Principal’s Message
Ms. Webb, Middle School Director at Local District 4 brought us exciting news last month. King will change to a traditional calendar for the 2009-2010 school year. Although no new schools have been built to relieve student population at King, our boundaries will change. This means that 6th grade students who attend Plasencia Elementary will remain at Plasencia and 7th and 8th grade students at King who live in the Plasencia area will attend the new Belmont 6-12 Span School. Parents of affected students will receive a letter this month. In addition there will be no renewal of permits (e.g. continuation, child care or employment) for students who do not live within the new King MS attendance boundaries for September. Letters have already been sent to parents of affected students.
Next year King will have 5 different Small Learning Communities with approximately 400 students each. One Small Learning Community will be the Magnet. Our present vertical teams will form the other four small learning communities. As we continue to plan for next school year more information will be made available to you.
King continues to focus on College Readiness and expanding technology across all grade levels. Presently we have enough computers to implement an Apple 2 to 1 Program in 6th grade. This means two teachers, who share the same students will have access to 1 computer cart all day every day. English and Math already have a computer carts that they share. To support the professional development that Science teachers have received through the Apple Store on project learning, we plan to purchase computer carts for both the Science and Social Studies departments.
I am proud to announce that on April 25, 2009, at the Annual Parent Summit held in the Los Angeles Convention Center, King will have a Technology Booth on project leaning based on our with students’ work.
With the arrival of Spring comes “California Standards Testing Time”. At this time of the year we ask our students to demonstrate what they have learned through various assessments. These assessments are very important. Not only are they used to help determine the appropriate placement of students in classes, (e.g. gifted, advanced studies or ESL) but they are also play a determining factor in the reclassification of English Learners. In order to develop a true picture of how our teachers are educating our students, please stress the importance of doing well in these exams.
Kristen K. Murphy, Ed.D. Principal
COLLEGE STARTS AT KING!!!