Class and School Configuration Changes
August 31, 2010
Dear Brooklyn Parents:
We hope that you have all had a fabulous summer and are eager to send your children back to school next Tuesday. The staff has been working hard to prepare for school start-up. Many have been involved in numerous professional development activities over the past two weeks to sharpen their skills and minds in preparation for the academic year ahead.
Our custodial and maintenance staffs have worked wonders. Both sites are gleaming!
Since the end of June our enrolment has grown rapidly, to the point that we are now almost back to our June 2009 count despite having been reduced by two full time teaching staff. As a result, I have made a request to Senior District Management for additional staffing and we are working to reorganize our classroom spaces and student placements prior to the start of school.
In June, we had announced that our grade four population would be re-located to our Lazo campus. Unfortunately, as a result of our increased enrolments in the Intermediate grades, it is now impossible to house all of our grade four students at Lazo. Further, due to increased enrolment in our primary grades and restrictions placed upon us by WorkSafe, BC, neither do we have room for both grade 4 divisions at Brooklyn. As such, we are forced to place one group of grade fours at each site. Mrs. Patti Harris will be teaching the grade four class at Lazo, Mr. Paul Otto the grade four class at Brooklyn.
Given this reality, we need to hear from parents of grade four students as to what your preference for placement would be. Priority at both sites would be to place grade four students with their older or younger sibling thus reducing the need for parents to wrestle with our two bell schedules. Beyond this, we will continue to look at all the educational and social factors that we consider to build well balanced classes optimized for the learning need of each child. You may e-mail me directly at paul.berry@sd71.bc.ca with your preference, thoughts or questions.
We are working feverishly to create space for our new classroom at Brooklyn and will attempt to have class lists prepared and posted no later than Friday, September 3rdat 3:30. Students will report to their posted home rooms on Tuesday September 7th. Further updates will be provided in the days ahead.
Sincerely,
Paul Berry, Principal
