Dear William S. Sandel Families:

It is with great honor and excitement that I write this letter of introduction to you as the proud Principal of William S. Sandel Elementary School. It is with great pleasure that I serve the school and community to make William S. Sandel, a great place where students receive a quality education.  I look forward to working with you in maintaining high expectations for our students and staff to ensure your child’s success.

William S. Sandel is a Title One school.  This means we have an extended opportunity to provide students with additional instructional resources for school and home.  Our Title One Plan can be viewed on this website.  As a stakeholder, you can e-mail me or visit the school to drop off any suggestions, comments or ideas about Title One, school practices, procedures, or policies.

For the 2016-2017 school year, the faculty will continue to focus on literacy and math instruction. In addition, the faculty will participate in professional development sessions on integrating instructional technology into the classroom. We will focus more on student engagement and school leaders monitoring and supporting the improvement of instructional practices. We will use every minute of the day to maximize learning to ensure all students have the opportunity to reach their full potential. Please help us by ensuring your child is at school by 7:30 a.m. Students are served breakfast from 7:00 a.m. to 7:25 a.m. daily.

We will expand our professional development arena and place a focus on developing student centered project teams. For example:  Safety Patrol, Technology Clubs, Chess Club, Student Wellness, Book Clubs, Greenhouse, and Recycling to name a few. This year we have started Happy Friday.  Students are nominated by their teachers for showing good character and are celebrated and rewarded during lunch with gift bags and Brooks Bucks. Also, once a month the administrative team hosts a celebration where random students are drawn live to celebrate their good behavior with sundaes, Zumba, pictures, games, face painting, and other fun activities.

We offer Comprehensive Remediation for students in grades 3-5 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Our partner of 3 years, Midlands Reading Consortium serves grades 1 and 2 as reading buddies.

We will participate in professional book studies and participate in Spanish classes taught by our Spanish teacher, Mrs. Martha Rodriguez to provide better customer service and welcome our families and students in their native language.

The staff, along with PTO and the School Improvement Council, has worked many hours to support student learning.  We are very grateful for our faith-based partner, Columbia First Church of the Nazerene for its dedication to William S. Sandel and our families. They have made many things possible for our students and staff!  It is with their full support, William S. Sandel will continue to move forward and achieve excellence. We would like to welcome our new faith-based partner, NewSpring Church!

I have an open door policy and welcome you to visit anytime. As the principal, my primary goal is to support our students, staff, and stakeholders in providing a quality education for all of our students.

In partnership,

Claudia L. Brooks, Ed.S

Principal