Cougar Catch 8/7
Jake Jorgenson, Principal at Millburn Middle School
First Day of Student Attendance - Remote
The start of the school year will be remote for all students. If you have not already seen Dr. Lind's recent update, I have attached it below.
Return Plans Update
From Dr. Lind (email to families on 8/6)
Thank you all for your continued support and input as we move toward the beginning of our school year. We are truly grateful that our community has been so supportive and engaged throughout this process.
It is with regret that we must announce that, due to circumstances beyond our control, we will be beginning the school year with remote learning on August 24th for ALL students. I am recommending to the Board of Education that we slow our in-person return by several weeks. All students would begin learning in a remote environment on August 24th. We will continue to develop our plans for the possibility that in-person learning for some groups of students may begin as early as the week of September 8th. This decision will only impact our families who chose in-person learning.
In-person instruction is the most desired learning environment for children. COVID-19 has forced schools across the world to shut down depending on the level of infection in their communities. Since our district released our Return to Learn Plan and the community chose between remote and in-person learning, several developments have made it impossible for us to guarantee the safest environment possible for our students and staff for in-person learning by the beginning of the school year.
With additional challenges being placed before schools and lack of guidance and clarity on safety measures, I am recommending to the Board of Education that we slow our in-person return by several weeks. All students would begin learning in a remote environment on August 24th. We will keep working on implementing the new safety requirements and will review the status of the COVID-19 spread and positivity rate. When we have better clarity of our safety targets, and greater confidence in our ability to provide the safest environment possible for our students and staff, in-person school could begin for some groups of students as early as the week of September 8th. If new restrictions arise or if the metrics are not showing the spread of COVID-19 is under control, we will set another date to review the status of in-person learning.
I will present a detailed explanation of the metrics, challenges, and progress we are making toward starting school at the August 10th Board of Education meeting at 7:00 p.m. In the meantime, I will host additional Zoom meetings that can be joined through the following link COVID CONVERSATIONS. I will also host an outdoor meeting on Saturday, August 8th at 10:00 AM -12:00 PM at MES near the activity entrance on the north side of the building. Details can be found here: Outdoor Meeting Space 8_8_2020.pdf .
We have no doubt that our entire Millburn community will work together to create the best learning environment we can for our children. It will take all of our efforts to have a successful year. We will be working diligently to bring our students back to in-person learning as soon as is safely possible. In the meantime, please know that you can reach out at any time to ask questions or share your concerns.
Welcome 5th Grade Students!
I will send a direct email to all incoming 6th grade families with the dates, times and how to sign up.
Mr. Rowlands and I are great tour guides! It will be a fun and efficient way to get 6th graders familiar with their new building.
Stay tuned for more details on this.
School Supply Updates
There may be a couple items in each grade that may be needed different from the supply lists shared at the start of the summer. One example is listed below for 8th Grade Art. I will update this list in future newsletters.
7th Grade:
8th Grade:
Sketch Book for Art Class
Office Hours
Millburn Middle School Has a Twitter Account!
Virtual Backpack
Supply Kits
Caudill Reading RequirementsCaudill Book List
Caudill Clouds
Lake Villa Library - Summer Neighborhood
EPIC Educator and Parent Involvement Connection MillburnEPIC.com
Spirit Wear: Online sale through August 8th. Shop for short and long sleeve shirts, sweat shirts, zip ups, caps and MASKS (child and adult sizes available). See the flyer in the virtual backpack for details. We will contact you via email about pick up times. Order now to get this year’s spirit wear!
Order at: https://millburn2020.itemorder.com/
Sizing information: https://www.foundersport.com/assets/1/6/1930-Spec.pdf
Questions contact: spiritwear@millburnEPIC.com
**Please note: Due to the current situation we are not anticipating having any inventory on hand.
Box Tops: Don’t forget about your Box Tops! If you would like to submit any Box Tops that you have, please email us at: boxtoplabels@millburnepic.com. We will be happy to pick them up from your porch or mailbox. Any Box Tops submitted over the summer will be saved for the 2020-2021 school year and your child will get credit for their new classroom. Don’t forget to scan your grocery receipt to earn digital Box Tops for Millburn!
Jimano’s $$: Are you ordering dinner from Jimano’s? Look on your pizza box for the ‘Piece of Education’ logo and save that tab - Jimano’s will donate back to Millburn for each one of those saved! Turn these into the school with your Box Tops. Have a lot and want to give them now? Contact us at
boxtoplabels@millburnepic.com
Coca-Cola Give: Coca-Cola Give is a new destination for donating to your school. Each bottle of Coca-Cola products has a code on the inside of the bottle cap. (Not just soda – Dasani water, Powerade, Honest, etc).
2 Ways to give us the codes:
Enter the codes online
https://us.coca-cola.com/give/ Click Donate to your Local School. Enter Millburn Middle School or Millburn Elementary School (please make sure it is for the Illinois school NOT the New Jersey one). Join or sign in when you have an account.
Or
Send us the caps: contact us at boxtoplabels@millburnepic.com. We will sent up a pick up time and we will do the work for you.
Board Elections: We are going holding elections in the fall. Open positions will be: Vice President, Secretary, Community Fundraising Director, MMS Activity Director and MES Activity Director. If you are interested in a position and would like to reach out to us please contact us at president@millburnEPIC.com.
Amazon Smile: Do you use Amazon? Consider making your orders through Amazon Smile –Millburn EPIC will get a percentage of every order done in our name. See the virtual backpack for the easy instructions.
For more information visit our website at www.millburnEPIC.com
Questions or concerns contact us at millburnepic@gmail.com