Dear Parents and Guardians, Things are relatively quiet at TJ at this time of year, but we are busy getting prepared for the arrival of staff, and a short time later, the arrival of our students for the 2011-2012 school year. We have housed traditional summer school as well as enrichment programs in the building this summer. Teachers have worked on curriculum and attended conferences, workshops, and classes, and they have appreciated the time to reflect and rejuvenate. We are welcoming several new staff members to our Thomas Jefferson family. Kelly Marple will be joining our third grade team. She is a familiar to us as she was here last spring completing the year during Ms. Lauer’s maternity leave. Robin Plata joins our second grade team and comes to us from Mt. Daniel. Jillian Ernst will be joining us as a reading teacher. She brings valuable experience with literacy instruction to us from Hawaii. We also welcome two new paraprofessionals to TJ: Lauren Washington will be joining our team after working briefly in the Falls Church daycare program, and Mbang Ikpeme comes to us from George Mason HS. Marriage has also brought a new name to TJ- congratulations to Emily Jordan (formerly Emily LeBaron). Back-to-school packets will be available for pick-up in the classrooms on “Meet the Teacher” day on Thursday, September 1, between 12:30-1:30 p.m. Be sure to review the online documents as listed on the reverse side of this letter. Your child’s classroom teacher assignment is also on the back. Please note that the staff and I have planned the class groupings with great care and consideration for the learning needs of each student, and we very rarely make changes at this point in the process. We are looking forward to an exciting year. We will have educators from the IB visit in early December to look at our Primary Years Programme as part of the formal application process. The addition and renovation of Thomas Jefferson Elementary are still in the planning stages. Information can be found on the FCCPS website, and I will update you as information becomes available. Sincerely, Robert Palermo