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Middle School Families:
One of my favorite times of the year is March Madness, but it is hard to believe that time of year is nearly here. Historically spring is an exciting time for sure, but also a stretch of the school year where everyone becomes a little restless, myself and adults included as well as students, as snow starts melting, the sun is out longer and we enter into the last third of the school year. With this in mind, I have several items to update you all on and share information about.
This past Monday morning, we had an all staff meeting to remind ourselves as adults what are all the expectations that we have for each other and our students. We reviewed some of our student and family handbook slides to make sure that we are being consistent with our approach as it relates to several expectations but specifically cell phone use and hallway and bathroom expectations. We are adjusting hallway support to better supervise bathroom areas. This necessitates closing two bathrooms. Some of these shifts and changes were due to student decisions and behaviors that were not good decisions and broke some trust in our school community and culture.
That same day 2nd hour, we had an all school virtual meeting where Mr. Muata and I talked to the whole student body, reminding all students of expectations that we have had since the beginning of the year and also sharing with them the changes we made to hallway/bathroom supervision. We also held a conversation in Advisory and gathered student voice and perspective about ways in which trust can be restored within our school community. Our plan is to continue to be as consistent as possible as a staff with regard to the expectations we have in place, and will continue our support and monitoring in hallways and by bathrooms for the time being and future.
I also want to highlight our Black History Month recognitions and activities that happened in February, as well as our Black History Student Showcase that is happening tomorrow for each grade level. Advisories completed their doors that highlight an important Black individual as we’ll be doing a schoolwide learning walk to see these the week of March 6th. ( See pictures below) We also had a Black History Spirit Week dress-up each day this week as well. I want to thank all of our staff members who helped make this month memorable and special for all our students and our entire school community.
The 8th grade Community Project is now well under way. 8th grade students should now have their groups selected and are brainstorming topic ideas. They will spend next week in Keystone writing about their prior knowledge and doing research in their digital notebooks. 7th grade is in their Action project right now, which is done as an entire Advisory class to practice for their 8th grade Community Project. 6th grade is working right now to complete their Legacy Project, which is done individually during Advisory. Please ask your student about how their project is going.
Thank you families for your partnership and support and please continue to let us know if there is anything we can do to help your child reach their full potential and brilliance.
Jason Boll
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