April 26, 2015
Good morning. I hope your weekend has gone well so
far.
MAP testing is
almost completed – 8th 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
8th 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
8th 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 1st
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.
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 7th 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:
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
