Perfection is Overrated.

Welcome to our Year of Resilience Osage!

School district vibes in early August remind me of the smell of ozone after a summer rain. I love that smell, and I love this time of year in schools. There's a unique feel to each that's best enjoyed by remembering the special chemistry of the time and space in which they're happening, showers and the start of school alike.

Of course, despite months of intense planning and prep for this week, we meet ourselves coming and going. Just look at our office calendar: Monday was the School of the Osage Foundation Golf Tournament; Tuesday saw new staff breakfast and meetings combined with a Board of Education meeting, and yesterday was our record-breaking Osage Fest

School of the Osage Board of Education Members BJ Page and Alison Schneider (along with Mike Williams, not pictured) ran the BOE station at Osage Fest (they also drove water carts at the Golf Tournament). Fun fact, they each recently achieved both Advance and Master board member certifications.

As to today, we had opening session welcome back prep; tomorrow contains additional prep plus curriculum meetings. Finally, we'll wrap things up with our district's version of the amazing race as we get our newest team members out and about all over the district.

Opening session prep means embracing the truth that the countdown clock for the thing is pretty close to midnight, and well, as per usual our ideas exceed our talent and time. This is a week that reminds us of the pure joy of working with kids and their families. It's also a week that reminds us how important it is to get real about our actual capacity to accomplish things. aka…There's a reason we're in Lake Ozark public ed and not, say, Hollywood. Not that we don't typically get confused about now. This time last year the opening skit involved our tech director dressing up like Chris Farley and flinging himself on a coffee table while howling about low expectations and vans by the river. This year, we evidently have decided we'd like to tone it down by merely creating a documentary of what it means to have productive meetings. Or something like that.

In any event, we're maximizing every minute about now, and the full staff doesn't even officially come back together until Monday. But when a huge swath of middle schoolers and high schoolers (and many of their parents) show up to have their school pictures taken and the line resembles a concert merch queue, well it just feels like WE ARE BACK! (Attendance exceeded 1,200 -up over 150 from last year.)

There was more going on at Osage Fest than school pictures. In fact, I'm proud to inform you there were 56 stations, representing an incredibly wide swath of our community- all there giving generously of their time and talent to support our students and their families. And our OHS student council made sure anyone who wanted spirit wear could just, well, have it. They hosted a gently worn clothes drive, and people loved it. It was such a hit and helped so many. It's humbling to know that organizations and individuals come from far and wide to help our kids have an amazing and stable start to the school. The energy was electric, and the positivity was palpable. And all this, because over the years our district mission has come to life in our community. This is led by our parents, who years ago rebranded from PTA to OFP, Osage Family Partnership.

Osage Family Partnership leaders, Amanda Boyer and Jordan Bysor, were the first station stop for families. Amanda leads the Heritage OFP and Jordon leads the UE OFP. And fun fact, they also both spent two days alongside members of our team getting ALICE safety certification.

Equipping each student for a lifetime of success is what it's all about for schools everywhere. But here, in the "where" I know best, it's the resounding partnerships that makes the magic happen. Each school year always brims with the promise of something close to perfection, which is obviously pretty difficult to achieve. We are humans. Our students are developing humans - which adds an extra layer of, shall we say, opportunities. However, if last night was any indication, this year- more than ever- because so many of our mission partners are front and center with us, perfection is pretty much irrelevant. Together we WILL create a brighter future for our youth, one in which they have many maximum potential moments.

Our shared mission. That is all.

Here's to The Year of Resilience; may it be filled with much Progress! Just like that invigorating post-rain ozone smell, the chemistry of our school community - students, staff, families, and partners - creates something special. It might not always be perfect, but it's the catalyst for growth, learning, and success.

Yours in Faith, Hope, and Love for All Things Osage. LN