FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Greetings to all of our Zeiger Explorer parents! We are off to a great start for this 2009-2010 school year. As a new Explorer myself, I am in awe at the level of organization within our Zeiger PTA, lead by Nicole Okata. Nicole and her amazing mom and dad volunteers helped create a very warm welcoming and invitation to get involved during our Open House on Tuesday, September 1st and have continued that mentality with additional support each day. You also need to know that Zeiger teachers and staff are among the most pleasant and energized group of educators I have ever had the opportunity to work with: personable, knowledgeable, highly competent, and hugely caring. Our mission is to "ensure high levels of learning for each student." EVERYTHING we do MUST support that goal. We are a school which will never be interested in maintaining status quo and we are always in an improvement mode as it relates to raising student achievement for all kids.

We just received some fantastic news! Zeiger Elementary School was just named as one of 55 schools in the State of Washington as a "School of Distinction". Schools honored are being recognized for:

• Professional Learning Teams that are committed to the success of every student
• Teacher and administrator leadership that makes a difference
• Improvement in student performance over 5+ years
• Adequate performance in both math and reading
• Balanced improvement in both math and reading
• Strong school-home-community partnerships
• Transparency and openness through the use of publicly available data to improve learning and instruction

This award is truly an honor and all staff, parents, and students need to be extremely proud. Zeiger's former principal, Mark Brouillet (currently of the Yelm School District) also deserves special recognition for a job well done during his tenure here at Zeiger.

Finally, I want to thank you for your flexibility and patience as we continue to work through the dynamics of fewer buses on the roadways, more walkers, and all of the legitimate complications and anxieties which have been created as well as the counties' work on busy 94th Avenue. Budget cuts have unpleasant consequences and we are seeing one aspect of these cuts. We are doing our best to ensure that our Explorers are safe and secure and that their daily educational needs are met in the best ways possible. Please don't hesitate in contacting us if you have questions or concerns. It truly is a great day to be a Zeiger Explorer!

Cory Crawford
Principal

Zeiger Elementary is a proud part of the Puyallup School District!
http://www.puyallup.k12.wa.us/