A letter from Principal Mr. Smullen:

As winter comes to an end and spring brings us sunny days and warmer temperatures, the snow melts away, green colors return and before you know it summer arrives. We have approximately 50 school days left as Spring Break is two weeks away. Term 3 ends next week then we begin our fourth and final term. Where did all the time go?

Our students have bloomed into even brighter young adult learners. Over 400 students participated in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Warrior for Peace contest at Blackhawk Technical College. Julia Bosco received first place for her essay and represented Beloit. Graham Boudreaux and Jack Cronin competed at Spelling Regionals. Destination Imagination took first in Regionals and has advanced to State. Our Math League Team competes this week at Regionals and hopes to defend their first place title. Modern Woodsman Speech contest begins March 19th as Aldrich students seek advancing to regionals. Engineering Expo begins April 18 at UW-Madison as 84 students compete in various engineering categories. This should be a fun, competitive event for our students.

As course selection for next year begins, our district has made some changes that are in the best interest of students. While other area schools are cutting back because of rising economic costs, we have added more opportunities for our students in grades 6-8. These changes are reflected at each grade for high level learners and students needing intervention.

Several changes you may recognize in our course selection book include many new classes available next year. New classes available for 6th grade include Accelerated Language Arts including 21st Century Communications, Financial Literacy 1, Careers, Academic Support and Forensic Science 1. These classes are in addition to Spanish, Critical Creative Thinking (GT), Design and Modeling, Automation and Robotics, Computers, and Technology Education. 7th and 8th grade have added several new and exciting classes such as Project Lead the Way's Magic of Electrons, Flight and Space Technology. In addition, Digital Media Arts, Financial Literacy 2, 21st Century Communications 2, Forensic Science 2 and Academic Support. 8th grade students can take Spanish as a semester or if they already can speak fluent Spanish then Spanish for Spanish Speakers is available.

6th and 7th grade students met their MAPS test goals. 8th grade students participated in our first ever Smarter Balanced Assessment Pilot. School wide failures have decreased in Term 1 and 2 by 55% and student discipline has also made a drastic decline from October through February compared to last year. This is a fantastic improvement as Aldrich student population continues to rise by 40 students each in the past two years.

As we look towards next year, join us on our journey to create a school where your child's educational journey provides opportunities to thrive in an every changing world. Join Aldrich and be a part of our family.

Sincerely,

Mark Smullen