FSA testing is literally around the corner. Starting Monday, May 3rd the FSA Reading will begin. Please check your email for details as well as student Canvas pages for daily schedule updates. We wish all students well as they prepare to take the state assessments.

As a reminder, the FSA is only administered Face-to-Face. There will be staggered arrival times for LaunchEd students to reduce congestion as well as staggered dismissal times. Details will be sent via email, posted on our school’s website and available by clicking the link below. 

I thank each parent/guardian in advance for your dedication and support. Also, thank you in advance for your patience as we are hoping for a smooth day of testing. For example, LaunchEd students arriving for testing during the following times will report to the gymnasium where breakfast will be available:

* 8:15 – 6th graders * 8:30 – 7th Graders * 8:45 – 8th Graders

FSA Family Information, click https://tinyurl.com/LMS-FSA2021

Pictured in this issue are images of our students who earned a 4.0 in Quarter III; students who were inducted in the National Junior Honor Society; students voted as Student of the Week (by staff) and lastly our staff voted as Teacher of the Week (by students). All pictures within are of our face-to-face students.

Please make certain that your student is logging in to the device issued to them by the school. This is a requirement for us to keep an inventory of school-issued devices. Please look for information in the near future about whether devices will be collected this year and a schedule for doing so.

LaunchEd Parents: Please be advised that we will not have Device Care from May 4th through May 10th due to testing. If your child is experiencing any issues with his or her device, please make an appointment ahead of time. Any questions should be directed to our Media Center Specialist, Beth Schultz at: beth.schultz@ocps.net

* Device care, as always, is by appointment only.

As you will soon transition from your spring cleaning and summer cleaning, please remember to donate to Liberty’s clothing/shoe recycle bin. Thank you!

YMCA before/after school care is available.

Thank you for reading about some of our recent successes and other Patriot happenings. Enjoy the rest of your week!

Lovely Tinsley

Principal

Liberty Middle School

Pictured very top and just below: Mrs. Tabone’s Band Class

April 29 – Progress Reports Go Home

May 1 – National School Principal's Day

May 3-7 – Teacher Appreciation Week

May 15 – OCPS Virtual Parent Academy - "Catch the Summer Wave"

May 25 – Last Day of School

In the first game, the Red Team beat the White Team 17 to 12. The offense was sparked by Jarelyn Pagan and Jayliana DeJesus. The defense was led by Anais Marin and Evadney Gayle. Adonte Heskey, George LaComb and Nico Huerfano also provided great plays.

The boys' basketball team recently also played their 2nd intramural game: Team Jontae (Red Team) vs Team Darwin (White Team). The Red Team won the game 26-22 and was led in scoring by Zach Guerrero with 12 points and Jontae Bostic with 6 points. Dian Sosa added 6 points including the winning go ahead score and scored 2 points to seal the game. Team Darwin was led in scoring by Jayden Grienlief with 10 points and Darwin Huerfano with 5 points. Both teams played hard and showed a lot of improvement from game 1. Good job guys!

Let’s celebrate the students selected for "Patriot PRIDE" Students of the Week!

As a school we are required to assess a fine for every laptop that is not functioning including but not limited to bad battery, bad motherboard and bad bios. Once sent for repair, if it is determined that the issue is a defect and not damage caused by the student the fine will be reversed.

Please ask your child to take care of their device by protecting it from spills, keeping it on a hard surface or in a padded backpack when not in use and by not downloading any extensions (these can and often do contain malware).

Device fines can be paid through SchoolPay at this link:

Please become a Liberty Middle School PTSA member if you have yet to join. This is a great way to support Liberty and your PTSA. Membership is only $5.00. There is a small fee to purchase memberships online but it is very convenient. You can also pick up a hard copy membership form in the front office.

* If you have not already, please like us on Facebook to keep up with the latest updates at @libertymiddleschoolptsa

Please click here for information from OCPS to help both students and parents with technology support.

OCPS Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Barbara Jenkins, recently released another YouTube Community Update video. These are short (about 6 minutes), but do include a number of important topics that affect our Patriot families such as Covid-19 news, end of year activities, LaunchEd options for 2021-22, and more. It is worth a look when you get a few moments.

The Student Services department has collaborated with the company, Aunt Bertha, to create a customized search engine to help staff, families, and the community better navigate needed social services and resources. The information on the site can be translated into more than 100 languages. https://communityconnect.ocps.net/

Each spring, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics releases a chart that shows what people earn as well and how many people cannot find work by level of education for the prior year. They released their 2020 findings this month and the new chart is presented just below (read full article here).

The lesson for our Patriots? While making money and finding work are not the only reasons for acquiring a good education and taking advantage of all that Liberty Middle & OCPS offer, one day our Patriots will be out in the world on their own. This simple bar chart, which the BLS prepares each year, consistently shows the same pattern: those with more education typically have larger paychecks and much lower odds of being out of work. While this is not always the case, overall this holds true year-after-year. Food for thought!

Copyright Notice

Reproduction of this material, either written or electronically, including the general layout, graphics, analyses, and content topics without the express approval of Target Performance Systems, Inc., a Florida corporation, and OCPS - Liberty Middle School is forbidden without written consent. Thank you for your support of the Orange County Public Schools and especially Liberty Middle School. Please contact Lovely Tinsley at lovely.tinsley@ocps.net with any questions related to the program.

Liberty Middle School | Ms. Tinsley, Principal | 407.249.6440 | Liberty Website