OUR VISION

• Lilburn Middle School will become a Professional Learning Community committed to working collaboratively to engage students in learning in order to actualize student potential.

OUR MISSION

• Lilburn Middle School is committed to engaging all students in learning the Academic Knowledge and Skills through research-based best practices with mastery being measured by local, state, national, and world-class standards and re-teaching/reassessing students as needed to actualize their potential.

OUR VALUES

• We use research-based best practices to engage students in learning.

• We build healthy relationships with our students, parents, and community members.

• We provide appropriate interventions to support students in actualizing their potential.

• We collaborate with our colleagues toward building a Professional Learning Community.

LSPI GOAL #1 (Content/Academic)

The percentage of students scoring in the Proficient and Distinguished categories will increase on the math, language arts, science, and social studies District Assessment Post-tests and the Georgia Milestones EOC/EOG Assessments by 2023.

As evidenced by:

• 45% of all students in grades 6-8 scoring at the Proficient and Distinguished performance levels on the GCPS District Assessment and the Georgia Milestones Assessment for English/Language Arts, and 10% of students will score in the Distinguished range.

• 50% of all students in grades 6th and 7th Grades and in 8th Grade Algebra scoring at the Proficient and Distinguished performance levels on the GCPS District Assessment and the Georgia Milestones Assessment for Standard Mathematics and Algebra, and 15% of students will score at the Distinguished range.

• 65% of all students in 6th and 7th Grade Accelerated Mathematics and in Accelerated Algebra scoring at the Proficient and Distinguished performance levels on the GCPS District Assessment and the Georgia Milestones Assessment for Accelerated Mathematics and Accelerated Algebra, and 15% of students at the Distinguished range.

• 45% of all students in grades 6-8 scoring at the Proficient and Distinguished performance levels on the GCPS District Assessment and the Georgia Milestones Assessment for Social Studies, and 10% of students will score in the Distinguished range.

• 45% of all students in grades 6-8 scoring at the Proficient and Distinguished performance levels on the GCPS District Assessment and the Georgia Milestones Assessment for Science, and 10% of students will score in the Distinguished range.

• 50% of all students taking the 9-12 Physical Science scoring in the Proficient and Distinguished performance levels; and 20% of students will score at the Distinguished level on the District Assessment and the Georgia Milestones EOC Assessment in Science.

• 40% or more of EL students will increase at least one level on the 2022 ACCESS assessment. Additionally, 50% of EL students will demonstrate growth, as predicted by the ACCESS band report.

LSPI #2 (Stakeholder Perception)

• We will improve our stakeholders' perception of our school as measured by an increase from 3.6 to 4 (weighted average of the theme scores) on the Spring 2022 parent perception survey. Further, we will have no more than 5% of students scoring in the lowest category of student engagement, based on the Spring 2022 SEI.

LSPI #3 (State Report Card)

• Lilburn Middle School’s CCRPI score will be in the top 25% of Georgia middle schools in 2021-2022.

As evidenced by LMS performance in the areas of Content Mastery, Progress, Closing Gaps, and Readiness

Quality Plus Teaching Strategy: Questioning and Prior Knowledge

For October, the QPTS Highlight Series will focus on Questioning and Problem-Solving with an emphasis on getting our students to grapple and persevere when they are met with obstacles during the learning process. As a reminder, this is in an asynchronous format to allow participants to review, reflect, and refine their understanding of the Quality-Plus Teaching Strategies.

What: QPTS Highlight Series (October)

When: PD&E Course #27264 Section #45671

Small Group Instruction: We continue our work in fine-tuning our small group instruction. See the document at the link for some additional insight into effective small group instruction. This document and additional resources related to small group instruction is located in eCLASS in the Literacy Online Communication Center (LOCC). https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j70CkYF_A5vtgf-BDDGuQ1Tt9st3gED1UlTH36rJbzQ/edit?usp=sharing

NEW:

EARLY RELEASE CONFERENCES:

Thank you in advance for preparing for Early Release conferences for our student's families. As you know, Early Release conferences provide an excellent opportunity to connect with parents, share important information and to set the tone for communication for the remainder of the school year. Early Release Conferences will be held the week of October 18th with two Early Release Days (10/ 20 and 10/21). Please check for an email from Ms.Brown with information regarding setting up virtual conferences. Make sure the Zoom meeting is set as a recurring meeting. This way you can use the same link for all your conferences. Parents will wait in the Waiting Room until you are ready to let them into the meeting. Each meeting should be no more than 20 minutes. You can also schedule a telephone conference with parents if necessary, or parents can come in for an in-person meeting. Make at least three attempts to contact the parent for a conference. Please log all conferences and attempts in Synergy for documentation purposes.

