January 5, 2009 Weekly Announcements

Monday
January 5

8:00, Magnet Meeting, Conference Room - Kevin, Atiba, Tamela, Barb. W, Monica L., David

9:30, GEAR-UP meeting - Mary, Atiba, Kevin

5:50, 7th Boys Basketball "B" tournament game, Hillside, at Mattawan
6:30, 8th Boys Basketball "B" tournament game, Mattawan at Maple St.

7:00, Student Assignment Committee Meeting, West Main - Kevin

Tuesday
January 6

8:00, Instructional Leadership, West Main - Kevin

Wednesday
January 7

7:30, Assistant Principal's Meeting, West Main - Maggie

4:25, 7th Boys Basketball "A" tournament game, Portage North at Portage Central
5:20, 8th Boys Basketball "A" tournament game, Hillside at Maple St.

Thursday
January 8

3:30, Leadership Team Meeting, Room 415

Friday
January 9

9:00, New Middle School Planning Meeting, Tower Pinkster - Kevin

Sunday
January 11

1:00, MLK Celebration, WMU - Mary, Atiba, Kevin


There is no staff meeting on Monday. We will be meeting next Monday for staff meeting and department time. We are scheduled for staff development on Wednesday, January 14. This will be a building based staff development.

Hopefully, you had some time to talk on team about revisiting PBS lessons the first week in January. Our plan was to reteach the beginning of school lessons on behavior expectations across the school. On Thursday we are going to follow up with call in/out show during the advisory time to review and reinforce those expectations.

This week our advisory plan is to provide students with a report of their progress, the all subjects assignment report. We will then do a review game on PBS from the studio. We will provide you with information on time and details during the morning announcements.

Condolences to Julie, who's mother passed away this past week. She will be out of the building on Monday and Tuesday.

Boys basketball teams complete their season this week with tournament games at various middle schools in our league.

December 15, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
December 15

2:30, PBS Team Meeting, Room 415

2:30, Holiday Staff Gathering, Library

3:00/4:15 Basketball Games, Gym

6:00, Parent Advisory Meeting, Room 415

7:00, Middle School Student Assignment Committee, West Main - Kevin

Tuesday
December 16

7:30, Secondary Principal's Meeting, West Main - Kevin

Wednesday
December 17

3:00/4:15 Basketball Games, Gym

4:00, Secretarial Interview - Kevin, Maggie, Deb

Thursday
December 18

12:45, Assembly - Band Concert

4:00, Leadership Team Meeting, TBA

Friday
December 19

8:00, Magnet Leadership Team Meeting - Kevin, Tamela, Atiba, David



The PBS team will meet for a half hour, 2:30-3:00, Monday to plan the review of building expectations when we come back from break in January.

The support staff team cordially invites everyone to participate in their week long luncheon Holiday Feast in the staff lounge from 10- 1 every day.

We host a pre-holiday basketball tournament this week on Monday and Wednesday with two games each afternoon. Maple St., Hillside, Paw Paw Trinity and Milwood.

Thursday we will follow an assembly day schedule and will hold the assembly at 12:45, which will be directly after 6th period. We will ask that teachers dismiss students from their 6th period class to the assembly. We will then dismiss after the assembly back to our 7th period classes. Mr. Drummer is bringing the Norrix band to perform along with our band.

We will meet with the leadership team this Thursday away from school. Tamela will send members of the leadership team information on the location this week.

The building will be closed through most of the break. I'll be in some days, if you'd like to get in to work, touch base with me before you leave on break.

December 8, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
December 8

1:00, After-school Meeting - Molly, Mary and Kevin.

2:40, Staff Meeting

3:00, Boys Basketball, Portage West, 7th grade home, 8th grade away

7:00, Pupil Assignment Committee, West Main - Kevin

Tuesday
December 9

8:00, SIOP training, West Main - Kevin

2:00, Magnet Leadership Meeting, Ad. Bldg. - Kevin

7:00, Holiday - Band/Choir/Orchestra Concert, Loy Norrix

Wednesday
December 10

3:00, Middle School Counselors Meeting, West Main - Ellen, Stephen

3:00, Boys Basketball, Mattawan, 7th grade away, 8th grade home

Thursday
December 11

Friday
December 12

7:00, School Dance


We will meet together as a group at the beginning of staff meeting on Monday and then we'll break into departments for department meetings. I gave department heads a copy of Marzano's book Building Academic Vocabularies. If you are a department head and did not receive one please see me I have a few left. This will be part of the department meeting agenda.

We decided at our last leadership meeting to use advisory time as an opportunity to clarify academic performance and problem areas with students. We wanted all students to get a copy of their status with assignments and current grades. Advisory teachers would run the "Student Assignment Report-All Classes-Six Weeks" for each of their students an provide them with a copy during advisory time. Please plan to do this Thursday, or see me if you are unsure of this report.

We have an assembly scheduled for Thursday, November 18. Mr. Drummer will bring the Loy Norrix band over for a Holiday Concert. We will follow the assembly schedule on this day. We'll have to flip the assembly with last hour, so the assembly would run 12:47 to 1:29 and then we would go into 7th hour at 1:33. This would allow the Norrix students to get back to the high school and catch their busses.

Renee Patterson will start as a substitute Attendance Interventionist, Monday and will work out of the office next to me. If you have any specific attendance issues or information relating to attendance you may see her. We are very backed up in terms of our attendance work.

Mr. Whilhite and Mr. Logan, who are both boys basketball coaches began last week as substitute building mentors in the absence of Ms. Mickens. They are here everyday from 10-2.

December 1, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
December 1

2:40, Professional Development, room 415

4:00, Boys basketball, Parchment, 7th grade home, 8th grade away

Tuesday
December 2

8:00, Instructional Leadership, West Main - Kevin

11:00, 6th Grade Transition Meeting, West Main - Kevin

2:00, Meeting with NBA - Kevin

4:00, Secretary Interviews - Maggie, Kevin, Deb

Wednesday
December 3

Building Team
9:00, Cassar
9:30, Kendall
10:00, Cook
10:30, Rogers
11:00, Frazier

3:00, Boys basketball, Hillside, 7th grade away, 8th grade home

4:00, Secretary Interviews - Maggie, Kevin, Deb

Thursday
December 4 - Assembly Schedule

1:00, New Middle School Meeting, Tower-Pinkster - Kevin

3:30, Leadership Team Meeting, Room 415

Friday
December 5

9:00, Milwood Merit Awards Program, Cafeteria


KCIS is running a dental clinic in our building on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. There were a number of parents who wanted to take advantage of this service. This may require some students to come out of a class for a treatment.

On Thursday we will follow the assembly schedule instead of the advisory schedule. We are doing this because we must administer a GEAR-UP survey to all the students in the school and it could take up to 40 minutes. So students will report to the advisory class. All teachers will have surveys to distribute to students for this special version of advisory. Please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions.

We have professional development Monday afternoon. While we have a range of topics to discuss our focus will be on taking the Magnet evaluation feedback and using it for school improvement purposes. I am attaching a copy of the magnet evaluation to this week's announcements for any staff members who were not present last Monday for the feedback.

Molly will be starting the after school program on Monday December 8. A reminder to all staff that you are responsible for escorting students out of the building if they staff after school with you for whatever reason. Their is no designated after school supervisor. The city bus makes a pick up about 3:20 right in front of the building. The next bus doesn't come until 3:50 and then 4:50. If they miss a bus students must be supervised.

Dr. Rice will be the speaker during for our merit awards program on Friday morning. We had 19 students nominated and there will be a breakfast and parents were invited to attend the program. It will be held in the cafeteria.

