FAQ

Does every student receive a personal Chromebook?

During orientation, each parent will be given the opportunity to accept responsibility for their child’s personal Chromebook. Parents can choose to purchase insurance at this time. Following a brief training, each student will be able to check out their Chromebook for the school year and it will be tracked by bar codes on their Chromebooks and their battery packs. Students are responsible for charging their own Chromebook each evening. At the end of the year, we will check them back in.

Are we doing away with paper and pencil in classrooms and going to Chromebooks only?

Although we are excited about the benefits of having one-to-one Chromebooks, a school-wide Learning Management System, and online binders, we are not suggesting that there will be no paper and pencil assignments, tests or projects. Teachers will create classroom expectations, practices and learning environments that best meet the needs of the students, teach to standards, and include appropriate usage of both computer and paper/pencil methods.

When is Orientation and what will it involve?

Libby orientation will be Monday, August 28th. Watch for a postcard reminder in early August for more details. Check here for your Save the Date detail.

How will Leadership be chosen? Will it be fair to Carmichael students who have less students transferring over than Enterprise?

Enterprise and Carmichael students attending Libby next year will be participating in a two step election process. Preliminary elections for President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Activities Coordinator will be held within Enterprise and Carmichael on June 2. The winners of the preliminary elections from both schools will then be entered into the Final Election using a Blind Election process similar to what is already being used at Delta High with great results. This process is explained in the packet. Since the majority of students coming to Libby are from EMS, it gives CMS students an equal opportunity to get elected. The Vice President will be the presidential candidate runner up (ensuring that we have a president and vice president consisting of one EMS student and one CMS student). The remaining officers could be voted in as all EMS, all CMS or a mix depending on how the votes fall-- all of which will be 100 percent Libby Middle School students!!

What are the sports and clubs at LMS? Will sixth graders have access to athletics? Can we have intramural sports?

Sports offered at LMS will be the same offered by athletic programs in other middle schools. See our Athletics Tab on the homepage for more information on registering for sports. Sixth grade students can practice with but not compete in Cross Country but are not eligible to participate in other sports. Questions posed concerning intramural sports have been discussed among Core Planning Team but cannot be answered until we have an Athletic Director and full staff in place.

Clubs at LMS will be determined by student interest and by availability of teacher/parent advisors. We will offer sign-ups during Orientation.

Do I have to switch from my current school to Libby Middle School? Can I choose to go to Libby if I am not assigned to this school?

Initially everyone will be placed in their assigned schools, but can apply to attend a different school through RSD’s Student Services. Student Services can be contacted directly at the district office. Most of your current school offices also have the paperwork to apply for these transfers.

Will I be able to eat lunch with my friends?

There will be two lunch options which will be determined by placement in advisory classes. Ideally students will know at least one person at lunch and show a willingness to widen their circles. Each year there are opportunities to meet new people and reach out to others. We encourage students to use lunch time as an opportunity to strengthen these skills.

When and how can I get a waiver for PE?

PE waivers are given case by case. Contact Libby Counselor Diana Patitucci to discuss schedule options at diana.patitucci@rsd.edu

How many music classes will be offered? Are students required to be in a regular orchestra/band/choir class to be in an advanced music class?

We are currently in the middle of registering students and gauging student interest in electives. The number of classes offered and music teachers hired depends upon registration. Stay tuned for more information on this after registration closes and a full staff is in place.

When you asked if anyone wants to be in advanced classes regardless of testing into HiCap, what are your requirements for being in an advanced class? Are HiCap students still going to be challenged at a level that will not bore them?

We hold a strong Growth Mindset and believe that every student, regardless of their label, should have the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to earn an Advanced designation on their course titles. Our staff will explicitly define the difference between a regular course and an advanced course and then allow each student the opportunity to demonstrate proficiency in that difference so that they can earn the advanced designation for the course. This will apply only for the course. The hi-cap student label will still follow the district testing procedure.

