From the Office of the Principals

Dear Members of the Prendergast Community,

The school year is off to a great start and we are excited to take over as the leaders of this school.  Throughout the year, we will update you on our progress toward our school goals. This year we ask for your support in achieving the following school goals:

    ·         Parent Partnerships – We view parents as an integral part of the education process and value your input and suggestions. As the relationship between school and home grows, so does student achievement. We have an open door policy at our school, please stop in our offices anytime to make a suggestion for improvement or to just say hello.

    ·         Early literacy – we are focusing many of our resources on early literacy so that our students have the foundational skills to read, understand and respond a variety of text. Our goal is to have each student reading fluently by grade 3.

    ·         Universal expectations of behavior – whether in the hallway, the classroom, bathroom or bus, each student is aware of the expected behavior and every staff member enforces these universal behavior expectations. We are working on a school wide behavior system which uses positive reinforcement to support these expectations.

·         Character Education – the framework for our behavior system are 6 Pillars of Character, Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship.  These Pillars of Character exemplify what we expect from our students as they become young adults.  You will frequently hear the phrase, “Character counts at Prendergast School.” Each Morning students recite the character pledge.

·         High Expectations for all students – We hold all of our students to a high standard. We believe that all students are capable of learning at high levels.  Our teachers work diligently to plan engaging lessons that are differentiated to meet the needs of all of our students.

We look forward to working with you for the upcoming school year. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact us.

Mr. Apicella and Mr. McNeill

japicella@ansonia.org

smcneill@ansonia.org