Principal's Message

WOW! What a Great Start!

As the weather begins to turn colder outside, things are really heating up in Stratford America! Since the last newsletter, our students have continued to showcase their amazing talents, and have accomplished some tremendous feats. Here is a quick sampling...

Our athletics programs have been really kicking into high gear! The tennis team won the bi-district title this year and are now gearing up for the spring season. Swimming, basketball, and golf are all off to strong starts as competition begins for those sports. And, both cross country and volleyball are in the midst of strong post-season runs. Our Girls' Cross Country team will be in Round Rock on Saturday to compete for the State Title! And, Volleyball will compete against Seven Lakes High School for the Area championship this Friday at Don Coleman Coliseum

Fine Arts has been putting on some amazing shows as well! The Stratford Playhouse staged two great fall shows, and are now putting all of their energy into the big musical production for this year, Newsies. We can't wait to see them take the stage in January. Stratford Choir and Orchestra also put on spectacular fall concerts over the last month. And, Spartan Band received straight ones and a Superior rating at the UIL Area Marching Contest with their performance of Persephone.

Our Oracle student newspaper continues to churn out awesome content, and our yearbook staffers are putting together what is sure to be a spectacular yearbook for 2019. In case you missed it, this year's Mnemosyne yearbook theme is "Long Story Short." We're all looking forward to getting our first look at this year's book.

Academically, there is great work happening each and every day. As I mentioned in the last issue, our instructional focus this year surrounds our new Stratford mission statement: Committed to Learning. Working Together. Enriching Lives. As principal, I am very proud of the work that our faculty is doing in the classroom this year. I have asked our teachers to rethink all of their lessons from the students' perspective, and ensure that learning for ALL is the primary focus. That means different things for different curricular teams, of course, but all of our teachers are assessing student learning in new ways this year, and compiling rich student data to help us purposely target learning gaps. While this work is difficult, our faculty has definitely risen to the challenge -- we're doing a great job of meeting students where they are, and working diligently to get them to where they need to be for continued success.

Last, but certainly not least, our entire community came together in an unprecedented way during this year's joint Memorial/Stratford Food Drive. Altogether, over 26,000 items have been donated to local food banks, and 17,555 of those items came from Stratford! Thanks so much to all of the students, teachers, parents, and community members who donated! It was incredible to watch all of these items come through our doors over the course of a short week, and it was certainly nice to watch Ms. Weir put on that Stratford jersey during the halftime presentation (instead of the other way around)! I can't thank you all enough for your support of this charitable cause.

As always, thank you for sharing your children with us. If there is anything that we can do to better support your student on their road to success, please let me know.

With Spartan Pride,

Chad Crowson, Principal