Dear Lower School Families,

It's hard to believe, but half the 2019-2020 school year is already behind us. With the end of Quarter 2, it is time for our teachers to share the detailed evaluation narratives and comments they have thoughtfully prepared over the preceding weeks.

In Quarter 1 Great Hearts Texas asked us to communicate grades and teacher comments online via the PowerSchool Parent Portal. As you know, that process presented a number of difficulties. We have also determined that the Portal does not currently offer the functionality to communicate our students' academic progress in a way that is compatible with our commitment to holistic, narrative student evaluation.

As a result, this quarter student evaluations will be sent home on paper in a sealed envelope this Monday, January 27. Students will bring them home in their folders and have been instructed to leave them unopened. Please review the evaluations and recognize they are written with parents in mind. We hope this process will allow a more complete insight into your child's learning and academic growth. We are honored by the trust you have placed in our school and are dedicated to strengthening that trust through ongoing communication and a mutual understanding that the students are our priority.

We are also thrilled to announce that Annette Johnson has joined the Great Hearts Irving team as our new Lower School Nurse. Nurse Johnson has numerous certifications, including RN, BSN, MBA, and CNOR. She also brings extensive experience as a clinical and surgical nurse and clinical resource director at Medical City Arlington. We welcome her into our community and look forward to her help maintaining the health and safety of our scholars.

Sincerely,
Marcy Finn
Interim Headmaster, Lower School
Great Hearts Irving