Happy New Year, Jefferson Families and Friends!

It is hard to believe that the school year is now half over and another year has come and gone! I hope that 2022 will be a great year for all of us.

Next week, we will begin MAPS testing for all students K-5. We test in Reading and Math. Please help us to encourage your students to do their best on these tests. We get a lot of great information on where they match up in the District, the State, and Nationally. We also get to see where they are making gains and areas that need to be improved upon. I challenge the students to improve from their last score by five points. That may not sound like much, however for some students it is very difficult to improve five points. It is really awesome when some of their scores soar by more than 10 points. We have had some students grow by more than 30 points.

There was an article in the Telegraph last month that did show Jefferson and Lincoln schools with the lowest scores in the District. There are many factors as to why. Jefferson is a great school and test scores do not reflect that. We have many more barriers in our schools (Jefferson and Lincoln) than our sister schools across the District. We are a Title I School which means that we have more families that struggle financially than the other schools. We have a higher number of international students that speak little or no English. We have a high number of students who struggle academically. All of those reasons are why I love being at Jefferson School. We have a diverse group of students that present many different challenges, but they are all GREAT KIDS! Jefferson School is a welcoming environment. My staff will do whatever they can to help students to grow at every turn. We need your help, also. If you can give that encouragement to your child and wish them good luck on their tests, and help them to get good rest and eat well, EVERY student will do a great job.

As I said, we do get some great information on your child in areas they need to improve upon and it helps our teachers to close learning gaps in some areas. Our goal is to have every student show growth in their learning. I hope that is your goal for your child as well. I shared with the students that we are tied for last place in the District for our scores and challenged them to really try hard. I will restate that many times for the next few days to try to push them to do well. Regardless of how we do on the MAPS testing as a whole, I will be in every one of these students' corners cheering them on daily, and I think they all know that.

Thank you for your continued support this year. It means a lot to me, my staff, and the NPPS District. This is a great school and I am grateful to be here working with your children every day!

Another reminder to make sure students have coats, hats, gloves, snow boots if possible, etc. Winter is here and the last couple of days it has definitely shown up! Stay warm and safe, and make sure you are bundled up! Also, as a reminder, please make sure you call the school office: (308) 535-7136; if your student will not be in school. You should call each morning your child is gone unless notice has already been given to the office for an extended time period. The less calling we have to do from the office the better we can utilize our time here at school. Thank you for your help with this.

Happy New Year!

Mr. E

PBIS stands for Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports. We are implementing a behavior matrix school wide to help students, staff, and parents understand school wide expectations. We discuss what actions look like and sound like when displaying safe, responsible, and respectful behavior. These skills are reviewed each week. Get your child sharing: ask your child which topic was discussed in their class!