Dear Maureen,
Thank you for all the work you and your team have done to meet our systemwide standards. Not only have you taught all the standards, but you've tried to make the teaching of those standards more modern, engaging, and inclusive--that's important to the evolution of our good work.
I noticed that your students still have not ________________, and I'm not surprised given the fact that your team was wholly invested in the play, the climate change projects, STEAM survival series, and the biography project, yet I'm writing to ask if there's any chance you can find the time to have your students ____________________. The reason I ask this is that I've been tasked to make sure that every student ____________________ by the end of the year. I realize that this may be one task too many, and I know that we need to revisit the relevancy of this task, but for now is there any way that I can help you meet this requirement. Thanks for all you do. Let me know what you think?
Sincerely,
____________________________
This would have been so much better than receiving a directive that felt punitive. We all can learn to better the words we use and the way we communicate. What might have been even better would have been to communicate this in speaking rather than writing.
As I think about this, I'm thinking about those really good communicators in my midst--the people who engage your support with enthusiasm regularly. They are good mentors to follow.