Helpful Hints for Conference Day

• Please let your grade level administrator know if you will need one of them to ZOOM in with you during a conference.

• It is important to share student progress with all parents, please make every effort to talk with all of your parents. Make at least three attempts to schedule the conference or complete a phone conference with the parent.

• Both days scheduled as GCPS Early Release Parent Conference Days are regular work days for all staff members.

• All non-classroom teachers are to follow regular school hours (with the exception of those clerical staff members who are serving as interpreters for late night conferences Wednesday- see the email from Dr. Irish).

• CONTACT ALL SUPPORT STAFF THAT WORK WITH STUDENTS: (including Administration, Counselor, Connections support teachers, Special Education case managers, Speech and Language teachers, Interrelated teachers, ESOL teachers or others who may assist you with a conference). If the support staff member cannot attend the meeting, then the support staff member should provide information/grades/typed narrative/work samples to discuss student progress with the homeroom teacher before the conference.

• Gather materials for the conference:

Make sure that you are prepared with all relevant information that you plan to share about the student. 20 minutes goes fast, so you will want to have these artifacts handy to share with parents. It also sends the message to the parent that you have thought carefully about their child's progress.

• • Student work samples (homework, writing samples, class assignments, and assessments)

  • Progress Reports/Grades

  • Reading/Writing and/or Content Assessments

  • Reading/Writing/Math Journals

  • Behavior Plans (if applicable)

  • Let the parent know how many PBIS Behavior Points the student has earned. Talk this up.

  • Share any handouts, fliers for upcoming events, etc. that has been provided to you.

  • Make sure that your meeting space is well-organized and inviting. Try to arrange the seating in a comfortable formation. If you're using Zoom, use a neutral or school-related background and monitor the waiting room for parents who may be on stand-by.

  • When communicating difficult information/concerns, make sure that you include some good news, too. Along with sharing the areas that the student struggles with, share something positive about the student. It is helpful to think of one or more positive things about each student prior to the conference.

  • Invite your grade level admin and counselors into the conference if you need additional support/resources to help the student's parent to best support them.

  • Have a time-keeper who monitors the time for each meeting. Remind parents ahead of time that you have 20 minutes. If the conference is coming to an end, but the parent still requests additional discussion, offer a follow-up conversation at another time. Determine what follow-up is needed following each conference and set a plan in motion.

Early Release Daily Schedules (October 20 and October 21):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pObqhcbs-fv_yRjLJ2va8_5cnKmHaXxC/view?usp=sharing

• Lunch will be provided on Wednesday, October 20th

Free and Reduced Lunch Competition:

Teachers, as you are aware, our school benefits greatly when all students complete the Free and Reduced Lunch application. At this time, 78% of our students have completed the application. In the past, we have typically attained between a 90%-92% completion rate. That is a huge negative difference that could impact our school funding, determine the schools we are compared against, and eliminate resources that could be provided to individual families. With free lunch being provided to all of our students, many parents don't understand the immediate benefit of completing the form. The deadline for getting these forms turned in is OCTOBER 29th.

This week, you will receive information from Mrs. Cooks with the percentage of students in your HR who have completed the application. You will also receive the names of students who have yet to complete the application. We will be running an incentive to reward classes who have 95% or more students with current completed application on file. Additionally, individual students who have completed the application will have their names placed into a drawing to receive cool prizes. This will occur regularly until the final day, October 29th. Please talk this up with your students and look out for additional communication from Mrs. Cooks on how to work with those who have not completed the application. Thank you to our clerks for making phone calls to those who have not completed this process. Thank you in advance to our HR teachers who will help with speaking with those students who are on the list of non-completers.

The Gwinnett County Public Library Foundation Literacy Event

The Gwinnett County Public Library Foundation was established to enhance high-caliber programs and resources that nurture literacy, imagination, and lifelong learning. Libraries have never been just about books. They’ve been about access to information, inspiration, and amazement. They’re a gateway to a better future – not just for the individual but also for us all. Attached you will find an invitation to “Puttin’ on the Litz…A Night to Fall into Literacy.” October 23, 2021

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wx2_r7JFgSkQ0Sey3gK4_Kv8nRAohksD/view?usp=sharing

Feedback Needed:

• Please complete this brief survey to let me know how the year is going https://forms.gle/D1WtA9h51koEXbQQ9

• Please review the calendar options for next school year and share your remarks

  • https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PwDt6j9LxsrpGh77Y4EzmXPzMfuM6ajA/edit?pli=1#heading=h.sh6j9n9w6ieb

Attendance and Punctuality

• Timely and regular attendance is an expectation of performance for all LMS staff. It is so difficult right now for us to get substitute teachers and support to fill in when you are out, I am asking for everyone to do their best in being at work and arriving on time each day.

