To: Cynthia Ryan, Director of HR at AAPS, Dawn Linden, Head of Elementary Education at AAPS, Susan Baskett, Trustee on Board of Education at AAPS, Andy Thomas, Secretary on Board of Education at AAPS, Simone Lightfoot, Trustee-Parliamentaria...
Keep Mrs. Jessica Gronemeyer at Lawton
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May 29, 2013
This letter is in support of Jessica Gronemeyer. Mrs. Gronemeyer is (or has been) our children’s kindergarten teacher. She is an absolutely outstanding teacher in every way. Our children uniformly love going to school, and Mrs. Gronemeyer is directly responsible for their enthusiasm. Her technique, warmth, intelligence, and caring is exceptional.
Our children’s class is remarkably diverse. We all value this, and Mrs. Gronemeyer does an outstanding job in working with this diversity. In evidence of this, many of our children do not think of racial or cultural differences as anything but positive despite the many different cultures represented in this class. We believe this is particularly remarkable and important. Mrs. Gronemeyer nurtures a class in which every child embraces one another, regardless of their differences in appearance or background. Through the renowned Erikson Institute in Chicago, Mrs. Gronemeyer has been trained in using culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) as an approach to bring her students’ home cultures into classroom learning. CRP is woven throughout Mrs. Gronemeyer’s classroom as she learns about each child’s home culture and brings that culture into the lessons each week through song, stories, biographies, and use of languages. By starting their education in a class like this, our children develop a foundation for both school and life that will allow tolerance and respect for diversity that we believe is truly exceptional. Mrs. Gronemeyer has additional training as an ESL teacher. This provides her with unique abilities to foster this respect and appreciation of differences and love for peers in all of our children. This is extraordinary and of paramount importance. Lawton has a highly diverse ESL population and Mrs. Gronemeyer has the tools and expertise to help all the children thrive and succeed through using the student’s own cultural backgrounds.
We recently learned that Mrs. Gronemeyer received a “pink slip.” We were incredibly dismayed to hear this. We cannot stress enough how amazing she is as a teacher. This is evidenced by her achievement as a National Board Certified Teacher as well as her rating as “highly effective.” Highly effective teachers should never be released. The ability to reach students and continually raise their performance in school should be valued above all else. The loss of Jessica Gronemeyer from the Lawton school staff would be intolerable. She is, without doubt, one of the most exceptional teachers at Lawton and in the Ann Arbor school system. Mrs. Gronemeyer is the reason why some parents’ send their children to Lawton, stay at Lawton and select Lawton as a school of choice. Losing her as a teacher would mean that young students lose an incredible opportunity to start their education in one of the most supportive, nurturing, and frankly best learning environments possible. She means so much to our children’s education. It would be a tremendous shame if she was not allowed to continue to teach and start young students’ education in the best possible classroom. She should be retained at Lawton at all costs; please do not allow her to be let go or shuffled. There are undoubtedly few teachers like her.
Sincerely,
The following parents of Jessica Gronemeyer’s kindergarten class (and other Lawton parents who support Keeping Mrs. Gronemeyer at Lawton)
This letter is in support of Jessica Gronemeyer. Mrs. Gronemeyer is (or has been) our children’s kindergarten teacher. She is an absolutely outstanding teacher in every way. Our children uniformly love going to school, and Mrs. Gronemeyer is directly responsible for their enthusiasm. Her technique, warmth, intelligence, and caring is exceptional.
Our children’s class is remarkably diverse. We all value this, and Mrs. Gronemeyer does an outstanding job in working with this diversity. In evidence of this, many of our children do not think of racial or cultural differences as anything but positive despite the many different cultures represented in this class. We believe this is particularly remarkable and important. Mrs. Gronemeyer nurtures a class in which every child embraces one another, regardless of their differences in appearance or background. Through the renowned Erikson Institute in Chicago, Mrs. Gronemeyer has been trained in using culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) as an approach to bring her students’ home cultures into classroom learning. CRP is woven throughout Mrs. Gronemeyer’s classroom as she learns about each child’s home culture and brings that culture into the lessons each week through song, stories, biographies, and use of languages. By starting their education in a class like this, our children develop a foundation for both school and life that will allow tolerance and respect for diversity that we believe is truly exceptional. Mrs. Gronemeyer has additional training as an ESL teacher. This provides her with unique abilities to foster this respect and appreciation of differences and love for peers in all of our children. This is extraordinary and of paramount importance. Lawton has a highly diverse ESL population and Mrs. Gronemeyer has the tools and expertise to help all the children thrive and succeed through using the student’s own cultural backgrounds.
We recently learned that Mrs. Gronemeyer received a “pink slip.” We were incredibly dismayed to hear this. We cannot stress enough how amazing she is as a teacher. This is evidenced by her achievement as a National Board Certified Teacher as well as her rating as “highly effective.” Highly effective teachers should never be released. The ability to reach students and continually raise their performance in school should be valued above all else. The loss of Jessica Gronemeyer from the Lawton school staff would be intolerable. She is, without doubt, one of the most exceptional teachers at Lawton and in the Ann Arbor school system. Mrs. Gronemeyer is the reason why some parents’ send their children to Lawton, stay at Lawton and select Lawton as a school of choice. Losing her as a teacher would mean that young students lose an incredible opportunity to start their education in one of the most supportive, nurturing, and frankly best learning environments possible. She means so much to our children’s education. It would be a tremendous shame if she was not allowed to continue to teach and start young students’ education in the best possible classroom. She should be retained at Lawton at all costs; please do not allow her to be let go or shuffled. There are undoubtedly few teachers like her.
Sincerely,
The following parents of Jessica Gronemeyer’s kindergarten class (and other Lawton parents who support Keeping Mrs. Gronemeyer at Lawton)
Why is this important?
This petition in support of keeping Jessica Gronemeyer at Lawton in an early elementary position. Jessica Gronemeyer received a pink slip based on her years experience and not her highly effective teaching in the K-1 classroom at Lawton. We believe that this highly effective, national board certified, diversity specialist and ESL trained teacher should retain her current position at Lawton.