As the new leader of the Falcon Zone, Iíve come to love and embrace so much about education in our area. Iíve also come to dream and imagine what could be better, and I invite you to do the same.Imagine Falcon Zone with no balanced enrollment due to overcrowding at our elementary schools. Imagine Falcon Zone with even more opportunities for our K-12 students. Imagine Falcon Zone offering authentic learning opportunities across each school, grade level and classroom.A new school, a new academic wing, new modern teaching: These are the major efforts currently under way in the Falcon Zone to help bring these dreams to fruition.Bennett Ranch Elementary SchoolBennett Ranch Elementary School will open in August as the newest neighborhood school in the Falcon Zone. Under construction just north of Falcon Middle School, Bennett Ranch Elementary will complete the Firebird Nation K-8 campus. This forward-thinking design will allow fewer dollars to be spent on administration. Additionally, some staff will be able to serve both schools to increase specials and elective offerings for our elementary and middle school learners. The Bennett Ranch Elementary School planning committee has been selected and will work tirelessly through next spring, as we plan the learning offerings and resultant staff requirements for the school. Many families in our zone have experienced the inconvenience and frustration of overcrowded elementary schools and being balanced-enrolled to attend a school different from their neighborhood school; Bennett Ranch will help alleviate this problem.Falcon High SchoolWe just broke ground on another construction project in the Falcon Zone ó the new career academic wing at Falcon High School. This new wing will provide learning spaces to expand the EMT and CNA programs, the engineering program and the ACE program, which provides commercial printing and laser engraving experience for our students.A new health assistant program, a creative maker-space and the ESCAPe Program, a three-year entrepreneurial capstone program, are new offerings made possible by this additional learning space. We also plan to build new HVAC and welding programs in the new wing. We are excited to offer so many programs providing options for graduation pathways and a strong head start on their careers. Stay tuned for the opening of this new academic wing just in time for the start of the 2018-2019 school year.Modern teachingAs our world dramatically changes at lightning speed, we know we need to transform teaching to transform learning. Our new modern way of teaching will convert the classroom and prepare our students with not just 21st century skills, but 22nd century skills, too.I am passionate about helping our zone teachers utilize modern teaching elements such as becoming master facilitators of learning (instead of being solely deliverers of instruction), creating more flexible learning environments to meet each studentís needs, and providing enhanced and more engaging opportunities for students because we know truly engaged students are higher achieving and more successful. All of this work will help deliver even more individual pathways that honor student choice. We want our kids prepared to enter the workforce, attend college or technical school and be successful in all of their chosen paths in this global world.We are currently laying a firm foundation so our first adopters can pave the way next year for even more modern teaching. Each of our schools have pockets of first adopters, but Bennett Ranch Elementary School will lead the way as a building and be staffed with an entire first cohort of new modern teachers to truly empower our students!Obviously, a lot is happening in the Falcon Zone. We will keep you updated on our progress of making our dreams a reality as we build our future community.
