Dear 7th Grade Parents,
We are so proud of all that our 7th graders have accomplished and are excited to welcome them to the 8th gradel. I know that this is an exciting, but also emotional, transition. My hope is that I have answered most of the questions that you might have with this letter. There is a lot of information here, so read carefully. If you still have questions, please let me know. We are here to make this transition as smooth as possible for you and for your child.
We acknowledge that a particular teacher's teaching methods and/or personality may be a better match for a specific student than another. And, we respect the desires of parents to be involved in real decisions regarding their child's education. As such, we do accept parental requests for specific teachers.
At Corona Foothills Middle School and in the Vail School District, we take great care to recruit excellent teachers and to provide them with exemplary professional development programs. It is our intent and strong desire to have high quality instruction occurring in every classroom.
We also believe the make-up of each classroom should be well balanced. At each grade level classrooms should contain approximately the same number of boys, girls, ELP students, special education students, etc. Prior to the start of each year the staff at our school, with consultation with Sycamore and Copper Ridge teachers, carefully distribute students into various class groups in order to achieve this balance.
We attempt to honor requests as long as they are submitted on time and do not upset the balance of a particular class. It is important to understand that teaching assignments are not guaranteed. A teacher may, for example, choose to take another position just prior to the start of the school year.
Parents who would like to talk about teachers that are available at a particular grade level are strongly encouraged to contact me. Conversations regarding this issue should be marked with respect for every teacher who is mentioned.
Teacher requests can be made via an electronic team request form. We are unable to accept any emails or paper team requests. Requests will be open until 5 p.m. on May 13th. Requests submitted after that time period may not be able to be honored. The request link can be found at: https://forms.gle/hzwqJ2GhRsrKe9dK6
Our eighth grade will be organized into two teams of teachers for the 22/23 school year. Students will see all of the teachers on the team equally for instruction.
Gold Jaguar Team
Elizabeth Fagan-Science
Heather Diehl-Language Arts
Karen Hall-Social Studies
Rovan Agad-Math-Pending Board Approval
Blue Jaguar Team
Cami Erickson-Science
Melissa Ly-ELA-Pending Board Approval
Michael Thrall-Social Studies
Joanna Dojaquez-Math
All algebra and geometry students will have Mr. Vanderwyst. All 8th grade math students will have Mrs. Dojaquez.
Students who have completed Algebra, will be placed in Geometry.
Students eligible for Algebra will be placed in Algebra pending results of the advanced math placement test. The placement test is one of two data points we use to determine advancement in math. The other date point for placement in middle school algebra is AzMERIT.
Students in ELP will continue in ELP during enrich.
Students with an IEP will continue services at the middle school. Mrs. Hammer is our 8th grade resource teacher and can be contacted at [email protected]
Students with a 504 plan will see their 504 plan continue into the 8th grade. Mrs. Evans will contact you at the beginning of the school year to review your child’s plan and to make any changes necessary. Mrs. Evans can be reached at [email protected].
Band is available during enrich. Orchestra is being offered after school. If you are interested in band, please complete this form at https://forms.gle/qiqUSKAWdj1DcDX86
Schedules will be mailed to you towards the end of June. We will have our open house on July 15th so that you can visit our campus and our classrooms and students can practice their schedules.
Lunch accounts will be transferred automatically to the next grade.
We look forward to working with you this coming school year. Please do not hesitate to contact me at 879-3504 or [email protected] if I can be of any assistance.
Respectfully,
Margaret Steuer
Principal
Corona Foothills Middle School