Weekly Update 4/11/13

SOUTHEAST MIDDLE SCHOOL
THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2013

1. BMX Bike Show - All staff received the updated master list and instructions via email on Tuesday. Please review to ensure that your participating students are able to make it to the event. 

2. The PTSA Book Fair will take place next week, April 15-19. All staff members have received a copy of the Book Fair schedule.  Please remember that the Book Fair visits will take place through Language Arts classes only.  If any students request to visit the book fair later in the week, please remind them that they must wait until their Language Arts class when they can receive a Book Fair pass. 

3. The Spring Arts Festival will take place on Thursday, April 18, from 6-8pm.  This is a wonderful community event that is free of charge.  We will have the Book Fair family night, an arts and crafts show, student music performances, two performances by the Winston-Salem reggae band Liontracks, balloon animals, and much more. If you would like to set up a booth/table at the arts and crafts show, please see Susie to register. There is still plenty of time to sign up! We'd love to see you there!

4. National Junior Honor Society applications are going out to eligible students this week.  Homebase teachers, please be sure that you hand out any applications that you receive from the NJHS sponsors.  Please give these to students immediately so that they may begin working on their application packets.  All packets are due to the NJHS sponsors (Maxcy, Santoro, Miller) by Friday, April 19.  This is a strict deadline. 

5. Testing Code of Ethics - All staff members are expected to review the Testing Code of Ethics provided by Deb Neal at Monday's staff meeting. After reviewing the packet of information, please watch the video (from the link provided in email from Deb Neal) and then sign off that you have completed the task.  The sign-off sheets are on Deb Neal's office door.  All sign-offs should be completed by this Friday.

6. On Thursday, April 18, 60 students will complete the Bell summer school survey.  These are students who completed the Bell summer program last school year.  Soon all teachers will receive an email with student names and survey times.  The survey should take approximately 30 minutes to complete. 

7. We are now receiving information on this year's summer school program. The program is intended for two groups of students: those who have a history of low state test scores and those who the administration assigns to summer school to avoid retention.  Over the next two weeks, homebase teachers will receive flyers to hand out to specific students who may benefit from this program. We will forward more details of the program as we receive them. 

8. There seems to be some confusion when staff refer to the "master calendar." So to clarify, the master calendar is the online calendar that is accessed through your email system. When you log on to your email, click the calendar tab on the lower left menu and then check the box next to the SEMS master calendar. There you can view all meetings, field trips, and events scheduled. This calendar is specifically for staff.  Many of you consider the SEMS Student Activities Blog (facilitated by Mr. Downs) as the master calendar, but this is not the case.  The activities blog only contains the schedule of student activities and events. So please be sure to visit the true master calendar to ensure that you are up to date on all scheduled events. 

9. Please activate your Powerschool account if you have not already done so. As a reminder, once you activate your account, you will start receiving more emails indicating that you are signed up for multiple online training modules.  You are not required to complete the training modules at this time unless you choose to do so. If you do, you will need to provide your certificates of completion to get credit.  You will soon receive an email with instructions on how to register for the workshop credit.  If you do complete the training, you can receive up to 3.0 CEU's of credit!

10. Schools in North Carolina will now begin receiving school performance grades.  There is much dispute as to how these grades will be computed.  The NC House is proposing a bill which takes several factors into account when assigning a school a grade, including proficiency and growth (which is a good thing).  However, the NC Senate is proposing a simple 10-point scale to assign grades (i.e. 90-100 is an A, etc.) by proficiency.  What would this mean if the Senate's plan was approved? If a school's proficiency was 65% but they exceeded growth in EVAAS for that year, that school would still end up with a grade of D (doesn't sound right, does it?).  Looking at the status of SEMS, our score was 78.6% and we met growth, but we would still receive a C.  SEMS is not a 'C' school!  It is very important that we touch base with our NC Senate to let them know how this would affect our school.  I will forward out NC Senate contact information when I receive it in case any of you wish to contact them.  

11. The state has still not voted on how to compute Standard 6 on the teacher evaluation instrument.  Up to this point, we have been told that it is computed by a combination of the teacher's EVAAS score and the school's overall EVAAS score. This year all teachers can view their Standard 6 status, but this is not official. It is the "base" number, like a practice round.  One proposal now being considered is that 100% of the teacher's EVAAS score will be the Standard 6 rating as opposed to a combination score. Those teachers not teaching a tested subject would have 100% of the school score. We will keep you posted on the status of this vote, which may not be finalized until the summer. 


UPCOMING DATES
April 12 - Fundraiser BMX Bike Show (12:30pm)
April 15 - SIT Meeting (2:20pm), EC Mtg. (2:20pm)
April 15 - STAY Celebration for beginning teachers @ Old Town BaptistApril 15 - 19 - Spring Book Fair
April 18 - Bell survey for students who attended summer school last yearApril 18 - Spring Arts Festival (6-8pm)
April 19 - 7th Grade Pharoahs to Raven Knob
April 20 - Music Trip to Carowinds
April 23 - 7th Grade Dragons to Raven Knob
April 24 - 7th Grade Outbacks to Raven Knob
April 25 - GYRLS Night at McDonald's (on Rte. 66) - 5-8pm
April 26 - 6th Grade Social (2-4pm), Parent Surveys Due
April 29 - 8th Grade Field Trip to Grandfather Mtn., 7th Grade Tsunamis to Raven Knob
April 29 - Conference Track Meet @ Mt. Tabor 
May 1 - Core and Encore Progress Reports

IMPORTANT FUTURE DATES
June 6 - Yearbook Distribution
June 6,7,10 - 8th Grade Ceremonies (8:00am)