August 24, 2026
Greetings Crossan Community:
I hope that you all have enjoyed your summer! We will continue the 2026-2027 school year under our new mission statement, “ Empowering leaders through rigorous academics and a whole child approach to cultivate advanced, creative, and empathetic thinkers who will thrive in an ever-changing world.” We are moving in a new direction to fulfill the components of our Academics Plus model. We will be integrating our new core competencies into our academics program that are each, designed to heighten the educational experience for our leaders. Our core competencies are:
- Technology and Creativity
- Entrepreneurship
- Outdoor Exploration and Gardening
- Physical Health and Nutrition
- Social Emotional Learning
The Crossan instructional team will continue to deliver a top-notch instructional program in the way that we have always done while acknowledging the importance of meeting the needs of the whole child. This year our school-wide focus will be: exposing our leaders to experiences that deepen their understanding of our gems, cultivating lessons that allow for creativity and a respect for nature, building out a school-wide economy that supports financial literacy and sparks entrepreneurial curiosity, and educating our leaders on healthy foods and lifestyles that will promote positive growth.
School will reconvene to in-person learning for our leaders in grades 1-5 on August 24th, at 8:30 am to 3:09 pm daily. On this day, leaders will be required to enter through the Bleigh and Palmetto gates to connect with their teacher. Kindergarten interview will be August 24th -26th and the first day for our Kindergarten leaders is August 27th.
Leaders will still be expected to utilize google classroom and some learning will continue with the use of laptops. Laptops will be distributed and assigned during the first week of school to all leaders. We will continue to communicate through Class Dojo with parents to provide important information, so please make sure that the office has your updated email address. Your child’s teacher will invite you into their dojo class, please respond to this or you will miss important school-related announcements. Lastly, we hired a new 3rd grade teacher and her name is Ms. Ruch. She will reach out to her families to introduce herself.
More information about our return to school in the fall, and opportunities for you to participate in school and District-level meetings and events, will be shared with you during the District’s Back-to-School campaign. In the meantime, I encourage you to visit the School District of Philadelphia website on a regular basis for the most up to date information on our return to school at: www.philasd.org/ringthebell. I will continue to share school-level reminders with you as well. Please enjoy the rest of your summer. I cannot wait to welcome your children back to school on August 24th!
Sincerely,
Dr. Khadijah Bright, Principal