August 5th

Welcome to the 22-23 School Year! The Friday newsletters are full of great detail each week. This is the place to go to get information or important links to information.

**Welcome back to Assistant Principal Mrs. Parrish and say hello to her new baby boy, Fritz who was born on April 29th 2022! Please note that Mrs. Parrish will be available Wednesdays and Thursdays at MMS as well as by email during 1st Quarter. Starting November 1st, she will be back on campus everyday.

August

8th - New Families to the District Informational 10:30 to 11:30, 6:30 to 7:30 MMS Media Center

19th - Student schedules go live! Log in to Powerschool to see

23rd - Supply Drop Off, School Pictures, Follow Schedules / Meet Teachers 3:00 to 6:00

25th - 1st Day of School - Half Day, Dismissal at 11:40

26th - Full Day of School

***Back to school event: Please save the date for our District 24 Welcome Back to School Event on Friday, September 9th. More information to follow.

Each year we have new families that move into the district. To help with that transition into a new school district, the schools offer an orientation session for families. Topics of the orientation include:

General School Information

Schedule

Assessments

Arrival / Dismissal

Lunch, Recess

iPads

Sports, Fine Arts, Clubs

Building Tour

Monday, August 8th

MES Welcome- 9:00AM or 5:00PM

MMS Welcome- 10:30AM or 6:30PM

**This orientation is designed for families that are new to the district.

Rosters are being worked on daily between now and August 19th. Every effort will be made to get students into a 1st choice enrichment.

On the 19th, parents will be able to access Powerschool and see their student's schedule. This is important because your student will want to start "chatting" with friends about when they have ELA or what period they have PE, etc.

**Students will be issued a locker at the start of the year for their belongings.** See Supply List Below (linked to the Virtual Backpack)

Supply Drop Off night will be Tuesday, August 23rd from 3:00pm to 6:00pm. This time is set aside for parents to come to school with their students and drop materials off into lockers, meet teachers, find classrooms, and get school pictures. You are encouraged to come to this event. You can arrive anytime during this timeframe.

Pictures will be taken in our East Gym which is located at the Activity Entrance on the large parking lot side of the building. We have been using Color Portraits for many years and they a great system set up. Typically there will be cards with students names to pick up on your way into the gym.

We are looking forward to seeing our school community together again for this event.

Our district theme for the year is "Stronger Together". There is a shirt order for students, parents and staff to purchase swag with our new theme for the year. The design is a result from a middle school project in 7th grade Art class. This year's design was created by Emily Zarkovich who is now in 8th grade. Swag Order

We are excited to report that we are moving to in person meetings for the 22-23 school year! As your child’s IEP date approaches, Ms. Sherry Pooley will reach out to confirm a date and time that works best. Please be on the look out for a back to school communication from your child’s case manager in August! We look forward to gathering again in person.

We will be returning to normal programing for lunches this year. Here are some quick notes:

• Seating will be at tables in the cafeteria.
• Students will choose the table they want to sit at daily.
• Lunch prices will be $3.50. You will use PushCoin to pay for this.
• There will be several choices for students each day including hot, and cold options.
• Lunch counts will be taken during 1st period.
• Students are allowed to take two lunches if they choose to do so. Talk about this with your middle schooler in advance.

You may be interested in volunteering at the middle school in some capacity in the coming year. Typical volunteer activities at MMS includes:

• chaperoning a field trip
• setting up a special display
• helping a teacher with a project
• lunch or recess help

In order to volunteer, you must complete the application and have a background check done through our Raptor system here at school.

A master list of approved volunteers will be kept in the main office for staff to access when volunteers are needed.

Click the link below to complete the application.

Consider this opportunity to support our school and kids during the school day!

MIllburn has chosen to carry medical insurance for students injured in accidents on school premises. The district has also approved a medical and dental accident insurance plan worthy of your consideration to add to coverage purchased. This coverage will extend the hours your child is covered and also may cover your child during certain activities not covered in the school purchased plan. If you are interested in this coverage, the information and application form can be found in the Virtual Backpack.

With our world returning to more normal circumstances since the pandemic started in 2020, Millburn will also be returning to our practices of when students are sick, including sick due to COVID. Remote learning will no longer be an option for students absent from school. As a reminder about being absent from school, our Millburn Student/Parent Handbook states:

In the event the student is absent from school, parents are required to contact the school office (not the teacher) stating the reason for the absence before the start of school. Failure on the part of the parent to report the student's absence requires the school to investigate the absence by a phone call beginning at 10:00 A.M. It is the student's responsibility to make up any work missed due to absence. Valid causes for absence are illness, observance of a religious holiday, death in the immediate family, family emergency, and includes such other situations beyond the control of the student as determined by the Board of Education, or such other circumstances which cause reasonable concern to the parent for the safety or the health of the student. In case of absence due to a communicable disease, a doctor's release may be necessary upon the student’s return.

The state of Illinois has defined chronic absenteeism to be missing 10% of the school year, regardless of the reason. For Millburn, that means a student is chronically absent if they have missed 17 or more days of school. Each year we are required to report out chronic absenteeism to the state of Illinois.

As we look ahead to this coming school year, please keep this in mind. Of course, if your child is sick, it is best to keep them at home. Sending a child to school who is sick will not be the best environment for them to maximize their learning experience. Yet, do your best to avoid vacations, doctor's appointments, or other activities that may require missed learning days.

Missing days effects learning:

5 missed days = 1 week of school

15 missed days = 3 weeks of school

Our challenge to students and families next year... try not to miss more than five days. We know...not everyone can do that and things may come up. All we can ask is do your best!

STRIVE 4 FIVE!

As you know, our ELA teachers encourage reading over the summer! We want kids to read at least one Caudill nominated book from the grade level list below. These lists can also be found in our Virtual Backpack. Please note that the ELA teachers have included their email for specific questions at the bottom of the page.

6th Grade

7th Grade

8th Grade

Assignment Focus:

6th grade students should be able to retell the story.

7th grade students should work on understanding the author's use of characterization.

8th grade students should understand the basic plot triangle elements, the use of characterization and overall theme of the novel.

In each case, the students will get help and support on this assignment. Students will have time in class at the start of the year to work on the assignment. If at all possible, encourage your child to annotate in the book if they own it. If they don't own it, making notes on paper to review later is also helpful.

Summer Volleyball and Basketball Camps at Millburn

Caudill Summer Reading Lists: 6th, 7th, 8th

School Supply Kit List, EPIC School Supply Kit Sale

Optional Student Accident Insurance Coverage

EPIC News

August 5, 2022

Back to school event: Please save the date for our District 24 Welcome Back to School Event on Friday, September 9th. More information to follow.

Help needed: We are looking for a number of Committee Chairs, Board Members and Class Liaisons for the upcoming year. Check next week for more information.

*Follow us on Facebook and Instagram

*Contact us at president@millburnEPIC.com