April 26, 2015

Good morning.  I hope your weekend has gone well so far. 

MAP testing is almost completed – 8^th graders have a few more days to go this coming week.  With the change over to the new electronic format, testing has actually gone better than I anticipated – even with our Internet issues from last Thursday.  This has been due to the diligence of our staff, the persistence of our building and district tech support team, and the patience and focus of our great students.

Interviews will continue for at least this week to replace departing staff.  These often take all day (as will be the case Monday and Tuesday).  I am VERY PLEASED with the candidates we have recommended to date, and pledge that we will continue to persist in seeking and securing the services of the highest-quality teachers and staff members available for the coming school year.  Several of our recent recommendations are still in the Board approval process, so I cannot share specifics at this time.  Once this process is completed and contracts have been finalized, I will communicate a list of new staff (with brief biographies) to returning parents for 2015-2016 at the earliest opportunity.

Finally, I omitted some items from last week’s Update and made at least one mistake.  Just to be on the safe side, the items I think were left out, or incorrect, are highlighted in the remaining portion of this message.

CONGRATULATIONS and THANKS

Congratulations to the LMS Milers Club and coaches Roger Scherck and Hanna Bremerkamp.  The team competed in the Go! St. Louis 5K race on Saturday, April 11, and did a great job.

Great Job to The LMS Partners Club (an afterschool club for students with and without disabilities), who collected ten giant bags of used shoes for Shoeman Water Projects.  Several club members helped load the bags on Monday, April 20, when the Shoeman van came to pick up the donation.  The shoes are sold by street vendors in Kenya, Haiti and South America, with the funds going to provide wells for people in the world with no access to fresh water. ​

Congratulations to our two newest members of the LMS family:

·      Makenna Wideman.  Makenna was born on April 20 to LMS PE/Health teacher Vanessa Wideman.

·      Helena Kay (Hattie) Scheidt.  Hattie was born on April 21 to LMS Drama teacher Leah Scheidt. 

School Nurse Day is May 6.  Many thanks to our wonderful Nurse, Christina Patrick.

Congratulations to the following students who participated in the annual Area Wide Book Battle competition recently at Pattonville Heights Middle School.  They placed 4th out of 35 participating schools:  Alice Breternitz, Stephen Jiang, Malavika Kumaran, Rohan Kumaran, Ryan Lam, Alvin Li, Ben Wang and Louisia Yang.  A huge thank you to LMS Library Media Specialist Narcisse Laidlaw and LMS Apogee Teacher Donna Bancroft coordinating this event.

CALENDAR ITEMS

Monday, 4/27

Patriot Team field trip

Tuesday, 4/28

MAP Testing, Grade 8 (Math classroom activity); regular schedule

All District Choral Festival; Logan College Of Chiropractic; 7 pm (omission)

Wednesday, 4/29

MAP Testing, Grade 8 (Math performance task)

LMS Band Concert; LHWHS Performing Arts Center; 7 – 8:30 pm (omission)

Friday, 5/1

Early Release Day; 12:40 pm

8^th Grade Semi-Formal; 7:30 – 10 pm

Monday, 5/4

Teacher Appreciation Week

World Language Week

LMS Scholastic Book Fair; Library; through Wednesday, 5/6  (omission) 

Wednesday, 5/6

School Nurse Day

LMS Orchestra Concert, grades 6 – 8; 7 – 8:30 pm; LHWHS Performing Arts Center

Friday, 5/8

Citizenship Ceremonies; LMS Gym: Grade 8 8:15 – 9:15 am, Grade 7 9:30 – 10:30 am, Grade 6 12:45 – 1:45 pm

Thursday, 5/14

Last day for After School Activities

Thursday, 5/21

8^th grade field trip to Six Flags

Friday, 5/22

Last day for Students

Grade 8 Farewell Assembly; 12 noon; LMS Gym (corrected time)

Grade 7 and Grade 6 field trips (more information to follow)

CORRECTIONS/ADDITIONS

Please see above.

NEW ITEMS

Challenger Baseball/Girl Scout Gold Award Project

LMS students have the chance to support Challenger Baseball on Friday, May 1, with a Hat Day.  For a $1 donation, collected in the Welcome Center Lobby prior to the beginning of 1^st period, students may wear a hat to classes and show their support of this wonderful organization.  Challenger Baseball is a non-profit that provides opportunities to people of all ages with developmental disabilities to play baseball.  For more information on volunteering opportunities, go to www.challengerbaseball.org

From the Nurse

The nurse wants to remind all parents that students are not allowed to transport any medications to school.  Parents must deliver and pick up all medications to and from the nurse and ALL medications require a signature from a doctor - including all over the counter medicines.  A Medication Administration Form is to be completed when your child will come into our office and we will administer medication to them. This covers ANY prescription medication and/or over-the-counter medication. This form must be signed by a parent and accompanied by the prescription in the original bottle. If it is an over-the-counter medication, the form must also be signed by a physician.  Click on the link below to access the form or you may also visit the nurse's web page  on the LMS website.

Medication Administration Form

We Are Silent Day

Plans are finalized for the "We Are Silent Day" for May 7.  This event is sponsored by Social Justice Club, GSA, and Character Council.  The act of silence represents those who do not have a voice bullying, women’s rights, gay and lesbian rights, children’s rights, poverty, and race issues.  Students can sign up to participate in the Welcome Center Lobby before school on that day.  They will then receive a sticker to wear to all classes.  On the sticker, they will write the cause they are being silent for.  Participating students are then not supposed to talk all day: not in classes, the hallway, the cafeteria.....etc.  Students will also be able to sign up at lunch if they missed the morning opportunity.  We will post all students participating in a internal Google document so that teachers can have information of who is participating. 

LMSPA Spring Fundraising

The Ladue Middle School Parent Association is finalizing preparations for their annual Spring Gift & Project and 8th Grade Legacy Gift drives.  Letters and staff acknowledgment forms should be arriving by mail at all LMS households this week, starting as soon as this Tuesday.

UPDATED ITEMS

REPEAT ITEMS

Fill The Barrel

The District Character Education Committee, in cooperation with Operation Food Search, will be collecting donated food items at each district building to help support area food pantries (that have reduced inventories this time of year).  Food barrels are scheduled to be at LMS (in the Welcome Center Lobby) from April 21 to May 1.

Current 7^th grade students/Immunizations for next year

Students entering 8th grade in the state of Missouri are required to receive the TDaP (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis) immunization.  This is usually given by a doctor at age 11 or 12.  If your child has not received this immunization, please consult your physician.  If you have records showing that your child has received it, please provide them to the nurse's office.

LMSPA eBlasts

If you are not currently receiving LMSPA email news blasts but would like to, please click on the following link to subscribe:

http://mylmspa.us7.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=8186aab01aeae3b063b04d395&id=3b63071451

Board Briefs

Information regarding Ladue Board of Education meetings and work sessions can be found on boardbriefs.blogspot.com

Well, I think I have this correct.  Should any additional information be needed, I will try to send out an updated Update between interviews tomorrow.

Have a great remainder to your weekend.

Greg