Dear Parents,
I am pleased to announce that the Skamania School Board approved a new pilot preschool program. This preschool program is called transitional kindergarten (TK) and is for children who are four and/or five years old, who may not have access to high-quality early learning experiences prior to kindergarten. Their eligibility for the program will be determined through a screening process and/or other instrument(s), that shows them to be in need of additional preparation to be successful in kindergarten the following year.
This will be a full day program with the same school hours as other students. Mrs. Hopple will teach the class that will include students in the transitional kindergarten program, along with kindergarten and first graders. We anticipate the class to be 18 students or less. We are in the process of hiring a full time Washington Reading Corp tutor/assistant to support Mrs.Hopple and the program. Our goal is to start the program on Monday, January 6th.
One of the advantages of a small school is that we can make program adjustments quickly without too much disruption. As a result of this new program, we will need to make some adjustments within other grades. We feel that these adjustments will be beneficial for all students, not just students in the TK program. These changes will start on January 6th, 2020, and will include the following grade level adjustments to ensure we continue with a tradition of small class sizes:
- Hopple will teach transitional kindergarten, Kindergarten and first grade.
- Gilbert will teach 2nd and 3rd grade.
- Neth and Mrs. Locke will team teach 4th, 5th and 6th grade.
- Carlton will teach 7th and 8th grade.
Students who are switching teachers should have received a phone call by now explaining the adjustments. This new configuration will allow us to continue to provide an outstanding education within a mixed age, small class setting.
If you have any questions, please call.
Happy holidays and best wishes for a successful new year.
Sincerely,
Dr. Ralph Pruitt, Superintendent/principal