Retirement

April 17, 2008


Dear KDES Families:

This letter is to inform you that after working for 33 years at the Clerc Center, I have decided to retire at the end of this school year. My last day at work will be Friday, June 27th. During the next two months, I will continue to work collaboratively with Dr. Deninger and the management teams to wrap up the end of the school year.

I have truly enjoyed working with your children and I definitely will miss them.

Sincerely,


Marilyn Farmer Principal

Language Planning- Letter to Parents

March 6, 2008

Dear KDES Community:

We are excited to announce the establishment of a Language Planning Work Group at KDES. For several years language planning has been a major goal of our Accreditation for Growth (AFG) Literacy action plan. During this time, we have focused on strengthening our understanding and use of language planning in the instructional program, including training of administrators, teachers, and staff, and educating our families. During the recent stakeholders meeting, language planning was identified by both groups – families and teachers- as a top priority and as an area that needed more work.

The goal of this Language Planning Work Group is to develop a work plan to address student acquisition and development of both American Sign Language (ASL) and English languages for a variety of Deaf and Hard of Hearing children to promote academic success. The work plan will address concerns related to what is language planning at KDES, how are both languages developed and taught in the school environment, and the assessment component. This plan will be multi-year with timelines.

Frequent updates will be shared with the community for feedback. The final recommendations from the work group are due June 1st. This will allow time to share the work plan with the community before the school year ends and to ensure that work can take place this summer for full implementation during the 2008-2009 school year.

The members of this work group, which represent our diverse stakeholders, are:

Jennifer Furlano Signacy/ASL, ASL/Deaf Studies Specialist
Francisca Rangel Signacy/ASL, ASL/Deaf Studies Coordinator, Language Planning Instructor
Bettie Waddie-Smith Oracy/Spoken English, Speech Language Specialist
Suzanne Scott Oracy/Spoken English, Outreach Specialist, Language Planning Instructor
Gabrielle Jones Literacy, Special Projects Teacher (Literacy Coach)
Holly McBride Teacher/Multiple Disabilities
Steven Benson Teacher/Early Childhood Education
Lynne Erting Knowledge Integration-Literacy, ECE Team (coordinator support)
Susan Schatz Instruction, Coordinator of Instruction, Grades 1-8
Linda Delk Researcher
Julie Walkup Parent, ECE Team, Oracy/Spoken Language
Rebecca Gage Parent, Team 123/45, Signacy/ASL
Nancy Berrigan Project Manager

Please contact me if you have any questions about this initiative. Additionally, please feel free to provide feedback to any member of this work group. Working collaboratively, we will continue to strengthen our educational program at KDES.

Sincerely,


Marilyn Farmer
Principal

Dr. Lynn Erting Returns to ECE Team

December 4, 2007


Dear KDES Community,

I am delighted to announce that Dr. Lynne Erting, a staff member on the Knowledge Integration and Evaluation unit at the Clerc Center, will assist me in the coordination of the Early Childhood Education (ECE) Team. Dr. Erting is not new to this team, having worked there in past years as a teacher and a coordinator. Her educational training is in early childhood education and her doctorate of philosophy is in emergent literacy development of deaf and hard of hearing children. Dr. Erting will spend 20 hours per week working with the teachers and staff to provide exemplary educational programming to our young children.


Please join me in welcoming Dr. Erting back to the ECE Team.


Sincerely,
Marilyn Farmer

Bomb Threat

October 3, 2007


Dear KDES Families:

This letter is to share information with you regarding a bomb threat that Gallaudet University received earlier today. According to the University, the bomb threat pertained to several buildings on the campus and did not include the Clerc Center. The campus was closed while the DC Police and the Department of Public Safety conducted a search of these buildings. Upon completion of the search they declared the buildings safe.

I want to assure you that this threat did not affect the KDES educational program.


Sincerely,
Marilyn Farmer
Principal, Kendall Demonstration Elementary School

Vision Screening

September 14, 2007

Dear KDES Families

This year we are offering free individual vision screening at KDES. This service is through the District of Columbia Public Schools Office of Hearing and Vision programs in conjunction with the Lions Club.

