From Your PTA Co-Presidents

Dear Stoddert Parents,

Welcome to the 2009-10 Stoddert school year! It is hard to believe the start of the year is nearly here. We are in for an exciting year filled with many things “new.” To start, we want to welcome our new principal,  Dr. Marjorie Cuthbert. We know she will be a wonderful new leader who will work hard to ensure our children are learning in the best environment possible.

Our children will be learning in our new, yet temporary, school while our really new school is created. Our temporary home may not have all the amenities we like, but it will be worth it when we open the 2010-11 school year in an unbelievable, environmentally friendly school.

We have a number of changes in our teaching staff. As most of you know, Mr. Dingledine and Mr. O’Bierne  will teach 5th grade and Ms. Clark will move to 2nd. We’ve hired Ms. Lalla Marquez to replace Mr. O’Bierne in 4th grade. We’ve also hired Ms. Wanda Zachary as our full-time school counselor, and added a reading specialist, math specialist and teacher’s assistant. We are also thrilled to announce that we are starting a Spanish program. Welcome to all of our new staff!

We want to thank all of you who were busy this summer ensuring a smooth school opening on August 24th.  Special thank-yous go to Brian Cohen for his ongoing oversight of the building project; Kevin Youel-Page, Beth Mailley, Mike Gardner, and Jane Alexander for participating in the principal interviews; and Anastasia Miller and Jennifer McLennan for continuing to work on our website and other communication tools. Many of you also helped prepare for the principal interviews and other projects this summer. We truly appreciate all of your efforts.

We are certain the 2009-10 school year will be busy. We’ve planned all of our favorite events – Potlucks, Fun Fair, Book Fairs, Big Chili, International Night – and we hope you’ll participate fully. We need volunteers to help make these events run smoothly so let us know how you can help! We hope if you are a returning parent, you will watch out for new members of our community. This will be a challenging time to walk into our school and we want to be sure everyone feels welcome. If you are a new parent, PLEASE, ask questions and let us know you are there. We want to make your family’s experience a great one. We look forward to meeting you on August 20, 2009 at the new parent social.

We know there will be “glitches” as the year goes on. The building project may present some obstacles, it may take some time incorporating our new educational resources into the class schedule, and we may all be a little confused about where to line up the first day of school. But, the Stoddert Community is a strong, vibrant, flexible group. Together, we will make this the best year Stoddert has known!

As the year goes on, please keep in touch. Looking forward to seeing you soon,

Mimi Laver and Mary McLaughlin

Mimi Laver: mimilaver@stoddert.org  Mary McLaughlin: mary@stoddert.org