J. Turner Hood Elementary School
298 Haverhill Street
North Reading, MA. 01864
Mr. Glen S. McKay, Principal
Telephone (978) 664-7817
Fax (978) 664-7805
May 13, 2014
Dear Parents/Guardians of J. Turner Hood School Students,
It is hard to believe that we are closing in on the final months of the school year. At this time, it
is common to begin thinking about next year and the classroom placement of your child. As you
can imagine, the placement of almost 400 students into classrooms is a major undertaking. The
main goal of the placement process is to ensure success for all students. Our priority is to build
“balanced” classrooms. Balanced classrooms contain students with a variety of skills, work habits,
strengths, needs, and personalities. Although we cannot guarantee that children will be placed
with a friend, we do ensure that each child has a familiar face in the classroom. All members of
the J. Turner Hood School staff will be involved in the placement process to make sure that we
have pertinent information for each child’s placement. We are committed to creating equal access
learning opportunities for all students.
It is our plan to have a traditional classroom structure in our school. In this model, single graded
classrooms are offered at all levels. In a single graded classroom, the students are identified as
being in the same grade. They work together as a classroom community for one year. The
students then are regrouped into a new classroom with a new teacher for the next school year.
This classroom structure would involve the students spending most of their day in one classroom
environment and having one teacher provide instruction in all academic areas. Although one
teacher would be responsible for the students’ learning, traditional classrooms will engage in
collaborative learning opportunities with other classrooms. Furthermore, the students in all grade
levels may participate in flexible grouping or switching depending upon the practices of the
designated grade level.
After a very successful first year, we will be working to continue to implement and refine our coteaching model across grade levels at our school. This structure involves one classroom teacher
and another qualified teacher working together as a fluid classroom community to engage in
learning opportunities on a regular basis. In this model, the teachers share the responsibility of
student learning and resources. Therefore, your child may experience a classroom structure that
is an alternative to the traditional model. During this process the following information will be
utilized; present reading levels, special needs, learning styles as well as successful student
combinations.
As parents, we have a tendency to want to “fix” things for our children. Please remember that
adjusting to new situations is a life lesson that we all want our children to learn. Be assured that
the J. Turner Hood School is and continues to be a safe place for children to gain these skills.
That being said, we recognize that you may still have thoughts that you would like to share with
us. We ask that you submit these thoughts in writing prior to May 15, 2013. This information will
be considered during the process. With our priority of “balanced” classrooms, we cannot honor
teacher requests; so please, do not request specific teachers by name. We will not honor any
specific teacher requests. Letters received after the specified date will not be considered, because
of the tight timeline of the complicated placement process.
We appreciate your support in our efforts and your trust in the professional knowledge and skill
that we bring to this task. We all want the children to be as successful as possible.
Lastly, please note that class placements will not be finalized nor will they be shared until MoveOn Day, which will be held in June (more information to come!).
Sincerely,
Mr. Glen S. McKay, Principal