Arrival and Dismissal at the NEW Williams Middle School

Effective January 6, 2010 upon arriving in the mornings, buses and cars will drop off students in front of the new middle school gym at the cross walk before the bridge (not at the bridge). Students will enter the building and either go to the gym or to the lunchroom for breakfast. A Security Officer will be in place to direct traffic. Students should not arrive before 7:30am. All students will be dismissed from the front of the building. Cars and buses will pick up from the front of the main middle school building. Bus riders will be dismissed at 2:55 and walkers and car riders at 3:05.

Our school office hours are 7:30-3:30. All visitors must sign in at the reception desk upon arrival. The office phone number is 256-428-7330.

Happy Holidays!!!

Go Hawks!!

Our Open House and Gym Dedication were wonderful! Thank you so much to all who attended. Mayor Battle, Councilman Culver, Dr. Moore, several school board members and business partners joined the celebration. Our student-led tours were made available to all. The choir performance was certainly a highlight as well! Thank you all so much to all who attended and those who supported in other ways.

We are in store for a fantastic 2nd semester! Look for information soon about our Military Family Night, our Community Engagement Book Study and boys and girls track season this spring! Have a safe and blessed Holiday Season! Go Hawks!!!

Open House and Gym Dedication

Please join us Thursday 17 December for our new building Open House. It will begin at 9:00am in our new gym. The morning will include performances by our wonderful Williams Middle School Choir and a ceremony where we dedicate our gym to our beloved Coach David Hughey. Tours of the new building will follow and light refreshments will be provided. We look forward to seeing you Thursday! This is such an exciting time for our community and we are so glad that you are a part of it! Go Hawks!

Ident-A-Kid Program

On Thursday 10 December, Williams Middle School students will have the opportunity to get an Ident-A-Kid Pre-Drivers ID Card. The cards feature a full color photograph along with important identification information including their finger print. Your student should have brought home a yellow sheet that included payment information and an envelope. This program is great way to identify our kids in the event of a school or medical emergency and can also be used to receive student discounts. I hope that you will take advantage of this program! Please return the envelope with your student on or before Thursday.

Heavenly Hats Day!

On Friday, December 11th, the middle school student organization S.O.A.R (Serving Our Area Responsibly) will sponsor "Heavenly Hats Day". The Heavenly Hats Foundation raises funds to sponsor hats for patients that have lost their hair to chemotherapy. Heavenly Hats has donated over 325,000 new hats to patients and hospitals in need.

The J.E. Williams Elementary and Middle School administration, teachers, faculty, students, and staff will be participating in this event. Persons who donate $1.00 can wear a hat for the day. Prizes will be awarded for the most creative, the most spirited, and the craziest hat in both the elementary and middle school grades. All the proceeds will be given to the Heavenly Hats Foundation. Last year we raised almost $500.00 for this cause. All proceeds will be used to cover the costs that are involved with shipping new headwear to all of the patients around the United States. For more information visit www.Heavenlyhats.com.

Happy Veterans Day

On this Veterans Day, we honor all Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, and Airmen who unselfishly serve our country. November 11th is set aside as a day of reflection for the many sacrifices made by the men and women of the Armed Forces. On behalf of the teachers, staff and administrators of Williams Middle School, we wish you all a safe and blessed Veterans Day.

Trikke for a Cure

Thank you to all who supported our Breast Cancer Awareness fundraiser, Trikke for a Cure! It was a great learning experience for our kids and plenty of fun for all. Our teachers and students did a fantastic job of organizing and planning this event. ETV will air a story about it next week and Channel 48 WAFF even came out to cover the event!! As always, thank you for your continued support. Go Hawks!!!

Parenting Day Success!

Thank you to the many parents who came out for our Parenting Day activities! I heard many positive remarks and it was refreshing to see the excitement about school from teachers, students and parents. The Student-Led Conferences were a big hit and we have had quite a few requests to do them again after the next grading period. We will! These conferences allow students to take ownership of their grades and behavior while encouraging them to set goals and ask for assistance when needed. Look for more activities like this in the future!

