Dr. Lisa Chen, Principal, Louisa County Middle School, Mineral, VA

Thursday, June 4, 2015

LCMS Principal Update for June 1-5, 2015

Dear LCMS Bobcat Family and Friends:

As I reflect on this school year, I would like to take the time to thank you again for who you are as parents/guardians, for your continual support of Louisa County Middle School, and most importantly for your children. I have enjoyed being your principal and having the opportunity to work with you and to be with our children. They are absolutely amazing and wonderful! I look forward to what next year will bring with our future Bobcats!

As some of you may know, my administrative staff and I continue to work throughout the summer to prepare for our upcoming year by finalizing our hiring, ensuring that the building is cleaned thoroughly, and working with our teachers to analyze the curriculum, pacing guides, and assessments for our students.

Summer school will be up and running from Monday, June 15 to Thursday, July 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Assistant Principal Joel Rupert is in charge of summer school this year. Questions pertaining to summer school should be directed to him. He can be reached at (540) 894-5457 or at rupertjd@lcps.k12.va.us.

LCMS is open during the summer. Summer hours are as follows: 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. During this time, someone will always be available to answer the phones and to address questions that you may have.

As always, please feel free to contact me at chenlc@lcps.k12.va.us if you have questions, concerns, or any feedback that you would like to share.

The following are some important updates and announcements.'

Announcements
Summer Stem Academy
Instructors Sally Agee and Richard Dye look forward to participants of the first Summer Stem Academy. This academy will run from Monday, June 15 to Thursday, June 18, and then from Monday, June 22 to Thursday, June 25. We look forward to the 34 students who will be participating in these activities. If your child has been accepted  into the STEM Academy, please do not forget to pay your application processing fee of $5.00 to ensure your space. If the funds are not received by Friday, June 5, then another student on the waiting list will be selected to attend in your child's place. Phone calls have been made to parents/guardians as reminders of this upcoming date. Ms. Agee and Mr. Dye have a series of activities planned for our students, including an educational field trip to Dominion Virginia Power at North Anna, rocket construction, robot programming, solar car racing, and solar hotdog cooking. We are excited about what students will learn while having fun at the first annual Summer STEM Academy. A big thanks to Louisa Education Foundation and to the LCMS School Board for supporting this endeavor for our students!

Report Cards and Standards of Learning (SOL) Reports – Week of June 8
A reminder that your child's report card and their SOL Reports will be mailed home to you during the week of June 8. There will be three different types of demarcations on your child's report card. If your child has been promoted to the next grade level, then your child report's card will indicate, "Promoted." If your child has been retained, then your child report's card will state, "Retained." If your child is required to attend summer school and to make successful progress in order to move onward to the next grade level, then your child report's card will state, "Summer School Required." If there is no demarcation on your child's report card, then he or she is also attending summer school.
In each scenario, if your child has been retained, required to attend summer school, or recommended to attend summer school, then throughout the school year he or she has met at least once with the grade level administrator and guidance counselor, the parent/guardian has been contacted, and/or a letter has been mailed home to the parent/guardian about summer school. While summer school information has been provided to the student during the conference with the grade level administrator, we understand that at times items traveling home do get misplaced, thus a follow up letter regarding summer school was also mailed home. If you have questions regarding your child's standing, please contact the principal or grade level administrator at (540) 894-5457.

Your child will also receive a SOL report indicating his or her performance on his or her tests. If your child is in Grade 6 or Grade 7, he or she will receive a report in Reading and Math. If your child is in Grade 8, he or she will receive a report in Reading, Math, Writing, Civics & Economics, and Science.

All SOL test scaled scores are on a scale of 0 to 600. A student must attain a scaled score of 400 or higher to pass the test. If a student attains a scaled score of 500 or higher, the student is considered to have performed at an advanced level on the test. A scaled score between 0 to 399 indicates the student did not pass the test.

Passing the SOL tests is important, particularly when students reach the high school. Students must pass their SOL tests at the high school level in order to receive a high school diploma.

Thus, if your child received a scaled score between 375 to 399, a phone call was made to you to ask you permission to have your child be remediated in order to take that particular test again. We greatly appreciate your positive responses to our phone calls as this is good practice for your child, and in some cases, students not only passed the second time when taking his or her SOL test but also made tremendous growth on their tests. Information from the SOL tests will be used by our teachers as one indicator to address how to assist our students in obtaining the knowledge and skills to master successfully high school and beyond.

Please note that each SOL test is divided into reporting categories that represent related content or skills. Reporting category scores are on a scale of 0-50 and can be used to identify a student's strengths and weaknesses. A reporting category scaled score of 40 or above indicates a strength. A reporting category scaled score below 30 indicates the student may benefit from additional instruction in this area. We strongly recommend that those students who need additional instruction in these areas attend SOL Boot Camp during the school year.

For more information about these State mandated tests, please click here, "Accountability Guide 2014."

LCMS Sports Tryouts
For information about LCMS Sports Tryouts, please click here "LCMS Fall Sports Tryouts." A reminder that students must have VHSL physical dated after May 1, 2015 to tryout as well as passed the fourth marking period in their core subject areas. Please see Terry Marks, the Athletic Director of Middle School Sports, at markstl@lcps.k12.va.us for questions.

Important Upcoming Dates Added information and dates are marked in purple.

Second week of June: Reports cards and SOL student reports are mailed home to students. Parents/Guardians should receive this mailing during this time period.

Monday, June 15 - Thursday, July 9: LCMS Summer School on Mondays through Thursdays in the mornings from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

(Monday, June 15 - Thursday, June 18) and (Monday, June 22-Thursday, June 25): Summer Stem Academy from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Wednesday, July 1: School supplies list are posted on LCMS website.

Tuesday, July 21 and Thursday, July 23: (10:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ) Self-guided building tours and locker practice

Wednesday, July 29: Two weeks prior to the start of school – Sports tryouts

Monday, August 10: 3:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Middle school and high school Open House

Monday, August 10: Bus transportation information will be given on Open House.

Wednesday, August 12: School begins. Information including lunch, clinic card, pick-up card, code of conduct signature sheets.

Thursday, October 29: Picture day.

Thank you for taking the time to read these updates. As I will say to my students each day, "This is important. You belong here. Effort makes a difference."

With warm regards,
Lisa C. Chen
Lisa C. Chen, Ph.D.
Principal
Louisa County Middle School