The Paw Print
Lange Middle School's Parent Communication Newsletter
Lange Middle School
Dr. Rhonda Jackson, Assistant Principal 6A, 6B, & 7B
Mr. Joe Lauchstaedt, Assistant Principal 7A, 8A, & 8B
Mr. Tim Gardner, Home School Communicator
Website: https://www.cpsk12.org/lms
Phone: (573) 214-3250
Twitter: @lmsleopards
LMS Counseling
Erynn Carey (J-Q)
Belinda Woods-Galbreath (R-Z & AVID Coordinator)
Kathy Robinson (Outreach Counselor)
LMS Back to School 2022-2023
I am so excited to kick off the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year. Whether you are a returning student/parent or new to us, let me be the first to welcome you to Lange Middle School. We have some great things planned to make this year special for all of our students.
NEW SCHOOL START TIME 7:25 AM - 2:35 PM
Important Dates
August 22 - Jump Start Day for 6th Graders
August 23 - First Day of School.
September 1 - Back to School Night 6-7:30 PM
September 5 - No School, Labor Day
September 21 - No School, Teacher Work Day
2022-2023 LANGE MIDDLE SCHOOL SUPPLY LIST
Individual Student
· Backpack
· Calculators
· Folders for each class
· 2”/”3 ring binder
· College ruled notebook paper/Spiral notebook
· Mechanical pencils
· Pens
· Highlighters
· Wired ear buds (Must Have Daily)
· iPad Charger/Back up battery (we cannot provide access to chargers)
· Water Bottle
Community Share
· Colored Pencils
· Scissors
· 4 boxes of tissue
Jump Start Day
SRG Parent Letter
August, 2022
Dear Secondary Families:
Greetings! I am so happy to work with our middle school and high school scholars as the Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Schools.
I want to let you know about our progress regarding standards referenced learning and grading. We commonly call it Standards Referenced Grading, or SRG. We have been on this journey for a long time, but unless you’ve recently had an elementary student in your house, you might be unfamiliar with it. SRG is focused on grading based on learning skills, separating grades from student behaviors, and allowing students multiple opportunities to show proficiency. (I’ll let you in on a little secret: grading practices haven’t really changed in 100 years. We hope to shift the conversation from counting up points and grades based on an average to demonstrating scholars have learned the skill and understood a concept.)
As a former middle school principal, I know the transition to middle school and high school is sometimes overwhelming. As they move into middle school and high school, SRG will help ease that transition. Families will be able to clearly see what their student is learning and what level they are mastering. That will be the same for every scholar, no matter the middle school or the elementary they come from.
There’s no incentive in our current practices for trying something new and being bad at it at first, participating in a productive struggle, and then analyzing our mistakes to figure out how to improve. As we move to SRG, these things will change. Our scholars will have the opportunity to have time to take academic risks, make mistakes, learn from them, and have multiple opportunities to show proficiency in a skill and a learning target. We are making these changes because when we learn more, we try to do better. SRG is beneficial because it gives our scholars ownership of their learning and clarity on expectations, through specific and timely feedback tied to a proficiency scale. Students know exactly what they have to do to get to the next level. All students learning the same standards in different buildings are evaluated in the same way. Those who take more time to learn aren’t penalized through grades if they acquire concepts and skills a little later. This system honors learning and growth and mastery, not speed.
SRG is beneficial for teachers because it clarifies the state learning standards, for which we are accountable, calibrates the expectation for scoring, and ensures commonality, consistency and fidelity in grading. If a scholar earns a “3” for their work in one teacher’s class it will also be scored as a “3” for another teacher.
Letter grades will still be given and GPAs will still be calculated as normal. We will still receive letter grades for each course on the grade card just like we always have. Eventually we hope to have a system where the final score on each critical concept is reported on the grade card. Our middle schools are already using Success Ready scores to communicate work habits, or learning behaviors, so families know how their scholar is behaving educationally. Last year we set a goal to have any assignments not turned in to be entered as a 50%. This year any assignment not turned in will be a 0 and marked as “Insufficient Evidence”. We heard from guardians and teachers alike that the “Floor of 50” was confusing and contentious, so we have amended that.
We are also including information (linked below) to give you more details if you so desire. We call these documents “bridges”, a link from the old way of doing things to the new way of doing things. We are currently on “The Bridge”, connecting us from the way we previously looked at assessments and grading, to our goal of implementing Standards Referenced Grading 100%, K-12, in Columbia Public Schools. Administrative, teacher and coordinator teams have been working tirelessly this year to make the middle school and high school Bridge documents for SRG relevant, purposeful and accurate. Please consider familiarizing yourself with the revised bridge documents and other SRG material for your level found here: Families / Standards Referenced Grading (https://www.cpsk12.org/Page/20225).