As your child’s parent or legal guardian, you may refuse to have your child receive this service. I ask that you please fill out the attached consent form and return it to your child’s teacher by Friday, September 21st. You will be contacted later with the screening date.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,
Marilyn Farmer
Principal- Kendall Demonstration Elementary School

SAT Letter

September 17, 2007

Dear Parents/Guardians:

Enclosed you will find the Individual Student School Report of your child’s performance on the Stanford Achievement Test –Tenth Edition (SAT-10) which was administered in the Spring, 2007. There is some important information included on the Score Report. In the left hand column, you will see the Test Level that your child was given. This table shows you which grades were covered in the test given to your child:

P1 Primary 1 Grades 1.5-2.5
P2 Primary 2 Grades 2.5-3.5
P3 Primary 3 Grades 3.5-4.5 I1 Intermediate 1 Grade 4.5-5.5
I2 Intermediate 2 Grades 5.5-6.7
I3 Intermediate 3 Grades 6.5-7.5 A1 Advanced 1 Grades 7.5-8.5
A2 Advanced 2 Grades 8.5-9.5 T1 TASK 1 Grades 9.0-9.9
T2 TASK 2 Grades 10.0-10.9
T3 TASK 3 Grades 11.0-12.9

For example, if your child was given the Primary 1 Level, this level covers the kind of information that is usually taught from the sixth month (February) of the 1st grade to the sixth month (February) of the 2nd grade. This may seem confusing because 1.0 actually represents the very first month of the first grade and 2.0 would represent the first month of the second grade.

As you continue reading down the page, you will see the different subjects that were covered on the test such as Word Reading/Vocabulary or Reading Comprehension. As you read across the page, you will see several columns of numbers. In the first column you will see the number of items on the test for each subject (# of items). As you continue to read across the page, you can tell the number of items that your child answered correctly (# right), the number of items that your child missed (#wrong), and the number of items that your child did not answer (# blank). There is also a column that lists the overall percentage of items that your child answered correctly (% right).

There is a more detailed explanation attached to this letter that discusses the remaining columns on the Score Report (scaled Score, Grade Equivalent, Deaf/Hard of Hearing Percentiles).

If you still have questions after you have reviewed your child’s Score Report, please contact the school psychologist, Robert Whitaker (KDES) at 202 651-5031.

Sincerely,
Marilyn Farmer
Principal, KDES

MSSD Incident

October 5, 2007


Dear KDES Families:

I want to share information with you about a serious incident that occurred last Saturday at MSSD and our plan to address this issue at KDES to help our students grow from it.

On Saturday, September 29, several students in one of the dorms were involved in what began as a game and turned into acts with racial implications that led to seven students being sent home and an investigation is ongoing. The Clerc Center does not tolerate any acts of threatening behavior. We are committed to ensuring that KDES has a safe and supportive learning environment for all of our students, teachers and staff.

As the nation addresses racism in schools, the Clerc Center has hired an external consultant, Larry Bell, with expertise in addressing these issues with teenagers. Mr. Bell is Director of the National Coalition-Building Institute’s (NCBI) District of Columbia Chapter and Regional Director (Mid-Atlantic Region) of NCBI International. He has been a Senior Associate, Trainer, and Member of the Board of NCBI International for over 8 years and a Senior Leader of the African Heritage Caucus. His areas of expertise include prejudice reduction, conflict resolution, team-building, and violence prevention. Mr. Bell and the DC NCBI Chapter have been involved in an effort to help youth, by teaching skills in prejudice reduction and coalition building to high school students and other young people. We are working in partnership with University and Clerc Center personnel with expertise in multiculturalism and diversity.

On Thursday, our School Counselor Cynthia Hunt and our Assistant Principal Donald Mahoney met with students on Team 4/5 and Team 6/7/8 to have an open dialogue about this incident, their reactions and feelings, as well as the issue of racism, discrimination, and oppression.

The Clerc Center recognizes that education related to racism, prejudice, and other forms of oppression is a critical part of every student’s development. Academic activities related to bullying have been taking place at KDES since last spring, including lunchtime “Mix It Up” discussions, large group, and small group activities. These activities, as well as others, will continue to be an integral part of the Clerc Center’s programs and services.