New schedules should be passed out in 1st period Monday. Please don't send students to the student center because they don't like their schedule. There is a process everyone should go through to see their counselor. If there is a glaring error then call to the counselors for direction.

November 24, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
November 24

8:00, Magnet Construction Meeting - Kevin, Atiba, Tamela

2:30, Voluntary Feedback Celebration, Room 415

3:00, Basketball, Maple St., 7th away, 8th grade home

3:00, Department Heads Meeting, Office Conference Room

7:00, Pupil Assignment Committee Meeting - Kevin

Tuesday
November 25

11:00, New Middle School Furniture Committee Meeting, Tower-Pinkster - Kevin

1:30, Family Computer Project Meeting - Mary, Kevin, Melissa, Mark, Atiba


Wednesday
November 26

Thanksgiving Break Begins



We have a short week, with a half day on Tuesday. We'll be on an 1/2 day AM "A" day schedule. Which means you'll see your first 3 periods with the exception of 8th grade. All students will report to 7th period and will do explore testing all morning long.

We had very positive report from evaluators on Friday in our feedback session. We will meet in room 415 to share this information with anyone who would like to hear it. There will be snacks and refreshments. We were able to get evaluators in to most classrooms. There were a few instances where we ran into plan time conflicts. I want everyone to know that the building and the curriculum demonstrated significant improvement from the last visit in February. I bumped the department head meeting back to 3:00 and we'll meet for about a 1/2 an hour in the office.

Ellen sent out a email earlier, GRADES!!!!!!!!!!!!!, outlining expectations for marking cards and teacher responsibilities. Be sure you have read it thoroughly and ask questions if you are unsure of anything. Each teacher is individually responsible for doing their part and completing all necessary changes and card marking and getting it done accurately.

A few items from our principals' meeting last week that Mrs. Chalmers asked us to share with staff:

Do not use the district global e-mail unless you have cleared it with Alex Lee.

Do not send Dr. Rice e-mails, if you have questions of him or want to let him know something - you are to follow chain of command.

If you do not sign in for professional development or your signature in illegible you can be docked for non-attendance.

All conference and workshops that are outside of Kalamazoo must be approved by the executive cabinet. Which means the request must be put into writing and must be submitted with adequate time for review.

Second Set of Eyes is a district program to get central office administrators into buildings and classrooms and to provide feedback about teaching and learning. Not everyone will get a visit but annually a certain portion of the district will experience this process. This is not a replacement for my evaluation process with staff.

November 17, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
November 17

2:30, KEA Meeting, Room 415

3:00, Boys Basketball, Portage North, 7th grade - home, 8th grade - away.

6:00, Parent Advisory Meeting, Room 415 - Mary, Maggie

7:00, Pupil Assignment Committee, West Main - Kevin

Tuesday
November 18

5:00, 6th grade Girls Basketball - at Lincoln

7:30, Secondary Principal's Meeting, West Main

Wednesday
November 19

8:00, Parent Involvement Meeting - Kevin, Mary

3:00, Boys Basketball, Maple St. , 7th grade - away, 8th grade - home

6:00, Dinner w/Magnet Evaluators - Kevin

Thursday
November 20

8:30, Magnet Meeting - Atiba, Kevin, Tamela

3:30, Leadership Meeting, Rm. 415

5:00, 6th grade Girls Basketball - at Spring Valley

Friday
November 21

7:45, Magnet Evaluation

2:30, Feedback Session with Evaluators, West Main - Kevin, Atiba, Tamela



Reminder that Erin has a field trip with some of her Spanish students to Chicago this Thursday.

Thanks to everyone for helping get lesson plans in to me by Friday. It was very helpful to get the binder together this weekend and then get it to Barb Witzak. Evaluators will be here on Friday. I can't tell you for sure how many classroom we will get to. I'll try to get them to as many as possible.

Work begins Monday night on the student assignment committee. The Board of Education wants a recommendation on how the middle schools should be assigned enrollment for next year. The recommendation should be made by late January.

Boys basketball season begins this week and 6th grade girls start their tournament this Thursday.

We have a couple of specific topics for discussion this week at leadership. We will discuss intervention strategies for failing students, the building plan to add an additional team of 6th grade for the 2009-2010 year, the calendar and process for continued magnet curriculum work.

I have information on excellence in education educator incentive grants, if anyone is interested. It is generally for the purpose of a professional development experience you may want to explore.

November 10, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
November 10

2:40, Staff Meeting, Room 415

4:30, MMSTLC Meeting - Kevin and Yonee

Tuesday
November 11

2:00, Magnet Leadership Meeting - Kevin

6:30 - Parent Planning Meeting

Wednesday
November 12 - 8th Grade Career Day

2:30, WMU class meets in the Library

3:00, Middle School Counselors Meeting, West Main - Stephen and Ellen

3:30, KCIS Meeting - Kevin and Molly

Thursday
November 13 - Picture Day

8:30, Middle School Athletic Directors Meeting, West Main

2:30 WMU class meets in the Library

Friday
November 14

7:00, School Dance


We will have a change in the office staff. Ruth has taken a position at Oakwood Elementary and begins this Monday. A posting for a new secretary has been put out by human resources. It was her preference to leave without any recognition from staff. Char will serve as an interim secretary until a new secretary starts. The most immediate issue is probably substitutes. You'll have to direct all request and sick time issues to me at this point.

Picture day is on Thursday. We will call students down to stage area in the cafeteria, by grade level in alphabetical clusters. This will be done over the PA.

Wednesday is 8th grade career day. We will have a number of guests in the building to speak in 8th grade classrooms from 8 am - 10 am. 8th grade will resume back to a normal schedule at the start of 4th period.

The parade and magnet fair were both successful events and the new school website is now up and operational, www.milwoodmagnet.com.

One of topics of conversation in our leadership meeting last week was the need for a common lesson plan format, especially in light of the fact that we will need to provide the evaluators with copies of all of our lesson plans. I was provided three different models, two of them followed Madeline Hunter's model. I am attaching one of these formats that I would ask everyone to use to submit their lesson plan for November 21 to me by November 14. I still want to explore the lesson format as we have some teachers using an online blog, before we totally decide on one for the entire school. But please use the attached one for your lesson on the 21st, as I have to give a hard copy to Barb Witzak on Friday.

Any teacher who can help with supervision at Friday's dance please let either Maggie or myself know, we need to size up our adult ranks for the evening, some parents will be helping also.

The portfolio boxes are on the counter in the main office. If you haven't returned your portfolios for unheld conferences please do so and place alphabetically in the appropriate box.

November 3, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
October 3

8:00, UBD Training, West Main - Kevin, Tamela, Atiba

2:40, Professional Development

Tuesday
October 4 - Election Day - No Students

7:30, Professional Development, Old Central

Wednesday
October 5

3:00 KCIS meeting, Office conference room. Kevin, Mary, Molly

Thursday
October 6

3:30, Leadership Meeting, room 415

Friday
October 7

Library, Conference Detroit

Saturday
October 8

10:00, Holiday Parade, Magnet Fair, Downtown


This is a professional development week. We have a 2 hour PD after school on Monday and then we have an all day PD on Tuesday at Old Central. The focus of PD during both sessions will be curriculum development. We will have some additional items to discuss on Monday but the primary focus of PD will be curriculum work.

8th grade will be on a GEAR UP trip this Thursday to Ford Field in Detroit for a science and technology event.

A reminder that all of your requests for technology repairs or assistance should be directed to the technology department through a milwoodmdl-helpdesk e-mail.

