We have struggled over the past few weeks with some issues related to both PE and pod lockers. We have students leaving lockers unlocked and leaving things outside of their lockers in the locker room. The result is that we have had theft.

I have cracked down on locks being on lockers and what students can bring to the locker room. My solution for the locker room issue has not been ideal. I am gathering solutions from students to try to solve this problem and so far I have heard some great ideas. We will make some adjustments soon to accommodate student concerns.

I have heard from some parents and students that the loss of their items should simply be a natural consequence of them leaving their things unsecured. And that makes perfect sense... until your child loses something of value. The office is then brought into it when parents want us to investigate and get upset when we don't spend our time resources on a search. We simply don't have the resources to be able to do that.

With that in mind, my expectations will be clear: All students need to lock their lockers all the time with a district-issued lock. They also need to keep all items that they bring with them into the locker room in a locked locker.

I feel that we are darned if we make rules to make things more secure and darned if we don't because we will then need to deal with theft. So we are going to err on the side of security and making sure kids lock-up their belongings.

Please encourage your child to keep locks on their lockers and their belongings secured.

Thank you!

Tim

Data can help us understand where we are with many different things. One data point we look at is ODRs, or office discipline referrals. We use that data to determine where to focus our efforts. For example, our two highest areas where we receive ODRs are on the bus and in the cafeteria. What that tells us is that we need to do two things: 1) Do a brief school-wide lesson on bus expectations, and 2) Do a longer lesson on bus behavior with those students who have received more than two ODRs for the bus within a reasonable timeframe.

With that in mind, this week we are teaching an 8-minute school-wide refresher lesson on bus expectations. And within the next few weeks, we will do a longer lesson for students who need a more intensive lesson on bus behavior. By teaching the specific skills a student needs to be successful on the bus, we should see a reduction in negative bus behaviors and ODRs, and the bus ride should be more pleasant for all students.

For students who don't respond to the longer, more intensive lesson, we begin to look at even more intensive instruction/intervention for bus issues. As we become more proficient in developing and delivering these "booster lessons" we should see even more positive behavior around Wredling.

We sometimes think that kids should know some of these skills. But we have learned that some kids need more instruction in a specific skill in a specific setting. We appreciate your support as we help our middle schoolers learn!