Improvements in Safety and Academics for the 2016-2017 School Year
Student Safety
Admiral Farragut Academy continually strives to improve in all areas, especially in the areas of student safety and academics. In order to strengthen the safety, security and protection of our students and all other members of our community, we have contracted with an outside security firm, Critical Intervention Services (CIS). Their Guardian SafeSchool Program is designed as a holistic, integrated program that employs a multi-layered strategy to reduce all risks. The program has drawn national-level recognition from the criminal justice and school safety community, and is currently implemented at several independent schools in Florida as well as the University Area Community Development Center in Tampa. Details about this program will be forthcoming.
Academic Schedule
In addition, Admiral Farragut Academy will be making some changes to the school day schedule for the 2016-2017 school year. The school day hours will be:
- Upper School day will start at 8:00 am and dismissal will be at 3:30 pm.
- Lower School drop off will be from 7:45-8:00 am and dismissal will be from 3:00pm-3:15 pm.
Upper School
Additionally, the Upper School schedule next year will include an assigned study hall with the same teacher, in the middle of the day four days per week. The intent is to help our students with time management, class preparation and homework completion, while managing their extracurricular activities after school. Attendance will be required, consistent with the rest of their classes. This time will be supervised and used for students to receive help with homework, and encourage them to complete assignments in a timely manner. We will still have a full eight-period structured rotating class schedule and boarding students will still have evening study hall.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Head of Upper School, Tom McGlinn at: tmcglinn@farragut.org.
Lower School
Next year the Lower School will be introducing a new science curriculum, Pearson Interactive Science, for PreK through 2nd grade which has a STEM component. Students in 2nd through 5th grade will continue to learn how to code interactive games, stories, and art using the popular online program, Code Studio.
Students in 4th through 7th grade now have the opportunity to create their own 3D printed projects using our new Dremel 3D printer. We will continue to enhance our new engineering program during MakerSpace Club, where students use their research skills and imagination to build and create any project of their choosing using real world tools.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Head of the Lower School, Anita Fine at: afine@farragut.org.