Cinnabar changes all about kids

There is much happening at Cinnabar Charter School, where former trustee Sandy Doyle begins her second year as principal/superintendent of the one-school district.

There has been a strong emphasis at strengthening the middle school component of the pre-K through eighth-grade school.

Doyle explained that high school teachers had been consulted to find out what middle school students could expect when they started high school and what they needed to be prepared for the next step.

The school library has been expanded with more sections available to junior high school students.

A team of teachers will work with middle school students three days a week, helping them with their organizational and study skills.

Middle school students will join a sports league with competition in such sports as basketball, football, soccer and volleyball.

But, it isn’t only the middle school students, in fact, not only students, who found changes when school opened Wednesday.

Cinnabar is making it easier for parents of ESL students to become involved in the school by holding parent education nights especially for them once a week.

There is a new teacher joining the Cinnabar staff with Jen Collins taking over the fourth grade.

Universal Language Arts Access, a new program developed by the Cinnabar staff, will be introduced to all grades, offering a cohesive approach to teaching language arts.

Three major all-school assemblies are planned, including one designed to enforce the school’s anti-bullying message.

Cinnabar’s planter boxes will this year be available to third-graders, giving the school planters hands-on gardening experience in grades 3-8.

Computers will be available for one-on-one use in all grades.

However some things haven’t changed. At Cinnabar, now a school of around 280 pupils, students have always and will always come first, according to Doyle.

“We have an amazing team of teachers,” the superintendent said. “I consider all of them part of a family and for our family it is always kids first.”