September 2019
Dear Green Mountain Elementary families,
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the 2019-2020 school year. I am very excited to serve all of you in my 3rd year as the proud principal at Green Mountain Elementary (14 years total at GMES). I would like to express how grateful I am to be leading such an amazing community of students, families and staff. I am so proud of all of the achievements and accomplishments of our students here at Green Mountain Elementary, and couldn't brag enough about the amazing teachers and staff that work with such strong dedication, devotion, and passion to support this community.
Reflecting on the past school year, we had so many great memories and exciting events to look back on. We continued many successful traditions such as our family events, field day, Falcon Fun Run, SOAR assemblies, after school clubs, fieldtrips, science fair, and student interest camps. We also added many new experiences such as enrichment time in the Maker Space, researching and learning about Rocky (our bearded dragon school pet), implementation of a grant funded mental health pilot adding additional individual and play therapy for students, and Hoop Hop Showdown house games. Our students really enjoyed all of these activities.
I am excited to see what a new school year has in store for our wonderful neighborhood school as we continue our traditions, take on new learning, and continue to celebrate our students and their successes.
Looking ahead, we are so thankful to our voters for the passing of 5A and 5B. Most immediate, with increased funding for mental health support, our Social Emotional Learning specialist will begin teaching lessons rooted in social-emotional learning that aims to promote supportive and social learning environments. And, if you didn't notice- we LOVE our new carpet and flooring throughout the building. Also, seven new exterior cameras are being installed that add to the safety of our secure campus. As we all know, Amendment 73 did not pass in the last election and therefore schools across Colorado did not receive additional funding for schools’ general budgets; though we are thankful for the support of our families and community partners that work hard to fill in the gaps. We remain committed to our school mission : Serve. SOAR. Shine. aligned to our school vision for all students to increase their potential through perseverance and critical thinking in order to excel and achieve their goals Your continued trust and partnership will again carry our success into and throughout the school year.
A special thanks to you, the families who have contributed in ways small, large and unimaginable! Thank you for the partnership between home and school, which is so important. We appreciate all that you do each and every day for our school and our children! The passion and strength within our community makes our school truly a special place for our students and a place that I am extremely proud to lead.
Looking forward to another great year of learning and partnership.
With deepest gratitude and love,
Thomas Gardner, Principal
