Principally Speaking………

It is with sincere excitement that I welcome you to Manzanita Elementary School for the exhilarating 2009-2010 school year! Manzanita has been named an Excelling school by the Arizona Department of Education. Congratulations to all the families, students and teachers who continually commit to making Manzanita a great place to be.

The focus this year will be on maintaining academic excellence through academic rigor. Effective communication is the cornerstone to a high achieving school. To aid in this new efforts will begin again to facilitate great communication with families and the community. We will continue to use the “One Call” system to call home on important events and when it is necessary to inform families quickly of changes or modifications. Monthly, the Dragon Gram newsletter will be sent home which will outline the upcoming month’s events and have other valuable information. This newsletter will also be available online for easy viewing from any computer. Please check out the changes on this website. Our goal is to make it a tool for parents and the community.

At Manzanita, one of our goals is to challenge children intellectually, grow them socially, and guide them toward independent thinking and problem solving to positively impact the community. This is a daily goal our dedicated professional staff work toward. As we strive to promote healthy development in all aspects of each student's life we also strive to develop a student body of good character; students who make good choices and decisions resulting in successful and healthy outcomes through the use of like-long guidelines and life skills. We encourage students to demonstrate the best of themselves at every moment of everyday and to make positive contributions to the groups and organizations to which they belong both inside and outside of school. We work hard to instill within our student body a sense of personal pride as well as collective pride and love of and for our school and community.

Join me in kicking off a dynamic year and we encourage you to ask questions. If you have concerns or needs, please contact the school.

Together, we can build a better bridge.

Principal Jeri Wolsey