May 6, 2008

Dear Brown School Families,

After what seems like a very long winter we are finally enjoying spring weather and preparing for the end of another great year of teaching and learning. These next 6 weeks will be very busy for all of us. I will try to give you as much information as I can to keep you informed and hopefully involved in many of our end of year activities.

During the next few weeks teachers and I will be working on class lists for the 2008-2009 school year. I want to remind everyone that we do not accept requests for specific teachers. However, if you would like to write to me regarding specific learning needs that you want us to be aware of while we are working on the lists please write or email me by May 16th .

At this point our staffing plan will be:

Kindergarten Mrs. LaRose
Kindergarten TBA
Grade 1 Mrs. Dixon
Grade 1 Mrs. Weeks
Grade 2 Mrs. Burns
Grade 2 Mrs. Schuler
Grade 3 Mrs. Briggs
Grade 3 Mrs. Reinhold
Grade 3 TBA
Grade 4 Ms. Hoffman
Grade 4 Mrs. McNeely
Grade 5 Mrs. Baker
Grade 5 Ms. Kandoian

Transition activities for our friends who will be going to other schools have begun. Some of the Principals from the other schools have been here for lunch and meet/greet. Now our students are going to their new schools for lunch. May 5th some of our students went to Dyer. On May 6th other students went to Kaler. On May 23rd more students will go to Small School and finally on May 29th the last group will go to Skillin School. Lorry and I both have visited classrooms to talk about redistricting. It is our hope to make this a smooth transition for everyone. If you have questions or concerns please feel free to call or email me.

As the school year ends we always have a few staff changes. This year we will be saying goodbye

to 5 wonderful educators. Mrs. LeTourneau is retiring after teaching in South Portland for 38 years. We wish her well as she leaves us knowing that she will be spending lots of time with her 5 beautiful grandchildren. Tiffany Drake has decided to be a full time mom and has requested a leave of absence. We will miss her but know that she and Nathanael will be having a great time together. Jamie Cluchey will be changing grade levels and schools but the good news is that she will be staying in South Portland. We wish Pam Smart well as she leaves us to teach Kindergarten at Kaler School. And finally, you all received a letter from Lorry Schwellenbach regarding her transfer to Skillin School. We will all miss Lorry and wish her well. She and Beth Dolley, currently the Guidance Counselor at Skillin, soon to be our new Guidance Counselor, have worked closely for several years. They will collaborate to make this a smooth transition for everyone.

We are still waiting for final word on our 2008-2009 School Budget. This year for the first time in accordance with the statewide Reorganization Law our budget must be passed at a local Budget Validation Referendum. This will be a special election held on May 13, 2008. There will be only one central polling location for this special election. That location will be the South Portland Community Center at 21 Nelson Rd.

I am including information about head lice. Within the last few weeks we have had several cases of head lice in some of the classrooms. If you have further questions feel free to call our school nurse, Ms. Heeschen, between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

As the days get warmer I would like to encourage everyone to dress appropriately for school. Clothes that are appropriate for the beach are not necessarily appropriate for school. We discourage short shorts, tank tops, crop tops and spaghetti straps. Please consider the safety of the footwear that your child is wearing. Flip flops and sandals can be very dangerous on the stairs and on the playground.

Most classrooms have field trips planned between now and the end of the year. Classroom teachers will keep you informed about details of those trips.

Coach Conley and staff members are busy planning a Field Day for June 13. We will also have our Brown School Family Cookout that day. We will send more information in the next few weeks.

The last day of school will be Tuesday, June 17, 2008, it will be a half day of school. Progress Reports will go home that day and your child’s new teacher will be announced at that time as long as all of our hiring has been completed.

I am including the calendar for the 2008-2009 school year. As you will see our first day back for grades 1-5 will be September 2. Kindergarten will start on Monday, September 8, 2008.

We will have our annual Open House on Thursday, August 28, 2008 from 5:00-6:30 p.m.

Sincerely,

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