Greetings,
My name is Phil Martinez and I am privileged to be the Principal of Fairbanks Elementary School. Our staff at Fairbanks School is committed to sharing the fundamental belief that all students need to be resilient to succeed, both in school and in the world beyond the classroom walls. My role as Principal is to provide the opportunity for our staff to analyze existing practices and introduce new principles that can be incorporated into the school culture to provide direction toward short and long-term goals. This process must focus on decisions on what we believe as a staff is going to work in the best interest of our students.
During the past six years, Fairbanks Elementary School has been awarded a school label designation of excelling or highly performing by the Arizona Department of Education, based on criteria related to the academic performance of students on state mandated assessments. All of our teachers currently employed at Fairbanks School have met the certification requirements of the Arizona Department of Education to be recognized as, "highly qualified."
Fairbanks School is a K-6 elementary school that provides excellent facilities, including two computer labs. Each computer lab has thirty computer stations. At the beginning of the 2011 - 2012 school year, our school also purchased mobile netbook and iPad labs for each grade level K through 6. These labs are being used by teachers as an interactive tool to augment student learning. We were able to purchase these labs with support from FMI.
The school's library has nearly 20,000 books available for students and staff. Every classroom has a Smart Board, which is an interactive whiteboard used by teachers to enhance classroom instruction and motivate student learning. These facilities are wonderful, but it is truly our dedicated staff who has worked diligently to build the excellent school we have today.
Our school has thirty-six full time certified staff members including three special education teachers, a speech therapist, a certified occupational therapist assistant and a full time medical assistant. There are about 670 students enrolled at Fairbanks Elementary. The Morenci School District recently added a second pre-school program for three and four year olds because one pre-school program was not enough to accommodate the needs of the pre-school students in our community. Both pre-schools meet state certification requirements.
Bus transportation is provided to students who live in the Morenci town site and for those students who also live in the Clifton, York Valley and Duncan areas. The Morenci School District recently added an academic bus to transport students in the fourth through sixth grades that need additional help with their studies after regular school hours. The academic bus is available to students Monday through Thursday and departs from Fairbanks School at 3:50 p.m. |
