Dear Pleasant Plains Elementary Families,

 

It is with great pride and honor that I am writing to you as the founding Principal of Pleasant Plains Elementary School! I have had the privilege of spending the majority of my 28-year educational career here in Apex, serving as a teacher at Olive Chapel Elementary School, a Principal Intern (Green Hope ES) and most recently as the Principal of Apex Elementary School. Prior to my Principalship at Apex Elementary, I served the Chapel Hill community as both an Assistant Principal and Principal for over 6 years. I am so honored to have been selected to serve you and your family as the Principal of Pleasant Plains Elementary.

 

I am proud to say that I grew up in Apex, attending Apex Elementary, Middle, and High Schools as a student. My husband, Pete, serves as the Salem Middle School teacher-librarian, and we have two sons, ages 25 and 21. Family is a core value of mine, and I am dedicated to partnering with families to recognize and celebrate each child’s unique brilliance and strengths, ensuring success for all.

 

Visioning
Throughout the coming months, I look forward to partnering with you and meeting your students! As part of my current work, I have begun some preliminary visioning for our school community. As essential educational partners, your input is needed and valued! I look forward to inviting you to share your thoughts in a variety of ways in the coming weeks and months. I firmly believe that school and family partnerships are the key to helping us reach our goals, and I look forward to engaging with you in this work soon.

 

Meeting Students
I absolutely cannot wait to meet your students! I plan to visit your students' current schools during the months of April and May. These visits will be a time for them to meet with me, ask questions, and hear all about their new school!

 

Building Community
Several events and activities will be scheduled in the future so that we can begin to meet and get to know each other as one school community. Closer to the start of school, I anticipate holding a community picnic at a local park so that families can meet each other, as well as meet our staff.

 

Building Our PTA
In the spring, the Wake County PTA will hold a meeting to set up and begin our school’s PTA and elect our first PTA Board. Please consider volunteering and/or running for a PTA board position. If the prospect of taking a leadership role feels daunting, please know that this is our inaugural school year, and we will all be learning and growing together!

 

Our School Building
Our new school building is beautiful! Pleasant Plains Elementary is a state-of-the-art learning environment for students, which includes many collaborative learning spaces, both indoors and outdoors. I am scheduled to walk through the building in early February and look forward to reporting back to you on the progress being made.

 

Staffing
Our students deserve meaningful learning environments that promote and celebrate diversity, inclusion, and collaboration while providing educational experiences that allow all students to discover their full potential. To that end, I am committed to hiring and retaining staff members who demonstrate a high moral commitment to all students' learning, exhibit outstanding instructional practices, are dedicated to continuous learning, and understand that together, as a school community, we can and will do more than we could ever do alone. Pleasant Plains will be a warm and inviting place for every student to be nurtured, learn, grow, and feel empowered to achieve.

 

I have already posted positions for classroom teachers, specialists (Art, Music, PE, Media Specialist), and office staff. This week, I am interviewing for our Assistant Principal. It is already a very busy and exciting hiring season!

 

Enrollment
You are receiving this email because your child is currently slated to attend Pleasant Plains Elementary. Please direct all enrollment questions to your current school. If you have a rising Kindergarten student, please direct questions to the school where you registered. For any questions about transfers or assignments, please contact the WCPSS Office of Student Assignment. You can call them at (919) 431-7333 or visit their website at WCPSS Student Assignment.

 

Track Assignments
Track assignments are made based on multiple factors, including the number of classes per grade level, staffing, and any year-round middle school siblings. Please keep in mind that there are class size laws we must follow. The goal is always to keep tracks balanced to best meet the needs of all students. At this time, Kindergarten through 3rd Grade will open with all 4 tracks. 4th and 5th Grades are scheduled to open with Tracks 1 and 4, with the option to add Track 3 as enrollment increases. Families will be notified of their final track assignment for the 2025-2026 school year by May 1st.

 

When considering a track, please note that Tracks 1, 3, and 4 all have approximately four weeks of overlapping summer vacation with traditional calendar schools, if you are considering alignment for older siblings. Family input on the benefits of each track can be found at Year-Round Track Highlights.

 

Please look for more details about track assignments and the track request form in the February 15th Cardinal Connections newsletter. For your reference, here is the link for the WCPSS 2025-2026 Year-Round Calendar.

 

An important note: Please know that I understand and recognize that many of you are switching school calendars, and your track assignments will be unknown until May 1st. In this inaugural year, I do not want you to worry about any family plans that you may already have in place. As I previously mentioned, family is a core value of mine, and we will work through any pre-existing trips, commitments, etc., together as we navigate the 2025-2026 school year.

 

Cardinal Connections
Are you wondering about the title of this newsletter? Did you guess it may be mascot-related? If you did, then you are correct! We are the Cardinals! Our colors are navy blue, cardinal red, and yellow. As I type this newsletter, I am awaiting preliminary graphic artwork for our logo. So exciting! #CardinalPride

 

I will be sending out a Cardinal Connections newsletter every two weeks, on Sundays at 3 PM. As we get closer to the start of the school year, I will begin to send the Cardinal Connections newsletter weekly. My goal is to keep you informed and connected as we approach the start of school in July.

 

Additionally, I am hopeful that our school website will be up and running soon!

 

Thank you for your partnership and commitment to one of Wake County's newest schools. It is indeed a privilege to serve you.

 

Warmest regards,

Katie Caggia (kcaggia@wcpss.net)
Principal
Pleasant Plains Elementary School