On Saturday the school drumline will march in the holiday parade downtown with some other students. Their will be a promotional magnet fair in the Athena Bookstore space. That morning also.

Rick and Helen will be here on Thursday to help us with curriculum work.

October 27, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
October 27

8:30, Career Day Meeting - Stephen, Ellen, Kevin

2:40, Staff Meeting, Room 415

Tuesday
October 28

2:00, Magnet Leadership Meeting, Ad. Bldg. - Kevin

Wednesday
October 29

12:40, Meeting with 8B, students who had an F on report card
1:40, Meeting with 8A, students who had an F on report card

3:00, Facilities Planning Meeting - Kevin

3:30, Leadership Team Meeting

3:45, Football, Maple St., away

Thursday
October 30

3:00, Administrator Training Pinnacle, Ad. Bldg. - Kevin, Maggie

Friday
October 31

1:33, School Pep Assembly,


The student advisory council has established spirit days throughout this week. They will continue to communicate with students through the week about the theme for each day. We will have a pep assembly in the gym on Friday to recognize all of our fall sports teams.

We have a staff meeting on Monday, this is a normal staff meeting week but it was on the KEA master calendar. We will meet for a short time to discuss the curriculum work and the upcoming PD in the district on Understanding by Design.

If you are able to conference with any of the students who did not get a conference, during SLC please let Mary know, team leaders should have a list of all the students who have not gone through the process.

A reminder that this Wednesday's leadership meeting will primarily be a PD on CHAMPS which is classroom management protocol for classroom teachers.

We will follow the assembly schedule which is in your staff handbook, this Friday. We shorten all the periods so we don't have to cancel a class. Thursday we will have a regular advisory day.

MEAP make-up testing will continue throughout the week and it is likely that some students will be pulled out by our substitute testing team.

October 20, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
October 20

2:40, KEA Mtg. 415

3:30, Volleyball Tournament

3:30, KAMSC Mtg, Admin. Bldg. - Kevin

6:00, Parent Advisory Meeting, Room 415

Tuesday
October 21

MEAP Testing ELA II - run 1, 2, 3, and 4 hours after testing.

12:45, GEAR UP mtg. - Atiba, Mary, Kevin, Dr. Cooley

3:30, Volleyball Tournament

Wednesday
October 22

7:00, Tenure Evaluation Meeting, Office Conference Room

2:40, Building PD, Mandatory, Room 415

3:45, Football, Hillside, Home-Loy Norrix

Thursday
October 23

MEAP Testing Science/Social Studies run 5,6,7, advisory after testing

10:20, EdPerformance Meeting,

5:00, 6th Grade Girls Basketball, Prairie Ridge, Away

Friday
October 24

8:30, Career Day Meeting - Ellen, Stephen, Kevin


MEAP update --- As of last week we have not tested a high enough percentage of our students to make the AYP standard, 95%. We will have make-up testing on Monday - Math and Wednesday - ELA I. Tamela will have some specific directions as a result of last week's process.

We are scheduled for building PD this Wednesday. We will meet in room 415 as a staff to debrief on student-led conferences and the majority of the time will be dedicated to team meetings so concepts from our leadership team can be shared and more fully and discussed with each grade level or elective team.

We have a few fire alarms to get in before the weather turns, just an FYI.

Our articles for the November Newsletter are due in to Atiba. We are trying to get on a time line so that newsletters are out by the 1st of each month.

I have two meetings scheduled for 8th graders who received an F on their report card. I'll meet with 8B students at 12:40 and 8A students at 1:40 on October 29th. This will be the first time retention information will be outlined to them.

Our leadership meeting scheduled for this week on Thursday has been rescheduled for Wednesday, October 29. This change was made so that we could receive information on CHAMPS which would serve as a training on classroom management. Any staff are welcome to attend this dinner meeting with the leadership team, let Maggie know in advance if you'd like to attend and would like a dinner.

Work will begin this week on external lighting improvements around the parking lot and black top. This means that there may be some equipment operation going on during school hours.

The district has scheduled professional development for all secondary teacher on Tuesday, November 4, at CEC. The district is bringing in an ASCD trainer to do Understanding by Design with the whole district since it will be the model by which all curriculum work will be accomplished.

October 13, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
October 13

3:00, KCIS Meeting - Kevin, Mary, Molly

Tuesday
October 14

MEAP - Math

Run 1/2/3/4 Periods after Testing

Volleyball, Portage North, 7th grade home, 8th grade away

Wednesday
October 15

1/2 Day of School PM Schedule

Conferences 12-3, 5-8

2:00, Magnet Meeting, Admin. Bldg. - Kevin

3:45, Football, Portage Central, away

3:45, Volleyball, Gagie, Away

Thursday
October 16

Conferences 5-8

MEAP - ELA I

Run 5/6/7/Advisory after testing

5:00, 6th grade Basketball, Winchell, Home

Friday
October 17



MEAP week is upon us please be sure to read through all of your directions and familiar yourself with the administration manual. Tamela and Atiba will be in the library after school on Monday to answer questions or clarify any MEAP questions.

Pick up your MEAP materials on Tuesday morning in room 405 before the start of school.

We will have morning announcements on the days of MEAP testing as a way of clarifying the daily schedule with students and staff.

I sent an e-mail out on Friday clarifying our schedules this week. There was some confusion because we have a 1/2 day on Wednesday and we are scheduled to run a pm schedule.

If you had a student who did not send out a notification letter last week in advisory because they were absent please forward the name and scheduled conference time to Mary. We have some parents who may not have gotten notification.

We will distribute a new student planner this week. They will be delivered to social studies teachers on Tuesday and we'll ask social studies teachers to distribute them to students on their team this week. They hopefully will be 3-hole punched so they fit in binder/notebooks. Since we print these each marking period we can receive your suggestions for additions and improvements.

October 6, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
October 6

8:00, Meeting with Facilities/Technology - Kevin

2:40, Professional Development, Room 415

3:45, Cross Country, Portage West, Away

Tuesday
October 7

9:00, District Leadership Meeting, West Main - Kevin

11:00, Biotech Partners Lunch, Rm. 415

2:30, Meeting with WMU class, library - Kevin

2:30, Meeting with Facilities - Kevin

3:15, Volleyball, Portage West, 7th grade home, 8th grade away

Wednesday
October 8

2:30, Meeting with a WMU class - library

3:45, Football, Portage West, Home-Loy Norrix

Thursday
October 9

8:30, Magnet Meeting - Atiba, Kevin, Tamela

3:15, Volleyball, Mattawan, 7th grade away, 8th grade home

Friday
October 10

11:00, Meeting w/Dr. Harvey - Kevin, Tamela


Our professional development on Monday afternoon will focus on building understanding of vocabulary instruction, with John Vail from KRESA. We will continue our work on our student-led conferencing process and get an update on our MEAP plan and PBS data.

On Tuesday we must pass out a letter to all students to take home regarding our pest management practices apparently this is a legal requirement. So please pass out the letter at the end of your 1st hour class and instruct students to take it home. We typically do very little of this type of communication, however it is necessary this year because of a notification requirement.

We are meeting with a group of potential community partners who are practicing elements of Biotechnology in their companies on Tuesday during noon and will be using room 415 for a lunch meeting. This will be inconvenient for student center staff during this time frame.

On Thursday during advisory time we'll be sending confirmation letters to parents and addressing envelops for those appointments. The envelops and letters will be provided to you in advance. You'll have to teach the envelop process likely. Lindsey sent everyone an email with a word file for this purpose earlier. We will answer your questions Monday during PD time.

