Isn’t it wonderful to see all the green colors around us and to smell spring in the air? It is a time that one receives renewed energy! Students only had 28 school days left once returning from spring break so we still have so much to do in such a little time!

I want to thank our specials teachers, Ryan, Dawn, Darlene, and Suzie for an incredible fun-filled hour for our first and second graders and families in March! We discovered students and families are very artistic and have lots of rhythm! Thank you students and families for attending this activityand making it such a successful evening!

For those who have preschoolers, you have received a letter in regards to the program becoming a community-based program for the 2012-2013 school year, so Meeker will no longer be a site for preschool programs. If you have any further questions about this change, please contact Kim Penn, Director of Preschool.

I have exciting news to share with you for the 2012-2013 school year! Special Education directors and coordinators worked this year on restructuring special education programs and services for the upcoming school year. Meeker has been chosen as having an Intensive Functional Learning (IFL) Services site. (In the past this was called Regional Learning Center (RLC) Bella Romero currently is a RLC site and due to their expansion of becoming a K-8 school, additional space was needed.  Another site placed at Meeker is Multi-Categorical Services. Students needing intensive services are students with multiple needs which includes a cognitive impairment. Students with a significant impairment will require approximately 25 hours or more of specially designed instruction. The focus of this instruction is in adaptive living skills, functional communication and intensive instruction in the extended standards. Multi-Categorical services are for students with a significant learning impairment that requires direct specialized instruction and/or supplementary aids and services for approximately 11 to 15 hours per week. These are not classrooms but services provided to meet the needs of students who meet the criteria for these special education services. To ensure safety for these students and to meet the needs of these students, services will be provided in the two kindergarten classrooms off of the library. (Kindergarten students will have their classrooms in the current preschool portables north of the gymnasium for the upcoming year.) We are fortunate to have this opportunity for staff and students at Meeker and feel pleased that some of our students currently enrolled at Meeker who need these services will be able to stay at Meeker.

The 28 school days left are busy ones for your students. Field trips, assemblies, Field Day, Talent Show, etc. are some of the upcoming events. We’d love to have you be a part of these activities so please check the days and times in this newsletter.   It’s a time of excitement for our students and yet there is still much to learn. Arriving to school on time is critical to ensure students don’t miss out on any learning opportunities. Please have your child here on time each and every day.  I thank you for your support ahead of time in ensuring your child is prepared and rested for each and every school day ahead.