August 23, 2010
Dear Parents,
Welcome to the new school year to you and your families! As the administrator for the four schools that make up our wonderful City of Cape Coral charter school system, it is an honor and privilege to be at your service this year as we continue to create and expand our excellent school system. Please allow me to briefly address some important thoughts with you:
· Our schools will be making greater use of their websites for communication, rather than sending home copies. Announcements, newsletters, flyers and forms will be posted and scanned into the sites for your review or response. Please let the offices or teachers know if you are unable to access our websites. We are also linking our schools together with a database that will make it easier for families with students in multi-schools regarding forms, transfers, etc.
· One of the hallmarks of our system is our requirement of 30 hours for parents to be involved with your child’s education at the schools. We have purchased a new school check-in system for all of the schools that will not only make it easier to check in and out of school, but will track hours for families and make reports available for our use. All families will be required to serve their total number of hours for your child(ren) to continue in our system. Volunteer coordinators and teachers will be regularly sending home (or posting on websites) opportunities for you to obtain hours. As in the past, all parents must be background cleared for student safety to receive parent involvement hours.
· Our schools will be undergoing formal accreditation in the next two years, and as part of this process, we encourage you to take part in surveys, meetings of P.T.O.’s and School Advisory Councils, special school committees such as sports boosters, open houses, parent conferences, and student recognition ceremonies. As a stakeholder in our system, your input is especially important to us as we continually strive to create better schools for the children.
· Communication with our teachers is especially important for a healthy school system, and we value our partnership with you. But our school day only has a limited amount of time for teacher-student contact, and I would ask your patience in understanding that teachers will not be allowed to respond to email or phone communication during instructional time except in emergencies that require immediate contact.
· Our Governing Board and City Council have approved a building expansion plan for the Oasis campus that will include a new classroom building behind the middle school gym, and a new gymnasium attached to the high school. We appreciate their continued support of our school system. Construction will begin mid-winter and completion will be in August, 2011. Please be patient during this time frame, as our traffic pattern for arrival and dismissal will be disrupted. The classroom building will house 5th and 6th graders, and this will allow for the 8th grade to return to the middle school. Each principal will have more information for you as the year progresses. One feature in the new gym will be a community fitness center to be open before and after school. If you have an interest in planning this project, please call me.
In closing, please feel free to call me at 541-1167, or visit my office upstairs at Oasis High School if you have any questions/concerns regarding our schools. It will be my pleasure to respond to you as we work for understanding and partnership for your children’s education.
Best Regards,
Lee Bush
Dear Parent/Guardian:
On behalf of Dr. Eric J. Smith, Commissioner of Education
The School District of Lee County has been identified as a district in need of corrective action based on the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. This means that the district did not meet all state student achievement criteria, or Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), in reading, mathematics, and/or writing for four or more consecutive years. The district has met 72% of the AYP criteria. AYP measures the performance of all students and specific student groups based on race/ethnicity, free and reduced price lunch status, disability, and English proficiency.
To make AYP, a certain percentage of students in each group must score at grade level, or be proficient, on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) in reading, writing, and mathematics. If one student group is not proficient, the entire district does not make the AYP requirements. This does not mean that Lee County Schools are failing; it means that certain areas need improvement.
The table below shows the percentage of proficient students in Lee County compared to other students in the state.
|
2008-09 Percent of Students Scoring Proficient
|
|
Subject
|
Goal
|
Lee County
|
State
|
|
Reading
|
65%
|
64%
|
60%
|
|
Mathematics
|
68%
|
67%
|
66%
|
|
Writing
|
Increase 1% or 90% or higher
|
Goal Met
|
Goal Met
|
|
Graduation Rate
|
Increase 1% or 90% or higher
|
Goal Met
|
Goal Met
|
