Dear parents,
October has flown by and I cannot believe that we are already starting to see Christmas decorations around town!
We have been super busy here at PCE and the kids have been actively learning each day! Our building is full of activities and I love seeing the excitement each day in the classrooms!
I would like to thank all our families for their participation in our "Believe Kids" fundraiser. We raised close to $15,000 for our school and our students. Soon we will take that money and turn it into resources for our classrooms and students. PCEA will put out information on how we spent the money when that time arrives.
I also wanted to thank you all for the support and vigilance this past month as we had the challenge of lice in our building. Unfortunately, this is a concern that is affecting many schools in the metro area this year. As of now, we feel, we have this concern under control. I would appreciate if parents would continue to stay attentive so we can continue to be proactive with keeping our school clear.
I wanted to inform the community of our PARCC score results for last year. We have earned the level of Performance which means-The school meets or exceeds statewide attainment on the performance indicators. This is the highest level that can be earned for an individual school. 95% of our students did participate in testing and their scores were recorded. We met expectations both in academic achievement and academic growth. This is only one snapshot of the great work our students accomplish in their years at Prairie Crossing. Our teachers and students work hard each day to reach academic excellence each and every day!
The subject of class sizes and budget utilization was discussed during our last SAC and PCEA meeting. Last year while planning our budget, the top priority was class size. In working with the budget for this year, I worked hard to keep classes lower in primary and still keep intermediate manageable. Sometimes enrollment is very hard to predict due to so many factors. We have done well except for our 5th grade classes, where unpredictable growth in this grade level has brought us to numbers of 31 in each class. Although this is a pretty typical class size in many buildings, this is higher than we would like at PCE. We will soon post for additional positions to support our 5th grade students and teachers and should have this in place no later than our return from winter break.
To give you perspective on our class sizes currently:
Kindergarten's average class size is 18
First Grade's average class size is 22
Second Grade's average class size is 20
Third Grade's average class size is 24
Fourth Grade's average class size 24
Fifth Grade's average class size is 31
Sixth Grade's average class size is 29
Providing our students with the best opportunity to learn and grow is important to us, as we continue to enroll students, we feel it is necessary to be proactive with support.
I hope to see many of you throughout the next few weeks as there are many activities throughout the building--This Friday is Dads and Doughnuts which is always a popular event!
Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to know more about our PARCC scores or planning for next year.
Sincerely,
Carrie Rotherham
