From the Principal's Desk:
Dear Salisbury Families:
After a year of many lessons, adventures, games, and memories, the last week of the year is upon us! The last week is always an exciting one for all of our students, and we thoroughly enjoy it! This year, we will cap off our week (and year) with a trip to Waterhouses on Lake Dunmore, where students will enjoy swimming, playing lawn games with friends, fishing, and hanging out! (And we have a certified lifeguard who will be on duty!). After we have fun at Waterhouses, we will come back to school and all enjoy the 5th Grade Promotion Ceremony, which will take place this Friday (the 14th) at 1:00 in our gym!
As the year ends, we have some important decisions to make around grade configuration and I’d like to involve all families in that decision. We’ll be holding opportunities over the next two weeks (see details below). To help prepare you for that discussion, I’d like to share the thinking we have already done:
For next year, our classes are projected to have the following enrollment:
K: 10-12 students (projected)
1: 9 students
2: 12 students
3: 8 students
4: 15 students
5: 6 students
ACSD Superintendent Dr. Wendy Baker, ACSD Director of Teaching and Learning Courtney Krahn and I met last week to discuss a class structure I had proposed, which looked like this:
K: 10-12 students (projected)
1: 9 students
2-3: 20 students
4: 15 students
5: 6 students
The logic behind the groupings was that we have been doing a 2-3 combination for several years now, and have built systems around it. Also, the smallest grade, the 5th grade, have been merged for many years. However, as we talked, the concern emerged that 6 students in one class is very small, and that it could really limit students' educational experience. We were also guided by ACSD board policy and class size guidelines, which can be seen here. Coming out of the class configuration discussions, we determined that I, along with input from others, should re-visit the class configuration. It's not that the first suggestion can't be a possibility, it's that we should explore more possibilities.
I have come up with four potential class structures, and I would like to share them with you to get public feedback! With that in mind, I am planning to offer two "virtual" and one in-person meetings in the evening over the next two weeks to share the potential class structures and get your thoughts (I will be doing this with faculty and staff in school as well). The goal will be to arrive at a decision quickly after that, so teachers and families can go into summer knowing what is in store for next year.
We will begin with a "Zoom" meeting this Thursday, June 13th, at 7:00. (Technically it will be Google Meet, but everyone calls it zoom, kind of like Kleenex). We will follow it up with an in-person meeting at 6:00 on Tuesday the 18th, and another "zoom" on Wednesday the 19th at 7:00. I have included a zoom meeting link later in this newsletter.
I imagine there will be a lot of interest in these meetings- please come! Your thoughts and perspectives genuinely matter in this process!
Thanks for considering coming, and enjoy this last week of school!
Best,
Bjarki
We're going to Waterhouses on Friday!
On Friday, we will be going to Waterhouses on Lake Dunmore! We will all take a bus, and leave school around 9:15, returning around 12:30. While at Waterhouses, children will swim, play yard games, hang out with each other, fish (if they bring equipment) and listen to some music played on guitar by their principal! Last year was a lot of fun, and we are excited to do it again!
On Friday, please send your student with swimsuits, a towel, and goggles if they want them! Also, if your student enjoys fishing, you can send fishing equipment in with them as well! Students will not need money. We will have sunscreen on hand!
If it looks like Friday will be a rainout, we might switch the Waterhouses day to Thursday, but it's not looking too bad right now!
We need final Read-a-Thon pledge and tracking forms!
We still have missing pledge sheets from our students for read-a-thon! Please send them (and payments) into school early this week! On Friday, during 5th grade promotion, we will announce who read the most in each class, and give out prizes for those in each class who read the most!).