Erin Kidman is helping facilitate the annual United Way campaign(thanks). She is responsible for passing out and collecting our pledge cards and providing any other information about the campaign.

September 29, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
September 29

8th Grade scheduling sheets posted in office hall

Tuesday
September 30

7th Grade scheduling sheets posted in the office hall

12:00, 6th Grade Student/Administrator Meeting, Band Room

2:30, Library Collaboration Meeting, Library - Jennifer, Jan, Tamela, Kevin

3:00, Volleyball, Hillside - 7th away, 8th home

5:30, Football, BC Lakeview, away

Wednesday
October 1

6th Grade scheduling sheets posted in the office hall

8:35, Teacher/Mentor Mtg., Office Conference Room

9:30, Building Team Meeting - Office Conference Room

12:30, DDA Training, KRESA - Kevin

3:00, KCIS Meeting, Office Conference Room - Mary, Molly, Kevin

Thursday
October 2

7:00 and 2:45, Evaluation Meeting, Office conference room - Probationary Staff

8:30, Magnet Meeting - Atiba, Tamela, Kevin

5:30, 6th grade cookout

Friday
October 3


I will hold a meeting for all probationary teachers on Thursday at 7:00 and at 2:30 to overview the evaluation process. All teachers who are within their first four years of employment are generally classified as probationary. You only need to attend one of the meetings.

A clarification of the hall sweep process - Because we are not always in a position to implement hall sweeping, manpower issues, we don't want students locked out of classrooms and left wandering the hallways. Students who are late into a classroom should be marked tardy and their should be a progressive plan in classrooms for tardiness, Mr. Stovall will implement consequences for those students who get caught up in the hall sweeps. They will then be sent back to class and should be allowed to come in.

Thursday's task in Advisory will be to have the students complete a self reflection. Mary will see that all teachers have copies of this form. A reminder to post a copy of your conference schedule in the and to be sure you have scheduled siblings in consecutive time blocks.

Reminder to Team Leaders that we are trying to centralize a calendar for all of our meetings and that information on when your team meets. If it is a regular standing meeting - I only need to know when that time is and I'll place on calendar.

September 22, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
September 22

9:00, Meeting w/J. Vail/D. Catherman - Kevin, Maggie, Kai. Cassandra

2:30, Department Heads Meeting - Office Conference Room

3:45, Cross Country - Portage North and Portage Central, Home

Tuesday
September 23

7:30, Secondary Principal's Meeting, West Main

9:45, Visit PBS researcher - Maggie

2:00, Magnet Leadership Meeting, West Main - Kevin

2:30, Assistant Principal's Meeting, West Main - Maggie

3:00, Volleyball, Maple St., 7th away , 8th home

Wednesday
September 24

3:00, New teacher Mentoring Meeting - Kalamazoo Central

3:45, Football, Mattawan, Home - Loy Norrix

Thursday
September 25

8:00, Power Library Workshop - Kevin, Jan, Tamela, Jennifer

3:00, Volleyball, Portage Central, 7th Home, 8th away

3:30, Leadership Team Meeting - Room 415

Friday
September 26

Saturday
September 27

9-3, Michigan Principal's Institute, Fall Institute, MSU - Kevin, Maggie, Atiba, Melanie, Tamela


We need to clean up our enrollment this week. Wednesday if count day. I'm going to ask that everyone take a close look at their 1st hour classes. If you have a student on your class list who has not ever attended please e-mail Deb Blondin the student's name we want to have clean list by count day if possible.

We will ask you to print a hard copy of your attendance each hour on Wednesday and we will collect those, each hour.

We will have a couple of visitors in the building on Tuesday - Mary will be with a school counselor from Jamaica and Maggie will be touring with a professor from Florida researching PBS schools.

If you wanted any modifications to the teacher comment sheet we shared Friday please give Mary your thoughts by end of school on Monday.

We have to conduct fire drills and a lockdown drill in the coming weeks please refer to locations and procedures for review or see Mr. Stovall if there are questions.

If a teacher still has any 1st day packets in their classroom, please turn those into the office.

September 15, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday (B)
September 15

11:00, Meeting w/M. Liggin - Kevin

2:30, KEA Meeting Room 415

3:00, Meeting on student-led conferencing - Gail, Vanessa, Mary, Kevin

6:00, Parent Boosters Meeting

Tuesday (A)
September 16

1:15, Meeting w/D. Gang - Kevin and Mary

Wednesday (B)
September 17 - Constitution Day

8:30, Meeting w/M. Brenes - Kevin

3:30, District MEAP Administration meeting, West Main - Kevin/Tamela

Thursday (A)
September 18 (Advisory Day)

6:30, Open House

Friday
September 19

No Students --- Professional Development 8:00-3:00 at Milwood


We will have building PD this week on Friday. Our topics of focus will be student-led conferencing and MEAP. We'll start at 8:00 in room 415, with a continental breakfast, lunch will be on your own.

Rick and Helen our magnet consultants will be here on Monday and Tuesday doing curriculum support work and visiting classrooms to see instruction.

We will run a short video on the morning announcements to acknowledge Constitution Day, which all schools are to observe in some fashion.

An informational item on the alarm if you are a weekend user --- the alarm is now a silent alarm, which means when you enter there is no longer an audible beeping when you come in. The alarm is still active and must be disarmed with the pass code, it just won't do the beeping thing.

Hall sweeping will begin on Monday. Teachers need only to mark students tardy who report to class after the bell rings. Building mentors will handle the sweeping process and will document a swept student and return them to class. We will not sit them out the entire class period and we do not want teacher locking students out of class. Team leaders can see Mr. Stovall or myself if there are questions regarding the process.

Julie Jenkins is still looking for help with her skateboard club. See her if you can help out on Wednesday afternoon.

Teachers share and remind students that the Milwood Book Bags will not hold large loads. We had a number of them fail after being loaded with books.

The Kalamazoo Gazette is an instructional resource that is available to all teachers. The flyer in your mail box outlines how to order class sets on designated days.

A reminder that newsletter article are due in Atiba the 3rd Friday of the month. This will be a standard practice. The 19th is the 3rd Friday in September. This will allow our newsletters to get out the the 1st of each month.

September 8, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
September 8

8:30, Meeting Kevin/Mary

2:40, Staff Meeting, Room 415

Tuesday
September 9

8:00, Instructional Leadership, West Main - Kevin

Team Meetings w/Adams, Room 208(Band)
Team 6 - 11:00
Team 7A - 9:30
Team 7B - 10:00
Team 8A - 12:45
Team 8B - 1:40

9:30 GEAR UP Meeting w/Dr. Cooley -Atiba, Mary

2:00, Magnet Leadership Meeting, Curriculum Lab - Kevin

Wednesday
September 10

Thursday
September 11 - Advisory Day

8:30, Building Magnet Meeting - Kevin, Tamela, Atiba

1:00, Meeting J. Bogan/Kevin

3:30, Leadership Team Meeting, Reclaiming Room

Friday
September 12

10:00, GEAR UP Seminar, WMU - Kevin, Atiba, Mary


We have a mandatory staff meeting Monday afternoon in room 415 beginning at 2:40. We will touch on some general informational issues for 20 minutes and them you will have the remaining time to work in a department meeting. There will be a voluntary meeting following our staff time at 3:45 to discuss classroom management and strategies for student engagement.

There will be a film crew in the building on Monday shooting footage for promotional materials. They will be in and around the school between 10:30 and 12:30.

Open House is scheduled for Thursday, September 18, from 6:30 - 8:00.

