Walking the Halls
By BETTY POWERS Parnell Elementary Principal

Newsboy file photo

Parnell Elementary will welcome many new faces this school year, as well as welcome back to our campus some familiar faces.

The third grade class of 230 students is larger than past third grade classes, and we have added another third grade teacher.

We also saw growth in numbers in our fourth grade class. There will be eleven sections of fourth graders.

It has been exciting to witness the personnel of Parnell work with so much enthusiasm to prepare our campus and classrooms to welcome students back to school. Staff members have been coming early and staying late - on their own time - to prepare for a great school year in 2007 - 2008.

Our fourth grade students (class of 2016) and our third grade students (class of 2017) will live and work in a very different world than the one their parents and teachers know. Their adult world will demand new skills and new knowledge.

However, the old values of hard work, determination, honesty and personal responsibility will still be required for success.

Our staff will do its best to assist students to develop the values required for success in the world they will know as adults.

We made great strides last year in improving our test scores and attaining the level of Recognized Campus by the Texas Education Agency. We still have high expectations and challenges for our students as we strive to make Parnell a great place to work and a great place to learn.

As always, we solicit the participation of parents, guardians and community members in preparing our children for the world the will inhabit as adults.