Every year, I am asked questions about how we determine classes. This is a very long process that actually begins in March and isn't completed until a couple of weeks before school begins. We start building rosters with students receiving specific services, such as speech or GT. There are laws regarding the placement of specific groups; for example, GT students must be "clustered" together. From there, we look at academic levels. We want to be sure we have a nice bell curve, while also making sure that there are enough students of like levels to form appropriate small groups. We then try to balance boys and girls (though some grade levels are VERY boy heavy!), and we try to separate students we know either have conflicts or are too close. We also look at the parent input forms regarding specific characteristics of your child. Once we have our first draft of rosters ready, our teachers weigh in. Sometimes they know that two students shouldn't be together or they have additional academic information that needs to be considered. If changes are made, we have to go back and ensure that we are meeting all the laws regarding specific groups, we have an academic balance, and so forth - basically beginning the process again.
Though we try to have basic rosters completed before the school year ends, they never stay the same. Over summer, we learn that students are leaving, and we enroll new Eagles. When this happens, we don't just plop the new students into a class - we have to go through the above process as best we can to ensure a balanced class. Oftentimes, this means moving current students around to meet everyone's needs. This is why we ask that you wait until the official rosters come out - we are literally making changes up until the time they go out!
Even with all of this, we don't always get it right. Please know that we do our very best and take a lot of time, but even with all of this, we sometimes miss things. We appreciate your patience and understanding when things don't quite work out!
Every year, we give parents the opportunity to give us input on their child's specific needs. Below you will find the Parent Input form for this year. As a reminder, requests for specific teachers will not be honored. If you wish to complete this form, please return to me, electronically or paper. The forms are due March 20th. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out!
We are better together.
