April 4, 2012

I had a very pleasant surprise recently from my principal.  Each week he issues a two-page newsletter that goes home with students in their "Wednesday folders" for parents to read.  For the week of February 13th, he included a write-up about key teachers and staff and gave them special recognition.  He generously included a portion about me in which he wrote:  "When Deborah Lindblad joined Oglethorpe, she was hired as a media clerk.  The School was still relatively small from an enrollment perspective and she had not completed her 4 year degree.  Fast forward to 2012, Deborah is well on her way to finishing her Master's Degree.  The OCS library probably has the highest volume of any middle school library in the system, meaning more books are checked out on a daily basis than the other school libraries.  On February 7th, Deborah provided technology training to the entire OCS faculty and staff.  With the technological advances being implemented in media centers, it became very clear during the training that we have the right peson in place moving into our new facility."

My principal also included some very nice words of praise in the comments section of my evaluation this year.  He wrote:  "Mrs. Lindblad goes above and beyond the call of duty with many aspects of her job.  I am very pleased with the volume of books that are checked out in the OCS media center along with the AR updates on how the students are progressing with their AR goals.  Mrs. Lindblad does an excellent job collaborating with the reading teachers to ensure that the STAR testing is completed.  She also is a valuable asset for her technology expertise (hardware and software).  Deborah also provided valuable professional development to the OCS faculty on February 8, 2012 related to the software that is used in the media center.  It was very clear from that training that Mrs. Lindblad is at the top of the game in the media specialist profession.  Mrs. Lindblad also sends out an enormous amount of email resources for our teaching faculty to use.  She is very in tune with what books to order for the children and her record keeping of materials checked out and checked in is immaculate.  Mrs. Lindblad does many extras (student ID replacement, media festival, information enrollment sessions, etc.).  We are very fortunate to have Mrs. Lindblad on staff.  She is not only a great media specialist but a great employee.  Mrs. Lindblad has had another excellent year at Oglethorpe Charter School.  I have been very impressed with what Mrs. Lindblad has been able to accomplish in our tiny OCS media space [900sq.ft].  She is long over due in having the space that she will be getting in the new school facility next year."

While this is wonderful praise from our principal, and I truly am humbled by it, I believe in doing the best job I can each and every day to assist our teachers, staff, and students in accomplishing and achieving all that we can to make every student a success.