August 8, 2014
Good afternoon.
We held our opening
meeting for LMS building staff this morning.
I think it went very well. We had
an opportunity to catch up with everyone’s summer activities, helped celebrate
two recent marriages, and welcomed new staff to the school family.
We look forward to seeing
you later today, if you have a chance to come by for Community Night. As previously communicated, we typically get
a great turnout, which causes traffic and parking issues. To try to address this, we highly recommend
that:
·
6th
grade students/parents come between 4 and 5 pm
·
7th
grade students/parents come between 5 and 6 pm
·
8th
grade students/parents come between 6 and 7 pm
You will have a chance at
Community Night to:
·
Connect with our
Office staff regarding information, forms, contact updates, locker combinations
and schedule questions. They will be
located in the Library.
·
Sign up for the
LMS Parent Association. They will be in
the Lobby.
·
Purchase LMS
attire (shirts and shorts can be used for PE wear). They will be in the Lobby.
·
Get information
regarding the Ladue Youth Baseball program.
They will either be in the Lobby or the Cafeteria.
·
Get some dinner
provided by the LMS Dads Club, who will begin serving around 5 pm in the
Cafeteria.
·
Drop off donated
supplies (through the LMSPA) in Room 105, which is located between the Lobby
and the Library.
·
Locate and stock
your student’s locker. PLEASE ENSURE
THAT YOUR STUDENT IS USING THEIR ASSIGNED LOCKER, INDICATED ON THEIR
SCHEDULE. Also please be aware that
outside decorations on lockers will be prohibited this year (I will explain
more fully below). Any inside
decorations should be of such nature that they can be easily removed at the end
of the school year.
If you and your family are
not able to come this evening, please be aware that our offices and building
are open next Monday and Tuesday from 8 am to 3:15 pm.
Please be aware that
classroom teachers will not be on duty this evening.
CONGRATULATIONS
and THANKS
Congratulations to Counselor
Janey Worthington (grade 8 for 2014-2015).
Janey was surprised at this morning’s staff meeting with the
announcement that she has been named Missouri Counselor of the Year by the
Missouri School
Counselor Association (MSCA). She will
be honored at the MSCA statewide convention in early November.
CALENDAR ITEMS
Friday,
8/8
Community Night
6th Grade, 4 – 5 pm
7th Grade, 5 – 6 pm
8th Grade, 6 – 7 pm
Tuesday,
8/12
New 7th and 8th
Grade Student Orientation, 8:30 – 10 am
(All 6th Grade Students will have
orientation on the first day of school.)
Wednesday,
8/13
Opening Day of School
Friday,
8/15
Parent Coffee (all
grades), 8:30 – 9:30 am, LMS Cafeteria
Wednesday,
8/20
Meet The Teacher Night,
6:30 – 8:30 pm (more information to follow)
Tuesday,
8/26
After School Activities
begin (Tuesdays and Thursdays)
Wednesday,
8/27
School Picture Day (more
information to follow)
6th Grade Camp
Parent meeting, 7 – 8 pm
CORRECTION/ADDITION(S)
As indicated
in a supplemental message to my previous update, we ask that all cars exiting
our campus in the mornings onto Clayton Road turn RIGHT to keep traffic on our
lot moving. Thank you, so much.
NEW ITEMS
Lockers/Decorations
Historically,
we have allowed students to decorate the outside of their lockers. This year, we are asking that the outside of
lockers remain free of pictures, decorations, stickers, etc. This will include decorations placed on
lockers by other students to celebrate birthdays. We are working on an alternative to allow
students to help their friends celebrate, possibly using notecards which can be
deposited into the locker interiors through vents in the locker door. Our goal is to keep lockers and hallways
clean and clutter-free, and we thank you for your cooperation on this.
Fundraiser Update
We have
typically based our yearly fundraising efforts on magazine sales. We will continue to offer this option, as
well as provide new choices like photo books, photo cards, memory books, photo
gifts and photo calendars. You should be
able to view sample products at tonight’s Community Night at the LMSPA table.
Technology Forms
Parent/Guardian
Technology Agreement and Student User Agreement forms will need to be completed
by all 6th grade parents and students. These forms will be included in 7th
and 8th grade packets and will need to be completed if they do not
currently have one on file. Please
return these forms by Monday, August 18.
UPDATED ITEMS
REPEAT ITEMS
8TH GRADE SPECIFIC
INFORMATION
Packet Pickup/8th
Grade Tdap Immunization
If you
have a student who is entering 8th Grade this fall, a Tdap
vaccination is required. It is a tetanus
booster shot with pertussis (for whooping cough). Most children have had this vaccine somewhere
around their 11th or 12th birthday. The nurse will need an updated vaccination
record to verify that your student has had this immunization prior to the
release of your child’s registration packet.
According to State law, your child may not begin the school year until
we have received the appropriate documentation.
If you need to check to see if your child has a current record on file,
you may contact the LMS Office at 314-993-3900.
If we do not have a record on file, you may have your child’s doctor fax
a current record to LMS at 314-997-8736 or it can be dropped off at our Office
prior to packet pick on August 4 and 5.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Contact Information
It is important for the
middle school to have the correct contact information, address, and phone
numbers for your child in case of an emergency. Address
changes must be done by contacting our registrar and providing appropriate
documentation. Please take a few minutes to make sure your
child’s contact information is correct by logging on to the Parent
Portal. If you have not signed up to access the Parent Portal,
please stop by the middle school with a picture ID and see our registrar, Ms.
Breidenbach. You can also update your information by contacting our
registrar, Ms. Breidenbach at 983-5511.
