Sedgwick Elementary School August 10, 2011 Dear Parent(s), With August sliding inevitably by, it seems wise to update you about a number of school related items. First, let me thank our wonderful staff for donating so much of their own time to refreshing classrooms, curricula, books, materials and so many other things. Anna Snow and Mac McCauley have done a fantastic job of cleaning each and every room. New hallway carpeting and entryway tile will be installed starting this week and into next week, so the school should have a new, spruced up look when children arrive for their first school day on Tuesday, September 6. We are still looking for a contractor to replace and repaint some outside trim. If you know someone good and reliable, please contact me. Margaret Bixby’s Magic Food Bus will be on the road for the last time this Friday, August 12. I hope you have been able to take advantage of this wonderful service. Who can beat free books and vegetables? The School Improvement Team has met twice over the summer and have come up with a list of goals that were proposed to the school board at their July meeting. Some of the activities related to these goals have already been put in place. Others will take longer, but all are important guidelines to aid our school in improving. After a year and a half of work we are finally creating some actionable goals that will see us into the future of our school. We are currently working on action plans to go with the goals and subgoals. A copy of these goals will be on the school’s website sedgwickschool.net soon. You can also stop by the school and get a copy. As you may know, Sedgwick Elementary School’s standardized test scores on the New England Comprehensive Assessment Program (NECAP) tests were among the lowest in the area. We will improve these scores. We have changed our math program, taken more time to review testing data, done more practice testing and made some other adjustments. While this is mostly the school’s responsibility, there are areas where parents can also help. Making sure that your children are here for the test is very important. The NECAPs will be administered to all students in grades 3-8 the first three weeks of October. Your child’s teacher will contact you to give you specific dates and times sometime in the ten days leading up to the testing. Please do not make appointments for these dates that will impact the testing. Getting a good night’s sleep is very important, too. Teachers will also be in touch with ways you can work with your child at home to help prepare him/her. We want your child to do the best he/she can! Teachers will have more specific ideas as we get closer to the school year. There will be an organizational meeting for the PTF (Parent-Teacher-Friend Group) on Tuesday, August 30 at 5:30 p.m. The purpose of the meeting is to help organize the ‘Back to School Social’ scheduled on Monday, September 12 and to put plans in place for planned activities throughout the school year. If you need child care, please contact the school and we will provide it. This is an excellent way and time to get involved with our school. Do you have a way with tools? We are looking for a local carpenter/cabinet maker who might be willing to help plan and build a trophy case to house the more recent trophies of the many trophies we have earned over the years. Costs, including shipping, for a good sized case are prohibitive, but we’d like to permanently display the awards won by our students. Give me a call at 359-5002. Although nothing has been finalized by the school committee yet, it looks as if we will have a gifted and talented coordinator in place for next year and a new part-time educational technician working with kids in combined classes. We still have the guidance position open, but I am working with another peninsula school to try to fill that job. I’ll keep you informed. Enjoy the rest of the summer and look for another letter the last week of August. If you have any questions, please feel free to call the school and leave a message. I’m in almost every day. Sincerely, Don Buckingham