and provide feedback. The meeting is from 6:00-8:00 at Sawdon, and it is the first of four meetings for the school year. If you are interested in attending or simply receiving the emails, please sign up using this form by Tuesday, November 18th. As another reminder, in addition to CSIT, we are introducing new family school improvement conversations in January, February, and April, during which randomly selected families will be invited to share their experiences and perspectives. These meetings—held in person, by phone, or at a community location—will help us better understand what is working well and where we can improve so we can continue meeting the needs of our community.
Finally, I want to highlight some new construction that you may notice happening around the Community Stadium next to the high school. The stadium is used well over 200 days per year, both as an instructional space during the school day and as a home for a variety of co- and extracurricular events. From the marching band to high school athletics to community recreation to hosting state-level competitions, the Community Stadium is truly central to our mission of growing learners and preparing students. In order to create a better experience for our athletes, musicians, and fans, we set aside some capital projects funds a couple of years ago to upgrade the scoreboard. Through shipping issues and cost fluctuations, we were finally able to have the new board delivered, and it will be installed over the next couple of weeks in the west end of the stadium. The old board will remain on the east end, but the new one will become the main focal point with upgraded video capabilities, which will better be able to highlight our littlest Comets in our recreation programs, all the way up to our varsity athletes and members of our marching band. We appreciate the input and leadership of our athletic department and band leadership through the process, and we are excited to begin using it in the spring.
That is all I have for this week. We appreciate your support and for giving us the opportunity to work with your children every day. Thank you for engaging with us through the survey above, and through CSIT, and thank you for helping us make GLPS such an incredible place to learn and grow. As always, I am #proudtobeacomet!
Dr. Bill Barnes
Superintendent of Schools