Reminder, Maggie has a brief 15 minute team meeting planned with all teams on Tuesday to reinforce code of conduct and introduce students to the tier concept.

I will provide you with more detail on our advisory time Thursday this week You should be aware that the schedule is different on Thursdays because of advisory.

If you are interested in having a pre-intern from WMU work in your classroom please let Dawn Kahler know. She coordinates with WMU's Department of Education in this area. No guarantees but you can put a request in.

We start the Uglies this week. You should have discussed this as a team by now and have a distribution plan and a reading schedule for your team.

September 1, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
September 1
Labor Day

Tuesday
September 2

1st day of School : 10:35 dismissal

8:20, Team Meeting with 8A, Cafeteria
8:50, Team Meeting with 8B, Cafeteria
9:20, Team Meeting with 7A, Cafeteria
9:50, Team Meeting with 7B, Cafeteria
10:15, Team meeting with 6, Cafeteria

1:30, Meeting on Office Operations, - Kevin, Deb, Ruth

Wednesday
September 3

9:00, Meeting on hall sweep procedure, office conference room - Fred, Kevin, Mary

Thursday
September 4

9:00, GEAR UP meeting, Kevin, Mary and Atiba

3:30, Meeting w/LKF - Kevin

Friday
September 5


All staff should be outside at their designated entry door, by 7:30 on Tuesday morning, spread yourselves out so that we can see your sign and direct students to you. Add your room number to your sign, students will see advisory assignments by room number not teacher if they don't have a schedule yet.

Turn your video systems on and tuned into channel 90 before you go outside to get your students - we will run first day announcements at 7:45 sharp - all systems running.

The technology staff will not wear walkies this year, if you need assistance, e-mail - milwoodmdl-helpdesk, or make a direct pone call to Atiba. The secretaries will not be a contact for tech support.

We will take manual attendance the first week of school. It is important that we collect your attendance early in the morning, We will begin inputting attendance on Monday of next week in Pinnacle.

Teachers please walk your students out of the building on the first day- go as a group. We will dismiss the 6th graders straight from the cafeteria after our team meeting - they should bring everything they need.

We are on a tight schedule with 20 minute team meetings in the cafeteria the first day, please have your students in the cafeteria on time so we can move along and get though our agenda.

The bells have not been reset so you must dismiss classes by clocks, we'll notify everyone as soon as the reset is complete.

Special education teachers should have a daily schedule established with the para-educators by the end of the week. Please e-mail me a copy of this schedule. It should identify break and lunch times, as well as classroom coverage.

Please see that Tamela gets an electronic copy of your syllabus. She is collating them into a common document for me those should be to her by end of school Monday.

Weekly lesson plans should be left in your black sub folder in your office mail box. I realize we need to get new ones for some staff, so if you don't have a black folder put them in an alternative folder until we can get one for you. If you do this you don't need to e-mail me a copy.

June 9, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
June 9

2nd hour, 8th grade farewell ceremony practice


Tuesday
June 10

8:00, Magnet Principal's Meeting, Administration Building

7th hour, 8th grade farewell rehearsal

2:30, Sports Physicals


Wednesday
June 11

1/2 Day am schedule

11:00, Meeting w/GEAR UP - Kevin and Diane

1:00, Meeting w/Barb W. and Chris W. - Kevin and Atiba


Thursday
June 12

1/2 day pm schedule

11:00, Meeting w/KCIS - Kevin and Mary

1:00, Magnet Enrollment Meeting - Kevin, Ruth and Char


Friday
June 13

8:00, End of Year Staff Breakfast


8th grade farewell ceremony is Tuesday night and there will be a couple of practices scheduled to help the program flow more efficiently. All eighth graders who have the opportunity for promotion will be encouraged to attend. We still have 6th and 7th grade honor roll awards to pass out. I will read the names of those students on Tuesday morning during the morning show and we will ask teams to distribute the recognitions in one of the core classes.

Final exams are scheduled for the last two half days. We'll follow a am schedule on Wednesday and a pm schedule on Thursday. We'll run the half day schedules on Tuesday during the morning show.

Officer Vanderclok will be a guest with us on the morning show Monday to provide some summer safety and community expectation information.

Again all teachers will have to be checked out of their rooms by end of day Friday. The office will be open through the 20th, but we have to box everything up and tear down work stations to ready for construction along with our typical year end chores.

Friday morning we will have the traditional end of year breakfast in the reclaiming room. This is a potluck event so we need everyone's participation to help out.

We will try to screen all students at the entrance for backpacks and bookbags. They will be tagged with the students name and stored in the office until the end of the day for pick up.

June 2, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
June 2

2:40 - Professional Development, Room 415

Tuesday
June 3

9:15, Milwood El, Orientation Visit, 6th graders

8:00, Magnet Principal's Meeting, West Main

10:00, Middle School Principal's Meeting, West Main

Wednesday
June 4

9:15, Washington El. Orientation Visit, 5th graders

1:30, Assembly for 8th grade athletes attending Norrix

Thursday
June 5

9:15, Edison El., Orientation Visit, 5th and 6th graders

Friday
June 6


Everyone should have an agenda already for our PD time on Monday, I will add an update on the curriculum audit to our agenda.

8th grade teams have field trips to Lansing on Tuesday and Thursday this week.

As you can see above we have lots of visitors in the building this week continuing the orientation process.

All students should have lockers cleaned out as of Friday this week. Please plan this into your team routines at some point.

Everyone will give a final exam on June 11 and 12. Please plan to turn in a copy of that exam to me by Monday, June 9. It can take on many formats but I want to see what everyone has planned for the last two days of school.

May 26, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
May 26

Memorial Day - No School

Tuesday
May 27

9:30, Milwood El. Visitation

11:30, Retention Conferences - Kevin M. and Kevin C.

2:30, Magnet Principals Meeting - Kevin

5:45, Parent Advisory/Boosters, Room 415

Wednesday
May 28

8:00, Parent Tour

9:00, Retention Conferences - Kevin M. and Kevin C.

2:30, Magnet Meeting

Thursday
May 29

9:00, Retention Conferences - Kevin M. and Kevin C.

1:30, Meeting with 6th grade team to review mentoring proposal, Office Conference Room

2:30, Leadership Team Meeting - Kevin, Diane, Tamela, Atiba

3:30, WMU Graduate Class

Friday
May 30

8:00, Instructional Leadership, West Main - Kevin

9:00, Retention Conferences - Kevin M. and Kevin C.

12:45, Talent Show - 6th and 7th grades

1:30, Talent Show - 8th grade


Saturday
May 31

8th Grade Trip to Michigan Adventure



Kevin Moore and I will be meeting with all the parents of retained 8th graders for next year. Our list is about 25 students at this point. It was 44 but central office is instituting an age cut off for 8th grade which will promote students who may have had an earlier retention.

If you receive a solicitation from the Congressional Youth Leadership Council asking you to nominate students for their program please see me before you do it. A number of our families are not in a position to afford this program and it appears very prestigious to be included. We did a school sponsored trip a few years ago and have become connected to their marketing approach.

Elementary school visitations will occur over the next two weeks with Washington, Edison and Milwood.

Our final class for our WMU graduate program is Thursday,June 5 Grant Chandler is the teacher of record and expects that we will have completed our Unit 6 magnet curriculum writes to an acceptable level for credit. We will do a peer review process with the other schools to get some final feedback, you may also see Tamela individually if you'd like to get additional perspective on the unit content and quality.

The PDK curriculum audit will be presented to the Board of Education on Thursday night at their meeting. Administrators will get the overview Friday during a special leadership meeting.

