Welcome Back!

Welcome Back! I hope everyone enjoyed their Spring Break and is coming back refreshed and recharged for our last quarter of the school year!

Beginning on Wednesday March 24th, all students will participate in our Spring Testing. This includes the Alabama Reading and Math Test and the SAT10. We know that our students are smart and more than capable so we ask that they get plenty of rest at night and eat a healthy breakfast each morning. Test scores are often used to determine class placements as well as future leadership opportunities and even more importantly, they will help prepare our students for college entrance exams.

On another note, we hope to see you all at our PTSA meeting this Thursday at 6pm in the middle school library. We will vote on officers for our 2010-2011 PTSA!

And finally before Spring Break, each student was given a Safe Schools Hotline card that includes a phone number and email address. This hotline is set up so that students or parents can anonymously report incidents that create safety concerns. Creating and maintaining a safe and orderly learning environment is our primary goal! The Safe Schools Hotline phone number is 428-7233 and the email is safe-schools@hsv.k12.al.us

See you all Thursday at 6 for our PTSA meeting!

Happy Spring Break!

I hope you all enjoy a wonderful and safe Spring Break! It's hard to believe that there is only one more quarter of school remaining. During our last quarter we will continue on with our winning Boys and Girls Track Season - Go Hawks!!! We will also have our spring testing and numerous award programs and celebrations. Don't miss out on the excitement! In the meantime, Happy Spring Break to all!!

Let's Thank our Teachers!

Beginning on Thursday March 11th and continuing on the 2nd Thursday of each month, the Parent Advisory Council will sponsor Duty-Free Lunch for our teachers. Additionally, I am working with our business partners to provide lunch for everyone on those days. Our teachers work hard and are dedicated to providing a quality education to all children! Show your appreciation by volunteering to monitor students in the cafeteria so that teachers may relax a bit and have a Duty-Free lunch period. Your presence is needed at the school and this is one way to get involved! Please call the office and let us know what time you are able to help (11:45 to 12:30 or 12:30 to 1:15). Thank you in advance for your support!! Our office number is 428-7330.

Morning Quiet Time

In an effort to provide options for our students as they arrive to school each morning, we will now offer Quiet Time in our Lecture Hall. Instead of going into the gym, students who are not eating breakfast may bring a book to read or material to study and take advantage of Quiet Time. We hope that this will encourage students to not only read more but also to better prepare for their academic day. A teacher will be available in the Lecture Hall and will serve as a monitor. We must emphasize that this is Quiet Time so disruptive students will not be allowed to remain. We hope that many of our students will take advantage of this special time and use it to ease into their day! Our wonderful new library is now open for student use, so please encourage your child to check out a book and join other readers for Morning Quiet Time.

Williams Middle School PTSA

I hope to see everyone on Thursday for our PTSA meeting! We will meet at 6:00 pm in the middle school library. The meeting will feature "Math Night" where our math teachers will share some of the engaging activities from their classes. They will also address math skills needed for various classes and answer any questions that you may have.

Additionally, we will be accepting nominations for our 2010-2011 PTSA officers. Please be present if you are interested in holding an office next year. Elections will take place in March. Hope to see you all on Thursday!

School Safety

Today I met with all students in grade-level assemblies to review our safety procedures and to address the issue of bullying. The students were quite receptive. I appreciate that several parents attended the meetings as well.

It is unfortuate that we have a number of students who engage in bullying and harassing behaviors. This was addressed during the assemblies. Our guidance counselor, Dr. Grimaud advised students of their options if when they feel uncomfortable with the way other students treated them. We encouraged students to treat others as they would like to be treated and to not take matters into their own hands.

Keeping our school safe requires all of us working together. Soon, students will begin working with teachers and myself in our School-Wide Attention to Tolerance program. Look for more information about this in the coming weeks and months. As always, please let me know if you have any concerns about safety or other issues.

Business and Community Partnerships

We are so pleased at the number of businesses and organizations that have chosen to support Williams Middle School in various capacities. I am particularly excited about the math tutors joining our team from Lockheed Martin. Their suppport will allow us to address student needs and work towards meeting our goals sited on our Continous Improvement Plan. We are also working with members of the U.S. Army Educational Outreach to form science clubs and ultimately teams to compete in the eCybermission program next year. These wonderful volunteers have also agreed to work with us in an effort to have our first Science Fair this Spring.

As we continue through this semester, please let me know if there are any programs that you would like to see in place for next school year. We are currently in the preliminary stages of planning and scheduling for next year and your ideas are welcome!