CMS Families,

We can't believe it is the start of the second quarter. Be sure to ask your student what their new special area class is and what they think of it! There have been a lot of exciting things happening at CMS - including our 8th grade trips near and far pictured above! There have been a number of other exciting things happening at CMS like our 6th graders getting to see a hot air balloon in action, our 7th grade Ugandan Water Walk, and one of our teachers being part of a NY Emmy win! Another notable news item is that we have concluded our assistant principal search. We will notify families of our new 7th Grade House Office principal on Tuesday, November 19, once the candidate has been formally board approved on the 18th. We will also provide details regarding when they will begin their role here at CMS. 

While our special events are fun, we would argue that each day at CMS is pretty great! It is important for us to collaborate with parents/guardians to ensure student success. Please be sure to read the Conference Day communication from earlier this month if you would like to set up a teacher conference on December 5. 

Speaking of partnerships with parents, our PTO is up to some really great stuff this year! We are appreciative of the parents who have come together to try to build up the PTO membership here at CMS. Doing this will help us to engage more with families daily and through special events (like the Gingerbread Contest they are organizing. If your student would like to participate, you need to use the link in the flyer to buy a gingerbread kit. If your student is not participating in the contest, but you would like to buy kit(s) to support the PTO, please use this link. The PTO also has a CMS gear sale currently underway through November 30. We truly are grateful for Denise Hicks stepping into the PTO President role and getting some new ideas going. Be sure you are connected to their Parent Square communications by using the QR code below my message. Please feel free to come to any future meetings!

We continue to work thoughtfully to address conflict here in school. We recognize it is hard, as a parent, to have your student come home and tell you that another student was unkind to them or that an incident took place. It is important for us to recognize that conflict during middle school is a normal socialization process (while geared toward educators, this article is a great read for any middle school parent). At CMS, we believe we have a responsibility to help students navigate through conflict resolution. We implement restorative practices in order to foster self regulation and social skills. This includes having conversations regarding incidents and coming up with plans to move forward. Most issues we see here at CMS are not true forms of bullying or harassment but conflict between students who have not fully formed self regulation skills. It is important to note that bullying and harassment have no place here at school and we take all matters seriously whether we are talking about conflict or bullying. If you have any concerns regarding issues at school, please reach out to your student's house office.

Below are a few items we would like to review with families:

• Students may enter the South Cafeteria door beginning at 7:55am for activities taking place before school. Please note students are not supervised outside if dropped off before this time.

• CMS does not allow students to use cell phones during the school day. One of our roles, as middle level educators, is to help foster social skills. Cell phone use during the school day takes away from that effort. Additionally, cell phone use is distracting during classes. We ask for your cooperation with our no cell phone use policy by not texting your student during the school day expecting a response as they are not permitted to respond. Our house offices are happy to get messages to your student and to allow them to use our phone to call you when necessary.

• On a related note, sick students should go to the Health Office. Please do not arrange to pick up your student without going through the Health or Attendance office. This is a safety concern for us.

• Yearbooks are for sale! We do not order extras to sell in the spring so it is important you order one now for your student if you want one. Use this link.

• We have encountered an increase in situations where families are sending someone other than a parent/guardian to pick up their student from school during the day for appointments, when students are ill, etc. Safety of our students is our top priority. It is critical you indicate if you are sending someone else to pick up your student from our Front Entrance/Attendance on the note you send in, message you leave with attendance, or in your conversations  with our nurse. If someone other than a guardian attempts to pick up your student, we will not release them until we can confirm approval with you. This may cause your student to be late for their appointment or to not be released early if we are unable to connect with you. In order to avoid this situation for early dismissals, families are asked to fill out this Google Form if they want to indicate someone other than a guardian who will always have your approval to pick up your student (ex. names of grandparents or older siblings).

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to teachers directly. Be sure to check out the other “buttons” and sidebars below which include our "Who Should I Call?" cheat sheet and CMS Resource Guide for Families.

Thank you,

Ashley Dreibelbis

Principal