February 2023 Newsletter

Message from Principal Thompson

As we enter the second semester of the school year, we continue to fill our time at East with choir concerts, ski trips, volleyball, forensics practice and competitions, a choir performance at an Admirals game, basketball tournaments during recess, hanging out at our read-in. Our students continue to get more and more involved at East!  We are especially proud of our students and staff who created a month-long learning experience, through music, images and words celebrating Black History month. 

Congratulations to the 440 students for achieving the second quarter honor roll (3.3 grade point average or higher) and to the 89 who increased their grade point average by .2 points! In addition, 559 students earned Middle School Outstanding Knights for their behavior, attendance and academic accomplishments. Click here to view recognition criteria. We are very proud of our student's academic, athletic and activity accomplishments!  #EMSPROUD!

East Middle School’s Cougar Code goal for the second quarter was “Be Responsible: I can get to class on-time.” To support students in getting to class on-time we added a one-minute warning bell school-wide. Additionally, we explicitly taught lessons focused on the importance of being on time, and strategies for locker-stops to stay organized. After reviewing the tardy data, we are thrilled to share that the students at EMS made huge improvements to getting to class on time! The 6th grade students decreased their total number of tardies by 51%, the 7th grade students decreased their number of tardies by 33% and the 8th grade students decreased their number of tardies by 21%. We had a building wide celebration to celebrate their improvement with getting to class on time! Way to go EMS Cougars! 

Thank you EMS parents/guardians for your continued support and partnership. The success of our students is directly linked to the support they receive from us working together to engage, challenge and inspire them each and every day! 

With gratitude,

Sue Thompson, Principal

Jodi Newell Associate Principal (A-L)

Casey Milroy, Associate Principal (M-Z)

UPCOMING EVENTS

Click HERE to see a full list of upcoming events!

February

Feb 3 - Student Read In Night - 3:45 - 6pm

Feb 10 (Friday) - Student Council Snow Ball Dance 4 - 6PM

Feb 24 (Friday) - No School (Possible Snow Make-Up Day)

March

Mar 2 - Parent Conference 4:30 - 8pm

Mar 27-31 - Spring Break - No School

HONOR ROLL & OUTSTANDING KNIGHTS

COUGAR CODE AWARD WINNERS

COUNSELOR'S CORNER

HAPPENING AT EAST

Students can put pennies and dollar bills in their own house jars in the cafeteria during lunch hours for positive points and silver coins in other grade level jars for negative points! All money collected will go towards the American Heart Association in Heart Research and CPR / AED Awareness! The grade level that wins will earn a small prize after the fundraiser. If you have loose change around your house or just want to help raise AED awareness, please allow students to bring in money to help this cause!

Members of the 8th grade choir performed the national anthem at a Milwaukee Admirals game on January 31. Afterward, the choir stayed to enjoy the game!

We've had a Black History Month Committee working after school for the past month to plan activities to celebrate Black History Month here at East!

Over the course of February, staff and students will enjoy hearing the morning playlist with songs carefully chosen by our committee members to represent Black joy, empowerment, and hope in America. After each song plays at the usual time, we will have a student reading some information about the song/artist every day. 

In addition, our students have put together two slideshows on The Harlem Renaissance, Black Wall Street & The Tulsa Massacre, HBCUs, and Juneteenth, that we are sharing each week with our advisory classes.

Toby created this artwork to show equality. This project was about social justice topics and showing different types of emotions and their connections to color. The use of colored pencils and the faces smiling helps the viewer see what it would be like if everyone was treated equally. Toby loves to draw characters and keeps working hard to perfect his skills. I cannot wait to see what other artwork Toby will make in the future. - Ms. Tupa

PARENT REMINDERS

GOLD SLIPS

Students who will be staying before or after school for clubs, extracurricular activities, tutoring sessions, etc... will need to have a signed Gold Slip until the activity coach or club advisor has the student fill out a code of conduct that is signed by both the student and parent/guardian (if applicable).

Gold Slips can be found in the office or on the Forms section of the EMS website under the Parents tab.

Click HERE to print and fill out a slip to return to the front office.

Cell Phone Free School

Click HERE to view our cell phone and headphones procedure

If you allow your student to bring a phone to school, it will need to be locked in the locker from 8:30 am until 3:45 pm. 

As in the “olden days,” you can contact the office if you need to speak to or get a message to your child.

Absence Reporting

Please call the attendance line at (414) 768-6260 option “1” to report student absences and tardies. When leaving a message, please include the date, first and last name of your student, the spelling and grade.

Additionally you may email attendance information to our general office email address at office.eastmiddle@ocfsd.org

Virtual Backpack

Don’t forget to check your student’s Virtual Backpack! The Virtual Backpack is our "eco-friendly" approach to distributing information supporting our district's educational goals and mission.

Virtual Backpack Link: ocfsd.org/parents/virtual-backpack

Background Checks

The District Volunteer Background Check Application is now online! We will no longer be accepting paper applications. Every volunteer must complete an online volunteer application form even if you were previously approved and are on the Volunteer Database. You will still need to submit an online volunteer application every five years after the initial online application. This new process will have results within 1-2 days!

The link can be found under the Parents tab on the district website. 

Oak Creek-Franklin

East Middle School Contact Info

Website: ocfsd.org/east-middle-school

Main Office: (414) 768-6260

Attendance Line: (414) 768-6260; Option “1”

Attendance Email: office.eastmiddle@ocfsd.org

Food Service: (414) 768-6120

Lunch Menus: ocfsd.org/breakfastlunch

Sue Thompson, Principal

s.thompson@ocfsd.org

Jodi Newell, Associate Principal j.newell@ocfsd.org

(Last name A-L)

Casey Milroy, Associate Principal

c.milroy@ocfsd.org 

 (Last name M-Z)

Jamie Davis, Administrative Assistant, Attendance

j.davis@ocfsd.org

Jill Hanel, Administrative Assistant

j.hanel@ocfsd.org

Kathy Veit, Administrative Assistant, Athletics

k.veit@ocfsd.org 

Emily Splan, School Counselor 

(Last name A-L)

e.splan@ocfsd.org 

Christine Ruz, School Counselor 

(Last name M-Z)

c.ruz@ocfsd.org

Wendy Wright-Kisting, Administrative Assistant 

w.wrightkisting@ocfsd.org