Dr. Lopez sent out an email to the entire district on Wednesday about the IAR website not working and we were not able to test. So, just to let you know, our 3rd-4th-5th graders will do the last of their Math IAR assessment on Monday. We are also doing a field test for IAR which is not as long that we had previously scheduled on Monday. We should be able to complete both on Monday and stay on schedule. We will then be completing make-ups Tuesday-Friday for those students who missed.

Dear Parents and Guardians,

After spring break, the Carpenter faculty works together on a very difficult but important process. At this time, we begin to create class lists for the next school year. It is a very long process that has many stages.

Because the placing of students in classrooms for next year is such an important decision, we use a very specific and detailed process for all children. We consider six criteria in making our decisions, with no one being more important than another. The following criteria are considered together as a whole before placements are made:

• The total number of children in all grade-level classes needs to be equal.

• The ratio of girls and boys should be balanced in each grade level class.

• Ability levels of students need to be balanced in each grade level class.

• Leadership skills and other affective characteristics need to be balanced.

• Students’ learning styles should be matched appropriately with teachers’ instructional styles.

• Some student combinations should be split for social or academic reasons.

If you would like to provide specific information about your child to assist in the homeroom placement selection, please submit a letter/email by this Friday, March 24, 2023. That information might include the parents’ view of how the child learns best, the environment that seems to suit him or her best, peer social matches to possibly avoid (not always possible), and any other pertinent details. Such information will be considered as one component of our process, but the final decision about class assignments rests with the principal and the teachers. Even if you submitted a letter in the past, I'm asking if you'd like something to be considered for 2023-24, I would like a new letter/email as situations and individuals change.

Due to the nature and complexity of this task, we cannot reduce the process to simply accepting requests for specific teachers. PLEASE BE AWARE, LETTERS THAT CONTAIN TEACHERS’ NAMES WILL NOT BE GIVEN CONSIDERATION IN THE PROCESS. I ALSO ASK THAT YOU NOT PUT OUR TEACHERS IN AN AWKWARD POSITION BY ASKING THEM SPECIFICALLY FOR A HOMEROOM PLACEMENT. At times, they are not able to follow through on a request and I do not want them to feel responsible for not being able to follow through or for those requests to interfere with our other considerations.

Any letters received after Friday, March 24th will not be considered in the process. Please note that the teachers and I spend an inordinate amount of time on this particular process and we take it very seriously for all of our students.

Lastly, please note that once homeroom assignments are made and letters are sent in August, we do not accept requests for changes for all of the reasons stated above. So, please take the opportunity now to share your thoughts. If you have questions or feel you need to have a conversation with me that our letter method doesn't provide, please contact me as I'd rather have this conversation now than a complicated conversation in August.

LASTLY/LASTLY - If you are going to send anything, you should register first.

This year, instead of sending out an email for CoVid cases, we will be updating a slide on our website. Please bookmark this page if interested in keeping tabs of our current cases and associated homerooms. I'll leave this in my weekly updates as well, but I'll gradually move this towards the bottom of the reading material.

CARPENTER COVID DASHBOARD