Hello and welcome,

 

My name is Mary Lou McCarthy and I will be serving as the Interim Principal of the Franklin Elementary School for the 2009-2010 school year. I’m delighted to be joining the Franklin School community and honored to be a partner in your child’s educational experience. The Franklin School is one of the older elementary schools in North Andover and like so many of its students, has recently experienced a growth spurt. Franklin currently serves approximately 545 students in grades kindergarten through five. We are very fortunate to have a dedicated staff of experienced educators, an active PTO and School Council and a host of caring and committed families. As a long time district employee, I have often admired the energetic and collegial spirit of the Franklin community as well as the inclusive school culture. It’s an atmosphere that I will strive to continue and extend.

 

This summer I had the pleasure of meeting parents and students in person when they stopped by the school for various reasons. Many others contacted me by phone and email. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for the greetings, warm welcome and offers of assistance. Your outreach has helped to make my transition to this new role feel as comfortable as it could possibly be. As you might imagine, the faculty and staff at Franklin have been equally encouraging and actively supportive. I look forward to continuing to meet all of the members of the Franklin School community and eventually putting all of the right names with the faces!

 

As a new school administrator, I take my responsibility to communicate school district policies, initiatives, requirements and activities very seriously. It is my goal to utilize email distribution and the school Web site as an efficient and effective source of information, school documents and common forms for you. Please watch our Web site develop and evolve over the coming months.

 

There are many exciting things planned for this school year. The district has adopted a new core literacy program called Reading Street. Teachers in grades K-5 will be receiving professional development throughout the school year to successfully implement this new resource as a component of our English Language Arts curriculum.

 

This year students will also be exposed to a North Andover district initiative, Building Respectful Community. Our vision is to establish a common language through a set of essential standards that build respect and actively support social and emotional learning.

The acronym RAISE represents the values of respect, achievement, inclusion, service and empathy. Teachers and students will work together to reflect these values and will use this vocabulary to solve conflicts and build a sense of caring and community.

 

We have a number of faculty changes this school year. Mrs. Judith Nunan will be joining our fourth grade team as a classroom teacher. Mrs. Martha Wolfenden is coming to us from the Thomson School and will also be teaching fourth grade. Mrs. Zedeka Poldoian and Ms. Elissa Lynne will teach full-day Kindergarten classes. Mrs. Megan Kerrigan and Mrs. Sylvia Harrison are joining us as Special Education teachers. Mrs. Poldoian, Mrs. Kerrigan and Mrs. Harrison were previously teachers at the Sargent School. Ms. Lynne joins us from the Thomson School. Finally, please welcome Ms. Meghan Sharkey who will be joining us for her first teaching assignment as our Art teacher.

 

I hope that you and your families were able to enjoy time together this summer and are heading into the new school year rested and refreshed. The entire Franklin School faculty and staff looks forward to greeting you all very soon as we embark upon this year’s journey together.

 

Sincerely,

 

Mrs. McCarthy