Welcome to a New School Year!

It is with great pleasure that we welcome parents and students to the 2008-2009 school year! We have an exciting year ahead full of learning, challenges and fun.

First, we would like to celebrate the fact that students and teachers set goals last year, worked hard and maximized their learning. This is demonstrated in the overall percentage of students who scored proficient in math (93.5%), reading (89.8%), and language (81.2%) on the Idaho State Achievement Test. As a result, the school met Adequate Yearly Progress for the sixth year in a row. We recognize that parents are an important part of this effort and look forward to working together again this year.

We will see some change this year. We have some new faces on the staff and are very excited about their addition to the Ellis Team. The first grade team welcomes Ms. Henson, and the second grade has two teachers new to the school, Ms. Magnuson and Mrs. Zohner. Familiar faces popped up in third grade. Mrs. Graham is partnering with Mrs. Shore, and Mrs. Reese graduated from first and moved to third. The fifth grade group is enhanced by the addition of Mr. Hall and sixth grade is excited to have Mrs. Orr on board. If her name sounds familiar, it may be because her husband was the DARE officer at Ellis a couple of years ago. In our resource room we have Mrs. Churba who we are looking forward to working with the K-3 students. In addition, we have a terrific psychologist, Mrs. Sears, who is new to the district. In the area of curriculum, the School District has adopted a new math series (K-5) and we will continue to implement the new social skills program. Check the webpage for updates on this.

Registration will be on August 7th . Parent Orientation on August 28th will allow parents to review the program for the year. This evening provides us with the opportunity to let you know what will be happening this year and to hear from you and set any appointments you may want to schedule.

We value your participation in the educational process. We are always looking for volunteers and have a wide variety of opportunities available including activities that may be done at home as we realize there are some who are committed during the day. Please contact us with suggestions or any questions you may have. Our doors are always open.