COVID Safety Protocols

• Complete a health assessment before leaving home. If you are not feeling well contact your grade level AP as soon as possible (Special Education Teachers contact Ms. St. James). If necessary, follow the absence/sub protocol immediately.

• Wear masks in the classroom with students and throughout the building. The current recommendation is to use the medical grade masks (not mesh masks).

• Wash your hands and use hand sanitizer throughout the day.

• Remember to social distance as much as possible.

• After eating lunch, students should put their masks back on before engaging in conversation with their classmates.

Only those who read this will earn a jeans pass. Email Dr. Irish with the subject line "10/12/21- Yeah!" To claim your pass.

Sub Request

• Please remember to request a sub as soon as you know you will not be at work on a given day.

• All grade level teachers should submit their leave requests to their grade level AP (Special Education teachers will send the request to Ms. St.James). All requests for a Friday or for a leave request "blackout day" must be approved by Dr. Irish.

• Personal leave requests must be submitted 5 days in advance.

• If you are having trouble requesting a sub, please contact Jennifer Ranne as soon as possible.

• If you are going to be out in an emergency situation, send your grade level AP or myself a text message as soon as you know along with your grade level

Safety and Security

1. Classroom teachers: Please stand at your door to greet students and monitor the hallways during each class change.

2. Remember to use your classroom sign-out sheet when students are leaving the room. This helps to keep track of where students are during the day.

3. Please monitor your class when they are traveling through the halls. It is always best to develop a procedure that allows you to keep your class within your sights. It is not advisable to send them ahead because they are in middle school and may seize the moment of being unsupervised to make a poor choice.

4. Transitions: Please remind students about safety in the hallways. We are spending these first few days setting the tone for the rest of the school year. It is always easier to be highly consistent in the beginning, with the expectations that students will adopt the expectations on their own as the year goes on. Constant reminders and practicing are very normal at this time of year. Teachers should be in strategic locations to observe students in the hallways. Remember to communicate with your grade level administrator if there is ever a time that you cannot make it to your duty spot.

5. Please adhere to your grade level's lunch start and end time to ensure we protect our instructional time.

6. Students should not be bringing backpacks into the restroom, or stopping into restrooms in between classes

COVID-19 Vaccine Incentive:

• Recently, Gwinnett County Public Schools announced it is offering a one-time, $500 incentive to eligible staff members who are fully vaccinated for COVID-19. To receive the incentive, eligible employees will follow a two-step process attesting to their vaccination status and providing proof of vaccination.

  • Step 1: Using the link provided in the Employee Portal, complete the form attesting to the employee’s eligibility. This link (which will be available beginning Sept. 10) appears in the top right-hand section of the portal above the Technical Support box/information. The form will be available from the 10th to the 20th of each month through the end of the school year.

  • Step 2: Prior to the 24th of the month, your school or department contact will communicate information on your location’s process for Step 2, which involves verification/proof of vaccination. If Step 2 is not completed by your location’s deadline each month, your incentive payment will not be processed until the next pay period. Please note that proof of vaccination can be verified with a hard copy or photo of either the employee’s COVID vaccination card or record of vaccination.

  • Note that this incentive is being provided to the following staff members who meet eligibility requirements:

• All benefit eligible, full-time employees

• Contracted cafeteria staff (If the employee is a SPUR employee they will get information through SPUR)

• Contracted speech language pathologists

• Retirees (This group will receive .49% of incentive to reflect their .49 work schedule.)

• Substitute Teachers (Eligible substitutes will receive an email once they have met the eligibility requirement of working a minimum of 45 days this school year.)

PREVIOUS REMINDERS:

Go to the link to see the previous updates

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bZaE9jK7tN-2uhKUsDG1JaRZ8YyOnCzKULlaOw8xzvY/edit?usp=sharing

Upcoming Professional Learning:

Fall Institute: CLASE IC Foundational Institute

The goal of this institute is to build teacher capacity across the district to support the integration of the ESOL Instructional Framework into content instruction by offering Instructional Conversation foundational training to teachers of EL students. Participation will build teachers' capacity to address the unique needs of EL students in a pandemic environment and will incorporate collaboration on engaging EL students who are learning digitally. This institute will be offered digitally. A sub code will be provided.

