Principal's Message 6/16/08

LAST PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE FOR THIS YEAR

The final Principal’s Message for the 2006-2007 school year. It has been a very progressive year, to say the least. With our most recent test scores and our achievement of a “Well Developed” on our Quality Review, we have made incredible strides this year. The challenge now is to set goals which will raise us beyond where we are now and will continue to improve what we did the day before, the month before, and the year before. We started at the bottom a few years ago. We can no longer use the previous target schools to compare any more. It is time to start using the top schools to get ideas and to set goals. Being that we are one of the very few schools to achieve a well developed on the Quality Review, we need to look toward the other schools who gained the same recognition or better. From the feedback gathered from all of you after our QR, it was clear that we were not content with our status (not to say we were not happy). We immediately began planning how we can be better for next year. That energy will be very important with these last few days of school and when we return in late August. We are on the verge of greatness. We just need to remember that each road to excellence begins with one step.

MATH SCORES

Let me take a moment to summarize many of the statistics that were gathered from our math scores. For starters, these are the best results we have ever had at the school. We had over 150 students make progress. In total, last year we only had 30% of our school maintain or increase their scores. This year…we had 50% of our students make progress. Our goal was to increase the percentage by 15%. We did 5% higher than that. As we look at the total number of students who did not progress, out of the 120 students who decreased in points, 55 of them dropped in a total of 1 to 10 points. 30 of the students were between 10 and 21 points. This tells us that many of our students only slightly fell behind.

When we plan for next year, we can develop systems to assess our students and ensure they have the knowledge of content and test taking strategies to perform better than they did this year. If we measure where our students are now and identify areas to support, we guarantee they will progress next year. As much as I am excited on how well we did this year, I am even more excited about how we will do next year.

SUMMER

Summer is almost upon us. It is the greatest time to catch up with your family, friends, and your life and to, once again, get ahead of the game. My suggestion is to set some days aside to plan your first month and create a schedule that will allow for you to remain at least one to two weeks ahead. It is also the time to reflect on what did not work in your classrooms and meetings and find solutions so that failure is not an option. I would also encourage you to come in before the summer is over to organize your rooms and put things in order. If you save it for August 28th, you will not be ready by the time your students arrive on September 2nd. Not being prepared for your students is the worst message you could send. If you want your students to step up to the next level, then we will have to do the same.

You have all worked your tails off this year. I am so very proud of you. Your dedication and your involvement were easily visible. I’m excited to start another school year with all of you. I care about you so much and wish you all a wonderful restful summer.

CHILD STUDY TEAM

Endings and Beginnings…

As our school’s Child Study Team celebrates the end of this academic year, and looks forward to beginning the next school year, we are pleased to know that as a school, we are working together to help the team become a central source of information and opportunity for our entire educational community.

We thank everyone for their part in helping to shape a team that approaches this work with rigor, enthusiasm, curiosity and compassion.

Bravo for all you have done to start us off on a good path.

Let the wonderful work continue.

Our children and families, the beneficiaries of our efforts will be the better for our commitment and our dedication.

ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE DISCIPLINE COMMITTEE

The discipline committee meets every week from 3:15 to 4:15 to address issues surrounding the structure, implementation, and effectiveness of the school-wide discipline code. In our last two meetings, we began brainstorming consequences for heavy hitters and ironing out discipline code protocols.

- Planning for Next Year: The discipline committee has begun planning for next year. We have just finished revising the school’s consequence system. Next week, we will begin looking at a variety of topics, including discipline code logistics, uniform policy, and the introduction of positive and alternative consequences.

- Meetings this Week: The discipline committee will meet Thursday from 3:15 to 4:15. Additional meeting times will be planned in order to complete September planning.

ATTENDANCE

This Attendance Interval report lists the number and percent of students whose Year-to-Date (YTD) attendance falls within each attendance interval. That is, the report calculates the number and percent of students whose YTD attendance rate is 100% (Perfect Attendance), the number and percent of students whose YTD attendance is 90% through 99%, and so on. The report includes students on register as of the effective date; the YTD attendance is calculated as of the effective date.
Attendance Rate Number Percent Interval Students
Students
100% (Perfect) 13 3.8
90% TO 99% 196 57.4
80% TO 89% 76 22.2
70% TO 79% 30 8.7
60% TO 69% 15 4.3
50% TO 59% 5 1.4
40% TO 49% 3 0.8
30% TO 39% 0 0.0
20% TO 29% 1 0.2
10% TO 19% 1 0.2
1% TO 9% 1 0.2
0% (No Show) 0 0.0
Total Students 341

May your preparations meet your vision, your colleagues provide information, and no risk blind you from your mission. Have a great week….

Birthdays:
Sandie Murphy June 17
Terri Miles August 9
Daniel Schultz August 22
Sandy Chmielewski August 30
Wendy Perez August 31

Quote of the Week
“The block of granite, which is an obstacle in the pathway of the weak, becomes a stepping-stone in the pathway of the strong.”—Thomas Carlyle