Are advisory classes mixed grade levels? Will students remain with the same advisor all three years? What happens when a student has a personality conflict with an advisor?

Advisory classes (which meet TWTh) will be grouped into grade levels. Each student will remain with this advisory teacher and class all three years. Lessons, discussions, and activities have been written for each grade level to promote academic success, build community and challenge creative thinking. Any concerns with an advisor should be handled through the counseling office and transfers out of an advisory class will be on a limited case-by-case basis after first attempting to problem solve students’ concerns.

I was told that all incoming students have been receiving a new Libby T-shirt. What if my child did not get one?

Core team was able to get nearly 700 shirts printed as a welcome to each student and it is our intention to give one to each student! (Thank you to our primary sponsor Frontier Fence and our secondary sponsor Ideal Dentistry). If your child did not receive a shirt, please email our Core Team t-shirt rep, Trisha Snow at letitsnow0113@yahoo.com

How much integrated learning will be happening in each subject area and do you mean that Math teachers will be teaching aspects of Language Arts? Music teachers with science lessons? How is this not distracting?

We live in an integrated world and our goal is to reflect the world and prepare them to live and be successful in today’s world. Depending on the specific project, the levels of integration will vary accordingly.

How is Libby Middle school ensuring that the A in STEAM is a truly valued part of the whole? Your website spends a lot of time explaining STEM, but not showing how the arts fits into this model.

Libby Middle School will offer a full list of arts electives, similar to the other Richland middle schools. This includes band, orchestra, choir, art, and drama. At Libby our content and arts standards are naturally aligned, taught and assessed equitably. Our students have access to arts classes where arts skills and processes are taught explicitly by an arts educator. Collaboration between content and arts educators is valued and scheduled intentionally. The entire school community (parents, organizations, businesses, etc) are partners with the school in support of the STEAM approach.

I heard that Core Team members who helped plan this school included professionals from LIGO, PNNL, MCB, the Dept. of Ecology and WSU. Will these professionals remain involved and will my children interact with the Core Team professionals during the school year?

Yes, these industry professionals were instrumental in curriculum development, and unit design, and they will continue to offer their services as consultants to teachers and students on project based learning. Maintaining these partnerships and relationship with those Core Team members and building new ones with other local businesses will help keep Libby on top of trends in the STEM fields.

My child registered themselves and ranked their elective choices using a number more than once. How can we edit their choices? Can we submit an ideal schedule to the counselor?

Email the counselor directly. Diana Patitucci: Diana.Patitucci@rsd.edu

Will you explain the different bell schedule and why you opted for a block schedule?

Our school will utilize a rotating block schedule in order to accommodate longer classes and allow for more project based learning (using projects to demonstrate understanding and knowledge). Upon knowing middle school learners needs, we researched and put best practices together by lengthening class time to allow for project based learning and collaboration between students to follow the engineering design process.

Will you continue to do an 8th grade music field trip? Will you limit this to only students in a music class or can students involved in music outside of school apply to attend? Can we have a general 8th grade field trip instead? Are there other off campus educational opportunities in the works?

As the music staff is put in place and a boosters committee formed, we will meet to answer these questions.

There are no plans for an 8th grade field trip, but there is an interest in a travel club that will include fundraising and traveling to historic sites on the East Coast. When ASB is in place, there can be more discussion on these topics.

What types of projects could project-based-learning involve?

One possibility is for science and language arts teachers to explore the wetland near the school. They could combine efforts to study native and non-native plant communities, wetland wildlife and invertebrates, and water quality. They could research wetland habitats using close reading techniques of nonfiction, and exploring nature literature. Their culminating project would be a science and nature journal, that includes creative writing with scientific findings.

If there is more than one Algebra/Geometry class offered, will some be designated as an advanced class and others as regular? Will classes be filled with multiple grades?

There is no advanced course designation for math classes at the middle school level in Richland School District. There may be multiple grade levels in Algebra and Pre-algebra classes.