We will follow our initial plan for the talent show this Friday. Teams should develop a plan to keep tier 2 and 3 students on team during this program.

Tuesday a group of 7th graders will be out of the building on a GEAR UP activity to WMU. April Bingham will e-mail you the list of students attending this trip.

We have a 1/2 day of school the last two days. Everyone should plan to administer some type of final examination. This is not the time to be cleaning out lockers and/or cleaning out classrooms. We want all students to see the last days of school as purposeful. It is your choice to weight and average this score into the final grade. We will follow the standard 1/2 day schedule with an am day on Wednesday and pm day on Thursday. The EOD schedule calls for a "B" day on Wednesday and an "A" day on Thursday.

Maggie will try and schedule a time with each team to meet with students and discuss the importance of good choices through the rest of the year.

May 19, 2009 Weekly Announcements

Monday
May 19

9:00, Meeting w/K. Hartnagel - Kevin

2:30, KEA, Room 415

Tuesday
May 20

7:30, Secondary Principal's Meeting, West Main

2:30, Alternative Middle School Program, Presentation, Room 415 (Open invitation to all staff)

3:30, Track Meet at Mattawan

7:00, Parkwood PTO Meeting - Maggie, Diane

7:00, Band/Choir/Orchestra Concert, Loy Norrix

Wednesday
May 21

10:20, Greenwood PEEP visit

Thursday
May 22

10:00, Parent Visitation

3:00, KCIS meeting - Kevin, Molly, Mary

Friday
May 23

PBS Team Planning

11:30 After-school Field Trip

12:45 Talent Show - 6th and 7th grade

1:30 Talent Show - 8th grade


Mr. Kendall will be here on Tuesday afternoon to provide information regarding planning for the middle school alternative program which will be in place for the coming fall. You may have seen the posting that recently came out regarding this program. This is an opportunity for all staff to hear about the program and ask questions regarding the operation of it.

We had our magnet evaluation postponed as a result of the death of the lead evaluator. So there will not be a site visit this week. We are however to begin implementing our magnet units and Dr. Rice indicated that he would try to stop by for a walk-through this week.

Matt and Damon will have visitors in the building on Wednesday as they host the Greenwood PEEP kids. This effort is part of their literacy program with their advisory students. They will provide you with the names of any students who are affected by this program.

Molly will provide you with the names of students who will attend their end of year field trip on Friday. They will leave at 11:30 and will not be back until 4:30.

Meagan has an extra choir practice scheduled for Monday and will need a few students released for the additional practice. She sent out a list of the students who were affected.

Talent show will take place on Friday. Please make arrangements with your team for an alternate location for tier 2 and 3 students or students who don't have ids.

A reminder that all classroom located in the west wings of the school will have to be boxed up in preparation for summer construction. Please see me if you have any questions.

The PBS team will be out of the building on Friday planning for next year. Vickie Winfield will be here for Maggie, please be mindful that we have a number of subs already scheduled for this day and much of the student center staff will be gone.

May 12, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
May 12

7:30, Meeting re: Summer School/Retention - Ellen, Kevin M, Kevin C., Mr. Kendall

9:45, Loy Norrix Ignite students visit 8th grade

11:00, Meeting w/Dr. Cooley - Kevin

2:30, Staff Meeting, Room 415

3:30, Track Meet, Hillside at Kalamazoo Central


Tuesday
May 13

11:00, Marketing Firm Interviews, West Main - Kevin

2:30, Magnet Principal's Meeting

7:00, 9th grade Orientation, Loy Norrix Auditorium


Wednesday
May 14

9:15, Administrative Review/Walk-Through

3:30, Track Meet Portage West at Portage Northern


Thursday
May 15

7:35, 8th grade Advisory representatives meeting, Library

8:00, Meeting on Strategic Reading, Office Conference Room - Kevin, PBS reading team

10:00, Parent Tour - Kevin

2:30, Magnet Curriculum Kick-Off, "Fermentation Fest," Room 415

3:30, WMU graduate class


Friday
May 16

9:00, Magnet Meeting - Kevin, Atiba, Tamela, Diane



I'll be meeting with Dr. Cooley Monday and will be discussing the registration for the graduate class. If you have any questions or still want to enroll please see me on Monday.

We will revisit our school improvement plan on Monday at staff meeting. So please bring any ideas or suggestions with you. The excel template is on the L drive under SIT if you want to access it.

Wednesday we will have our administrative review and walk-through with other district staff. Our goal is to visit every classroom that day and capture a snapshot of the school. I'll provide visiting staff with the Milwood walk-through form and a copy of this weeks lesson plans. We hope to have the feedback organized and returned to staff as quickly as possible. Individual staff would get the feedback from their visit and we will collect a building profile.

8th grade advisory teachers would you let students know that we have a farewell picture form in the office if they want one. It is an opportunity for 8th graders to have a final school picture taken, at a small cost. This was one of the parent ideas from our last advisory meeting.

Mr. Kendall will meet with interested staff in a voluntary meeting on Tuesday, May 20, at 2:30 in the reclaiming room. The purpose of this meeting will be to share the plan for a middle school alternative education program and the staffing configuration that might accompany it. All middle school staff our being provided the opportunity to hear this information.

We will continue to do a fire drills during the coming weeks, they will not be announced in advance however, as it showed last week we weren't as prepared when it wasn't expected.

May 12, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
May 12

7:30, Meeting re: Summer School/Retention - Ellen, Kevin M, Kevin C., Mr. Kendall

9:45, Loy Norrix Ignite students visit 8th grade

11:00, Meeting w/Dr. Cooley - Kevin

2:30, Staff Meeting, Room 415


Tuesday
May 13

11:00, Marketing Firm Interviews, West Main - Kevin

2:30, Magnet Principal's Meeting

7:00, 9th grade Orientation, Loy Norrix Auditorium


Wednesday
May 14

9:15, Administrative Review/Walk-Through


Thursday
May 15

8:00, Meeting on Strategic Reading, Office Conference Room - Kevin, PBS reading team

10:00, Parent Tour - Kevin

2:30, Magnet Curriculum Kick-Off, "Fermentation Fest," Room 415

3:30, WMU graduate class


Friday
May 16

9:00, Magnet Meeting - Kevin, Atiba, Tamela, Diane



I'll be meeting with Dr. Cooley Monday and will be discussing the registration for the graduate class. If you have any questions or still want to enroll please see me on Monday.

We will revisit our school improvement plan on Monday at staff meeting. So please bring any ideas or suggestions with you. The excel template is on the L drive under SIT if you want to access it.

Wednesday we will have our administrative review and walk-through with other district staff. Our goal is to visit every classroom that day and capture a snapshot of the school. I'll provide visiting staff with the Milwood walk-through form and a copy of this weeks lesson plans. We hope to have the feedback organized and returned to staff as quickly as possible. Individual staff would get the feedback from their visit and we will collect a building profile.

8th grade advisory teachers would you let students know that we have a farewell picture form in the office if they want one. It is an opportunity for 8th graders to have a final school picture taken, at a small cost. This was one of the parent ideas from our last advisory meeting.

Mr. Kendall will meet with interested staff in a voluntary meeting on Tuesday, May 20, at 2:30 in the reclaiming room. The purpose of this meeting will be to share the plan for a middle school alternative education program and the staffing configuration that might accompany it. All middle school staff our being provided the opportunity to hear this information.

We will continue to do a fire drills during the coming weeks, they will not be announced in advance however, as it showed last week we weren't as prepared when it wasn't expected.

