Happy Fall PTAA Families!
I hope you are all enjoying Fall Break, whether you have taken the time to go on a wonderful trip, made new and lasting memories at home, visited with family and friends, or just caught up on much needed rest and relaxation...it is all a blessing.
Fall Brings Change
My Grandparents and Parents instilled lasting memories and advice to me and mine, many times through stories or sayings. One saying that I remember and must fall back on during uncertain times is: "When one door closes, another will open." I have always believed and known that to be true, and there always seems to be a reason for those changes. For some, change is uncomfortable, for others, they decide to seize upon the new and see a chance for a fresh start and new opportunity. As with everything, it is all in the way we view it.
I think we all know that during these unprecidented and uncertain times due to the fall out of the pandemic and other events, Education has been going through change. We all experienced lock downs and the need for virtual learning or the decision to homeschool for a season. Educators were called upon more than ever to "think outside the box" or truly kick the box to the corner and turn on a dime to change in whatever way possible to teach sometimes both virtually and in person. When things were trying to "get back to normal" educators often found there was not a clear vision on what that really looked like any longer. Students needed to relearn what "school" looked like... expectations, schedules, collaborating with peers, and both students and faculty were dealing with learning gaps and social emotional needs. PTAA was fortunate in many ways. During the thick of the pandemic and shutdowns, I was running our Planning year and our campus had a year before students would be in seats. Our first year amazingly had only two days that we had to go "virtual" due to excessive illness in students and teachers both. We weathered the storm quite well. Things have changed once again as we over doubled in size both in student population and staff. There have been several bouts of "bugs" going around, be it either a COVID variant, Stomach bug, Flu or Upper Respiratory and that has also made it not the easiest on our Learning Community. Our Teachers and staff are troopers, they truly are as they continue to weather the storms. You never truly know what others may be dealing with on a personal level, and there have been those "unknowns" that have brought "Change" to PTAA this year. We try to keep things as "normal" and balanced as possible and frankly, we do that quite well. This year, like so many other schools in our community and around the United States, we have had to learn to embrace change in staff mid year, searching and hoping that right person will be here to step up, step in and be a team player. So, with the spirit of hope, positivity and trusting in the process, please help us welcome our new Teacher Team members:
After patiently waiting for a permanent transtion for Mrs. Hutto's First Grade class, we welcome Mrs. Princess Lascuna (plascuna@ptaaschool.org) as the First Grade Teacher. She will start Monday, October 17th.
We had a unexpected development with Ms. Jen Jones, Kindergarten. She will be moving on to other opportunities and not returning after the Break. We are blessed to have Mrs. Debbie Louis (dlouis@ptaaschool.org), a wonderful and well seasoned professional teacher to take on this Kindergarten class . Mrs. Louis also will be bringing her Service Dog, Pepper to PTAA. Pepper has special talents helping with the highs and lows of Diabetes. Pepper is a beautiful, kind, specially and well trained. We are so excited to have another fur baby as a part of our school.
Mrs. Anna Hogan (ahogan@ptaaschool.net) will be moving clases for a permanent position this year to Music/Theater Arts. She brings experience in Music and Theater Arts and we believe all kids will love her and finally being back to creativity in Music and the Theater Arts!
We have no doubt that these teachers will bring great learning and opportunities for growth for our students and we are excited to have them as part of our team. We will plan soon to have a "Parent meet the Teacher Night" for the classroom teachers. Mrs. Louis and Mrs. Lascuna will reach out with more information on that time very soon.
So, here's to Positive Change and embracing new opportunity and we can't wait for everyone to be back at school and ready for the second quarter!
