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Liebe TCGIS Gemeinschaft / Dear TCGIS Community,
I hope that your summer was (and will continue to be for a few weeks!) full of sunshine, outside time, reading and family fun. It’s hard to believe we are getting ready to go back to school. We have been hard at work at TCGIS over the summer. Our facilities staff has painted, waxed, and cleaned the building. Our summer Kinderclub staff has played their way through the last few months. Our Playground Committee has worked hard and we have broken ground on a new playground. We will soon welcome our new teachers and then our returning staff for in-service training in preparation of the 2024-2025 school year.
Our 24-25 School Year Administrative Team
Our 24-25 administrative staff started the first of this month in our new configuration and in our new roles. I took the helm of TCGIS on July 1st and will serve as our school’s Executive Director and Principal. This is my 5th year in administration at TCGIS. I am excited to provide continuity to our school’s academics and operations. If you are new to our community, you will see a message from me every week in this newsletter. I look forward to greeting families in a few weeks.
We welcome Frau Catherine Radecki back to our administrative team. She will be serving this year in the position of Assistant Principal and will be working a little closer with our teaching staff, as well as supporting our students. Catherine will continue to work on our “Whole Child” initiatives, while also assisting me in the day to day tasks of running a school. Thanks for staying at TCGIS, Frau Radecki.
We are welcoming back Frau Esther Neu in her 10th year at TCGIS and 6th in administration. We will utilize her talents in a slightly different capacity and her new title to reflect that, Dean of Data and Compliance, is a good indicator of what she will be tasked with. Thanks for continuing to give so much to our school, Frau Neu.
We are also excited to welcome back Herr Andrew Haugen to his second full year and third at TCGIS as the head of our Special Education department. Congratulations are in order as he is completing his principal’s license this month. Thank you, Herr Haugen, for all the stability you provide to our teachers and students.
Kim Hackett will continue in her role as our Director of Operations. Kim wears many hats in our building and we are thrilled to have her and her 8 years of experience in Charter school operational leadership.
I am happy to announce the newest addition to our admin team, Frau Nina Maslofski. She will join our team in the position of Dean of Student Support. She will pick up where Catherine left off with student and also support our intern team. Nina will assist me in our work leading German Immersion initiatives. Nina has worked in elementary schools since 2005 and has been a teacher at TCGIS since 2019. She studied in Germany and abroad in New Zealand. She has had various leadership roles in our Q Comp program and on her elementary team. We are excited to see her continue to grow in her leadership. Please say Gratuliere! when you see her.
Looking Ahead to the New Year
As we look to the next school year, I know that the most important thing on most students’ and parents’ minds is “Who’s in my class?” and “Who’s my teacher?” We are making the final touches to our schedules. Teacher assignments and class schedules will be published to Infinite Campus by August 19th. For our new families and as a reminder for our returning families, here is the link to our class composition guidelines on our website.
And the next topic of interest in early August is supplies. Please find the student supply list by grade on this site. We are adding an optional supply fee this year to help us cover the costs for German specific supplies we order from Germany. Often our students write in special German notebooks or with pens to practice cursive. Our teachers provide students with German reading materials in classes or additional supplies to mimic the experiences of students learning in Germany. These supplies are coming with extra costs due to international shipping. We want to be able to continue to offer these items since they are an essential part of the intercultural learning experience at TCGIS. If you are able, please consider paying $15.00 at our Infinite Campus school store to help us cover these costs. Please find the instructions to access the school store here.
The teachers, staff, administration and I look forward to see you in a few weeks at Back to School Night on Thursday, August 22nd from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.
Elizabeth Zehnpfennig, Executive Director
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