May 5, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
May 5

9:30, Planing Meeting, Office Conference Room - Tamela, Diane, Atiba M., Kevin

2:30 Professional Development

3:30, Track Meet, at Loy Norrix

6:00, Magnet Curriculum Coordinator Interviews - Kevin

Tuesday
May 6

Election Day

Staff Appreciation Day

2:30, Magnet Principal's Meeting

7:00, Open House for New Students


Wednesday
May 7

1:45, Reading Recognition, Cafeteria

Thursday
May 8

2:30, Leadership Team Meeting

3:30, WMU Graduate Class

Friday
May 9

7:00 am, Meeting on Building Construction


I had indicated to staff in our graduate class that we would likely be pulling you this week as a content area to work on our curriculum document. It is very difficult to secure substitutes in bulk and we will communicate with you as soon as possible. It may be necessary to pull you in smaller-groups.

Do Not Forget to Vote on Tuesday - The outcome will have a dramatic affect on our program next year either way it comes out. We will either have additional services, i.e. middle school alternative education or we will make cuts and have fewer staff.

Tuesday is educator appreciation day. As a token for all that you do a luncheon will be served in the staff lounger beginning at 10:30. The lunch is catered by Treat Street. The invitation to lunch is to all of our staff.

There is a posting for a building tag position. This position allows schools to have a person dedicated to additional training and trouble shooting in technology. There is a stipend for the position. Please see Atiba McKissack if you have any interest - or he may have to come and see you.

Jan provided everyone with the names of students who participated in our reading program and earned medals. We will give those medals to students on Wednesday afternoon. I will make an announcement to ask you to excuse those students from class for this event. Only those being recognized should attend. They will be out for the remainder of the day.

I will meet with all staff affected by this summers construction process at 7:00 on Friday Morning. All teachers in the elective classrooms west of the cafeteria will be affected by this summer's work. If you are not able to attend please see me personally to get the information.

If you were going to get an article in the school newsletter please see that Mark gets copy by Tuesday. We need to get to the printer with a copy ASAP.

April 28, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
April 28

3:30, Track, Portage North @ Loy Norrix

5:45, Parent Advisory Meeting, Room 415


Tuesday
April 29

3:45, KCIS meeting - Kevin, Mary, Molly

7:00, Millage Meeting, Downtown Millage Office


Wednesday
April 30

8:00, Instructional Leadership, West Main - Kevin

1:25, Fire Drill


Thursday
May 1

2:30, Leadership Team Meeting

3:30, WMU Graduate Class, Room 415

3:30, Track, Maple St. @ Loy Norrix

7:30, Assistant Principal's Meeting, West Main - Maggie


Friday
May 2

1/2 Day of School

2:00, Magnet Principal's Meeting, West Main - Kevin


We will post the 1/2 day schedule for Friday during the morning show this week.

We mailed an invitation to every parent regarding this Monday's meeting. We plan to solicit their support for greater focus and assistance with our athletic program and our co-curricular activities. Any staff who want to participate are encouraged to do so.

Congratulations to Lori Burrell, she is expecting her second child this coming September.

Brad and April are in need of staff assistance for Monday and Thursday's track meets. If you can help in any way let them know.

We have about one week until the millage election, which will have a big impact on the outcome of our plan for next year. Don't forget to Vote on May 6.

May 6th is also the date of our new student orientation, 7:00 in the cafeteria.

April 21, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
April 21

7:45, MEAP Meeting, Rick, Helen, Kevin, Diane, Tamela, Atiba, Vickie

1:00, Magnet Principal's Meeting, West Main - Kevin

2:30, KEA Meeting, Room 415


Tuesday
April 22

7:30, Secondary Principal's Meeting, West Main - Kevin

9:45, Loy Norrix Ignite Visit - 8th Grades

7:00, Millage Meeting, Downtown Millage Office

Wednesday
April 23

9:35, Fire Drill

Thursday
April 24

7:35, 8th grade Advisory Representatives Meeting in the Library

3:30, WMU Curriculum Class

Friday
April 25


We will be reviewing our MEAP data on Monday to ensure that the essential GLCE's are included in our magnet work. This came through loud and clear on Friday in our meeting with the state department.

8th graders have another visit from the high school students as part of their orientation process this coming Tuesday, 3rd hour.

April and April have a celebration scheduled with their students for Tuesday morning at 8:00, "Diary of a Whimpy Kid" to show off their student work for this marking period, I believe everyone was invited.

Dr. Rice informs us that the public presentation of the grade level expectations will occur on Monday, April 28. As soon as I get a copy of this work it will be available to everyone. My understanding is that this will be the basis of much of our future work in the district.

We have fire and disaster drills scheduled for the remainder of the year on a weekly basis. Mr. Stovall will be coordinating these activities as led security. They will be posted on weekly announcements whenever possible.

Dawn has the information on pre-interns from WMU if you are interested please let her know.

We have open house for new students on May 6. I would like to have a few teachers help me with this presentation to perspective families. It is scheduled for 7:00 and we have to plan a brief school overview. Let me know if you can help out.

We sent millage information letters out last week to all parents. This was to inform them of the millage and what it supports. If you have any of support information please forward it to Diane.

April Bingham is looking for some Milwood help. She forwards the following information: "Girls on the Run Wondergirl 5K is just around the corner on May 22nd. It is an outstanding program that is dedicated to building healthy minds, hearts, and bodies in over 1800 young girls throughout the greater Kalamazoo area (MANY of our students are proud alumnus!). I have taken on the role of coordinating parking for the event and am looking for volunteers. If you are able to have a rocking' good time working alongside me to pull off another successful Girls on the Run event." See April if you can help out.

April 14, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
April 14

8:00, Meeting with MMSTLC Teachers - Kevin

10:00, Meeting on Retention/Recruitment - Kevin, Kevin, Ellen

11:00, Magnet Curriculum Planning Meeting - Kevin, Tamela, Atiba

2:30, Staff Meeting, Room 415

Tuesday
April 15

2:30 Magnet Principal's Meeting, West main - Kevin

7:00, KPS Millage Meeting, Downtown Millage Office

Wednesday
April 16

9:00, Magnet Meeting, Ad Bldg. - Kevin

9:45, High School Counselors Visit 8th Grade

Thursday
April 17

2:30, Meet and Greet Interns, Library

3:30, Graduate Class, Curriculum

Friday
April 18

9:00, High Priority Schools Workshop, Grand Rapids - Kevin, Diane Vickie


Hopefully everyone had enough rest for the last 9 weeks of school, we are back on Monday with a staff meeting at 2:30 in Room 415.

Mr. Moore is planning on discussing retention and summer school with 8th graders on Tuesday this week. Hopefully we will have this understanding cleared up by then.

The state has us on the high priority list again. We will meet with the state department on Friday to understand support and information they feel is important for us to operate with.

We will not have a leadership meeting this Thursday so that we can allow people to attend the intern meet and greet prior to our class.

March 31, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
March 31 Mix/Match Day

Tuesday
April 1 Dress Like Your Favorite Teacher

7:00, District Millage Meeting, Mall Plaza Office

Wednesday
April 2 College Day

Intern interviews, Main Office

8:00 KCIS Program's Committee meets in the Library

3:00, KCIS Meeting, Main Office - Kevin, Mary, Molly

Thursday
April 3 Blue/White Day

7:35, 7th grade Advisory Representatives Meeting, Library

1:35, 7th Hour Assembly - Students/Staff Basketball Game

2:30, WMU Class meets, Room 415

Friday
April 4

No School -First Day of Spring Break


The Building will be open 7:00 - 3:00 during Spring Break if anyone is needing access.

