November / December 2011

July 14, 2011

Dear Parents:

After a much anticipated wait, we finally have a State budget.  We are excited that this budget allows us to bring the remainder of our certificated teachers back to our district and allow our students to have smaller class sizes.  However, the late notice and time needed to understand the budget and complete negotiations has caused many changes in the past week.  At one point, we were ready to move forward with class sizes at 30:1 in kindergarten thru sixth grade.  Shortly after that, negotiations brought the class size down to 26:1 in kindergarten thru third grade.  Finally, last Wednesday afternoon at 3:00PM, with class lists made and ready to be posted, we were notified that the new State budget would bring our class sizes down to what they were last year, 24:1 in kindergarten through third and 28:1 in fourth through sixth. We have done our very best to make these changes in a short amount of time.  Please understand that more changes may be made regarding your child’s teacher, classroom and/or track.  It is our goal to keep these changes as minimal as possible.  However, with teachers being assigned to our campus on short notice and the number of classrooms at each grade level increasing, we want to make sure that we are able to match the strengths of our staff with the needs of our students.We all know how special the first day of school is, but these last minute changes will have some classrooms esthetically ready while others may not be.  Our teachers are extremely dedicated, and this will be rectified as quickly as possible. We, at Joseph Sims Elementary School,apologize for any confusion or anxiety this information may cause, but know that, as with all decisions, our first priority is your child’s education. Please know that we are steadfastly making phone calls to notify you if your family will be affected through a track change.Some key details to make note of:

1. Class lists will be posted Friday, July 15th at 4:00pm in the office windows for tracks B, C, and D. Our A Track lists will be posted on Friday, August 12th at 4:00pm.
2. Kinder first day of school will start at 8:00am for AM and 10:54am for PM Kinders
3. Grades 1st – 6th first day is a Reverse Minimum Day from 10:00am to 2:25pm; following school days will begin at 8:00am.
4. Breakfast will normally be served at 7:30am but on the first day of school, it will be served at 9:30am
5. Back to School Night for B, C, and D is Thursday, July 21st. A Track’s will be held on August 18th. Teachers will be sending home specific dates and/or times.

Archived Editions

October/November 2011 Newsletter