Letter from the Principal

It is my honor and pleasure to serve as the J.B. Nelson Elementary School principal. This marks my fourth year in this position. Before coming to the Batavia community, I was the assistant principal at NA Hermes Elementary in East Aurora for two years. I enjoyed teaching kindergarten through 3rd grade for ten years before becoming an administrator.

It is my strong belief that it is our responsibility to teach students more than just reading, writing, math, science, and social studies. I believe that teaching them how to think critically and work collaboratively with others, even when they disagree about something, is equally as crucial to their future success in our global society. I also do not believe that “one size fits all.” Research has shown that students have many different learning styles and that content and delivery must be differentiated and highly engaging. I believe in student choice and hands-on, problem-based learning. The more meaningful and current we can make our teaching, the better.

I also believe in the power of data-based decision making. We create school goals, teacher goals, and student learning goals based on rigorous Common Core standards and are continually differentiating our instruction to meet the needs of ALL students.

J.B. Nelson faculty work as a “Professional Learning Community” (PLC). Within this construct, all teachers work together as a team to look at all students’ data per grade level and make decisions about how they will teach the new Common Core standards in a differentiated way that will meet the needs of students who are performing at all levels academically. The great thing about this philosophy of collaboration is that every educator brings their expertise and perspective to the discussions and all students are able to benefit from the team, rather than just their one teacher.

The District has supported this level of collaboration by building in daily time at the elementary level in order for all teachers to work as a PLC at each grade level. If you are interested in learning more about this, please visit this site.

Parents are an integral part of helping us in student achievement. Each month I attend the PTO meeting and share celebrations, upcoming events, and have the opportunity to listen to parents’ perspectives on what our students and learning community needs.

I have enjoyed getting to know all students, staff, and parents over the past three years and together we have made many changes that have positively impacted our school.

Please feel free to email me directly at nicole.prentiss@bps101.net or call me at (630) 937-8410 if you have any questions or ideas to share with me.

Warmly,

Mrs. Prentiss