Tamela will be working with content teams Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in the office conference room on the magnet curriculum. We've made progress over the past week but still have a long way to go. It won't be simple to get subs and Ruth will do the best she can. Please be understanding if things don't work out perfect.

We have a school spirit week Monday and will end it with a basketball game Thursday afternoon. I would encourage all teachers to participate in the College Day on Wednesday. This actually works into our GEAR UP efforts - get students to be future focused. Wear a sweat shirt or hat from your alma mater.

Intern mock interviews are scheduled for Wednesday April 2. If you have an intern and they want to get the benefit of this opportunity please remind them to sign up on my office door.

A reminder to all probationary staff we are scheduled for Final evaluation meetings on Monday and Tuesday, we are on a tight schedule so please pay attention to your time and be prepared.

March 24, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
March 24

12:00, SPED Parent Meeting, Office Conference Room

2:30, Voluntary Staff Meeting, Room 415

3:30, Talent Show Meeting, Main Office

5:45, Parent Advisory Meeting

Tuesday
March 25

8:00, Leadership Meeting, Ad. Building - Kevin

2:30 Magnet School Principal's Meeting, West Main - Kevin


Wednesday
March 26

2:40, Meeting w/P. Chalmers, T. Kendall, Ad. Building - Kevin

Thursday
March 27

7:30, Assistant Princiapl's Meeting, West Main - Maggie

2:30, Curriculum Leadership Team

3:30, WMU Grad Class, 415

Friday
March 28

1/2 day of School - PM Schedule


A reminder to 7th grade teams that project Sentry will be delivered in your 7th grade classrooms this week, per Mary Hoyle's arrangements. This program is designed to introduce middle schoolers to the issue of gun violence. This program was developed by Kalamazoo Public Safety after the last year of gun violence in our city.

I will be discussing a school talent show on Monday at 3:30 in the main office with Rana and Meagan if anyone else would like to sit in or join us we welcome your ideas and energy.

Teachers if you have any feedback forms from Friday's visit by the high school Ignite program please forward them to Kevin Moore so that they can get to the appropriate individuals.

We have a 1/2 day of professional development on Friday. We'll have sandwiches brought in at 10:45 so that we can begin PD at 11:30 and we'll be done by 2:30. Rick and Helen will be with us and we'll be looking at our magnet curriculum in relations to the GLCE's, this seems to be the biggest concern everyone has with curriculum planning.

Tamela Brown begins with our staff Monday. Tamela is officially hired the building curriculum integration teacher and she will work out of the office next to Diane Rogers. Atiba McKissack and Melissa Williams have begun work on as new technology staff effective last week. They are working out of the office spaces in the 7A hallway. Allison Combs has taken the long term technology position created because of Atiba's position change.

I believe we are scheduled for a PM schedule on Friday, we will run the schedule on the morning show.

March 17, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
March 17

2:30, KEA Meeting, Room 415

Tuesday
March 18

7:30, Secondary Principal's Meeting, West Main - Kevin

2:30, Magnet Principal's Meeting

Wednesday
March 19

9:30, Security Team Meeting, Office Conference Room

5:00 - 8:00, Parent/Teacher Conferences, Milwood

Thursday
March 20

1/2 Day of School

12:00 - 3:00, Parent/Teacher Conferences, Milwood

12:30, Title I Staff Meeting, Office Conference Room

5:00 - 8:00, Parent/Teacher Conferences, Mt. Zion

Friday
March 21


We will follow an AM schedule on Thursday's 1/2 day, advisory with 1-3 hours. We will post the time schedule on the morning show during the week and will leave it up on Thursday morning for everyone's reference on channel 90.

Team 7B, the Believers, will be piloting a student-led conference process with their families this conference period. They are scheduling conferences as appointments and the advisory teacher will be responsible for conducting the conference. We'll keep everyone posted as to how this goes.

Dinner will be available to staff and families on Thursday evening at Mt. Zion. Please remember to take you name tag to Mt. Zion so that we can all be identified, I'll try to see that we have table holders for name tags.

Sue, Yonee and Diane will be at data tables during the conference time to provide parents with information on MEAP reports, EdPerformance and SWIS data. Parents can be referred to this location for this information.

I will be meeting with all Title I staff at 12:30 on Thursday in the office conference room. We'll be discussing our plan for student support for the coming year.

We will meet on Monday March 24 at 2:30 in the reclaiming room to resolve our curriculum focus for magnet work. Grant was to provide everyone in attendance at class with account access to base camp. So that ideas and research could be posted for everyone's viewing.

March 10, 2008 Weekly Announcements

Monday
March 10

9:00, Meeting on Gym supervision, Office Conference Room - Vestina, Jeremiah, Kevin, Maggie, Mr. Gardner

5:30, Literacy Night

Tuesday
March 11

2nd Hour, Team Photos - Gym

5:00, 6th Grade Basketball Tournament Game, Chime - Here

Wednesday
March 12

Thursday
March 13

7:35, 8th grade Advisory Representative Meeting, Library

2:30, Leadership Team Meeting, Office Conference Room

3:00/4:15, Teacher Transfer Meeting, West Main

3:30, WMU Curriculum Class, Room 415

7:00, Choral Performance, Cafeteria

Friday
March 14

1/2 day of School, Records PM

7:35, Tier I - Advisory Breakfast

11:30, Kevin Meeting w/C. McCane, G. Foster - Milwood Office


Monday is Literacy Night, there are many wonderful things planned for the evening. It is an opportunity to meet with parents and promote the school. Wendy will be working on Monday to finalize plans and details. We will try and give everyone a specific task to hep out over the night. A reminder that this is a mandatory event for all KEA staff. There will be a dinner served throughout the night and you can get dinner here. Reminder, Vanessa needs help with cakes/cookies for the cake walk station - always popular.

Errin will need to take a few team photos on Tuesday for the yearbook. She plans to do this in the gym with the bleachers. Please be prepared in advance for interruptions that may occur as a result of this . We will call needed teams down over the PA, not all teams need photos taken.

Errin and Leah have had a number of requests for supplies from other teachers. While they want to help out they are not in a position to become a school supply center. Please show understanding for their instructional materials.

We were informed by the business office last week that we have expended our general fund budget allotment for the year. This means we are unable to purchase additional items or services out of the general fund, this is the fund that supports teacher budgets. We will try to keep copy paper stocked through the remainder of the year. We do have line items in the magnet budget for specific instructional items. Please see me with any individual concerns over instructional supplies. Unanticipated costs such as our new copy machines contributed to this problem.

We will broadcast the 1/2 day schedule on the morning show throughout this week as a reminder.

Teacher grades as always are due by 7:30 am on Monday morning March 17.

Magnet Information reminders: We want to do curriculum narrowing at the 2:30 leadership meeting on Thursday- this was explained in an earlier email. The curriculum class begins this week on Thursday - please sign-up on my office door if you plan on attending, or cross your name out if you have decided not to attend. We want to make plans for food and need an idea of what to expect. If you have a need for child care please let Diane know and we'll see what arrangement we can help with.

HR will hold a informational meeting on transfers for the coming year at West Main on Thursday.

Michelle Williams begins work here this week as a technology support specialist, Mr. Gardner returns to works here this week as a building mentor with focused supervision in the gym and student center areas.

We have some classes who aren't having representatives attend our advisory meetings. This is creating a communication breakdown with information we try and share with the students.

A reminder to pay attention to your EdPerformance schedule and the directions for administration. Diane sent this to everyone on March 5, last week. This means that computer labs will be unavailable during this time.