1. The bus transportation department has tweaked several routes to reduce traveling times and address safety concerns for street crossings.  You will receive a letter in the next day or so with your child’s bus route number.     Look carefully at the form as it may be a new and different route number.  Starting NEXT WEDNESDAY (9/23), these new routes will go into effect.  We may experience a slight delay on the first few days of instituting these new routes.  Overall, however, we should be in much better shape by this time next Friday! 

2. We have scheduled our Open House nights for next week.  Your child will be bringing home a form for you on Tuesday with details for his or her schedule, but the general organization of the evening is as follows:

Grade 5/6 on Wednesday, September 23
Grade 7/8 on Thursday, September 24

• 6:30 to 7:00 = principal’s address in auditorium
• 7:00 to 7:30 = unified arts classroom visits (drop in)
• 7:30 to 8:30 = classroom visits organized by academic teams

We ask that you not bring your children with you as this is an adult night to discuss program and expectations. 

3. Half days for parent-teacher conferences are scheduled for October 13th  and 14th. Fifth grade parents will be signing up for teacher conferences with their child’s LA/homeroom teacher the night of Open House. For parents of children in grades 6,7 and 8, we will have “drop in” conferences for parents of students in grades 6 through 8 on these afternoons; parents need not sign up for a time slot ahead of time.

4. If your child complained of taking two tests this week, it was because we had scheduled our benchmark assessments for last Tuesday morning.  Students completed their math and DRP (Degrees of Reading Power) tests.  These tests help us check where your child is performing at the beginning of the school year and these scores will be included on your child’s report card.

5. Health Clinic Updates:

• Now that we are back in school, we are beginning to see students in the clinic for our normal September illness; stomach virus, sinus infections and late summer colds.  Please remember that you CANNOT send in any medications with your child.  All medicines (even over-the-counter pharmaceuticals) MUST be delivered to the nurse by an ADULT.    Please do not put your child as risk for a referral for a violation of our drug and alcohol policy. 
• Sports physicals include more specific data than normally included on your child’s annual physical forms.  If your child is interested in participating in any sports or intramural program here at the MS this year, we need to have a sports physical form on file within 12 months of try-out date.  It would be helpful if we had your child’s sports forms in ahead of the sport season to prevent delays in try-outs or participation days for your child. 
• I know that with allergy season, many parents wish their child could carry a water bottle to class.  We will now allow these with permission from the parent.  Only WATER can be carried and bottles must be dated and initialed by the parent. 
• If your child is home sick, please call in the absence (663-1241).  If it is more convenient for you, you can fax (663-2362) in the absence or send an email to Mrs. LaBella at loril55@rsd17.org .  When you contact us, our staff will ask if your child is exhibiting flu-like symptoms (fever over 100 degrees, sore throat, aches and coughing) so that we can track the onset of the flu for our health district.  We will not release the name of your child but rather the occurrence of the illness.

6. We have had some staffing changes over the summer.  We have some wonderful new teachers joining us this year.  They include:

• Ms. Linda Houde has joined us in grade 8 special education for one year to replace Mr. Grasso who is on military leave.  Ms. Houde joins us from many years of working in England as a teacher in American Exchange school.
• Ms. Bonnie Amenta is filling in for Mrs. Ribeiro as a special education teacher for team 6-2 as Mrs. Ribeiro anticipates the birth of her second child.  Mrs. Amenta comes to us with many years of experience as a special education coordinator at LEARN.
• Ms. Michele Audet was hired as a special education teacher for grade 5 when Mrs. Bartelli moved to KES.   Ms. Audet recently relocated from Florida where she taught special education.
• Ms. Stacy Fucci is here as a short term substitute for Mrs. Lawley our 6-1 science teacher who is home recovering from surgery.  This is Ms. Fucci’s first full time teaching position.
• Mrs. Lynne Landry was appointed as the English teacher for team 8-1, replacing Mr. Matt Espinosa who left to take an administrative position in another district.  Mrs. Landry taught grade 8 Language Arts at Thomas Edison MS in Meriden. 

We also have some staffing changes for district teachers we already know and love:

• Mrs. Eileen Mills has moved from Burr District School to join our sixth grade team as the reading teacher for team 6-2.  This vacancy was created when Mrs. Catherine Wendt moved to the reading specialist position vacated by Mrs. Faccadio. 
• Mr. Michael Baklik has been permanently appointed to the PE position vacated by Mr. Joe Corso who was on military leave for the past 18 months.  Mr. Corso has accepted a position as an administrator in another district. 
• Mr. Dan Higgins has been permanently appointed as a band and general music teacher to fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Ms. Carol Gregg.
• Mr. Todd Ledbetter is moving from the position of grade 4 teacher to LEAP teacher.  He will be working with our students two and one half days a week.  We will chat more about the LEAP program in a future newsletter. 

I know you join me in welcoming this capable group of teachers to our school community.  

I look forward to greeting you at Open House this week,

Mim Wagner
Principal, HKMS