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academic challenges at Melwood Elementary Beaming before a class of sixth graders Monday at Melwood Elementary School in Upper Marlboro, new principal Kristil Fossett chided them for a lackluster response to her booming greeting of, morning, scholars! She urged them to try it again, only this time louder. 4 foot 9 and full of energy, she said. you going to be able to handle me? dropping off students Monday morning said they hope Fossett can handle Melwood, which has struggled in recent years to meet the state required benchmarks for academic performance. The first day of school not only marked Fossett first year at Melwood she spent the last three years as principal of Thurgood Marshall Middle School in Temple Hills but also the first year the approximately 600 student school is under improvement status for failing to make Adequate Yearly Progress two years in a row. determined we going to transform, Fossett said, echoing the school theme this year of She is replacing Carrington Smith, who was principal since 2001 and retired, said PTA PTA President LaVonn Thomas. In the 2008 09 school year, Melwood failed to make AYP when math scores dropped from nearly 73 percent of students proficient in 2008 to 64 percent proficient in 2009. Although scores improved slightly in the 2009 2010 school year, the 68 percent of students proficient in math was not high enough to make AYP. Special education has also been a weak spot over the last two years, with the school failing to make AYP in both reading and math among special education students in 2009 and 2010. Thomas, who was busy Monday signing parents up for the PTA, said overcrowding, a lack of parental involvement and the wide range of students backgrounds some come from in crisis, she said, while others come from a more stable environment all contributed to the school struggle to keep scores up. Fossett, she said, brings much needed energy. Gibson of Upper Marlboro, who dropped off sons, Kyle Rose, 10, and Amari Johnson, 5, said she knew the school had been placed on the watch list and that it made her little nervous. said Kyle attended Perrywood Elementary in Upper Marlboro, a school that has consistently made AYP, before the family moved to a new district this year. This is Amari first year in school. Gibson said she planned to get involved with the PTA and was hoping more extracurricular math programs would be offered. have one teacher and 20 kids. With all those kids, it takes more than one, she said. Fossett, who has two children of her own attending Mattaponi Elementary in Upper Marlboro, said she plans to place a heavy emphasis on reviewing student data and organizing collaborative planning sessions for teachers by grade and subject. When she first met with staff, Fossett said, she learned they felt professional development was lacking. have a lot of pride and passion for the overall teaching process, she said. Fossett first joined the Prince George County public school system in 1996 as a special education teacher at Oxon Hill Middle School. As part of the state effort to compete for federal education dollars, Fossett was among a group of middle school principals in the county who were replaced this year; no county middle school made AYP last year. Thurgood Marshall last made AYP in 2005. Although the school failed to meet academic benchmarks under Fossett tenure, scores rose steadily in reading and math. Carmen Williams of Upper Marlboro, who dropped off her 8 year old son, Justin Williams, and twin daughters, Simone and Sydney Williams, both 5, said Fossett seems prepared and capable so far.