Happy MLK Day, to our entire Eagle community. I hope you are all having a wonderful three day weekend with your families and maybe even enjoying a little football! This is a fantastic time of year for sports fans like me and so many of you. When it comes to supporting my teams, I have no shame, as you can see. (If you cannot view these pictures and our reading this post as an email, click on the actual site link for a smile)
Yes, that is my father in the photo with me. Believe it or not, he's willing to be seen with me in public. Here's another proud moment while supporting my favorite hockey team. I'm not exactly sure what compelled me to wear the Elvis glasses, but Elvis always works...
In spite of all of this fun in the world of sports, we still have a great deal going on at PPES and the spring will be full of information that you are going to want to know. However, before you hear from us, we want to hear from you! This year's parent survey is live as of Friday and we are shooting for 90% participation. To support this goal, we will be giving you many opportunities to complete the brief handful of questions. In order to get a truly accurate view of community satisfaction, we need more than the usual few participants who feel unusually motivated to give input for a host of reasons. If, for some reason, you have not taken the survey by conference week, we will have computers set up around the school so that you can do so while you wait or as you finish. We want to hear from all of you and your opinions, thoughts, and ideas are always welcome. To complete the survey now (and check it off of your to-do list!), click here:
At the risk of going too long in this post, I will simply give you a preview of what is coming in the coming weeks:
- The unveiling of a new and innovative program for intermediate students. We will be announcing specifics as well as scheduling parent meetings for those interested.
- Information regarding restructuring possibilities to better meet the individual needs of our students, wherever they are in their learning. We are one of the best in the state at meeting standards and will continue to maintain that level of excellence, however, we will be looking at how to best balance that requirement with our obligation to further challenge students who are ready to move beyond expectations.
- The unveiling of our Applied Science Lab
- The formal commencement of "Gen Yes" for sixth graders
- Opportunities to directly engage Mr. Denise from Mountain Trail in conversations about his excellent Core Knowledge program.
- News for you regarding our transition to national "Common Core Standards" in the coming years. I can already tell you that we plan to be a minimum of one year ahead in our implementation of these more rigorous standards.
Although there is much more to share, I will stop "type-rambling," and save it for later! As you can see, this is an invigorating time to be an Eagle and I am incredibly excited about our ability to reinvent some of what we do, while maintaining a baseline of already established excellence. These are truly dynamic times and I see these moments as a chance to leverage our talents and inertia to move beyond the "normal" elementary school experience.
Stay tuned for more and enjoy your weekend!
Mike
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