Weekly Update 12/9/10

SOUTHEAST MIDDLE SCHOOL
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2010


1. NCWISE will be shut down starting December 17 and will not operate until as late as      January 4. 

2. In addition, you will NOT have access to your school webpage starting on December 14 at 5:00pm through January 3.  Since many of you access the blog and calendar through the webpage, I will send you the link to this blog next week via email.  I will also give all staff members a hard copy of the January schedule so that you can have access to that over the holidays.

3. You have all earned holiday leave before the break begins.  Classified staff get two hours of holiday leave. Certified staff may leave right after students clear the building two afternoons of their choice next week.

4. Our fundraiser prizes and orders are scheduled to arrive next week.  We will get you some details on how we will distribute those.

5.  The school building will NOT be open during the holiday break.  Happy Holidays to all! 

6. Wednesday, December 15, the Student Council will be providing breakfast for the staff in the teacher's lounge.  Thanks to Mrs. Murray and the students!  Breakfast will be served at 6:45am.

7.  The PTSA will be serving the staff breakfast on Friday, December 17.  We will have Chick-fila biscuits, fruit, and juice.  Thanks to the PTSA volunteers!

8.  The SEMS Social Committee will be providing lunch on December 17 to those who have paid their dues.  Each of those staff members will receive a ticket to redeem for lunch that day.  Thanks for your hospitality!

9. Thanks to all of your for your participation in the Differentiated Instruction training this past Monday.  I hope that you found the training useful and have some ideas of strategies that you can incorporate.  This will be a focus for us going into January.  As we do your walkthroughs, we'd like to see some of these strategies in action.  Please be sure to register online for the training session so that you can get credit.
10. We have had an increase in discipline issues lately. We have found that several of these situations could have been prevented if an adult had been supervising properly. Please be sure that you are on top of your supervision duties at all times. This includes before and after school, in your classrooms, lunchroom, class changes, etc. I just don't want to see any of our staff members to suffer the consequence of not being present where required. Protect yourself by keeping supervision a priority.

11. Please be sure to update your grades in NCWISE at least every two weeks minimum - this is the requirement.  We have had many parent contacts earlier this week where no grades had been posted for them to check their child's progress.

12.  The School Improvement Team will have a meeting on Tuesday, January 11, at 2:15pm.  One topic of discussion will be hallway behavior and bus dismissal behavior.  If you have input you'd like to share, please see one of your SIT reps so that they can bring it to the discussion.  There are some adjustments that we will need to make schoolwide in order to keep the students safe.

13. It is likely that we will have to use our inclement weather plan eventually.  Please be sure to review this with your team.  The school system will make one of three decisions on these days:  1) 2-hour delay, 2) Closed, or 3) Closed with optional teacher workday.  The third option is not likely to happen.  But if it does, that means that you can work if you choose to do so.  If you choose NOT to work on that day, then you will either have to take an annual day or you must make up the time. 

14.  With Lillian's departure, it is important for me to mention that her leaving may affect the status of your copies getting made.  This issue is being compounded by the fact that Lisa Horwath is no longer with us.  We will get back with you regarding this issue so that you know what copying procedures are going to be used. 
 
Happy Birthday!

Don Fought 12/14
Kathy Albertelli 12/21