Trying Something New

In our continuing effort to improve, I've put together a very short survey that I hope will prove successful and lead to more surveys. On our SCMS main webpage you'll see a link that says "September Parent Survey" It's on the right side about half way down. Please take a minute to take the survey. As the bar in education continues to rise, the importance of us working as a team is becoming more and more essential. In order for that to happen, we need feedback. I hope this proves to be a successful and easy tool to help accomplish that.

Thanks and please help spread the word

First Week......Done!

Great first week. We should have most of the rules, classroom procedures and "newness" out of the way. Next week is going to be a busy, busy week. We really start to focus in on our mission of student achievement. Our No Zero policy will kick in with lunchtime homework help followed by Saturday School for those that are falling behind. We have our Open House Tuesday at 7:00 pm followed by our Washington DC meeting at 8:00. Hope to see everyone there.

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend.

My Goals....

I have many goals but the two that jump to the top of the first page is Student Achievement and our focus on No Bullying. I'd like to spend just a few seconds giving my thoughts on bullying. I hate bully's. It's unfortunate that many kids at this age go through a stage that they feel the need to bring themselves up by putting someone else down. It is a daily goal of mine to deal with educating our students that this is not how young adults act. What has complicated our job (yours as parents too) is technology. Facebook, Myspace and texting make saying hurtful things way too easy. It is my goal to really hammer that phase of bullying this year. One of the best tools we have is through education and awareness. Please take a second to check out this website. It has to do with text slang. Odds are if you or I picked up our child's cell phone and saw a bunch of jumbled up letters we'd have no idea what it meant. This isn't meant to scare you....we've got great kids...but as a parent (or a principal) you can never have enough knowledge.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/26/kids.drugs.text/index.html?iref=obinsite

First Impressions

Day one....done! Whew....what a whirlwind. Hats off to everyone for making this day a success....and in everyone I mean students, parents, teachers, custodians, office staff, lunch ladies, cafeteria workers, parapros and bus drivers (and anyone else I happened to miss). It was definitely a team effort. As far as my first impressions of the hand SCMS has been dealt this year, I'm very impressed. The kids....I mean young adults,....were very respectful and attentive during my 30 minute talk in the gym. Most of them were very friendly, made eye contact and would have a conversation with me (which isn't always easy when you're in middles school and are talking to the principal who happens to be 6'7").

It's been a good day. Thanks for having great kids.

Short Term Memory Test

Every fist day is filled with new "stuff". Locker combs, classes, class rules and my annual class assembly to welcome them back, go over some school rules and set some expectations. When you get a chance in the next few days ask your son/daughter what they remember about my talk. Here are some highlights. Our No Zero policy and the consequences of not doing homework. Dress code (always a highlight of my talk), behavior, put downs/bullying...especially the texting/facebook/cyber bullying, cell phones in the school and setting short term goals. If they got most of that from my talk then mission accomplished. Any support/reinforcement of those thoughts you can give at home would be greatly appreciated. It's going to be a great year.

SCMS is a Peanut Free School

It is unbelievable how many peanut allergies we have.....really. A few years ago we would designate certain classrooms to be peanut free but it's gotten to the point that we just made the whole building peanut free....sort of. This applies to all hallways and classrooms. The lunch room we will still allow PB and J sandwiches (for us dads that don't know how to make any other type of lunch) and other peanut products. During lunch we will have certain tables that are designated as peanut free tables for those students that are allergic to peanuts. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to call.

Congrats to Future Poets

Bettina Lee, a current 7th grader, was selected out of thousands of entries in a contest of young poets as being one of the Top Ten poets in the contest at her grade level. Her entry will be included in an anthology along with many other entries. Bettina will be receiving a $50 savings bond and a complimentary copy of the book. A special thank you to Mrs. Mullins for organizing this and congratulations to a number of other members of her class that will also have their poems included in the anthology.