Weekly Update 2/28/13

SOUTHEAST MIDDLE SCHOOL
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

1. A big thank you to Kathy Pierce for serving as a long-term substitute for Mrs. Eisbacher.  Kathy's last day is Friday and Tracie will return back to school next week.  Kathy, we appreciate you stepping in - you've done a great job!  Tracie, we have truly missed you and look forward to your return!

2. As a reminder, the encore and 6th grade staff members who worked the Rising 6th Open House last month have fulfilled their requirement of working one night event for the second semester.  So for the rest of the certified staff, there will be several events throughout the spring that you may sign up for, including: March Madness (March 8), 8th grade social (March 22), 6th and 7th grade socials, and spring music concerts. For those certified staff who still need to sign up for an event, the sign-up sheet is now posted in the staff workroom.  Please sign up for an event as soon as possible. 

3. Please see the email sent on Wednesday regarding the staff incentive for the PTSA Port-A-Pit Chicken Dinner Fundraiser.  We encourage all staff to participate.  A lucky staff member can win a free day off for selling dinner tickets! See the email for more details.  We hope that everyone can purchase tickets to support the PTSA and to enjoy a fantastic meal!

4. We have confirmed dates for the carpet/tile installation.  The Media Center project will take place on March 1-4.  The Main Office/Guidance Office project will take place March 8-11.  This will affect your lunches on those Mondays and Fridays listed at the least. So on March 1, 4, 8, and 11, please plan to eat lunch in your classrooms. We will make sure that you have trash bags in your classrooms. All classes will still come to the cafeteria at you scheduled time, but after all students have received their lunch, please walk them as a group back to your classroom. On March 8 and 11, the copiers will be distributed throughout the building (we will let you know where) so that all staff have access to them. We will take the copy codes off of those machines so you can use any of them.  

5. The WSFCS student survey instructions have been sent to all teachers. Homebase teachers should have received a green sheet in their mailboxes to have students sign off when they complete the survey.  That green sheet is due to me by March 28 to ensure that all students complete the survey.  Please remember that homebase teachers have several options for completing this process and John Downs is happy to assist with that process as well.  

6. Please know that March will be a very tough month for our guidance counselors.  We are now in the process of working with our registration cards for next school year. This is a crucial time period because we are preparing for our allotment conference at the end of March, when I go to meet and earn our staff for next school year. Typically, this registration process prior to allotment is about 8-10 weeks long.  However, with this new time crunch for the state, the registration process is only 4 weeks.  So please understand that the guidance counselors will do everything they can to meet the needs of our students, but they will be on "lockdown" at times in order to prepare our student course tallies for allotment.  

7. The Athletics Department will sponsor March Madness on Friday, March 8, from 2-4pm. The students will take on the staff in a fun basketball game.  In addition, the 8th grade social is scheduled for Friday, March 22. 

8. The grade level meetings originally scheduled for Thursday, March 14, have been postponed due to a principals' meeting being scheduled on the same day.  We will let you know how/when they will be rescheduled.

9. We will conduct a mini-workshop on behavior intervention and effectively dealing with parents on Monday, March 18, at 2:20pm.  

10. We will do a schoolwide mock testing session at the end of March during the quarter test window. If we do not have any more snow days, then we plan to do these sessions on March 21 and 22. A mock testing session means that we will shut down the school and have a modified daily schedule, just as we do on EOG testing days. 

11. March 28 - According the recent email received from Dr. Simington (Deb Neal forwarded this out to all staff earlier), March 28 will remain an Rs day and there will be limited offerings for trainings should any staff wish to do so. I will confirm this information for all staff members. 

12. All staff were forwarded information regarding the Powersource/Homebase/Powerschool training last week.  Soon (if you haven't already) you will receive registration emails from the Technology Department as well as from Pearson Products or Powersource.  Please do not delete these emails! They contain valuable instructions on how to log in.  Remember, this is the basic online training for the transition from NCWISE to Powerschool next school year.  All affected staff are expected by the district to complete this training. I will show the staff what the emails and training will look like at Monday's staff meeting. 

13. The Spring Book Fair will take place April 15-19. We will set it up similar to the schedule used last year, which minimally disrupted class time. In addition, our third annual Spring Arts Festival will take place on the evening of Thursday, April 18. More details coming soon.

Please be sure to check the online calendar regularly (accessed through your email system) for events and meetings. It is updated weekly and sometimes daily.

UPCOMING DATES
March 1-4 - Media Center carpet installation
March 4 - Staff Meeting (2:20pm)
March 8-11 - Main Office/Guidance Office carpet installation
March 8 - March Madness (sponsored by the Athletics Dept.)
March 11 - Vertical Planning Mtgs. (2:20pm)
March 14 - Fundraiser Limo Lunch (for qualifying students)
March 15 - Spring Pictures
March 15 - Port-A-Pit PTSA Fundraiser (2:30-7:00pm)
March 18 - Mini-Workshop for Staff: Behavior Intervention/Dealing with Parents (2:20pm)
March 21-22 - Mock EOG-style Quarter Testing
March 22 - 8th Grade Social (2-4pm)
March 27 - End of 3rd Quarter (as of now)
March 28 - Rs Teacher Workday

Future Dates for your Calendar:
April 10 - MS/HS Teacher Transfer Fair
April 12 - Fundraiser BMX Bike Show
April 15 - 19 - Spring Book Fair