The administration is taking this event very seriously and would appreciate your involvement in teaching your children about the seriousness of racially charged acts. The year ahead will be filled with age appropriate lessons related to racism and oppression, and to teaching students respect for themselves and for each other.

We are prepared to assist you with additional resources on how to continue the dialogue at home and respond to any questions you may have. Please contact me at anytime at (202) 651-5031 or Marilyn.Farmer@Gallaudet.edu.


Sincerely,


Marilyn Farmer
Principal, Kendall Demonstration Elementary School

Letter to ECE Families from the Office of the Assistant Principal

Dear Kendall ECE Families:

I am pleased to say “Hello” again from the Office of the Assistant Principal at the start of another school year. This letter is written just to inform you of or to clarify a few points for your convenience.

Communication with Kendall School

As you have seen from Ms. Farmer’s previous letter, the main contact for you is your child’s teacher. However please know that our front office, Ruth Innes and I are always available to you as well.

I may be reached:
By email: Donald.Mahoney@gallaudet.edu
By phone: 202-651-5637 v/tty

Ruth – the Administrative Secretary may be reached:
By email: Ruth.Innes@gallaudet.edu
By video phone: 202-651-5259
By pager: Rcinnes@tmail.com

If you have questions or want to communicate anything related to the bus services, your direct line of contact is the office at the Gallaudet Dept. of Transportation, 202-651-5151.

Kendall Cafeteria

Once again KDES will provide breakfast and lunch to all students. Lunch will continue to offer hot veggie and non veggie entrees everyday. I do not yet have the new weekly menus but we hope to put them online next week or , if you would like hard copy, just contact Ruth. One change however, breakfast will not have hot food this year, but will offer cereals, various fresh fruits, and a variety of fruit juices and milks.

If your child has any food allergies, please be sure to contact me and/or the school nurse, as we monitor such instances very closely.

Need for Parent Volunteers

In past years we have been very fortunate to receive the valuable assistance of parent volunteers. Ruth and I want to express our personal thanks to the many parents who have assisted us in the front office. This year we are hoping for an increase of parent volunteers not only at the front desk but throughout the school. We need your many hands and many skills to assist us in a wide variety of roles. Our Family Educator, Tara Downing, will be coordinating this project. You will be receiving more details about this from Tara very soon, but don’t hesitate to contact Ruth or me now if you wish to help out.

We look forward to another terrific year serving our students and families.

Sincerely,
Don Mahoney
Assistant Principal, KDES

Letter to families from the Office of the Assistant Principal

Dear 1-8 Kendall Families:

I am pleased to say “Hello” again from the Office of the Assistant Principal at the start of another school year. This letter is written just to inform you of or to clarify a few points for your convenience.

Communication with Kendall School

As you have seen from Ms. Farmer’s previous letter, the main contact for you is your child’s teacher. However please know that our front office, Ruth Innes and I are always available to you as well.

I may be reached:
By email: Donald.Mahoney@gallaudet.edu
By phone: 202-651-5637 v/tty

Ruth – the Administrative Secretary may be reached:
By email: Ruth.Innes@gallaudet.edu
By video phone: 202-651-5259
By pager: Rcinnes@tmail.com

If you have questions or want to communicate anything related to the bus services, your direct line of contact is the office at the Gallaudet Dept. of Transportation, 202-651-5151.


KARP/KASP

Ruth has received the forms that some of you have sent in to sign up for After School Programs. Let me explain that there are 3 different options available to you.

The Kendall ATHLETIC RECREATIONAL Program (KARP) coordinated by Steve Doleac. He supervises 2 of the 3 options. One is the KARP Team Sports and the other
one is a more informal KARP Intramural or KARP Recreational. Steve’s registration form explained the many features of their programs. Let me just add here that the Kendall Sports Teams are a source of great excitement and school spirit as well as a great opportunity for students to develop a wide range of physical and social skills. I strongly encourage our students who are eligible by age to participate.


The third option is our Kendall After School Program (KASP) which is supervised by me. This year, Ms. Farmer has provided for expanded options in KASP. There are 4 choices for KASP, including Homework Helper, Art, Drama, and Yearbook. If a student is signed up for any KASP session (3 pm-4 pm, Monday-Thursday), they have the additional option of moving on to the KARP Recreational sessions at 4 pm to 5 pm. That way the student will be supervised within the KARP Program until they are picked up by you, as arranged with Steve Doleac.

