Dear ISD Parents, 

I want to begin by informing you that Mrs. Verdier, our art teacher, has been granted a leave for the remainder of the school year. Unfortunately, this has not been a good year for her as she has had to deal with some recurring health issues that, at times, resulted in her being absent full-time or teaching on a part-time schedule. She has determined at this point, that she needs to dedicate her full attention to her health issues. She has also announced her retirement from teaching effective June 30th. As a staff, we are sad to see her leave the profession, where she was able to share her passion for art and pass it on to young students. We will honor her in some fashion later on in the school year. I currently am in the process of hiring a substitute who is a certified art teacher to fill her role for the remainder of this school year.

Our fifth graders took the Science CT Mastery Test this week. In speaking with several students about the test, they all thought they did well, while their teachers thought the test reflected our curriculum well. Results will be received sometime in the summer and will be sent to parents from Eastern Middle School.

We also held kindergarten registration for the '15-'16 school year this week. We have 55 students so far, including 12 siblings, arriving in the fall. In addition, there were 8 students invited from the lottery-generated wait list to attend our school. I will be monitoring enrollment closely going forward as we begin to plan classes for next year. If you know you are moving and your children will not be attending ISD in the fall or know of someone who has moved into our attendance area, please contact me.

Next Friday, March 20th, Western Middle School Principal, Mr. Gordon Beinstein, will be speaking at our PTA meeting scheduled for 9:00am. Mr. Beinstein and his team will conduct a presentation on the IB Middle Years Program being implemented at his school. Although there are many correlations between the Primary Years Program that we implement, and the Middle Years Program, there are some very different aspects. It promises to be an interesting program. I hope you will be able to attend.

Sincerely, 

Terry Ricci