Dear 8th Grade Families,

This morning I met with the 8th-grade class to share some important news.

Kit Golan will be leaving Beaver as of Friday, February 25. Kit will start a new role as a mathematics consultant—coaching teachers and facilitating professional development—for the Center for Mathematics Achievement at Lesley University. We are excited for Kit and their new opportunity, and we are taking filling the math instructor gap for our 8th graders very seriously.

As we continue to explore a permanent solution for the rest of the school year, the 8th-grade math classes will be taught by:

Melissa Bell, a 7th-grade math teacher, will continue to support 8th-grade students as a co-teacher.

Tim and I have been co-teaching in 8th-grade math classes this year while Joe has supported 6th and 7th-grade math classes. Joe and I both taught US math here at Beaver, and we will work closely with Tim and Melissa to ensure a cohesive 8th-grade math experience for all of our students. We hope to minimize any disruption to the classes by using known adults to take over the instruction of these courses.

Student's in Kit’s advisory will join advisory with Amber "CK" Kuntz and Vlad Deriseir. CK and Vlad have been partnering all year, so we are confident they can take on the additional 5 students.

Leveraging the time spent in all three 8th grade math classes, I will be conducting all of the 8th-grade math parent/teacher conferences starting next week. I will use my observations, interactions with students, and data compiled over the last few weeks to talk with families about individual student experiences in the course and preview the work to come.

We thank our Beaver community in advance for your support and patience throughout this time of transition. We are confident that students will be exposed to all of the necessary content needed to finish 8th grade positively and transition successfully into the Upper School. I look forward to our conversations during conferences, but please feel free to be in touch!