Class Placement

While some of you have already navigated this process with me, there are others for which this process will be completely new.  I encourage you to carefully read this letter in its entirety as there is a deadline should you choose to provide input.

The goal of this endeavor is to establish heterogeneous classes in which children may be productive and successful learners. To accomplish this goal, our team of teachers, psychologists, counselor, specialists, special area teachers, and I spend countless hours establishing a learning environment which is balanced and meets the needs of each individual learner. A balanced learning environment is one which considers general ability, academic level, social emotional well-being, guidance matters, health matters, gender, learning style, special identification (e.g. ENL, classified, etc.), and compatibility with peers.

During parent teacher conferences, you may have engaged in a discussion with your child’s teacher regarding their individual strengths and future needs. While it is our responsibility as educators to know your child’s learning needs to determine placement, I recognize that you may like to provide the placement team with some additional insight to be considered.

Input that is helpful includes successes and/or challenges both socially and academically, information about your child’s relationship to other children, any serious relationship issues between your child and another student, goals you and your child may have for the coming year and any changes in your family that may impact your child.  I ask that you refrain from engaging in conversations with your child’s teacher or the placement team members regarding specific teacher requests. Requests for specific teachers will not be entertained or honored.

I hope that this description of our process will enable us to work together in an open and fair way to serve the best interests of your child. We have an amazing team of educators here at Sousa and I am confident in their ability to work together to determine the right balance necessary for the success of each learning environment.