At our Apalachin Elementary School
From the Principal's Desk
by Mr. Motsko, Principal of the Apalachin Elementary School

Meet the Teacher Night
The turnout for Meet the Teacher Night was wonderful, in spite of the less than favorable weather. Mr. Don Davis and his excellent crew filled many empty stomachs and assisted those that had no desire to cook dinner. Mrs. Karen Hammer and her many able assistants from AES and OES ran a very efficient Book Fair. Teachers and staff were elated by the turnout. All in all, the evening was very successful.
 

Don Davis Week I mentioned that Mr. Don Davis assisted in making Meet the Teacher Night a success. Over the last number of years, Don has been one of our "go to" people for a variety of needs. He has been an active member of our Shared Decision Making Team, representing our community. He has been co-chair of one of our Cross Level Teams that has helped organize our spring open house. He has received our classes for field trips, as a representative community helper. Don has brought us special visitors for assemblies . . . BC Icemen.

He has also assisted us in many other endeavors. In recognition for the many times he has helped us, the AES staff and students have recognized Don as representing the Heart of Our Community. He received an official AES heart, will receive a special proclamation recognizing his service to the school and he was the Parade Marshall for our Fall Festival Parade. The week of October 30 - November 3 was designated as Don Davis Week at AES. It was our way of saying Thank You for the many gifts he has shared with us. Make sure you congratulate him when you see him.

Room for Improvement
During the week of October 23 - 26, we had a team of critical friends from the School Alliance for Continuous Improvement visiting us. They have reviewed our math program from Kindergarten through grade twelve. The initial report to the district indicates that we are doing quite well in the area of Math K-12. The "job" of our visitors is to assist us in finding out what we do well and what we can improve on. The preliminary report will be followed by a written report in about a month. This is the second visit we have had in the year. This visit and the one for Language Arts will assist us in refining our plan to be the best in Tioga County and the best among our similar groups in the BOCES region.

New Playgrounds
The AES family is getting excited about the plan to upgrade and replace the playgrounds outside the building. We are now reviewing possible plans and working on a schedule of visitations to see other playgrounds. The goal is to have a design in place by December of this year. It is expected that we will have the playground(s) completed for the 2001-2002 school year.