Parent Newsletter: The Constellation Publication
Principal’s Corner:
Dear Animo Mae Jemison Families,
Happy summer! We hope this newsletter finds you enjoying your LA summer and staying cool. It is my pleasure to welcome you to the 2018-19 school year at AMJ – a year that promises to be filled with achievement and enrichment for your children. We are proud to build off of some incredible accomplishments from the ’17-’18 school year, highlighted by:
- A 100% fully enrolled student body with waiting lists in all three grade levels – a first in AMJ’s history
- A 100% fully hired staff with 88% returning from last year
- 10% more students are meeting or exceeding standard on the ELA “SBAC” (state test) and 6% more students meeting or exceeding standard on the math “SBAC”. This is some of the highest growth among all Green Dot schools.
- A 27% reclassification rate for our English Learners, which translates to high school and college readiness
- 60% reduction in out-of-school suspensions since ‘16-’17
- The initiation of 14 teacher-sponsored clubs and 5 competitive teams to offer students more enrichment
As you see, there’s lots to be proud of! We are eager to continue our success this year by strengthening our instruction in the classroom, deepening our culture and pride for our school, building students’ social- emotional skills, and providing more mental health supports. In sum, we are determined to continue our path to become the best middle school option in Compton and Watts. In order to do so, I’d like to share some of the changes we’ve made for this upcoming year:
- The addition of “looping” advisory classes – advisees will remain with their advisor over all 3 years of their middle school experience, helping to cultivate a family-like space here at school.
- The addition of a new 8th grade elective class: Ethnic Studies, taught by Ms. Estevez
- The addition of a full-term school psychologist. Ms. Coxsey will be on campus full time to increase our behavior, mental health, and special education supports.
- Supervision beginning from 7:00 a.m. – 15 minutes earlier than last year – to assist with safe drop-off in the morning.
- Two options for monthly conversation with the principal – “Coffee with the Principal” in the mornings and “Pizza with the Principal” in the evenings
- Physical changes to campus: freshly repainted exterior and interior walls, the installations of new signage throughout campus featuring our new logo, and new landscaping.
...And we’re just getting started! As always, if you’d like to chat, please feel free to set up an appointment by calling the school at 323-565-4450.
We hope you have a wonderful last few weeks of summer and we will see you on August 8th!