Weekly Update 12/15/11

SOUTHEAST MIDDLE SCHOOL
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2011

I hope that all of you have a restful and enjoyable holiday break.  Each of you deserve it!  Thank you for all of your hard work and the hours you put in at SEMS.  It certainly makes a difference with our children.  Know that every day is a challenge, but you always rise to the occasion and create opportunities for our students to be successful.  Thank you for being a part of the SEMS family.  Enjoy the time with your family the next two weeks.

1. Congratulations once again to Sherri Worrell.  She is this year's Teacher of the Year! Sherri, you are an excellent representation of Southeast Middle School!

2. Results of the progress report voting were 41-3 in favor of moving to the new paper progress report plan.  A letter was sent out to parents in Wednesday folders this week.  In addition, we will add this to our Sunday alert messages for parents as well as putting another copy of the letter on next month's newsletter.  I hope that this new plan will make our system more efficient and save you all some time.  We will work out the fine details in January for discussing grades with your students. I will email you a copy of that letter for your information.

3. The Athletic Department will sponsor several grade level socials in January. The dates are as follows:

Jan. 6 - 6th grade social
Jan. 13 - 7th grade social
Jan. 20 - 8th grade social

4. Upcoming holiday festivities:

Friday, December 16 - PTSA will be serving breakfast to the staff
Monday, December 19 - Student Council will provide breakfast to the staff
Tuesday, December 20 - Hospitality Committee will provide lunch for all staff members who have paid dues

5. Monday, December 19, and Tuesday, December 20, will be casual days. In addition, any 2-hour delay day will be a casual day.

6.  Please visit Learning Village for additional resources for your intructional planning.  The Technology Department has just added several more links that are quite helpful, including information on the Common Core/Essential Standards.

7.  A-B Schedule Change!  Due to the high school exam schedule in January, there have been two changes in the A-B day encore schedule.  All schools are to follow this schedule:
Thursday, Jan. 12 - A day
Friday, Jan. 13 - A day
Monday, Jan. 16 - Holiday
Tuesday, Jan. 17 - A day
Wednesday, Jan. 18 - B day
Thursday, Jan. 19 - B day
Friday, Jan. 20 - B day

8. Please remember to check the online calendar for updates.  During the holiday break, I will update the calendar as much as possible for the second half of the year for your planning purposes.


Happy Birthday!

Don Fought - December 14