By Maria Riegel, Special Writer
Elementary school students should begin to prepare for the upcoming school year with their parents or guardians, according to Brooks Crossing Elementary School Principal Jodi Mahoney.
”As the summer winds down parents should start to get their children ready and back into the swing of things for the upcoming school year,” Ms. Mahoney said.
According to Ms. Mahoney, parents should be reviewing their corresponding elementary school websites with their child as summer vacation ends to check for any required reading assignments as well as any important last minute reminders.
Ms. Mahoney said she recommends that parents notify their child’s school’s principal or counselors regarding any significant events that may have occurred over the summer that may have an impact on their child’s education throughout the year. She said a recent death is one example of something parents should notify school officials about.
”For parents, if there was a significant event that occurred over the summer, it’s a good time to reach out to the principals and counselors at your elementary school,” Ms. Mahoney said.
According to Ms. Mahoney, involving children in back to school shopping would be a nice way to transition them into the upcoming school year.
She said that she encourages parents to use the supply lists located on the district website http://www.sbschools.org under the corresponding elementary school.
Also, Ms. Mahoney said that parents will not be receiving back to school information in the mail this year, but will instead be receiving their child’s upcoming school year information via email.
The email will include the student’s placement, teacher as well as a letter from the principal.
She said the email was scheduled to be sent out yesterday and that the child’s teacher would also send out its own letter via email in the following weeks.
”We encourage parents to be really positive about their (the student’s) placement,” Ms. Mahoney said.
In addition, there have been minor shifts in the curriculums for each grade according to Ms. Mahoney. She said that the students, however, would likely not notice the brief changes.
”The teachers are going through training for the curriculum changes,” Ms. Mahoney said.
The average class sizes for the younger grades would be approximately 18-23 students per class according to Ms. Mahoney. She said that grades third through fifth would have an average of 23-25 students per class.
Ms. Mahoney said that there will be an open house at Brooks Crossing as well as Deans School at the end of August for new students entering the school. She said that students and parents should feel free to attend.
”The teachers and the personnel have been working hard to prepare for the upcoming school year,” Ms. Mahoney said. “We are all excited to welcome the students.”

