August 13th, 2021

 Good Evening Parents/Guardians and Students:

We’ve had a great beginning in our new building. Overall two very smooth days. Please be patient with us as we are working out the kinks in several areas. The parking lot and entrance to the pick up/drop off lanes was better today I am sure as time goes by and we acclimate to the new situation this will iron itself out. In the meantime please be patient and understanding of each other as we traverse through the parking lot and entrance/exit to the building. All students who are being driven to school should be dropped off in the pick up/drop off lane….students please do not walk through the parking lot to enter the building, please take the sidewalks.

As you move through the pick up/drop off loop please follow the instructions of the signs and the adults directing traffic. Please pull as far forward as possible. All students will need to enter the building in the following manner, sixth grade the main entrance to the building and seventh and eighth grade students at the athletic entrance. Students will be allowed to enter the building at 8:30 am. 6th grade students will wait in the main entrance hallway, seventh and eighth grade students will need to wait in the commons/cafeteria area.

Parent Pickup and Drop Off

When dropping off and/or picking up your student at Newton, please stay in the right lane and pull forward as far as possible, in our front loop, before letting your student out of the car.  Students should be prepared to exit your vehicle as soon as the traffic line stops in the right drop off/pickup lane.   Please understand that you may end up driving past the main entrance or athletic entrance in order to drop your child off in the drop off loop.  Pulling all the way forward to the end of the loop alleviates traffic on Arapahoe Road and ensures a safe and efficient process.  After you have dropped your student, you may utilize the left lane to exit. If you are picking up on the Newton campus, ALL students should be picked up from in front of the school building, and not along the grassy area as you drive in.  Have your children stay in front of the building and wait for you to pull up.

Pedestrian and Bikes

If your student is walking or riding a bike, they should use the sidewalk along Arapahoe Road instead of using the sidewalks through the center of the parking lot.  This process will support student safety and alleviate pedestrian traffic in the parent drop off and pick up lane.   Students should refrain from using the bus loop entrance off of Colorado Blvd as this is a safety concern and also a construction zone.

As we move through the school year please keep in mind that I structure our administrative team a little different than most middle schools. Your point of contact for sixth grade issues, concerns, scheduling etc is Mrs. Huck. She is the Asst Principal that supervises sixth grade. For seventh grade the point of contact is Mr. Wyckhuyse, Asst Principal and I serve as the building principal and I also supervise the eighth grade.

The three of us will begin hosting our discipline talks with students. Mrs. Huck will address the sixth graders, Mr. Wyckhuyse the seventh and I will work with the eighth graders. In the meantime here are some important reminders regarding some of the items we will address when we meet with students.

Students are allowed to bring their cellphones to school. However, upon arriving at school the phone needs to be turned off and placed in the students' backpack until the end of the school day at which time the student may turn on the cell phone and exit the building.  Students are NOT allowed to use their cell phones at any time during the school day, including recess, lunch and in the hallways or learning pod areas.

Students found using their cell phones will have their phones confiscated and turned into the office.  A Parent MUST pick up the cell phone from the office during school hours.  There will be no exceptions to this rule. 

We will begin enforcing the school dress code next week. Please review the dress code on our website under the student handbook. The dress code section is on page seven and eight. We will be updating several sections in the student handbook over the next couple of weeks, mainly the section on grading as we will be moving toward standards based grading this year.

Have a phenomenal weekend. Students, we will see you for the first full week of school on Monday.

James O’Tremba

Principal, Newton Middle School