Dear EMS Families,

With quarter 4 underway and 8 weeks left in the school year, I wanted to preview the rest of the school year to help with your planning during this often busy time of year.

• April 12th - School dance in EMS gym - 6 - 8 p.m.

• April 13th - Performance Music Cabaret - 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

• April 17th - - PTO Meeting in EMS Library/MakerSpace 5 - 6:30 p.m.

• April 22nd - 26th - No School - Spring break

• May 2nd - Rising 7th grade parent night in EMS gym 7 - 7:45 p.m.

The transition from 6th to 7th grade is a significant move; students go from a one or two person team to a team of four teachers. Academic expectations continue to increase as well. I would encourage all families of rising 7th graders to join us as we work to partner in making it a smooth transition.

• May 6th - 10th - Math SBAC testing

• May 8th - 10th - Very Merry Theatre Production of Matilda

• May 9th - ½ day for students - noon dismissal

• May 15th - PTO Meeting in EMS Library/MakerSpace 5 - 6:30 p.m.

• May 16th - Orchestra Concert in EMS gym 7 - 8:30 p.m. 8th

• May 20th - 24th - Vermont Science testing (8th graders only)

• May 21st - Band Concert in EMS gym 7 - 8:30 p.m

• May 24th - ½ day for students - noon dismissal

• May 27th - No school - Memorial Day

• May 30th - Chorus Concert in EMS gym 7 - 8:30 p.m.

• May 31st - School dance in EMS gym - 6 - 8 p.m. *with 8th graders able to stay for an extra 30 minutes.

The Superintendent has announced that the end of the school year dates for 2019 will not be finalized and announced until after April break. With that said, EMS has finalized the following:

• June 7th - Awards Assembly in EMS Gym 1:30 - 2:45 p.m.

• June 10th - Team trips *all day final end of year field trip varies by team

• June 11th - ½ day for 6th and 7th graders - noon dismissal

• June 11th - 8th grade Celebration of Learning in EMS gym 1 - 2:30 p.m.

We will share the last day of school date as well as the 2019-2020 school calendar in our next Family Newsletter.

In partnership,

Meg

Community Announcements

• Join the April PTO meeting to learn more about navigating Powerschool from our Tech Integrationist, Val Lodish.

• The renovations and improvements of Edmunds Campus continue to make our central entrance ADA secure and create a common entrance for the entire Edmunds complex. As planned, our cafeteria opened after February break and as of now, we are meeting the timeline for the grand opening of our new central entrance for the 2019-2020 school year in August. Please see here for more details regarding the final project.

• Communication between home and school often grows more challenging as your children get older. At EMS we want to reiterate that you are always welcome. Please do not hesitate to reach out to schedule a time to meet with teachers at any point. While our recent conference times were limited for 7th/8th grade, we are always willing to find another time.

• World Language update for 2019-2020: Currently Burlington’s two middle schools share one full time French teacher and one full time Spanish teacher. As a result of scheduling and contractual constraints, each teacher spends 1/2 the year at each school. The effect of this current programming means that:

• there is no continuity in our language offerings at the MS level

• thus, students are leaving MS without readiness for HS language

In order to address this reality and move toward a language program that provides more continuity and greater readiness for high school, next year the Spanish teacher will spend the full year at EMS, while the French teacher works full time at Hunt. Our plan for 2020-2021 is to identify a long term option that addresses the deficits in the current programming and work toward a solution that would allow for:

• 6th graders to have a true language exploratory opportunity

• 7th/8th graders to opt into language

• Rising 8th graders who took language during the Middle School years to arrive to HS prepared to enter HS level language classes.

• School Dance details

• Tickets sold before and after school next week in the lobby of the school for $4.

• Location - EMS gym. Entrance through side door by the gym driveway.

• Dance doors will be closed at 6:30

• Snacks and drinks for sale (range in price from $.25 - $1) throughout the dance

• Games offered in addition to dancing.

• Students must stay in the dance until 8 after entering.