If you should need another registration form, just contact Ruth Innes.

Kendall Cafeteria

Once again KDES will provide breakfast and lunch to all students. Lunch will continue to offer hot veggie and non veggie entrees everyday. I do not yet have the new weekly menus but we hope to put them online next week or , if you would like a hard copy just contact Ruth. One change however, breakfast will not have hot food this year, but will offer cereals, various fresh fruits, and a variety of fruit juices and milks.

If your child has any food allergies, please be sure to contact me and/or the school nurse, as we monitor such instances very closely.

Need for Parent Volunteers

In past years we have been very fortunate to receive the valuable assistance of parent volunteers. Ruth and I want to express our personal thanks to the many parents who have assisted us in the front office. This year we are hoping for an increase of parent volunteers not only at the front desk but throughout the school. We need your many hands and many skills to assist us in a wide variety of roles. Our Family Educator, Tara Downing, will be coordinating this project. You will be receiving more details about this from Tara very soon, but don’t hesitate to contact Ruth or me now if you wish to help out.

We look forward to another terrific year serving our students and families.

Sincerely,

Don Mahoney
Assistant Principal
KDES

ACTION TEAM FOR PARTNERSHIPS UPDATE

Kendall Demonstration Elementary School
ACTION TEAM FOR PARTNERSHIPS UPDATE

June 27, 2007

To Families and Caregivers of KDES Students,

As you may remember, earlier this year we sent home a flyer about the Family-School Action Team for Partnerships and invited interested parents/caregivers to join. For some of you who may not be familiar with the program, here’s a review of that information.

The Clerc Center uses the research based model of Family-School-Community Partnerships created by Dr. Joyce Epstein at Johns Hopkins University. It emphasizes the importance of partnership between the family, school and community. There are 6 types that create a comprehensive program of family-school-community partnerships.
They are:

1. Parenting/Parent Education: assist families with parenting and child-rearing skills, understanding child development and the needs of deaf children, and setting home conditions that support children; assist schools in understanding families.
2. Communicating: communicate with families about school programs and student progress through effective school-to-home and home-to-school communications.
3. Volunteering: improving recruitment, training, responsibilities, and schedules to involve families as volunteers and audiences throughout the school programs.
4. Learning at Home: involve families with their children in learning activities at home, including homework and other curriculum-related activities.
5. Decision-Making: include families as participants in school decisions, parent organizations, committees, and action teams.
6. Collaborating with the Community: identify and involve community resources and services for students, families, and the school.

Children learn and grow at home, school and in the community. Research shows that if overlapping spheres of family, school and community work together, it will support your child’s achievement. Our goal is having these spheres of influence work together to increase your child’s overall success.


Here is an update of progress:

Last March the Family-School-Community Action Team for Partnerships (ATP) was reestablished. We have 12 parents, 2 teachers, and 7 staff members on the team. This group included parents and staff who had initial meetings in the fall, and the recommendations they developed at that time were incorporated into the ATP planning. We met approximately every 2 weeks, using a format based on the Johns Hopkins National Network of Partnership Schools model. The first several meetings were to become acquainted with the partnership model and the 6 types of involvement, reflect on our current practices, and identify which areas need to be strengthened.

We then prioritized and selected 3 of the 6 types of involvement to begin our work: Parenting, Volunteering, and Decision Making.

Then, within those 3 types of involvement, we prioritized which projects to focus on, as follows:

Parenting – Identify what kind of workshops they would like to have throughout the year.
Volunteering – Strengthen the volunteer program
Decision Making – Expand/improve the Kendall After School Program (KASP) and Kendall Athletics/Recreation Program (KARP)

ATP had its last meeting for the school year on June 19th. Sub-groups will continue to work on the areas of focus throughout the summer. We will meet again in early fall.

Please contact us if you have any questions or would like to know more information about the Family-School-Community Action Team for Partnerships. You will be hearing more about the progress of our work in the fall and throughout the year.

Have a GREAT summer with your child!

Marilyn Farmer, KDES Principal
Carla Hanyzewski, Manager, Family Involvement National Mission Initiatives
Delia Lozano-Martinez, KHSO President