SRG will help us with the following F.A.S.T. acronym:
Fair: The same work, by the same student, should receive the same grade, even if the teacher or school is different.
Accurate: Grades are based solely on achievement, which means other factors, like behavior and attendance, are not used to calculate a grade.
Specific: Grading policies will be so clear that students should be able to tell teachers what grade they have earned, even before the teacher calculates it.
Timely: Feedback to students is so timely that students can actually use that feedback, right away, to improve their performance on tests and assignments.
In order to share more information with families, and receive your feedback and questions, we have a number of items in our SRG communication plan for the 2022 - 2023 school year. We will share parent videos – one for middle school and one for high school – explaining more about the philosophy and process of SRG. We hope to email you links to these videos within the first few weeks of school. We have been learning with the Marzano Research group, a team who has dedicated their professional lives to working with SRG and instruction, assessment and curriculum learning. Jan Hoegh from Marzano will be here (dates below) – she will host “Parent/Community Universities” on SRG each of these days - look for more information coming your way soon.
September 20 – RBHS, 6pm
October 12 – HHS, 6pm
January 18 - BHS, 6pm
Thank you for sending your scholars to learn and grow with us in Columbia Public Schools. We are excited about this school year and look forward to partnering with CPS families.
Sincerely,
Dr. Helen Porter
Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education
Columbia Public Schools
PTSA Information
Treasurer: Our PTSA is looking to fill the position of Treasurer. If you have a willingness to serve and have some time to donate throughout the school year, our PTSA needs you! There is lots of support to train the new volunteer. You may contact Jason Russell jasonrussellj@gmail.com to get more information or you contact our main office.
Meeting: The next PTSA meeting will be held on July 19th, at 6PM in the Lange cafeteria. Please mark your calendar to attend this meeting. You will be able to get some valuable information about the start of school. We hope to see you there!
CALLING ALL MEN!
We want to see you:
Where: Lange Middle School Cafeteria
When: First Day of School - August 23, 2022 @ 7:25AM
Why: To support and encourage a Lange student on the first day of school
Who: Fathers, Grandfathers, Uncles, Brothers, Supportive Male Neighbor/Family Friend, etc.
Entering and Exiting
- Students should arrive ready to learn each day in time to be in their classroom by 7:25AM.
- Once students arrive they should grab breakfast (optional) and go directly to their Period 1 class.
- Students will be supervised by teachers and other adults as they are leaving the building. They are expected to leave the building and go directly to their bus or car transportation for that day.
- Any students who want to go home with someone other than their assigned bus or guardian, they will need a pass from the main office before the end of the school day. We are asking parents/guardians to make arrangements for a different mode of transportation (if needed) before 2:00PM. This will give us time to get the pass to the student before the bell rings at 2:35PM.
Car Drop Off and Pick Up
• Parents, please know that we are trying to keep our Lange Family safe.
• Please follow the directions of the signs, arrows and adults when dropping off and picking up.
• Please do not go around the parking lot or drive through the lot.
• Remind your student to look for your car and walk to get in on the passenger side of the vehicle.
• Look over map for visual description
Bus Transportation
- Bus transportation is provided to all students on an opt-in basis. Parents/Guardians will need to go to the families portal (registration update) to request the option for bus transportation.
- The students will be dropped off in the bus loop on the southeast side of the building (near the preschool).
- Bus pick-up and drop-off times and locations will be sent to all families who have opted in for bus transportation prior to the start of school.
Passing Periods & Hallways
- Students will not be issued a locker. This will help minimize the chance of students congregating in the hallways.
- Passing periods are 3 minutes so students need to go directly from one class to their next class.
- Students should maintain as much physical distancing as possible when walking in the halls.
LUNCH INFORMATION
- A daily hot lunch
- Individual Pan Pizza
- Cheeseburger
Lunch Menus/Free & Reduced Price Applications
Lunch Prices/ $ Accounts
Cell Phone Policy 2022-23
Cell phones are to remain off and out-of-sight from the time students arrive at school to the time they leave school
Cell phones are not to be used for any reason during the school day
NO phone calls - Must use office or classroom phone
NO Schoology on phones
NO E-Hallpass on phones
NO earbuds
SMART watches, when used in place of a phone, are considered the phone.
