Good Afternoon Ockley Green Families,

Thank you so much for your support! We are off to an AMAZING start of the school year with a strong focus on building our academic culture at Ockley Green. We have also been celebrating retaining almost 90% of our whole staff from last year to this year. For the first time in Ockley’s Middle School transition history, we have a full Admin team reporting for a second year. This is a HUGE celebration and really a game changer in what we are doing. In addition to focusing on academics, we have spent a lot of time beautifying our school. With the help of Recology and the district, there have been several new upgrades (see pictures below):

• New gym floor
• Remodeled garden outside
• New soccer goals outside
• Fresh paint on the outside doors
• New landscaping in the front and back of the building
• Freshly painted 4 square court, basketball court, and track
• New staff lounge furniture
• New staff workroom location 
• Amazing hallway displays 

I apologize for not sending out family communication sooner this year, things have been pretty hectic since I came back from maternity leave. We will be doing the Ockley Newsletter a little different for this school year. Kate Licitra, one of Ockley’s fabulous ELA teachers, is also teaching a Newspaper class. Her class will be responsible for the distribution of the school newspaper starting September 23. The newspaper will be distributed twice a month and will be distributed to students, families, posted on our website, posted on Facebook, and posted on Twitter. If you have any information for the school newspaper, you can email Ms. Kate at klicitra@pps.net. 

Our theme this year is to “Pump It Up” and we are embracing our theme in everything that we do. We are analyzing every facet of the school and determining how we can “Pump It Up” and make things better. We were able to create a solid foundation last year and this year we are taking things to the next level. Our school priorities this year are pasted below. 

Thank you for your ongoing support and belief in our school our students. I look forward to seeing you all at Back To School Night. Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns. 

Kristina Howard