From the desk of the principal…

We are excited that we are finally getting the time to develop our Hapgood website. Ms. Lisa Chavez will be our website master and she will keep you up to date on the events and news of Hapgood Elementary School.

As you all probably know Hapgood school has participated in Measure “N” refurbishing this year. Because of this modernization our school spent the first five months located behind the district office in the very comfortable portable buildings. Now as I write this on March 9th we are just beginning to feel truly rooted back at our permanent home. The modernization has given us new heaters in all classrooms, administrative offices and the Multi-Purpose room. It has also afforded Hapgood new handicapped accessible bathrooms, three sets for students and one set for teachers. Our nurse’s office was also rebuilt to accommodate a new restroom. New pipes and electrical conduit is now running throughout our school. We also had our playground structures rebuilt to meet handicap accessible guidelines and we received an entirely new play structure. We are anxious for the grass to grow and for a few cosmetically pleasing items to be added to our school such as benches and a new coat of paint but all in all we are happy to be back.

Our school was awarded the High Priority School Grant Program in the 2006-2007 school year and a planning grant was written and approved. This year we are beginning to implement this excellent plan to improve student achievement. The plan focuses on the professional development that is needed for teachers to become, at each grade level, a professional learning community. A professional learning community is a group of teachers, usually at a common grade or department level, who work together under a common mission and vision, to answer the following three questions. What do we want students to learn? How will we know if students are learning? And what will we do if students don’t learn? (Plus, the added question, what will we do if students already know it?) These three seemingly simple questions are leading the Hapgood staff into a study of the standards, a construction of common assessments, and an assembly of a pyramid of interventions. The High Priority School Grant Program is providing the means to develop and grow as professional communities with the goal of improved student achievement.

Modernization through Measure “N” and the improvement of student learning through the development of Professional Learning Communities have been and still are our two greatest focuses for this year. As you read the rest of our website, I hope it keeps you informed on the day to day life at Hapgood Elementary School.

Please feel free to come into the office to speak with me or one of the other friendly office staff.