Lunch Pricing
Our district uses
Chartwells School Dining Services for our school meals program. Information regarding our meal program, as
well as a menu for the month of August, will be available on packet pick up
days. Also included in this information
will be forms for our Free/Reduced meal program for qualifying families.
Meals prices
for the coming year are as follows for LMS students:
Breakfast -
$1.55, ($0.30 for Reduced price)
Lunch - $2.65,
($0.40 for Reduced price)
Milk - $0.55
Chartwells
uses Ladue’s meal accounting system to record student payments and purchases
throughout the school year. A few
reminders:
·
Establish
your student’s meal account before the school year begins.
·
Checks
should be made payable to the Ladue Schools Foodservice, with the student’s
name and amount enclosed in an envelope.
·
Pre-payments
can also be made through myschoolbucks.com.
Please note that it takes 24 to 48 hours for these payments to show on
the student account.
·
Pre-payment
deposits are recommended weekly or monthly to avoid negative student account balances.
Balances from
the previous school year are carried forward to the new school year, and from
school to school. For balance
information, you may call the LMS Office or check myschoolbucks.com.
Phone Routing System
We will be
implementing a phone routing system here soon.
Although it is great to be answered by a real person, this comes as a
result of the numerous calls we receive on our main line during a normal school
day. We have worked to keep the number
of options down to a minimum, to better meet your needs and respect your
time. Once implemented, calls to the
993-3900 number will offer the following options:
·
Clinic
·
Attendance
·
Assistant
Principals’ Office
·
Counselors
·
Registrar
·
All
Others
If the
extension your are attempting to reach is busy, my understanding is that your
call will be re-routed to our main Reception desk. Should this line be busy, it will go directly
to our Receptionist’s voicemail.
School Times
Our
school day begins with 1st period at 8:15 am. Our school day ends with the conclusion of 8th
period at 3:05 pm. Students arriving by car in the morning can access our Lobby
by 7:30 am (prior to that time, we do not have staff on duty for
supervision). Students arriving on
campus between 7:30 am and 7:50 am will be supervised in the Lobby. After 7:50 am, students will be directed to
the following areas, by grade level, before dismissal to the lockers:
·
6th Grade – Cafeteria
·
7th Grade – Gymnasium, Boys side
·
8th Grade – Gymnasium, Girls side
Staff
will be assigned to each area for supervision.
More information regarding traffic practices is below.
Traffic/AM and PM
Since most of
you are returning parents, I have save this for last. Nothing much in terms of procedure has
changed over the last two years.
If you are a
parent new to our building, or if it has been several years since you have had
a student at LMS, you might wish to review the following. Please bear with me, since this is easier to
explain in person than to type out.
Morning
Traffic
We will have
personnel outside to monitor and direct traffic each morning by 7:40 am at the
latest. I usually am located at the
Clayton Road entrance, while a second staff member will be located at the back
entrance to our Circle Drive.
·
Prior
to the arrival of buses at around 7:50 am, all students transported by car can
proceed to the back entrance to the Circle Drive, enter the Circle Drive, and
enter our building through our Main Entrance.
After dropping off students, cars can then exit the Circle Drive onto
Conway Road.
·
Once
buses begin to arrive, cars entering campus will be re-routed to our back
Blacktop. Cars should proceed down the
Maintenance Drive, turn left, and approach our building through the Blacktop. Students can exit cars at the rear door to
the Gymnasium and enter there, under the supervision of a staff member. Depending on time, students will then be
directed to their grade level areas listed above or to their lockers to prepare
for 1st period.
·
After
dropping off students, cars will then exit our campus onto Clayton Road (if
buses are still in the Circle Drive). We
ask that each exiting car PLEASE turn right onto Clayton Road to expedite
traffic flow. Cars waiting to turn left
onto Clayton impede traffic exiting our campus a great deal.
·
Once
all buses have arrived and dropped riders off, cars can then return to drop off
and exit through the Circle Drive (the staff member and I remain outside on
traffic duty until 8:05 am).
·
In
order to avoid the bulk of our traffic issues each morning, it is suggested
that students arrive by car between 7:30 and 7:50 am.
·
We
ask that you not drop off your child in the bank parking lot (causing traffic
stoppages as students must cross Conway Road) and definitely not have students
exit cars while on Conway Road.
Afternoon
Traffic
Buses begin
lining up in our Circle Drive around 2:50 pm.
This blocks the Circle Drive from car access and exiting onto Conway
Road. At the 3:05 pm dismissal, bus
riders are released from the building first, while car riders are held in the
Lobby until buses exit the campus at around 3:15 pm (we get faster after the
first few weeks).
·
Cars
entering our campus are directed to proceed through the Blacktop at the rear of
the building.
·
Cars
then line up in the Maintenance Drive and wait for the release of buses.
·
Once
buses have cleared the Circle Drive, cars can then proceed to the front of the
building to pick up students.
·
If
you will be consistently picking up your student by car in the afternoon, I
would suggest that you not arrive until between 3:15 pm and 3:30 pm.
·
If
you have a need to pick up your student prior to the 3:05 pm dismissal, please
park in our parking lot (rather than the Circle Drive) anytime after 2:45 to
2:50 pm to avoid being blocked by arriving buses.
LMSPA eBlasts
If you are
not currently receiving LMSPA email news blasts but would like to, please click
on the following link to subscribe:
Board Briefs
Information
regarding Ladue Board of Education meetings and work sessions can be found on boardbriefs.blogspot.com
Thank you.
Greg
