Happy New Year!

The new year is a wonderful time to update or add routines for a healthier you! When it comes to school, please help your child get back in the swing of things by doing homework daily, charging laptops each night, and getting plenty of sleep! As a bonus, keep student IDs in backpacks so they are at school each and every day! Keep attendance as a priority!

Keep an eye on the weather, they are calling for a BIG snow! It is Missouri, so who knows what will happen?!?

Great news! We had a 2% increase of our daily attendance rate from this time last year. That is something to celebrate!

We appreciate your efforts to get your kids to school each and every day. Remember, that minutes count too, so please limit the amount of time they miss during any individual day for appointments and other activities.

With the new year, we are encouraging students (and parents) to arrive on time to school. Missed minutes accumulate quickly and that equals academic instruction that is missed. We will be monitoring the number of late to school events for each student. The following process will be followed:

• late to school 3 times = phone call with a parent and parent will need to walk their student into the office for all following late to schools
• late to school 5 times = parent meeting
• late to school 6+ times = lunch time work to make up missed class time
• late to school 10 times = possible hotline call

Thank you for arriving on time each and every day!

I am starting a Principal's Council this semester with the purpose of an opportunity for students to provide input and feedback on issues and events at VPMS. Students are invited to apply for the council; the application link will be emailed to students on Monday, January 8. Selection criteria is based on our Hawk Vibes of respect, responsibility, dedication and cooperation. Applications are due on Wednesday, January 17 at 3pm. Principal Council members will be announced on Friday, January 19. The group will have its first meeting on February 8 and will meet every three weeks after that. We will meet during Hawk Time.

Today at a Middle School assembly, we unveiled a new club to celebrate students and their quarterly achievements. Triple A club membership is based on achievement, attendance, and attitude. The criteria are:

Achievement: earn all As, Bs, and Cs on 3rd quarter report card

Attendance: have 90% attendance (missing no more than 4.5 days)

Attitude: no more than 2 Think Sheets, no after school detentions or suspensions

At this point, all students are eligible for club membership! There will be a lunch celebration on March 14 for all qualifying students with Chick-fil-a! The kids were pretty pumped about it. Please encourage your child to work to earn their membership.

• Fever over 100.4 (24hrs without medicine: Tylenol/ibuprofen)
• Cold symptoms (coughing, sneezing, runny nose, congestion)
• Stomachache and/or vomiting, Diarrhea (vomiting/diarrhea to stay home 24 hours after vomiting is done)
• Sore Throat
• Unexplained Cough/ Shortness of Breath
• Signs of Conjunctivitis (pinkeye)
• Signs of Head lice (persistent itching scalp, nits in hair, or lice present)
• Rash (if present need to be evaluated by physician)
• Covid precautions as well, follow the Healthy Hawk Way

Consistency is key for children as they grow up. We have done a lot of work here at the middle school to be sure our behavior expectations and our response to unwanted behavior is consistent. We will continue using our Hawk Vibes as our driving force.

In the rare instance that a student's behavior choices disrupt the learning of others, all teachers will follow these steps:

1. Remind the student of the expectation.
2. Give a verbal warning.
3. Move the student to a different location in the classroom.
4. Move the student to a buddy classroom to complete a Think Sheet.

Once a student completes a Think Sheet, which will provide time to reflect on the behavior, the student and a teacher will make a phone call home together. Please be patient as we work with the kids on how to make these calls. This is wonderful opportunity for students to practice their speaking and listening skills.

We are excited to put our work into practice and offer a consistent and reflective response to behavior.

When students are late to a class, the following process will be followed:

Our school library media center is a wonderful resource for our students! Check out the activities Mrs. Louder offers and encourage your child to participate!