Welcome To Pershing-Pine Castle Elementary School!
Dear Pershing-Pine Castle Families:
The 2018-2019 school year has gotten off to a great start. Working together with you, our students and staff is an honor and a job I look forward to continuing. This past school year has been an adventure for us all in our temporary school location. We have many exciting times ahead of us as we all prepare for the opening of our new school site in August 2019.
We have been busy over the summer to prepare for the 2018-19 school year. Teachers and administrators have participated in professional development about Project-based Learning which is the basis of our efforts to help improve the instructional opportunities of students. Pershing-Pine Castle is an OCPS School of Innovation. Based on student achievement, Pershing-Pine Castle has been recognized by the state of Florida as a School of Excellence. Section 1003.631, Florida Statutes, requires the State Board of Education to designate a school as a School of Excellence if the school’s percentage of possible points earned in its school grade calculation is in the 80th percentile or higher for schools comprised of the same grade groupings (elementary, middle, high, and combination) for at least two of the last three school years if the school meets the qualifying criteria. Orange County Public Schools opened up and opportunity for the 38 schools that met this criteria to propose a project or innovation to focus on for the 2018-2019 school year which addressed closing the achievement gap. Of the 38 eligible schools, 30 applied for the innovation and 12 projects were accepted. Pershing-Pine Castle was one of those 12 schools. Our focus is Project-based Learning. Our school has been transferred to the Innovation Learning Community to help us focus on our innovation.
We hope that you consider joining our PTA and SAC this school year. Both groups are very involved in the school year events. It is a great way to get to know the parents and staff that make this school GREAT! Please watch for opportunities to get involved! We have some great activities planned for the year and look forward to seeing you and your child at each event.
During the school year, Pershing-Pine Castle Elementary is open, Monday through Friday, 7:30 am to 4:30 pm. If at any time you have a question about what is occurring in your student’s class, please contact your student’s teacher. Your child’s classroom teacher is always the place to start. If you still have concerns, please contact me. We all will to work together to benefit our students.
Sincerely,
Bernadette Jaster
Principal