Weekly Message From Principal Joanne Bowers
9/18/07

“Peace must begin with each one of us.  Through quiet and serious reflection on its meaning, new and creative ways can be found to foster understanding, friendships and cooperation among all peoples.”
Javier Perez de Cuellar, Former Secretary-General of the United Nations

     Peace, our virtue for the month.  As a school we talked about it at or first assembly 9 days ago on our first day of school.  Wow, nine days have passed and I have never seen days go faster.  There is so much that goes on in this building that there is never a dull moment.
     I want to thank everyone who joined us last week for our Welcome Back to School Potluck.  Having a community come together to support the educational system in such a BIG way was incredible.  I really enjoyed the food, the families and the fun.  Thanks to the set up and break down team that helped organize the event.  We will definitely do it again next year.
     This week we have Curriculum night on Tuesday the 18^th with a volunteer and book fair open to families as well. The book fair will be open all week to students and families.  Secret Garden Book Fair provides excellent books to browse through and purchase.  Your purchase supports our PTA and the many wonderful programs here at North Beach.
     North Beach has become a very popular school in the last three years.  The discussion I had with a parent the other day stated that in three years we have grown from 215 to 315.  That is a significant amount of growth and one we must manage.  This year every grade is almost at maximum except for our second grade classrooms.  In order to address this need, we will be hiring a reading and math teacher that will help make smaller groups for those academic areas.  We will also hire an instructional assistant to lower the child to adult ratio in room 4 in the afternoons as Ms. Michel is contractually over the limit of how many students can be assigned to her class.  I want to thank everyone for his or her patience and support as we worked to solve this issue.  We are already on top of next year, requesting a portable for our growth and working with Central office to make this happen.
    Math groups started last week and groups have stabilized.  I am anxious for the office to slow down so I can get into classrooms and observe the math and teaching.  If your student was eligible and qualified for spectrum, they are in the spectrum math group with teacher-identified students who would also benefit from this class.  If your child were not spectrum qualified they would be in a different group working at their ability level.  It is my expectation that all students at North Beach are encouraged to work at or above their level of learning.  I also want to know that kids love coming to school and love learning because then we know that learning will be a lifetime experience.
     If you have yet to meet our new Superintendent, Maria Goodloe –Johnson, there is an opportunity to do so on September 24^th at the John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence. 
    Also, if you are interested in having your child tested for the advanced learning programs the time is now.  The form can be downloaded off the Internet or please come to our office and we can give you the form.  To be eligible for the testing, the forms must be turned in on time.  Please visit the website on Seattle Schools for more information.
     And lastly but not least, please remember, students should not be bringing Pokemon cards, toys or special mementos to school.  We also discourage cell phones at school unless they are for childcare purposes.  If there is a need for a cell phone because of childcare issues, then we ask that you let the classroom teacher, office as well as the childcare know that your child has a cell phone and the cell phone should be kept in the backpack turned off until the end of school.  This is a safety and security issue for us.
   I think that is all for this week.  I look forward to meeting many of you tonight and I am very excited about the beginning of the year and all it has held.

Peace,

Joanne Bowers

Principal