NEWSLETTER
Home of TERK the bulldog, embracing
TOLERANCE, EFFORT, RIGOR & KINDNESS
Our motto At General Smallwood, we are GREAT – focusing on
Growth, Relationships, Excellence, Accountability, and Teamwork
From the desk of Principal Tillotson
Dear Parents and Guardians:
Welcome to the second semester. It may be hard to believe, but we are halfway through the school year already. We had many challenges the first semester, but we are committed to making our second semester better. We have implemented our new programs and are hoping these will help our staff and students be successful. We are focused on improving the climate at Smallwood, but we know this will not happen overnight. We are committed to a refresh/reset/restart of the new calendar year for our students.
As second quarter began on January 23rd, so did the window for scheduling next year’s classes for our students in Synergy (Parent Vue). The scheduling timeline has been moved up this year by several months. Our teachers finished inputting their recommendations for the core content classes on January 17th and the counselors have been verifying them. Quarterly PE & Health which are required have already been added to each student’s schedule. Parents and students now have the option to put in their preferences for related arts classes. All requests are being done electronically in Synergy. The window will be open until January 31st. If you have any questions or need assistance, please reach out to your grade level counselor.
We held our 2nd quarter PBIS event on Thursday, January 19th. Students who were eligible returned to their 1st period class to watch a movie. A snack was also provided. As part of our new restart initiatives, Smallwood has gone to an on-line Bulldog Buck’s PBIS rewards system. Staff will now give Bulldog Bucks electronically and students can monitor their balance. We are trying to promote the positive as staff are encouraged to use this system to increase the use of Bulldog Bucks for our students who are doing the “right thing.” Also, we now open our student store called the Bulldog Mart for lunch twice a week. We have loaded the store up with a variety of snacks and drinks along with the typical school supplies. Also, as part of the initiative, we hope to increase the number of PBIS events that students may participate in throughout the school year.
As part of our refresh/reset/restart initiative for 2023, we held both grade level assemblies with students and parents during the first week of January. We reviewed some key discipline issues and our new initiatives and programs. Along with promoting the positive with PBIS, we started a new color-coded hall pass program. We have already started seeing the benefits of these passes. We began doing hall sweeps with specific consequences for students who are not going to class on time and/or cutting class. We are optimistic that these two programs will assist us with students being disruptive in the hallways to our academic instruction.
You may have noticed some flags hanging outside our school starting on January 18th. This is part of our new Peace Flag Program. We are tracking and announcing by grade levels the number of days that there is no physical altercations at Smallwood. Along with promoting peace, grade levels will receive rewards as they meet specific benchmarks. (Please note the flags are taken down over the weekends or if we have severe weather.) This is another initiative to promote a safe environment at Smallwood that was discussed at our student and parent presentations. The 6th grade flag has a yellow background, 7th has a blue background and 8th grade has a white background. I hope you will discuss and encourage your students about the importance of peace and safety at our school.
We had several students take advantage of our grade recovery from 1st quarter. Grade recovery for 2nd quarter for the 4 core content courses will continue during the 3rd quarter. A reminder that students who fail a core content class (Language Arts, Math, Science, or Social Studies) are eligible to do grade recovery. This is an on-line opportunity that can be done at Smallwood. There are specific number of hours that students must attend along with receiving a passing grade of 60%. Information will go out to students once grades are finalized. The contact person for grade recovery is Mr. S. Anderson. (sanderson@ccboe.com) If students meet the time and grade requirement by attending Grade Recovery, their quarter grade will be changed to a 60%.
In February, we will celebrate African American History Month. Students will have the opportunity to hear highlights each morning about a famous African American who has made a difference in our lives. Ms. Adams, chair of our Equity and Diversity Committee, has a bulletin board dedicated to various groups each month. This bulletin board is located near the front office. We are also planning school-wide cross-curricular lessons for our students on February 17th. The lessons will focus on this year’s theme “Black Resistance”.
During the February Board Meeting, Smallwood will have both a staff member and student recognized. Our exemplary student is 8th grader Sydney Carter. She is being recognized in the area of Career Readiness. Our staff member being recognized is Mr. Ed Davis, an 8th grade math teacher. Mr. Davis has been at Smallwood for over 17 years, and we appreciate his dedication and loyalty to the students of Smallwood. Also, Ms. Brittany Johnson was Smallwood’s nomination for teacher of the year. Although Ms. Johnson has only been a teacher and at Smallwood for 6 years, she is an outstanding science teacher. She provides engaging lessons to all her students and is very committed to their success. We are very proud to recognize the accomplishments of both our staff and our student nominees.
I want to thank our Smallwood families for the various donations over the holidays. We had a successful food and coat drive sponsored by our Student Government at Thanksgiving. During December, our staff donated food for some of our families to provide breakfast boxes over the holidays. We also had many donations from our community to assist our families over both holiday breaks. We are so thankful for the contributions that allowed us to help so many of our Smallwood families.
As always, thank you for all your support in assisting us to have a successful academic year for our students. We are facing many challenges, but we are committed to making Smallwood a positive environment for both our students and staff.
Sincerely,
Brenda L. Tillotson
Principal
8th Grade Announcements
Field Trips coming soon!
- 8th Grade Field Trips are coming soon! Please keep an eye out for updates from the 8th Grade Team. We will be seeking parent chaperones. If interested, please contact Mrs. Cotumaccio at acotumaccio@ccboe.com to get the info for the screening process.
7th Grade Announcements
Field Trip to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum
7th grade is planning a field trip to the Smithsonian of Natural History, on March 16th. The Smithsonian requires a chaperone for every 5 students. So, parent help is needed to make this trip possible. Please let Mrs. Marshall know if you can chaperone.
6th Grade Announcements
Important Reminders
- 6th Graders should bring their laptops, chargers and agendas each day
- 6th Grade just finished IREADY diagnostic for Language Arts and Math
We are in the process of planning a 6th grade field trip...stay tuned for details
Click the link to see the latest from the Media Center
Honor Roll Assemblies
8th grade Thursday February 9th 9:00 am
7th grade Thursday February 9th 1:45 pm
6th grade Friday February 10th 9:00 am
Important Dates
- January 23 - Third marking period begins
- January 30 - Report cards posted
- February 17 - Two hour early dismissal
- February 20 - Presidents Day - Schools/offices closed
- February 22 - School Bus Driver Appreciation
- March 9 - Two hour early dismissal
- March 28 - Two hour early dismissal