A Message from Ms. Anderson

Ms. Allison Anderson,
Walnut Elementary Principal

Walnut Parent Letter from the Principal

Happy new school year, Walnut Parents!  My name is Allison Anderson, and I am the new Principal at Walnut Elementary School.  To tell you a little about myself, I have been an Emporia community member since 1993 when my family and I moved so I could attend graduate school at Emporia State University.  I have two wonderful boys – Taylor, 21 years old, who attends Baker University for the audio engineering program and Spencer, 20 years old, who attends ESU for computer science.  I have been in the Emporia school district for the past 15 years (with the exception of 1 year that I worked for the DeSoto school district.)

Our focus at Walnut this year is “Building Community.”  This occurs within our school, with parents and the community.  Building community helps us work together for the common goal of increasing our students’ achievement – both in the classroom academically and socially in all settings.  To help us build community, we are observing a “Cell Phone Free Zone,” and ask that, if a parent needs to complete a telephone call or text, it occur outside our school doors.  Once inside our school doors, we ask that you turn your telephone on vibrate or quiet and take that time to talk to parents and staff. 

Students are taking recess prior to lunch to help them work off their energy and build a healthy appetite.  This schedule typically results in less waste in the cafeteria and more focus on lunch since students are not anxious to go to recess.

In order to support our teachers in providing students with the best instruction possible, they will only receive and return telephone calls and email during their plan periods or before and after school.  Parents are welcome to communicate by leaving a voicemail or sending an email.  If there is an emergency, please contact the office and we will contact the teacher directly. 

If you need to come to the building during the school day, please check in at the office and put on a visitor’s badge.  This helps us keep our building safe.  If a staff member observes someone without a name badge, a staff member will escort the visitor to the office to help them sign in.

We want parents involved in their child’s education.  Please feel free to contact me at Walnut if you have any questions and come to the PTO Watermelon Feed next Friday, August 20^th!