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Dear Neely-O’Brien Community 

The 2021/22 school year started differently than any other year. We welcomed back all students to full-day, in-person learning after 1.5 years of remote/hybrid learning. We faced the same challenges as all schools in our district and state in bringing students back to school after a significant amount of time in a different environment. These challenges have given us a great opportunity to focus in on our school’s core values and clearly define the things we have in place to support students and our community.

This year, we have seen incredible hard work and dedication from Neely-O’Brien staff, students, and families. We have had lots of successes and have many things to celebrate. Some celebrations in building a positive school culture are:

• Systems are in place to support students such as check-in/out, Redhawk High-5’s, and Restorative Justice practices. This work has resulted in a significant decrease in suspensions - from 128 incidences through January of the 2019/20 school year to 10 incidences through January of this school year.
• The Student Leadership Team was started and 42 of our 5^th/6^th graders have joined. These students have worked on morning announcements, helping younger students at recess, and planning a spirit week with the PTA.

We have also seen great academic growth in classrooms. Students are working hard on content and on building academic stamina. Some successes in learning this year are: 

• 89 students in 4^th – 6^th grade are participating in Battle of the Books, reading books and answering questions about them with a team of students.
• Students took the fall iReady diagnostic in September. In December, students took a progress monitoring test and 63% of students in ELA and 67% in math have already made significant progress towards their year-long growth goal.

As we continue into 2022, we are excited about things coming up that will continue to support our community and highlight our student’s growth. Some things coming up are:

• Students will take the winter iReady diagnostic in January which will show student progress and help us plan interventions to meet students’ learning needs.
• 102 families are willing to talk to us about their Neely-O’Brien experience to help us plan for the future. Calls to families will take place in January and February.
• Our school spirit week will take place January 10^th – 14^th. The activities were planned by our Student Leadership Team in partnership with the PTA.

We have many reasons to celebrate our year so far and more exciting things to come. Thank you for your continued partnership and hard work. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to work at Neely-O’Brien and serve our amazing community.

Happy New Year!

Jennifer Osgood
Principal
Neely-O’Brien Elementary School