Welcome back! We have an exciting year ahead of us!
Welcome Principal, Mitchell Weiss, Ed. D. For the past couple of years, we have been operating short one educational administrator. Because we desire to provide an even higher level of service to our students, teachers, and families, the Board of Directors agreed to fill the open administrative position beginning with this school year. I am thrilled to welcome Mitchell Weiss, Ed.D. to MOT Charter School as our Principal of Curriculum and Instruction. After a thorough screening and interviewing process, Dr. Weiss was selected by a committee comprised of administrators, teachers and board members. Dr. Weiss joins us from Howard High School where he has been the Assistant Principal for the past 4 years. Prior to that, Dr. Weiss was a teacher and Assistant Principal at Delcastle Technical High School. Dr. Weiss was honored as Delaware’s Assistant Principal of the Year in 2008. He has 2 boys attending MOT Charter – 2nd and 4th grade – and has served on MOT Charter’s School Stewards for two years.
Third grade classrooms will be self-contained as they are in grades K-2. We believe this better fits the maturity and development level of the majority of third grade students. It will also provide the teachers with more flexibility to adjust to the needs of the students in their classrooms. Third grade will begin using the SRA Imagine It! curriculum for reading that K-2 began using last year.
Gateway to Technology is a new class being offered to students in 7th and 8th grade. Year 1 will focus on learning the design process, robotics and a study of energy and the environment. The class will be taught by Terry Angelus (5 sections) and our Math Specialist, Andrea Popham (1 section).
Students in 7th and 8th grade will continue to take Business Education as a second career exploration course. The students will have Business Education 2 out of every 6 days. Seventh grade students will focus on the Microsoft Office applications and will be taught by Stephanie Hassig. Eighth grade students will focus on the application of these tools through Mustangs R’ Us (our school store), BPA competitions, and the Dream Team project. Eighth grade students will be taught by Patti Mooney.
School Accountability. MOT Charter School has once again been rated a “Superior” school in the Department of Education’s accountability ratings. This rating is based solely on DSTP performance last year. Performance is measured overall and for each subgroup of students with 40 or more students. We continue to show outstanding performance in grades 5-8 compared to the rest of the state, with strong performance in the other grades.
Making MOT Charter School "Your" School. The key to our school’s success is the broad participation of interested and involved teachers and parents. I invite you -- urge you-- to volunteer at school. There are many ways to get involved: in the classroom, with the PTO, helping care for the facility (painting, building fences). Another way to get involved is to serve on the “School Stewards” advisory group. The School Stewards help the school evaluate critical areas of the school, drive policy changes and provide critical input into and implementation support for school initiatives. If you are interested in serving as a School Steward or would like to nominate another parent or teacher to serve, please send an email to me prior to August 30, 2010. School Stewards meet monthly in the evenings.
I look forward to seeing everyone on August 16! My door is always open. Stop in!
Linda
