Oak Knoll Summer Mailer 

Oak Knoll School

1895 Oak Knoll Lane

Menlo Park, California 94025

650-854-4433 

                                                           August 8, 2011             

Letter from Principal David Ackerman 

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to a new school year.  The countdown has begun and the excitement is building.  Class lists will be posted the afternoon of August 12th, and the first day of school is August 22nd.  The bell schedule has not changed; school begins at 8:10 am.

We have hired several very talented new educators to fill in a maternity leave and several retirements.

• Jayd Almquist is our new art teacher.  For the last five years, Mr. Almquist has been teaching elementary school art in Colorado.

• Shantal De Silva will be Oak Knoll's Speech and Language Specialist.  Ms. De Silva has been working both in private practice and in elementary schools for several years.

• Christine Pirzadeh will start the year teaching 2nd grade for Ms. Bartlett who will be on maternity leave until December.  Ms. Pirzadeh brings twelve years teaching experience to Oak Knoll.

• Emily Chiet is joining our band and orchestra team to provide instruction to both 4th and 5th grade students.  Emily is a talented musician who has been teaching for seven years, most recently in Santa Clara.

In addition to our new staff members, we are taking on three new projects. 

• Our annual PTO and Foundation fundraising will be combined into one joint campaign.  Our school's success depends on the support of both the Foundation and PTO, so I hope you will continue to help provide these vital contributions. 

• Our second initiative is designed to help students develop a sense of responsibility for their own learning.  October will be a no homework month.  During that time we will be working with students to assess their own need for practice, set learning goals, and monitor success.  We believe we can create more teacher supervised practice time in class, and at the same time develop a real sense of student ownership and responsibility for practice at home. There will be a lot more information about October in the coming weeks.

• As part of our goal to develop student character, we will be teaching a new life skill each month using multicultural literature.  These skills will be spotlighted monthly and visible throughout the school and on the website.  Classroom teachers will read, discuss, and develop activities around the selected book representing that month's life skill.   Again, more information to follow.  

In our continuing efforts to improve communications in electronic format the usual back to school informational flyers and response forms are all linked in our school newsletter.  Please take the time to look below to find all the information that applies to your family and your child's registration.

Oak Knoll is an outstanding school because of its dedicated staff and parent community.  I can't thank our parents enough for the thousands of ways you have supported Oak Knoll.  Because of your involvement and support we continue to grow, provide our students with wonderful enrichment, and maintain the highest academic standards.  It's a privilege to be Oak Knoll's principal, and I can't wait for school to begin.

David Ackerman

Principal