January 8, 2009
Dear Parents:
I am extremely proud of Round Lake Middle School and very pleased to be the principal here. I want to encourage parents to call me if they have questions or concerns at (815) 687-6834.
I'd like to share some recent news about our school with parents.
RLMS is a highly diverse school of 950 students and the largest of the two middle schools in our District. I find RLMS to be excellent as a school for a variety of reasons. Not only do we have an outstanding and dedicated staff that is willing to go above and beyond to help students be successful, but our students are hard workers who are rising to meet our new vision for behavior and academic expectations. Nobody could believe when I first came that the halls could be quiet and that students could come to lunch quietly, eat with quiet voices, and leave with barely a sound….but they can!!! There is a lot to be proud of at RLMS. Here are a few statistics to celebrate for this year: Our daily attendance rate for the year so far is 95.44% and the numbers of student suspensions are significantly down. We are almost halfway through the year and we have 38 suspensions in comparison to a total of 435 last year. We have had no serious behavior incidences. For the last three months 98% of students qualified to attend our monthly behavior celebrations based on excellent behavior and only 2% of students needed to go to the reteaching class. 55% of our students were on the Honor Roll for 1st quarter. The number of students participate in extracurricular activities over the course of the year is 71%, which so far is an increase of 12%. We are continuing to focus on math and reading instruction. But the good news is that students increased 1.1% in reading, Hispanic students increased 6.7% as a subgroup, and Limited English speaking students increased their reading score by 46.1% from 2008-2009. In Math, Limited English Speaking students increased their ISAT score by 18.4%.
We are using a new behavior program called PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention System). With this system we developed three rules for every area of our school throughout the day and hosted a boot camp in the beginning of our year to train students on the expectations. We have a daily incentive in the hall and at lunch each day and a weekly raffle for those students who get a “WOW ticket” for anyone on staff noticing their good behavior. Every month we host a celebration for all students with 2 or less referrals to the office and no out-of-school suspensions. Last month each team hosted a rotation of fun activities that included making Gingerbread Houses, action games, and Guitar Hero. We teach a "Cool Tool" that focuses on behavior each week in Homeroom. Next month students will participate and be making decisions about our behavior program with the PBIS team of teachers and staff.
Our students are highly active in organizations and activities. We work closely with Nicasa to develop an after school program. Several of our students along with students from Magee participated in the construction of the new Nicasa playground. Students are active in “Be the Change” and “Our American Voice” and are developing citizenship projects focused on a school wide problems. Students also attend lunch sessions to read novels and participate with Omni Youth Services to develop a life plan with goals for the future. Students serve as Mentors, participate in National Junior Honor Society, Pep Club, Yearbook/Newspaper, Drama Club, Environmental, Student Council, Scholastic Bowl, Chorus, Chess Club, Club, Cheerleading, and a variety of sports and intramurals.
We believe in parent involvement and have provided several engaging activities for parents and families this year. In September we sponsored College Night along with support from the High School to show parents the importance and “how to” of getting to college in this tight job market. In October we hosted a huge event honoring our 520 Honor Roll students. In November, we hosted a dinner and “FAMILY LITERACY NIGHT” for over 350 families. This event featured a theatrical group, a professional author, free books, a book fair, Round Lake Area library, community leaders reading, and dozens of fun literacy activities for families to share together. In December, students are having a “Quarter Collection” and will be involved in providing important necessities for needy families in our area. This month, we are planning a month-long event of activities for “Disability Awareness”. Students will be earning special coupons in the hall for "Random Acts of Kindness" in class and around the building.
While many schools can boast the majority of these accomplishments, what is unique to our school is the dedication of the staff. When students are not successful in class, our core teams hold meetings and work with the RRI team to develop a behavior plans with incentives personally designed for students and keep working at it until students make progress and are successful. Teachers donate many extra hours to come to our events and to work with students before and after school as a mentor. Our PTO parents work and volunteer in our building and plan special opportunities for students that we could not accomplish alone.
This year we are concentrating on “Raising the Roof in Reading”. The Language Arts department has determined 18 essential skills that students need to acquire to be proficient readers and writers. Every teacher in the school concentrates on the skills and at the end of each skill a grade level assessment is given to each student. The data from these assessments is used to identify students who need further instruction to acquire the skill. The assessments help students prepare for the State tests coming up in March. Students are also engaged in reading in their homerooms at least 60 minutes each week. To track and reflect on their reading students make entries into individual reading logs. We are also using using a new Academic Vocabulary Curriculum and Writing Curriculum to enhance student achievement in content area reading and writing.
We hope that our new initiatives will make a lasting change at Round Lake Middle School to show what a school community that works together can do!
Sincerely,
Sharon M. Giless, Principal