September 8, 2015
Good afternoon. I hope that you and your families enjoyed the
extended Labor Day weekend and holiday.
Just a couple of quick
reminders about student drop off and pick up:
·
I do not have a
staff member scheduled to watch the Lobby and monitor the front doors, to let
students in each morning, until 7:15 am.
I am typically here between 6:30 and 7 am, and am happy to play doorman
when I can. This is not always the case
during the school year, as I will be pulled away for meetings, conferences and
other commitments. As weather gets into
the colder portion of the year, I do not want students waiting outside in the
mornings.
·
Our after school
Activities period ends at 4:10 pm each Tuesday and Thursday. I am only able to keep my support staff
people in the afternoons until 4:30 pm at the latest. Please keep this in mind should you pick up
your student by car on these days from Activities.
The district will host two
types of functions regarding the potential LHWHS Renovation plans to date:
·
Community Forums
– September 24 and September 30, both beginning at 7 pm in the LHWHS Cafeteria.
·
Open House/Tours
of LHWHS – The week of October 5 through 9, beginning at 6 pm each evening. High School and district administrators will
be available to answer questions and guide visitors through the building. Each tour is expected to take about 20
minutes.
Additional background and
research, as well as funding plans and current concepts under consideration can
be found at:
CONGRATULATIONS
and THANKS
One
of our unique student incentives for our Parent Association fundraiser involves
a “Color Run” prize in which they will be able to throw colored powder (corn
starch-based) at their principal and other faculty/staff volunteers. If you have ever participated in a Color Run,
you can imagine what we will look like when this is over. I would like to publicly thank (and hopefully
ensure the involvement of) Sara Eller, Jay Burbridge, Mark Biernbaum, Hugh
McMonigle, Kathleen Mercury, KK Fantasia and Roger Scherck for agreeing to join me in this little slice of
fun. We have not determined a date as
yet.
On a related note, I am not
aware of any students in our building with allergies that would be adversely
affected by participating in this incentive, should they qualify. I asked our school nurse, Christina Patrick,
to do a check of current health plans last week. If your child has an allergy (i.e. corn- or
corn starch-related) that would prevent them from participating, please contact
me and Christina Patrick to let us know.
My email is gbaber@ladueschools.net
and Christina’s is cpatrick@ladueschools.net
CALENDAR ITEMS
Monday, 9/7
Labor Day: No School
Tuesday, 9/8 through
Friday, 9/11
Discovery Education testing; Block Day
schedules
Thursday, 9/10
Fundraiser turn in day #1 (all lunches)
Thursday, 9/17
Bus Evacuation drills (periods 2 and 3)
Fundraiser turn in day #2 (all lunches)
Monday, 9/21
7th Grade Trip
Thursday, 9/24
Fundraiser late turn in day (all
lunches)
Severe Weather drill (beginning of
Period 7)
Friday, 9/25
Ladue Education Foundation Annual
Breakfast
Saturday, 9/26
‘Due Run 4 Education 5k and 1 mile fun
run/walk
Monday, 9/28
6th Grade Camp session 1 (through
Wednesday, 9/30)
Wednesday, 9/30
6th Grade Camp session 2 (through
Friday, 10/2)
Friday, 10/2
Custodian Appreciation Day
CORRECTIONS/ADDITION
NEW ITEMS
LMSPA
Fundraiser (from the Parent Association)
The LMSPA Fall Fundraiser is underway! This year the
fundraiser will offer many new options: 1) Entertainment App for
discounts in the area right on your phone! 2) Gourmet food items -
candy, nuts, baked good, cheese and sausage, and gift items 3) Digital photo
gift items 4) And of course, the opportunity to renew and purchase new
magazines.
We are really excited to
offer so many fresh, new ways to support LMS! Remember funds are used by
the Parents association to provide additional technology, support for
teachers, and enrich LMS for all students.
Your student brought home
the information on
Thursday. Orders can be placed on the website, gafundraising.com,
school id # 2652758, with the exception of items from the Festival catalog.
Items from Festival must be ordered on a paper order form and will
be ready for pickup from LMS on conference days. All other items can be
ordered online and will be shipped home. The Entertainment App as well as
several restaurant gift cards can be found under the Easy Access list on the
website.
The first turn-in is
9/10. Please complete the tear off
turn-in form on the prize sheet and have your student bring it to lunch on the
10th for prizes. The second turn-in day is 9/17. Thank you in
advance for supporting your student's school!