A quick building update: We are on schedule! The office has begun to transition and PE, band and choir are next. Teachers will be assigned room numbers very soon and more furniture will be delivered as the month progresses. We will have a Ribbon Cutting and Open House on December 17th. More information will be given soon! Thank you for your continued support! Go Hawks!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Please see this month's PTA Newsletter to learn about our upcoming Trikke for the Cure event! We will also have a poster contest and several other events throughout the month. If you have any ideas to support awareness of breast cancer, please share! If there are any runners who are interested in doing Liz Hurley's Annual Breast Cancer Awareness 5K on the 17th, let me know.

October 26th is Parenting Day. After Fall Break, I will post information about our activities for that specail day. I hope you enjoy your Fall Break. Be safe!

Meeting Notice

Beginning in January, Williams Middle School will join the large number of Alabama public schools that have adopted a School Uniform Policy. This will allow for a significant cost saving for most parents on school clothes, reduce discipline problems, and allow students to express their individuality by their personality and academic achievements rather than by their style of dress. It also puts forward a strong image of Williams Middle School as a Center of Academic Excellence where students from all over Huntsville can receive a top-notch education.

We will have a parent meeting on Thursday October 1st at 6:00 pm to introduce our Uniform Policy and address your questions and concerns. This will be a fun-filled evening and include a fashion show, a building & move-in update and an introduction of our new School-Wide Reward Program to promote good behavior. This is an exciting time for our community! See you on the 1st!

Pupil-Parent Survey

On Tuesday, your child will bring home a survey that we would like for you to complete. The Huntsville City School System is entitled to certain federal monies if either mother, father or guardian of a student is employed on certain properties, in on active, full-time duty in the Uniformed Services, or if they live in a Federal Housing Project, or any combination of these requirements. Upon receiving the survey, please complete it and have your child return it to their homeroom teacher by Thursday September 10th. Thank you for your support!

See you Tuesday September 8th at 6:30 for our first PTA Meeting!!! Dinner will be served!

A Complaint Free World

Have you ever monitored how often you complain, gossip or criticize others? If you really stop to think about it, you may be surprised at how much of our every day language and interaction is in the form of a complaint or criticism. A Complaint Free World is an organization that is attempting to address this! At the start of the year, teachers and staff at Williams Middle put on a purple bracelet and made an effort to stop complaining. Each time we notice ourselves complaining, gossiping or criticizing, we are to move the bracelet to the other wrist. If you point out the need for someone else to move their bracelet, then you must move yours first. Research says it takes up to 21 days to form a habit and we are striving to make a habit of being complaint free!

Mrs. Nye, our SPACE teacher, has implemented the curriculum in her classes and other teachers are considering it as well. It is a challenge that I believe we can all learn from! Visit the website for more information: www.acomplaintfreeworld.org

Try it in your family, work place or social group and let us know how it works. We are considering doing this school wide. We may not have a Complaint Free World (yet) but we could certainly start by creating a Complaint Free School. Visit the website and let me know your thoughts!

Opening Week

Our opening week was wonderful! Your students may be a little tired and so are we! Despite that, I thoroughly enjoyed this week and had the opportunity to meet most, if not all, of my students. I conducted student assemblies by grade level where I introduced myself and other staff members. We discussed everything from dress code to athletics, from the new building to bullying. Students gave me their feedback and also asked questions for clarification. All in all, I believe that the tone has been set for us to have a very successful school year.

I hope you have joined the PTA but if not, please do so. I am proud to say that 100% of the middle school teachers have joined and we will receive the coveted Golden Apple Award as a result!

Thank you for joining my blog and please spread the word so that others will follow suit.

Thank you!

Thanks to everyone who made it to our New Student Orientation and Open House! I had an opportunity to meet so many wonderful people. I am excited about the upcoming school year and I value your input. My goal is for Williams Middle School to be a Center of Excellence! Together we can make this happen. Soon, I will post information about "Principal's Corner Meetings". What time would work for you? What are your topics of interest? Would you be interested in serving on an Advisory Council for our school? Let me know your thoughts!

Welcome!

Welcome to the Williams Middle School, Principal's Corner! I look forward to meeting you and working with you to ensure the success of our students. I will use this Blog to keep you informed of upcoming events, building updates and to enlist feedback from you. I hope to see you all at our Open House on the evening of August 6th. More details will be given soon! In the meantime, the middle school office is located in room 201. Please let us know how we may serve you!