If you are the parent or guardian for a JIEC student who has completed their recovery work to move on to high school at any time during the 2012-13 school year, please be aware that, this coming Friday, the 31st of May, JIEC will be holding its 2012-13 High School Promotion and Awards ceremony.

We will begin to gather in the cafeteria shortly after 8:00 AM, for a quick celebration snack before starting the actual ceremony at 9:15.  At the completion students who are returning to their local high school next year will have a chance to speak with a staff member from their school to prepare for the transition.

Congratulations to all of our promotion students!  We just can’t wait to see you on friday! 

Congratulations to the students and staff at JIEC! I’ve created a chart to compare our statistics.  Please note the improvement in our overall attendance for the semester.  Our grades remained high with 81% being at the C or above level.  If we include Ds, 90% of all grades were passing/credit earning.  This year we have been working!

We attribute a great deal of success to the hard work and dedication of the staff by voting for a seven period day, which gave high school and recovery students the chance to earn additional high school credits, raise their grade point averages, and open space for our first period leadership class.  We also credit our students for working hard to believe, achieve, and succeed so that they are closer to their high school diplomas.

We just celebrated our Honor Roll and promotions for Quarter 2 and Semester 1.  Thank you to our Panera Bread partners for providing the food.  Also, I want to offer special thanks to all the parents and families who attended.  We recognized 26 students for their accomplishments.

As a school, we are continuing our partnership with St. Leo University (SLU)!  We are working with the Service Learning Organization, whose students will serve as mentors, interns, and tutors, and their faculty and staff will provide additional real life experiences to engage our students.  In addition, they have been bringing therapy dogs to our reading classes and doing a four part seminar with all of our students on Humane Education through animals.

We have a new community partner!  Thank you to Florida Traditions Bank for connecting us with FDIC Money Smart Program and funding the training sessions for our teachers.  Students will be learning how to make good financial decisions and how to do everything from balancing a checkbook to buying/financing a car.

I am very excited about the new opportunities our students will have to develop into successful young adults who are prepared to return to their home schools, earn their diplomas, and be financially responsible citizens.

Sincerely,
Nancy Guss
Principal

It’s hard to believe that we are in the final stretch of the first semester.  This means that students must work hard to understand all that is taught.  Some will be transitioning to their home school; others will be working hard to finish all of their work by the end of the year.  This is the time of year when there are many distractions, but it is essential that all of us remain focused so that all students succeed.

To all of our parents, staff, and students, thank you for your continued support and partnership to help all of our students believe, achieve, and succeed.

Sincerely,
Nancy Guss
Principal

It’s hard to believe that we’re entering the holiday season, and I would like to wish a very happy Thanksgiving to all our JIEC families and our great community.

Thanksgiving is the time of year we all reflect on our many blessings.  Although life is filled with many challenges, this is the time of year we are grateful for the kind people in our lives who love and support us so that our students believe, achieve, and succeed.  I am personally thankful for my family, my friends, my faith, and the fine folks (staff, students, and families) here at James Irvin Education Center.  This school is a blessing to all who work and attend.  I wish for all the best to each and every member of our school family.  Thanksgiving holidays are the entire week between November 19^th and November 23^rd.  We look forward to seeing students when they report back to school on November 26^th.

Sincerely,
Nancy Guss
Principal

This is going to be another season at James Irvin Education Center.  Do you realize that this school year is already more than ¼ over, and it seems like we just began.  I’m very proud of our students this last quarter.

Here are some of our great Quarter 1 demographics and successes:

Number of students On Track with ALL of the following:  grades, attendance, and behavior:  13 (This is our baseline, and we hope to see continued increase).

• Percentage of On Track Grades (All As, Bs, Cs):  83.1%
• Number of students on 4.0 Honor Roll:  6
• Number of students on 3.2 Honor Roll:  32 (that’s almost a third of our students).
• Number of promotions to high school:  17
• Number of students enrolled:  115
• Percentage average daily attendance:  84.48% (an increase of almost 5% from last year)
• Number of students without any referrals quarter 1:  62!

I would like to welcome our new Parent Liaison, Stephanie Marinelli.  She may be calling some of our parents with questions, need for assistance, or for ideas.  We are thrilled about the opportunity and support to help increase our parents as major partners in their child’s education.

Finally, as we enter the holiday season, make it a point to check the parent resource page and click the “calendar” link, where you can see every school event from progress report dates to holidays.  Also, please check eSembler regularly to monitor your child’s progress, and email the teachers if you have questions.  They will get back with you within 24 hours.  If you don’t hear from them, let us know to forward the message – sometimes the emails get lost in cyber space.

Thank you to everyone for all you do to help our students.  It really does take a village to raise a child, and by working together, all of our students will believe, achieve, and succeed.

Sincerely,
Nancy Guss
Principal