March 1st, 2013

Good Morning Parents and Guardians:

It is March all ready and the year is flying by. We have several important events taking place in March. To begin with we conduct spring conferences. These will be held on March 6th and 7th from 4-7:30 pm. In the spring these conferences are scheduled by the teachers with parents of students who are having a difficult time with their grades. We will not be conducting whole school arena conferences as we do in the fall. If you feel you need to conference with a teacher I would encourage you to contact the specific teacher.

As mentioned earlier we will be conducting our T-CAP testing beginning March 11th. Our entire testing schedule is posted on our website. Please check the schedule for dates/times for each specific grade level.

In order to help prepare your student here are some helpful tips:

• Ensure that your child has a good night of rest each night of testing.
• Students should have a good breakfast each morning before they arrive at school.
• Please schedule appointments around the testing window of time.
• Please have your students to school on time each day. If a student is late for a specific test they will need to remain in the office until that test is completed and then make the test up at a later date.
• Encourage your child to do their best. We just expect the best effort out of the students, the assessment is a snap shot in time for student progress and the results help us plan our instruction and develop our building achievement goals.

If you have any questions please contact us.

Our security buzz in system will go live on Monday, March 4th. The instructions to access the building are included below. I know it will take a while for this to become a natural part of our culture so please have patience with us as we initiate this new safety measure.

Through the new system, NMS office staff will monitor students, parents, and visitors arriving during the school day on camera. Keep in mind that the security procedures we currently have in place will continue. For example, external doors will remain locked. In the past our front door was unlocked during school hours. With the new buzz-in system, we will have a window at the start and end of the school day for students to enter and leave the building without having to buzz-in. We will also have the ability to open doors for special events like Recognition Assemblies, Continuation etc. In order to gain admittance during all other times, students, parents and visitors will need to follow the procedures below.

• Press the button on the call box by the main entrance.
• Hold the button down while stating your name and the purpose of your visit.
• If it is determined that the person can be admitted, the door will be unlocked briefly.
• ALL parents and visitors must proceed directly to the office to sign in and receive a visitor’s badge. The badge must be worn while in the building.
• We will continue to sign students in and out of the building at the front desk in the main office.
• If you need to have something delivered to your child, we will continue to do this through the front desk.

It will be important for you to keep your child’s Emergency Card up to date with the people who have a legitimate reason to visit our school. This information will help us in determining who can be admitted to our building.

Your child’s safety is our highest priority. These procedures will require additional time and patience on everyone’s part. We appreciate your understanding and your help in keeping our schools a safe place for students, staff, parents and community.

My last reminder for March is that spring break begins March 25th through the 29th.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me. Have a great weekend.

Respectfully,


James O’Tremba
Principal, Newton Middle School