Dear Mundo Verde Families,
While for many families, school is not top of mind during the month of July, your school leaders, however, are fully immersed in planning for the upcoming year: assigning rooms, training new staff, stocking new materials, analyzing student data, updating curriculum, and adapting schedules. All of this – to ensure that the school is best prepared and ready to serve students this August. School leaders are also invested in running a successful summer program for 242 students!
We are thrilled to have hired and begun orienting four new campus principals, outstanding leaders who are already hard at work planning for the 2023-2024 school year! Please join our school in welcoming Principal Johanna Mamiam and Principal Natalie Ejechi to JF Cook Campus, who will be leading Grades PK3-1st and Grades 2nd-5th, respectively. At Calle Ocho Campus, we welcome Principal Michelle Mangan and Principal Elizabeth Pefaure who will lead Grades PK3-1st and Grades 2nd-4th, respectively. We invite you to learn more about them and the experience they bring to our community in the links below:
Johanna Mamiam, J.F. Cook Campus Principal, Grades PK3-1st
Natalie Ejechi, J.F. Cook Campus Principal, Grades 2nd-5th
Michelle Mangan, Calle Ocho Campus Principal, Grades PK3-1st
Elizabeth Pefaure, Calle Ocho Campus Principal, Grades 2nd-4th
If you are in the area and your schedule allows, we hope you can take advantage of Opportunities to Meet and Greet New Principals, either by participating in a virtual session or by attending an in-person casual gathering scheduled for July 31 / August 1. (Make sure to read details and rsvp in the link below).
Chief School Officer, Joseph Rodriguez, is overseeing an intensive onboarding program for the new principals, and collaborating with deans and other instructional leaders during the month of July. He is covering all elements of both our academic curriculum and our approach to social/emotional development as well as reviewing in-depth the special aspects that distinguish Mundo Verde from other schools: expeditionary learning, dual language immersion, education for sustainability, and responsive classroom. Among the things the entire team is investing in this summer is upgrading the Eureka Math curriculum, and a thorough evaluation of literacy and expedition curriculum to improve, clarify and eliminate gaps.
We are deeply grateful for the large number of staff returning for the new school year! Even as we welcome the fresh perspectives that our new principals will surely bring, returning staff – with their ongoing commitment to the school – bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to benefit our community.
Sixty one (61) of 71 lead teachers are returning (almost 86 percent - above our year-over-year goal of 80 percent).
Forty two (42) of 44 other classroom/student facing staff are returning (95 percent).
And, 92 percent of our 37 senior leaders are returning (including chiefs, directors, senior managers, managers, and accounting for departing principals and mid-year leader departures).
We are delighted to welcome 316 new students to our community, who will join our 792 returning students, representing almost 90 percent re-enrollment, a number consistent with recent years at this time in the summer. For both new and returning students, there are opportunities to participate in summer playdates and connect with other families on August 12/18 (Calle Ocho Campus) and August 26 (J.F. Cook Campus). Make sure to read the details in this link below:
Amidst all the planning and training for the coming year, we also are also reviewing and assessing both operational challenges and underlying systemic shortcomings that boiled over at the end of the 22/23 school year. We know from our regular surveys and hundreds upon hundreds of comments how happy and content many of you are with your school. We also know that some families are very upset and deeply frustrated -- and all the school’s leaders and board members have heard the concerns raised. Every voice matters in our community, and we are all committed to working together to ensure that the coming year (our second, post-pandemic) is extraordinary for our students, families, and dedicated staff.
Please continue to enjoy your summer, check out a few more reminders for back to school and be on the lookout for more information as we get closer and closer to August 24th - the first day of school!
Until then, in community,
Kristin Scotchmer, Executive Director
Joseph Rodriguez, Chief School Officer