Dear Parents and Guardians: A few updates for you and your family as we begin a new week: • Recently the Needham Police Chief, Thomas Leary, and I signed an updated Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) outlining the working relationship between the school and police departments. The original MOU was signed several years ago by former police and school representatives. The new agreement is more focused and outlines general procedures for communication between the two departments with an emphasis on providing optimum student and school safety and security. The police chief and I believe it is prudent to have a clear understanding about school and police responsibilities in the event illegal or criminal behavior is ever a concern within our schools. The MOU is one of the many collaborative efforts undertaken by the police and school department this year and highlights our commitment to ensure safe, secure, and healthy school environments in the Needham Public Schools. The MOU can be found on the school department’s website: [ http://www.needham.k12.ma.us/pdf_downloads/%20School-Police_MOU.pdf ]http://www.needham.k12.ma.us/pdf_downloads/%20School-Police_MOU.pdf • Chief Leary and I will both participate in a parent forum entitled: “Be a Parent, Not a Pal” Tuesday evening, May 8 at 7:00 p.m. in the Needham High School library. This will be an opportunity for parents to hear from school, police, and legal representatives about underage drinking and parent responsibility, especially as we enter into the prom and graduation party season. There will be ample opportunity for parents to ask questions and make suggestions about how we can work together as a community to ensure our young people are safe and sober. We look forward to seeing you at this important forum. For more information about this program, contact the high school’s Substance Abuse Prevention Coordinator, Deb Engler at [ mailto:Deborah_engler@needham.k12.ma.us ]Deborah_engler@needham.k12.ma.us • Needham High School is proud to recognize five extraordinary seniors who have been named National Merit Finalists as part of the National Merit Scholarship Program: Kim Baldouf, Hannah Freeman, Daniel Gu, Christina Kelly, and Jeff Wong. These students were chosen among 1.4 million original participants in the PSAT National Merit Scholars Qualifying Test. Our five students were chosen from a final round of 15,000 students who met additional academic qualifications. It is very unusual for a high school of our size to have so many students honored with this designation. Congratulations to these terrific young scholars from Needham High School! • I was pleased to speak at last week’s National Honor Society Induction ceremony at Needham High School. Congratulations to the two dozen juniors who met the NHS standards for Scholarship, Leadership, Service, and Character and were inducted during the formal ceremony. These young people clearly represent the high academic standards of Needham High School and the school’s commitment to the community and leadership. A few parents suggested I share my remarks, so I have included them below. As always, please contact me with questions, comments, or suggestions: [ mailto:dan_Gutekanst@needham.k12.ma.us ]dan_Gutekanst@needham.k12.ma.us Sincerely, Dan Gutekanst Superintendent National Honor Society Induction Ceremony Needham High School Daniel E. Gutekanst April 26, 2007 Good afternoon Mr. Richards, Faculty, Parents, Guests, NHS Members, and NHS Inductees. I am very pleased to be here and to celebrate your accomplishment! This is my first year as superintendent in Needham and I am thrilled to participate in a celebration of student excellence and achievement. I have had the privilege of seeing some of you in class, on the fields, at meetings, or even on the stage over the last several months, and I could not be prouder of who you are and what you represent to the community. This ceremony today is an honor for you personally, but I assure you that it is also meaningful to the high school and Needham communities. Of all the qualities required for admission into the Needham High School Chapter of the National Honor Society—scholarship, service, leadership, and character—I am going to suggest to our inductees that the most significant quality is character. Character. Why character, and, say, not scholarship? After all, this is the NHS and we are all about academics and scholarship. Well, I believe each of these attributes is critical to this prestigious organization and, of course, to your present and future success. But I believe character, your character, supports and nurtures scholarship, leadership, and service. I believe character is a prerequisite to lead and live a successful and fulfilling life. Without character, it is unlikely you will use your mind, heart, and hands to expand your knowledge, enrich your learning, or serve others in a meaningful way. Each of you has wonderfully rich personal gifts—good looks, intelligence, charm, athletic and musical prowess. You have thus far demonstrated an ability to hit the books, tutor a kid, or captain a team. And you have also demonstrated responsibility, diligence, and teamwork—those attributes, that character, are the stuff of your success. A high GPA, a big win on the field, or the number of community service hours racked up may get us through the door but by themselves they cannot be the goal. In fact, these achievements are meaningless if, in the end, we do not have the strength of character to do the right thing, the courageous thing, the just thing, when called upon. I know your teachers have challenged you in the classroom, and I know they have encouraged respect, fairplay, and honesty. In fact, I have come to learn in my short time here that the teachers and administrators seek to develop and strengthen your character. And they believe this is critical. It is. Haim Ginot, a Holocaust survivor, wrote a chilling letter to teachers after he survived the horrors of the Nazis. He wrote: “Dear Teacher... I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no man should witness. Gas chambers built by learned engineers. Children poisoned by educated physicians. Infants killed by trained nurses. Women and babies shot by high school and university graduates. So I am suspicious of education. My request is this: help your students become human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, educated Eichmanns.” He concludes: “ Reading, writing, and arithmetic are important only if they serve to make our children more humane.” I would add that AP courses, varsity athletic letters, first violin in the orchestra... and even membership in the National Honor Society are only important if they serve to strengthen your understanding of yourself, of others, and provide you the tools you need to make this a better world. It is hard work, patience, tolerance, respect, honesty, caring, and for many of you your faith—in short, it is your character that will enable your continued growth and success. When things get tough, and they inevitably will; when you are all alone, and you most certainly will be, it is your inner strength, your depth of character that will allow you to accept fear with courage, defeat with grace, and success with humility. Your character is what you will draw on to do the right thing. Congratulations for demonstrating a commitment to learning. You would not be here this afternoon if you were unable to prove your worthiness in the classroom and within the school community. But it is your humanity, your character, that will sustain you and will enrich a world that desperately needs your scholarship, service, and leadership. Thank you.