Dear Parents,

 As start the year, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the Walter White Elementary School parents and students to the Frank L. Stanton Elementary School family! We are excited about merging our schools to create an outstanding institution for quality teaching and learning with sustainable success. Please know that we welcome you with open arms and are delighted to work with you throughout the 2012-2013 school year and thereafter.

 I am a passionate and committed twenty-year plus veteran in Atlanta Public Schools and have worked at the elementary, middle, and high school levels as a teacher, counselor, magnet coordinator, and academy leader. I am delighted to serve as the new principal of a learning institution with committed and devoted parents and community business partners. I look forward to working with such a formidable team!

 As with Walter White Elementary School, Frank L. Stanton Elementary School has a rich heritage to keep and legacy to uphold with regards to high student achievement, effective and committed teachers, and devoted parents and business partners. Our theme for this year is “Soaring High with Excellence in Teaching and Learning.” This year’s theme will serve as the springboard for us to launch the merger of two outstanding schools and the implementation of the Common Core Georgia Performance Standards, (CCGPS) which will serve as the foundation for our curriculum.

 Throughout the year, Frank L. Stanton’s outstanding teachers will participate in ongoing professional learning sessions to improve their implementation of research-based best practices for effective teaching in every classroom. Our primary foci will be to create a rich-print literate and numerate environment which will offer our students an atmosphere of continuous learning and improvement through targeted instruction aligned to the CCGPS. There will be many long and short term benefits to this level of high yielding instruction which will be evident in your child’s ability to (1) clearly articulate what he/she has learned every day, (2) create constructs from those meanings and (3) transfer those meanings/knowledge into any given situation that is related to what was learned. Furthermore, our students will be able to make a seamless transition to the next grade level or to middle school having made measurable progress throughout the year.

 Parents, your ongoing support will be needed as we build and strengthen our two-way collaboration and communications between the school and home. Your attendance is welcomed, encouraged, and needed during our monthly parent nights or PTA meetings, scheduled parent conferences, and quarterly Academic Celebrations of Learning to spotlight your child’s outstanding work in the classroom. Occasionally, you may be called upon to help volunteer for an event, chaperone a field trip, or to sign-off on your child’s performance-based project, all of which are important and vital to his/her overall developmental progress.

 We are proud to announce ourrenewedpartnerships with The Arthur Blank Family YMCA, Camp Jenny, Equifax, ST. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Spelman and Morehouse College and most recently AT &T Corporation. Each partnership is committed and onboard to support our students throughout the 2012-2013.

Parents, again on behalf of the faculty and staff here at Frank L. Stanton, welcome to what will be an outstanding year of quality learning experiences for every student as we “Soar High with Excellence in Teaching and Learning!”

 Most sincerely,

Phyllis E. Earls