My Dear Viking Students, Parents and Families,
This is a bittersweet moment for me as I humbly and officially accepted to serve the district as the Principal of Dearborn High School. I cannot begin to tell you how much I will cherish the last 5 years of my life that I spent with you as the proud Principal of O.L. Smith. As much as I will miss you all, I am prepared to accept this new challenge because of my growth here at O.L. Smith.
As I sit here and compose this email, I am overcome with emotion as I reflect on my time at O.L.Smith with all of you. I genuinely treasure my time and experience at Smith-along with ALL the relationships I have built with my staff, with students, and with YOU -the parents/families- the backbone of our community. My experience at Smith has led me to meet dedicated, loving and caring parents. When I came to you five years ago, you trusted me to lead the school and I did so with such pride and great care. School/parent/community partnership is a priority for any school to be successful and you- our Viking parents- have demonstrated that you value that partnership as much as we do at the school level. I want to thank you for allowing me to be part of such a beautiful community and for trusting me to work with your children – our pride and joy.
A special thank you to our highly involved PTSA-past and present. Thank you for always putting students first and for ensuring our students have an outstanding middle school experience.
During the past five years at Smith, I have had the pleasure and privilege of watching hundreds of students grow and develop and reach many milestones. I am very fortunate to have been part of your young lives and I hope that I made a positive impact on you. Thank you for being the amazing young people who make yourselves, your parents and your community proud. I will truly miss you all and I will miss our daily interactions that I cherish so much. Please remember to always do your best and to always live by the Viking Values.
I am very proud of the faculty and staff at Smith. Viking staff is beyond dedicated and truly implement the vision of our district by ALWAYS putting “Students First”. I firmly believe that our Viking teachers and all staff (instructional and non-instructional) always work for the betterment of students at Smith. It’s no secret that we went from being a struggling school in our district to a school that leads the way in the PLC process, student growth and achievement, positive climate and culture, breeding leaders at all levels, building a systematic approach to everything, outstanding teamwork and SO MUCH MORE that I am proud of. This was all done as we worked together as a team- parents/teachers/students. The legacy that we started together will continue after my departure because we built things right at Smith. That is the Viking Way!
It has been my privilege and honor to work alongside the very best students, teachers, staff, parents and community in Dearborn! I will miss my job and the incredible people I have had the pleasure of working with. I cannot thank you enough for all of the opportunities and experiences you have provided me during my time at Smith. For those of you who will go to DHS, I look forward to re-connecting with you and for all others, I’m confident you will have an amazing high school experience.
In closing, our students are extremely fortunate to have you as their role models. Please continue doing what you do and showing everyone what Vikings are capable of doing. If you ever need anything that I can assist with, please do not hesitate to contact me. I’ll only be a phone call or email away.
Although I have officially accepted the DHS position, I will be around for some time as Mr. Rummel and I continue to work together to ensure a seamless transition of leadership.
You have all heard me say, “It takes a village to raise our children.” and I thank you for allowing me to be part of your beautiful village!!! It has been my privilege to be the leader of such a proud, dedicated and hard working community. Much love and respect to you all!
Principal Jebril