Dear Families and Friends of Trinity,
Today, I want to share the program changes that will enhance the direction of Trinity Episcopal School, the class lists, along with the logistics of drop off and pick up. There will be numerous opportunities for students to have service learning and leadership projects. In Chapel you will witness students heavily involved in the Morning Prayer Service.
Professional Development will happen with the implementation of Professional Learning Communities for our Teachers. Professional Learning Communities give time for teachers to have meaningful planning time and critical dialogue and reflection among their peers. This is vital for the success of your children and our teachers. Other important program changes not mentioned to date:
- Lunch duty: teachers will rotate off to ensure they can converse with vertical and horizontal curriculum alignment.
- Physical Education: moving from five times per week @ 30 minutes class time to three times per week @ 45 minutes class time; this will enable teachers to have educational dialogue and students to have engagement in a structured PE class
- Middle School Electives and Advisories will be initiated!
- Technology and Innovation: The Website changeover has been very successful (up 400% hits) and our bandwidth has been raised. There will be three to four laptops into every classroom, grades 2 through 8 for adaptive and centered base learning. Kindergarten and Grade 1 will have iPads.
We are busily preparing for the start of classes on Wednesday, August 16th. I am thankful the school continues to grow; at this time, 279 students are enrolled in classes compared to 257 reported at this time last year. My number one concern to the opening of the school year is the safety and security of all students. Below is an outline of the drop off and pick up of the children.
Carpool for Lower School (Kindergarten through 5th Grade Only)
Beginning of Day: Please remember that cars should enter the Moody Hall carpool line only from 22nd Street and then proceed west along Ball Street to turn under the porte-cochere that fronts 23rd Street as shown below. Attempting to shortcut this route makes the process more dangerous and understandably irritates those who are conscientiously following the proper procedure. Please stay alert while in Trinity carpool lanes and remember that it is a violation of law to use cell phones while driving in school zones!
End of Day: I urge as many of you as possible to use the carpool line. You will obtain a Carpool Line Dashboard Name Strip at orientation. While there is some wait in the car line, it is a more efficient system than coming into the school to retrieve your child. If you do park, we ask that you (or whomever you are designating to pick up your child) not park anywhere along the North side of Ball Street which must be kept clear after 2:30 PM to allow the carpool line to form and exit. On-duty teachers will assist students getting into cars under the porte-cochere. Parents walking up for pick-up should enter on Ball Street. Parents on foot should clear with the on-duty teachers from the double doors to Moody Hall just beyond Kelso Library. In order to allow good visibility of the hallways and exits, parents are asked not to gather in Moody Hall but wait on the other side of the double doors outside Kelso Library. Please do not come on foot to the porte-cochere entrance.
Please note: These Beginning of Day and End of Day procedures pertain to the Moody Hall Carpool only. Directions for Beginning School and Middle School drop-off are below.
With the permission of the City of Galveston, the Middle School alley is gated at both the West and East ends of the alley. This encloses Trinity Field within the secure area of the campus. Trinity staff will open these gates for carpool by 7:30 AM and again by 2:30 PM. Once opened, Middle School (grades 6-8) parents should enter the alley from 23rd Street by Randall Hall, and proceed to the 2nd internal gate on the East end of Hollamon Hall.
Middle School Pickup During the Day: Parents needing to pick up a middle school child for an appointment during the day should make prior arrangements with the homeroom teacher. Once parents arrive, students will be sent to Moody Hall, where parents must sign them out from the main office. For security, the gates off the Middle School Campus are kept locked during school hours. The entry point to the campus during instructional hours is the monitored door off Ball Street unless otherwise announced. Please do not ask teachers to interrupt instruction to open gates for you at the Middle School.
Mark Ravelli, M. Ed.
Head of School