Dixie Families –

As this school year winds down, I cannot thank you all enough for your continued support of our efforts here to make Dixie a great high school that we can all be proud of.
Interacting with your sons and daughters each day is a real joy for me as the principal. Our staff here really enjoys the work that we do as we continue our efforts to make Dixie the most recognized and sought after school in Pinellas County.
Before I provide you with a few key updates heading into the summer, please allow me to take a moment and thank our teaching staff for their continued dedication. They are the most talented and dedicated group of teachers anywhere in the county. If you ever have the chance, please take a moment and thank them for their work.
Spring / Summer Updates

• Testing, Testing, Testing:  As the years ends, we want to remind everyone that the state continues to amend its testing schedule and how that data is used to grade schools. I want to ensure you that we feel very good about how prepared your sons and daughters are heading into the reading, writing, math and science testing here on campus. Of course, our school data on these assessments continues to go up. As one example, our students in biology courses just completed a practice version of the test they will take in May. On that practice, Dixie students scored at the second highest rate in the school district – better than every other high school besides East Lake High.
•  College Readiness: We continue to create an expectation here at Dixie that our students leave us ready for college and careers. We have made ACT / SAT and PERT test preparation part of our four-year plan for all students. For instance, we just sponsored the ACT test here on campus a few weeks ago for all 11th graders and we are planning for PERT testing (the former CPT test) for next year for all 12th graders. While we certainly understand that not all of our students will go to college, we feel it is our obligation to have all students “ready” as part our exit expectations as a quality high school.
• Scheduling for next year: Parents of our returning students should know that your sons or daughters will have completed their course schedules for next year by the time school ends. Please communicate immediately with your child’s counselor if you have any questions about next year’s schedule. We will work on the schedules all summer and we must have all schedules completed and without changes by the middle of June.
• Magnet programs / Openings: Please know that we now have three application-based programs for incoming students: Cambridge, Graphic Arts and Culinary Arts. More than 400 students applied this spring to come to Dixie next year, among them are some of the highest –performing students in the school district. Please let your friends and neighbors know of our new programs and encourage them to visit www.thinkdixie.org for more information on the programs (including videos and related tools). We have very few seats remaining for next year.

That’s all for now and thanks for your continued interest in our growth.
We have an aggressive plan for continued improvement here and we are working through that plan until we reach our goal of being the best of the best!

Regards!

Dr. Evans

to top