What: K-12 Teachers

When: October 19, 21, 26, & 28, 2021 (8:00 AM-4:00 PM) NEW TIME

Where: Online

Please have teachers register in PD&E 28587, Section: 48084

Accelerated Math Institute- 10/19/21 @5:30

Math Boot Camp

This year’s Math Boot Camp will focus on how to use differentiated small group instruction to accelerate learning in mathematics. New to Math Boot Camp this year, teachers will first engage via Zoom as they livestream into classrooms to see model lessons with in-person students. Following these live lessons, participants will have the opportunity to engage in teacher choice sessions with a continued focus on differentiated small group instruction as well as supporting Special Education students and English Learners. All math teachers and math assistant principals are encouraged to attend.

What: Math Boot Camp

When: October 23, 2021 (9:00 AM – 12:00 PM)

Where: Online (Link will be sent to registered participants and posted on the MOCC)

Teachers should register in PD&E using course #26931

Ready, Set, Science Bootcamp

• This professional learning provides an opportunity for teachers to grow in their understanding of the Science AKS and Phenomenon Driven Science Instruction. Participants will engage in activities to help support their understanding of the science AKS, science and engineering practices, science formative assessments, and our newly revised small group lessons.

• What: Ready, Set, Science Bootcamp

• When: September 23, December 9, February 3 (4:00 PM – 6:00 PM)

• Where: Discovery High School

Required Online Training Videos (PD & E):

1) All staff members are required to read and sign off on the LMS handbook. You can access the handbook and the sign-off by navigating to the LMS Training Page (Due September 2)

2) Test Administration and Security (DUE - August 31)

3) Safety and Security Compliance Training (DUE-September 25)

4) HR Compliance and Ethics

• Who - All Staff

• Time - 90 minutes

• Start Date - September 1

• Due Date - November 1

5) Security Awareness

• Who - All Staff

• Time - 60 minutes

• Start Date - July 29

• Due Date - November 21

1) Monday, October 18

• Great Days of Service

• Spirit Week- Tye Die Shirts

• Basketball Tryouts-boys & girls

• Connections A Interim

• HR F/R Lunch form collection (turn in any collected forms to your grade level office)

2) Tuesday, October 19

• ELT (Period 2)

• Great Days of Service

• Spirit Week- Mathlete Vs. Athlete

• Informed with Irish- Colleen Ulrich Coming-6PM

• Basketball Tryouts-boys & girls

• Connections B Interim

• Tutoring Connections 8:10 a.m.-8:50 a.m.

• HR F/R Lunch form collection (turn in any collected forms to your grade level office)

3) Wednesday, October 20

• ELT (Period 3)

• Tutoring MA & SS

• Great Days of Service

• Spirit Week- dress for success

• Early Release-Parent Conferences

• Digital Learning Day # 2-online learning for all students

• HR F/R Lunch form collection (turn in any collected forms to your grade level office)

4) Thursday, October 21

• Tutoring ELA & SC 8:10 a.m.-8:50 a.m.

• Great Days of Service

• Spirit Week- Bright Out

• Early Release-Parent Conferences

• HR F/R Lunch form collection (turn in any collected forms to your grade level office)

ELT (4th Period)Tutoring ELA & SC 8:10 a.m.-8:50 a.m.Basketball Meeting in Cafeteria, 6 PMiSUCCESS begins

5) Friday, October 22

• Great Days of Service

• Spirit Week- College Gear Day

• Advisement SEL OAC Required Lesson

• Connections A

• District Honors Chorus Field Trip

• Girls Basketball Tryouts Old Gym 4:30-5:30

• McClure HS and Meadowcreek Articulation Meeting with 8th Grade During ELT (Virtual)

• HR F/R Lunch form collection (turn in any collected forms to your grade level office)

ELT Literacy Block Connections A

6) Saturday, October 23

• JLC Raiders Meet

• Rest and Relax!

Coming up next week:

HS Articulation Meeting, Literacy Night, Red Ribbon Week, Business Partner Luncheon, Advanced Theatre Production

Have a Supercharged and Laser-Focused Week!

Additional School-Wide Newsletters:

Technology Newsletter (D.Brown):

https://sites.google.com/g.gcpsk12.org/techteamnewsletter/home/vol-ii-sept-2021

PBIS Newsletter (Maresh):

https://sites.google.com/g.gcpsk12.org/lmspridepackpbis/pride-pack-post-newsletter_1

Connections Newsletter (Byrd):

https://sites.google.com/g.gcpsk12.org/connectionsnewsletter/home

Special Education Newsletter (St.James):

Coming Soon