To all that come to this happy place,

Welcome to WJM where it's all about the kids.

No matter where young scholars go to school, everyone that your child comes into contact with should make them feel that they are important, because they are. At Walter J. Meyer, we are working to ensure that you know that we care for the whole child. We want your child to grow socially, emotionally, intellectually, as well as academically. Anywhere I have worked; my expectation is to meet the needs of the whole child. We have added computer and physical education to our routine every day. Kids need to bring sneakers every day.

Our motto this year is: EVERY CHILD NEEDS A SUPERHERO. Every staff member here is an educator, and has something to bring to the table. We are definately a village of educators invested in every child's education at WJM.

That short, understandable phrase should work for everybody, even families. We promise to be a gentler, more empathetic, patient, and kinder staff with fewer raised voices and less lost tempers. All of our teachers and staff will need to know our rules, their meanings, and follow our own rules this year as well. Chances for behavior rewards will happen daily as every day is a new day. I have found the best behavioral changes occur when families adopt these rules, and we can have a home-to-school understanding of the rules and their meanings. We had 75 kids come to the office to dig out of the treasure chest because of their good behavioral choices.

• Respect - Be Kind

• Useful - Be a helper

• Loving - Doing to others what you want them to do to you

• Ethical - What you are when you think no one is looking

• Safe - Do not hurt anybody’s body or feelings

If you ever feel that is not happening here at Walter J. Meyer, I want to know. For those of you that came in, you know I have an open-door policy figuratively and realistically. Many of you took the time to come in to talk, advise, and convince me of changes that we need to make. I hope that next time you are on campus; you will see the changes that we made as per our conversations.

Each grade, third through eighth, participated in our state testing. They took English Language Arts testing and math testing. So, six grade levels each took two tests for a total of 12 tests. To me, the best way to see how kids are doing is by cohort. That means we see what their scores were last year and compare them to their scores this year. Our scholars improved in 7 of the 12 tests. That is really nice. It is nowhere near where we want to be at the end of this year, and I wholeheartedly believe we have the right people in the right places this year. We invite you to come see and help!

Regards,

Jeanette Paz, Principal