What's New in Farmington Schools This Year?

This week, families should be accessing the district's new student information system, Zangle. But that's just one of the changes happening within the district this year:

Zangle

The district's new student information system has a feature called "Parent Connect," which is similar to last year's "Family Access." Parents will be able to access their children's grades, lunch accounts (separate for each child) and attendance information. The new system also provides bus time/stop information and transcripts for high school students. A "Student Connect" feature will be launched in September.

TAL

Together for Accelerated Learners (TAL), a new parent group working under the Farmington PTA Council, was organized in June and will offer events and activities for the district's high-achieving students. This summer, the group has offered everything from reading groups to this month's "7 Habits of Highly Effective Teenagers" workshop for high school students. Learn more on its website.

Start times

Middle schools and all grade schools except (whose students are not bused) will have different starting times this year. Officials say the adjustment is necessary because and Upper Elementary students were arriving just before the morning bell. So and Middle Schools will start and end five minutes earlier. No other schools are affected. A list of new K-4 times is in our story "Farmington Schools Adjusts Start Times."

Upper Elementary Schools

After an admittedly rough beginning, the reconfigured fifth/sixth-grade school communities at Power and Warner Upper Elementary schools will undergo some changes this year. A new system for dealing with accelerated students in math and language arts, positive behavior reinforcement and teaching teams are just a few of the changes. The district has compiled information on its website, including a Q&A sheet for parents.

New administrators

Joseph Greene, principal —

Moussa Hamka, assistant principal —

Brian Toth, assistant principal —

Jim Anderson, principal —

Shawndra Hernton, principal —

Steve Vercellino, principal —

Valerie Mierzwa, director — Special Education Services.