This applies to all classrooms and common spaces at LMS…. NO EXCEPTIONS
Drinking Fountains
- Drinking fountains will be available for student use. Students should get permission from their teacher to fill their water bottle.
- Students are encouraged to bring a personal water bottle from home. We can provide a personal water bottle to any student who needs one.
Visitors
- Visitors are asked schedule visits in advance with the person you need to see.
- Visitors will not be allowed to come for lunch with students in the cafeteria. An alternate eating location may be arranged if you contact the LMS main office in advance at (573)214-3250. We will let you know if it is possible at the time of your call. Please keep in mind that health protocols change constantly and we can't guarantee that we will be able to accommodate your request to be in the building.
- To schedule an appointment, please e-mail the person you would like to meet with OR call the LMS main office.
- If picking up your student, remain in your car and call the LMS main office and your student will be sent to your car.
TutorMe
This year our scholars will have access to an online app called TutorMe. The app, which provides 24/7 access to tutors in over 300 subjects, will allow students to get additional academic assistance while at school and home. If your scholar needs academic assistance in any of the courses at Lange Middle School please work with their teachers and counselors to get access to TutorMe!
Lange Middle School Athletics
Dear Lange families,
As the Athletic and Activities Director at Lange Middle School. I am writing to let you know about different activities that your son or daughter can partake of this year. First, if your student is a 7th or 8th grader your student is eligible to participate in competitive team sports at Lange Middle School. Below you will find the current status of Fall sports as of August 1st, 2022. It is possible CPS or MSHSAA may change this information at any moment in the future. We will have a Fall Sports Parent/Guardian meeting with coaches on Tuesday August 9th at 6 pm to go over what is needed and expectations for the Fall season. We would like all potential Athletes and Guardians to be present.
If your student is in 6th grade, they are eligible for only intramural non-competitive sports and all that will be needed is a signed permission slip that will be available during the school year.
For all students we have many various clubs, activities, and organizations that they will hear about after school gets started. We would like students to be involved and expect all our students to participate in all that our school has to offer!
All Fall Sports and Activities: Cheerleading, Cross Country, Football and Volleyball will begin their seasons on Monday, August 15th, 2022 (the week before the start of the school year). The first day of school for 7th and 8th graders will be August 23rd, 2022. Tryouts will begin on Monday August 15th from 6 to 8 pm. It is possible and probably certain that the coaches may change the individual practice times after the Tryout period. If you have any questions, you may reach out to the Main Office or to me via email.
- Football is available to 7th or 8th grade students wishing to participate. Coach Sykes and our other coaches look forward to seeing you. You can contact him directly at DSykes@cpsk12.org
- Volleyball is available to 7th or 8th grade students wishing to participate. Coach Staton, Coach Jefferson, and Coach Lewis and our other coaches are looking forward to seeing you. You can reach Coach Staton at JStaton@cpsk12.org
- Cheerleading is available to 7th or 8th grade students wishing to participate. The Cheerleading coaches are looking forward to meeting you. Contact Amber Peck APeck@cpsk12.org for more information.
· Cross Country is available to 7th or 8th grade students wishing to participate. The Cross-Country Coaches are looking forward to meeting you. Contact ElJackson@cpsk12.org for more information.
- Also for further information or contacts you may contact our Lange Middle School Extracurricular Activities Secretary Kate Forward kforward@cpsk12.org Office Phone: (573) 214-3250 Extension: 49412
Expectations for all sports, athletes, and coaches:
- Athletes MUST have a current sports physical signed off by their doctor’s office and proof of insurance form filled out and given to the school BEFORE THE STUDENT CAN PARTICIPATE IN TRYOUTS OR PRACTICE! If the student does not have these then they cannot be on the field or court for the Tryouts until they do.
These forms can be found at these places: https://www.mshsaa. /resources/PDF/Current%20Pre-participation%20Physical org %20Evaluation%20-%20PPE-History%20Form-English.pdf
District Information and application for Student Accident Insurance if needed: https://www.cpsk12.org/Page/11252
All athletes will need to participate in 14 practices, on different days, before they are able to participate in competition.
- Athletes are expected to bring their own filled water bottles and not share their drinks with other athletes. They are encouraged to bring more water than they expect they need.
· All Student Athletes are expected maintain good conduct and grades to be eligible for competition.
· All Students Must show Leopard Pride (Prepared, Respect, Integrity, Determination, and Engaged)!!!
Thank you for supporting Lange Middle School, our coaches, and our athletes.
See you soon!
Jeff Linhardt
Athletic Director