Mark Gruen
To the Royall School District community:
This is the start of my 29th year in public education, and I can tell you that dealing with the coronavirus made the 28th year my most challenging ever!
That said, I am very proud of our entire staff and the way we came together as a team to support the children and families in the Royall School District. For many of our veteran staff members, this was a giant swing from past practice, not to mention the many, many, many additional hours that each of them had to put in during the transition. The fact is that our teachers became available pretty much 24/7.
I am also proud of the way our families adapted to become “teachers at home” as they took on more responsibilities for their children’s education. Parents took this on — staff members took this on — and all the while, they dealt with their family issues. I was truly amazed! Our students, staff members, and parents rallied for our students in making the most out of the situation. Someone once said, “Never waste a good crisis by not learning from it”; well, we did not. We are proud of Royall for partnering with our parents, community members, businesses, and alumni to make Royall better on an annual basis. Thank you all for being part of our team and for helping us put the “pride” back in the Panther!
Throughout the year, pandemic or not, we continue to live by our mission statement, “Achieving Excellence Together…Whatever it Takes.” Our staff and students are working hard on this mission, and we are making progress. The primary goal of the Royall School District is to offer an educational experience that is second-to-none and to provide an environment that is conducive to learning while creating lifelong memories of pride.
Enjoy the rest of the summer, because it is going fast!