Contact: Elizabeth
Cobin, cobin@att.net
UPDATED ITEMS
From our Transportation Department
The transportation
department is committed to having buses arrive on time at
schools in the morning and afternoon. The start of the school year is
always somewhat chaotic due to changes associated with new students and bus
routes. We try to make changes as quickly as possible.
However,
not all the impacting factors are under our control. For instance, private
schools have recently opened, which has impacted the timing of Ladue
School District bus routes.
As a result, during the first 3 - 5
weeks of each school year, a series of
changes are made adding stops and
adjusting the timing of routes. For the most part, the routes
normally settle down shortly after Labor Day.
We have been monitoring the
routes daily via GPS. Last week, a
number of changes to bus routes went into effect. Stops were added to
some bus routes and timing was adjusted on others. We anticipate one more
series of tweaks shortly after
Labor Day.
REPEAT ITEMS
Fall Parent Teacher
Conferences
PT Conferences are Wednesday, October 21,
2015 (3:40-7:40
p.m.) and Thursday,
October 22, 2015 (1:20-7:20 p.m.). Your child was given a postcard on Friday, August 28 to take home. Please refer to the post
card for instructions on how to sign up.
To sign up, please visit the following
website:
https://www.myconferencetime.com/laduems/
You may also access the website by
going to our school's webpage using the following link:
http://www.ladue.k12.mo.us/lms/
Prior to signing up,
please carefully review the
instructions that are provided
on the first page of the website.
The online scheduler
goes live at 8:00
p.m. on Friday, August 28.
Slots fill up very quickly, so please sign up ASAP.
Girl Scout Community Take Action Projects
One of our students started a middle school kids book review
blog as part of her Silver Award project earlier this year. Book reviews
are posted each week, along with information about new books by favorite
authors, author visits to the St. Louis area, and guest posts from other middle
school kids. There is a place on the blog to subscribe to updates by
email. Here's the link to the blog:
http://www.thereadingramsbookblog.blogspot.com/
A second Take Action project is entitled “Kids Knitting It
Forward.” This project involves knitting items like baby socks,
hats, and scarves for charities such as Newborns in Need of Eastern Missouri
and HavenHouse St. Louis. Students 4th grade and older of any skill level are
welcome. Time spent attending meetings and knitting items can be counted
towards community service hours. More information can be obtained by emailing kidsknittingitforward@gmail.com and meeting dates/times can be accessed at http://kidsknittingitforward.blogspot.com/
8th graders
Spanish students
Do you want to use your language skills in Spanish as well as spend time with friends on the beach and have an adventure at the Yunque rainforest? Do not miss the great opportunity to travel to Puerto Rico during Spring Break 2016. If you would like more information contact Ms. Berrios aberrios@ladueschools.net
Do you want to use your language skills in Spanish as well as spend time with friends on the beach and have an adventure at the Yunque rainforest? Do not miss the great opportunity to travel to Puerto Rico during Spring Break 2016. If you would like more information contact Ms. Berrios aberrios@ladueschools.net
Meet The Teacher Night survey
Thank you to all parents who attended our Meet The Teacher Night
on Wednesday, August 19. We appreciate the time you give in partnership
with our school to benefit our students. Please provide us with some
feedback about the evening through this short survey.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LMSMTTN2015
7th Grade Trip
To all 7th grade
parents: The permission packets for the
7th grade trip to Trout Lodge and City Museum on Monday, September 21 were
sent home last week. If your child needs another copy please see
the home page of the LMS website. The cost of the trip is $75 and financial aid
is available for any family that requests it. Students that have an out of school suspension
or more than one in school suspension assignment will not be eligible to
attend. We will gladly welcome donations
to help cover the costs of scholarships. We are also in need of parent chaperones. We would ideally like 20 parents for Trout
Lodge and 40 parents for City Museum. Please email lcrabtree@ladueschools.net with any questions. Thank you.
Megan
Meier Assembly
The Megan Meier Foundation, which provides anti-bullying
presentations, will provide two assemblies to our school on October 9 (this is
an Early Release day). Since each
presentation in the Gym will last longer than our regular ER day class periods,
we will utilize the following schedule:
·
8th
Grade: 8:20 – 9:15 am
·
6th
and 7th Grades: 9:49 – 10:45 am
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.
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. I hope your week goes well.
Greg
