EAST PAULDING MIDDLE SCHOOL
November 1, 2019
PARENT NEWSLETTER
Upcoming Events
11/3 - Daylight Savings Ends - Sleep an Extra Hour
11/5 - Election Day - Student Holiday - Teacher Workday
11/7-11/8 - 8th Grade Savannah Trip
11/11 - PCHS Magnet Program Visit - 8th Grade
11/15 - Scoliosis Screening
11/21 - Dodgeball Tournament - 4:00pm
11/25-11/29 - Thanksgiving Break
CCRPI
We are excited about the growth we experienced as we saw our efforts to improve student literacy positively affect our overall school success. This incremental growth gives us a great opportunity to continue growth in the 2019-2020 school year and continue to work to support students in a variety of ways that will ultimately lead them to high school graduation.
We realize that we have many opportunities to continue to growth, and we look forward to addressing those challenges each day.
EPMS School Climate Star Rating
Last Friday, CCRPI and Climate Star ratings were released for all schools in Georgia. We are proud to share that for the 3rd consecutive year, East Paulding Middle School has earned a 5 star School Climate Rating.
Please take a moment to complete the anonymous 24-question Georgia Parent Survey for our school for the 2019-2020 school year. As always, your feedback is appreciated. The Georgia Parent Survey is also available in Spanish, and parents may select the Spanish version within the survey.
The Georgia Parent Survey is modeled after the student survey and contains 24 questions. Parents may complete the survey using their personal computer, smartphone, or tablet, and all parents are encouraged to participate in the Georgia Parent Survey.
As a reminder, all survey responses are anonymous and will be submitted directly to the Georgia Department of Education for analysis. We appreciate your feedback as it is vital to our continued growth and success as a school.
To access the survey, click the button below.
PCSD E-SPLOST Referendum
We encourage all of our community members to educate themselves about E-SPLOST and exercise their right to vote. Additional information about E-SPLOST can be found by following the link below or clicking on the one-page summary.
Parent Portal
Don't forget to visit the link below to learn about Parent Portal. If you visit the portal now, you can find detailed information about your students historical testing data, including Milestones results.
Student Attendance
Our student attendance goal for the 2019-2020 school year is set at having 97% student attendance each month of school. Our current October student attendance percentage is below along with our August student attendance percentage. The information you will see is the average percent of students present at school each day.
6th Grade - 96.50%
7th Grade - 94.60%
8th Grade - 95.52%
October Total School Percentage - 95.50
September Total School Percentage - 96.6%
August Total School Percentage - 96.49%
Monthly Goal - 97%
YTD - 96.2%
We appreciate you helping us reach our goal!
Scoliosis Screening
6th and 8th Grade students will complete scoliosis screening at East Paulding Middle School on Friday, November 15th. A letter will be coming home with your student next week.
If you wish for your child to be screened, no further action is needed. If you prefer NOT to have your child screened, fill out and sign the form and return it to the school nurse by Thursday, November 14th. While screening is done discretely, female students will need to wear a bra or swimsuit top.
Please take an opportunity to watch the brief video titled "Scoli What?" linked below. If you have any questions regarding the screening, please call our school nurse.
2019-2020 School Improvement Plan
The beginning of the year brings about a lot of responsibilities for all PCSD schools. One of our main responsibilities is to develop and implement a school -wide improvement plan. While we have not finalized our plan quite yet, I thought I would share our focus for the 2019-2020 school year. In a future newsletter, I will provide some additional, parent-friendly information that will provide some additional insight to our goals.
Goal #1 - We will increase the number of students who read at a proficient or advanced level.
Goal #2 - We will increase the number of students who score a Level 3 (proficient) or Level 4 (distinguished) on the Language Arts EOG Assessment.
Goal #3 - We will increase the number of students with disabilities who score a Level 3 (proficient) or Level 4 (distinguished) on the Language Arts EOG Assessment.
Goal #4 - We will increase the number of students who score at a proficient or advanced level on the Math Inventory assessment.
Goal #5 - We will increase the number of students who score a Level 3 (proficient) or Level 4 (distinguished) on the Math EOG Assessment.
Goal #6 - We will increase the number of students with disabilities who score a Level 3 (proficient) or Level 4 (distinguished) on the Math EOG Assessment.
Goal #7 - We will utilize our PBIS (Positive Behaviors Interventions and Support) strategies and Capturing Kids Hearts to build positive relationships with our students and help students build positive relationships with their peers in an effort to grow and maintain a positive school climate an culture.
I would appreciate any feedback regarding the current information I have shared. A school improvement plan is a "living" document that can be revised throughout the year to meet our building and student needs. You can provide your feedback by emailing Mr. Alverson at the email address listed below. We want to hear from you!
Canvas Parent Observer Account
Updated Vaping Policy
Revtrak
Arriving and Leaving Campus
We have had a great start to the 2019-2020 school year! Thank you for your support and help in making the start of this school year awesome. Below, are a couple reminders:
Morning Arrival
Please remember that students may not enter the building until 8:10 AM each morning. If you arrive before 8:10 AM, your student may enter the building and report to the cafeteria beginning at 7:40 AM. Anyone who needs to arrive on campus prior to 7:40 AM should utilize the bus for transportation.
As you arrive at the front curve of our building, please pull all the way forward before letting your student(s) out. If we are all letting our student(s) out at the front door, we are only able to empty 3 or 4 cars at a time. If we pull all the way forward, we can double the amount of students being let out of cars and speed up the process.
Afternoon Dismissal
Student Walkers - During afternoon dismissal, the only students who will be allowed to walk from our campus are students who:
1. Live in a surrounding neighborhood and are walking home.2. Participate in an after-school sport at East Paulding High School and must walk to practice.
3. Have a parent who teaches at East Paulding High School and must walk to the high school for transportation.
4. Has a sibling who is a student driver at East Paulding High School and relies on that sibling for transportation.
We appreciate your patience through the afternoon dismissal process. There is additional information about that process along with a map, below. Our goal is to make sure that every student makes it home safely, and we appreciate your support of our dismissal process.
Overall, if sitting in traffic is not your idea of a good time, I want to encourage you to utilize the bus. Our Transportation Department provides a great service with outstanding, experienced drivers who are very good at what they do.
Below, you will find information for "Here Comes The Bus", an app that will allow you the opportunity to track your student(s) bus. You will also find a link that will help you identify your student's bus stop location, bus number, and pick-up/drop-off times.
Follow or Like us on Social Media
Contact Information for Tom Alverson
Email: talverson@paulding.k12.ga.us
Website: http://www.paulding.k12.ga.us/Domain/29
Phone: 770-443-7000
Facebook: facebook.com/eastpauldingmiddleschool
Twitter: @epmsraiders