6/28/2013

Dear Lincoln Families,

Summer is always a busy time as we focus on preparations for the coming year. Here is an update on student placement, Team 21, summer work, and assistant principals.

Student Placement

We are in good shape in terms of student placement decisions; even though we added steps to this process, we are just where we should be in order to communicate class assignments in mid-August as we always do. Of course, placements are in draft form as we are still enrolling new students. If you haven't registered your child, please don't delay! We do not assume that your child is returning, and only registered students will receive their class assignments in August. If you have any questions about this, please don't hesitate to call or email me.

Team 21

T21 members have been adhering to a strenuous meeting schedule; right now, they are working on a plan for monitoring and assessing the implementation of the structural changes being made of teacher specialization, multiage literacy/social studies in grades 4 and 5 and common PLC time for teachers. They are making sure we have consistent approaches in place to collect and review feedback from students and staff and parents and to create a process for making judgments and decisions. It's important for T21 members that everyone understand that change takes time and we have confidence we will navigate the inevitable bumps in the road. The next big job for the team over the summer is to create a recommendation regarding the length of the instructional day. Team 21 includes representatives from all five schools, which fosters articulation and awareness between elementary and Hadley teachers.

Other Summer Work

Teachers have been given time over the summer to work as they see fit (individually or in teams) to get ready for next year. This is in addition to the summer PD on Project-Based Learning and Science, and the four Institute Days the week before school starts.

Assistant Principals

The Board of Education approved the reinstatement of fulltime elementary assistant principals. This required the addition of one administrator. The district will find places within the budget to reduce costs so that this change has no effect on expenditures. The assignments are: new hire Darlene Stone at Abraham Lincoln; Jeff Burke at Benjamin Franklin; Stacy Onak at Churchill and new hire Megan Kuczora at Forest Glen.

I hope you are all enjoying summer.  

Summer Academic Slide

While summer is a great time for children to play and relax, it iPlease encourage your children to read and practice math facts regularly this summer.  

Take care,  

Linda Schweikhofer

Principal