Dear Jane Addams Families,

Welcome to a new beginning! I am excited to have you join us on this venture as we create a new program here at Jane Addams. Our school’s focus is to provide a strong environmental science program. In order to do this I have committed to:

• hiring a full time science specialist
• ensuring all teachers are trained in the use of the National Science Foundation (NSF) kits and expository science writing
• creating a tentative 3 year science implementation plan

Additionally, I’m committed to providing the necessary academic rigor for our Spectrum level students and also those students needing additional support. I’m also focusing on how to provide quality electives for our middle school students.

I realize that many of you have questions about the program and I have appreciated your understanding that it has been difficult to move forward with specifics without actual enrollment numbers. Now that those numbers are in hand, most of the staff is in place, and we have created a Building Leadership Team, we are excited to move into the next three months of intense planning.

As we build this new program, parent input and involvement is both desired and essential. We will keep our website (located at the Seattle Public Schools Website) updated with new information throughout the spring and summer, and will host an informational night on June 17th at 6:30. The goal of the evening is to update everyone on the planning process, introduce the staff, provide you with an opportunity to walk around the building, and to begin forming our PTA. Once our PTA is formed, we’ll discuss how the group will work with the Building Leadership Team to gather input and make further decisions as we move forward

This is an exhilarating time for me and I’m especially proud of the new staff I’ve been able to hire. We met together for the first time last week and the connections between them were exciting to watch. They are instructionally strong and committed to building a great program. Your enthusiasm and ideas are what will truly make this happen and so I encourage you to contact me at any time (dnelsen@seattleschools.org) or 252-8385 (this number is only available through the end of the school year), with your questions, thoughts, or ideas.

Knowing that there may be some changes in enrollment, we won’t be making class assignments until late August. If your child has special needs which we should consider when making placements, please contact me prior to August 14th. Once again, welcome to Jane Addams and I look forward to meeting all of you and your children. See you on June 17th.

Sincerely,

Deborah Nelsen
Principal