Dear Trillium Academy Families,


I hope this letter finds you well as we continue our journey together in this inaugural year of Trillium Academy. As you know, our mission is to break away from conventional schooling and celebrate the incredible capabilities of twice-exceptional (2e) students, providing them with the learning environment they need to discover and develop their talents and passions to live successful and enriching lives.


In line with this mission and our commitment to building a strong foundation for our school, I am writing to share an important update about our divisional structure for the upcoming academic year. After careful consideration and planning, we have made the decision to reconfigure our divisions by combining grades 5-8 into a single Middle School division and will not be enrolling new 4th graders for next year.


Why This Change?


This decision was not made lightly, and I'd like to share the thoughtful reasoning behind it:


Creating Balanced Divisions: Having two balanced divisions (Middle School: grades 5-8 and High School: grades 9-12) is a better fit for our small school model. This structure allows us to focus on the development of two equally sized programs that can each receive the dedicated attention and resources they need to thrive.


Proven Model for Student Success: There are several successful educational models for 5th-8th grade middle schools that effectively address the developmental needs of these students. We believe this structure particularly fits the asynchronous developmental needs of our twice-exceptional learners. This model creates a cohesive learning community where students can develop intellectually, socially, and emotionally alongside peers at similar developmental stages.


Curriculum Development Timing: The timing of this decision aligns with our current work on the curriculum guide, which describes the learning journey students will embark on during their time at Trillium. By streamlining our grade offerings, we can create a more coherent and robust educational experience across all levels.


Multi-Age Learning Opportunities: We feel confident that we can create a range of multi-age classes that allow students to engage in deep intellectual instruction at their readiness level while receiving developmentally appropriate scaffolding and social-emotional learning skills. This approach honors the asynchronous development that is often characteristic of our 2e learners.


Intentional Growth Strategy: Most new schools open with just a few grades and ramp their enrollment up gradually. Our new enrollment for the lower grades has been smaller compared to our middle grades, and we want to focus on strengthening our programs as we simultaneously prioritize relationship building within and across grade levels. This approach allows us to be intentional in our growth, while still ensuring that each grade level receives specialized attention through our multi age, team taught classes. Consolidating our students into a single division reduces the complexity of duplicative program structures so our resources can be focused on two equally sized divisions.


What This Means for Our Community


We believe this restructuring will strengthen our ability to deliver on our mission of celebrating the incredible capabilities of our twice-exceptional students. It allows us to build upon our core values of Consideration, Creativity, and Growth Mindset while ensuring that each student receives the developmentally appropriate support they need.


I know that changes can bring a range of responses and I encourage families to reach out to me with any concerns or questions about how this restructuring might affect your child's experience at Trillium Academy. Staffulty will be collaborating over the next few weeks to support students in processing this change for next year and ensuring our younger students are prepared for the transition to middle school along with their 6th grade peers. For our current 7th graders, there will be opportunities for leadership development and culture building as they look ahead to 8th grade.


We recently announced that Alexander Stern will be assuming the role of Dean of Students for Middle School beginning August 1, 2025. As one aspect of this position, Alexander will work closely with students, families and staffulty in navigating this change and taking advantage of the opportunities to build a robust and dynamic middle school for year two of Trillium Academy. For the remaining weeks of this school year, Alexander will focus on their primary role as math teacher, wayfinder guide, and praxis program leader. Alexander is also supporting Trillium with some special projects for the lower and middle school at my direction this spring. Thank you for your continued trust and partnership as we grow and evolve together.


Onward and upward!