Dear Sierra Families,
We will soon be holding our annual meetings where we will place your child into his/her class for next year. Please understand that a great deal of time, energy and professional judgment goes into the placement of each and every student.
Factors that we consider while building “balanced” classes include the following:
• Combinations of students that create the strongest learning environment possible (for all
students, not just a few)
• Close to equal number of boys and girls
• Student personality, behavior and special needs
• Individual learning styles
For these reasons, we will not be able to honor all specific requests for teachers. Knowing all of this, it would not be wise or professional of us to encourage requests and make promises that we know we cannot keep, however if you still feel you need to submit a request, please submit it in writing via email to awestberg@rocklinusd.org no later than Monday, May 1.
I strongly urge you to not hang your hat on a specific TEACHER by name (due to potential staffing changes, such as an individual teacher’s grade level assignment, retirement, move out of the area, etc.) but instead, focus on qualities of the classroom environment and instructional approaches that you feel your child would benefit from. All requests received after this date will not be considered.
Placements will be posted in the Aeries Parent Portal prior to the first day of school as in the past. Just as we have done the last couple of years, your child must attend their assigned class for the first 2 weeks of school. If, after this time, you still have concerns, we ask that you schedule a meeting with your child’s teacher. Please know that it is not our practice to make changes, although if at that point you are not comfortable with the situation, I will be happy to meet with you to hear your concerns.
Given all we know about your child as a learner and a student, please know that we will do our best to make placements for the year to come. Please trust our judgment. Your child’s current teacher, in collaboration with grade-level colleagues and school support staff, will use their professional and in-depth knowledge of your child as a learner and student to develop well-balanced classes that reflect the Sierra Learning Community. That being said, we understand as a parent, you have a great deal of knowledge about your child and the type of learning environment you feel they need.
We thank you in advance for your understanding and patience as we move forward together through this process.
Amy Westberg, Principal, and the Sierra Teaching Staff
