Principal Message
Hello Whitford families,
It’s hard to believe that we are already through February and into March. Spring Break is only two weeks away and hopefully the sun will come out soon bringing some much needed warmer temperatures.
March is a busy time for middle schools. We are beginning to forecast our incoming 6th graders this week and prior to Spring Break, we will be forecasting our current 6th and 7th graders. It’s extremely important that all students forecast for next year as some of my staffing decisions will be based on what electives our students choose. Please talk with your student about what electives they are wanting. Next year, changing of student electives might not be an option.
Believe it or not, we are also talking about the 8th grade end of year celebration. On March 16th at 6:00pm here at Whitford, we will be having our monthly PTO meeting where we will begin brainstorming ideas for the end of the year as well as trying to recruit PTO members for next year. I’m inviting everyone to this meeting where I will give an update on Whitford, district news, and answer any lingering COVID-19 questions.
State testing will begin just after Spring Break. Our plan is to have students test in their classrooms during their core classes as not to disrupt our schedule any further. Core teachers will give more information as we approach April. State testing is a single measure that we use to see how students are doing at a point in time. This will be the first time we will have state testing information in over two years as we didn’t test in 2020 and only about 12% of students tested last Spring 2021. We will be analyzing this data to make school improvement plans over the summer and into next year. I ask that you have a conversation with your student to do the very best they can as it will help inform our decisions.
Please keep your eyes open for updated COVID-19 guidance through Parent Square. At this time, we are still waiting to hear what our district is going to decide when it comes to masking, social distancing, and other COVID-19 protocols. Our students have done a good job of staying masked and distanced this school year, however, I know they’ll be relieved when they’ll no longer hear me tell them to pull up their mask up or to separate at lunch. Trust me, I won’t miss it either.
All in all, we are in a better place than we were prior to Winter Break when it comes to student conduct. It took half the year to get them settled into school mode. We are building positive relationships with students, getting to know families, and learning how to best communicate, work, and support each student.
Take care,
Brian Peerenboom, Principal
Whitford Middle School
