What a fantastic idea! There are hundreds of elementary aged children in our district for whom reading, writing and arithmetic skills come quickly and easily, and they are ready for the further pursuit of knowledge. They are ready to pose questions and answer them through higher level thinking.

Our children are repeating skills that they have grasped for years, they've rarely been challenged and at these tender ages they just start to "turn off" their intense academic curiosity. After years of being told to wait for others to catch up, our students start to stunt their growth. They also fail to develop the discipline and confidence that comes from being challenged to the extent of their abilities, to try something new or difficult. We have at risk children, suffering the greatest gap between their potential and what is asked of them.

We would like an academic environment that nurtures our children's intelligence and creativity. We do not want them sent to the corner to complete more challenging math worksheets by themselves; we would appreciate a teacher providing more rigorous content. Our teachers are miracle workers, but we do not know how we can expect them to be able to address the needs of children with high school reading comprehension levels in a traditional 4th or 5th grade classroom. We ask that our children have a chance to learn something new all day, every day too!

We applaud the School Board and District for supporting ALL children's learning. This single, pilot classroom can be ready to go by September 2007 and it will go miles to help our children again experience the joy of learning. We look for your support at the July 16 School Board Meeting.

Positive Advocate

Check out the School Board Agenda for Monday - Board Member Dick Booth requested reconsideration of the Gifted Academy Pilot Program that was introduced June 18.

Thank-you, school board members supporting a comprimise that recognizes the needs of our gifted students without causing our Five Hawks families from feeling short changed. Both having smaller class sizes and having a gifted academy are important to our school district. A gifted academy will not harm our ability to decrease class sizes - if a referendum is passed. The gifted acadamy is about grouping the students differently. Most importantly, WE NEED TO SUPPORT ALL OUR STUDENTS AND VOTE "YES" FOR THE REFERENDUM!