Welcome to Panther Lake Elementary, home of the proud Panthers!

To our families, scholars, and staff- THANK YOU!
This year has truly been one of the most complex school years on record. We have thoroughly appreciated your partnership and support throughout the year and could not have reached the milestones and successes we did with you. I want to personally extend a thank you to our incredible staff who worked tirelessly everyday to guide our scholars and support high levels of learning and growth. I would also like to thank our families and our community for the hours of dedication to help enrich our school and your scholar’s learning experience, build a sense of community amidst a pandemic and from a distance, and supporting our staff with compassionate understanding and communication. Thank you for trusting us with your scholar(s) and your continued partnership as we prepare for a full in-person return in the fall.

As I reflect on the school year, I am encouraged by the countless positives we all experienced together at Panther Lake. We welcomed new families into our school and began cultivating powerful community, even from a distance! The level of community and family support this year has truly inspired us to continue with this momentum and begin planning for more intentional opportunities for parent/community partnerships and programming designed for our individual scholars based on the critical feedback and insight from our PAWS with the Principal- Family listening/partnership sessions. We watched our scholars begin advocating for their own learning through Scholar Advisory and have implemented their voice in our school-improvement efforts for the next school year. We are excited to share that we are celebrating the growth our scholars demonstrated at Panther Lake Elementary as test scores rose and scholar voice became a staple in every classroom: Hybrid and remote.

Our proud Panther scholars taught us all important lessons this year:
* You are never too old or too cool for a brain break from screen time!
* Successful learning is more than a test score! Growth is growth!
* Scholar voice matters!

We want to congratulate our 5^th graders on their successful completion of their elementary/grade school learning and wish you all the best as you transition to middle school! We are incredibly proud of the leadership you demonstrated this year and cannot wait to see the incredible things you accomplish along the rest of your academic career.

Over the summer, we will send monthly family newsletters with local resources/events for your family and remain available via phone and email to serve your individual family needs. While the building will be closed to the public for the month of July, administration will be available via email and cell phone (text/call okay). Should you need immediate support in June and August, please call our main office or stop by for in-person support.

If your family is new to FWPS or Panther Lake and you need more information, please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly. As the proud principal of Panther Lake Elementary, I remain committed to serving our families, scholars, and staff and we are excited to welcome you to our Panther Family!

We truly look forward to hearing about all the fun and exciting experiences your families enjoyed over the summer and wish you all a restful, safe, and healthy summer.
Stay cool out there- It is going to be a warm PNW summer! And don’t forget- ALWAYS WEAR YOUR SUNGLASSES/SHADES- Because the future is bright at Panther Lake Elementary!

We are in this together, Panthers!

In partnership,
Tabatha Ritch
Principal
tritch@fwps.org