![page background](https://cdn.smore.com/_fr/heartfelt-01.b62902ec.jpg)
![page background](https://cdn.smore.com/_fr/heartfelt-01.3bb5635d.jpg)
JML Principal Newsletter
Week of 2/19/24
Calendar
February is...
American Heart Healthy Month
Black History Month
Cancer Prevention Month
World Nutella Day (5th)
Lunar New Year & Korean New Year (10th)
National Make a Friend Day (11th)
International Day of Woman and Girls in Science (11th)
Random Act of Kindness Day (17th)
Pet Dental Care Month
At JML:
Wednesdays & Thursdays - Late Bus Days
2/19 - Staff & Student Holiday
2/20 - R7 and R8 Curriculum Night & Electives Fair (for parents and students)
2/20 - Parents: please take the LCPS Family Survey sent to your Email (see below)
2/22 - JML Dines at Panera (4pm-8pm)
2/23 - Community Coffee at 9:00am
2/23-2/29 - JML's Book Fair
2/27 - PTA Meeting - all are welcomed! (Library; 7pm)
3/1 - 3/7 - Orchestra State Assessments
3/5 - Student Holiday/Staff Development Day
3/14 - Choir State Assessment
3/16 - Band State Assessment
3/25-3/29 - Spring Break
4/4 - End of 3rd Quarter
4/20 - Guitar State Assessment
4/26 - Jazz Band State Assessment
What HW/Assignments Should my Child be Working on?
The Student Virtual Organizer was developed to support our students with learning how to prioritize and organize their time. Assignments, announcements, and due dates are all included. Parents often ask, "how can I help my child at school?" This tool is now available to you to do just that! Go to our school website --> find this icon --> click on your child's grade level. This doesn't replace Schoology but is a helpful tool for parents as it is a "snapshot" of what students are currently doing/learning. Check it out!
2/20: R7-R8 Curriculum Night & Electives Fair
**For students & parents/guardians**
Plan for the Evening:
5:30PM-7:30PM - Electives Fair. Parents can get information about the different elective options students can take in 7th and 8th grade including World Languages, Technology Education, Family and Consumer Science, Exploratory Dramatics, Computer Sciences, Chorus, Guitar, Robotics and Art. Parents will walk around, talk with teachers of these subjects in their classrooms/designated spaces.
6:00PM (Auditorium) - Rising 7th Grade Parent Information presentation. This parent presentation will cover the course selection process for our Rising 7th graders including the overall scheduling timeline, middle school course progressions, teacher recommendations, and elective opportunities.
6:00 PM (Cafeteria) - High School Specialty Programs and Opportunities presentation with information about the Academies of Loudoun including the Academy of Engineering & Technology, the Academy of Science, and the Monroe Advanced Technical Academy, as well as the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology and additional LCPS High School programs for which 8th graders can apply in the 24-25 school year.
7:00PM (Auditorium) - Rising 8th Grade Parent Information presentation. This parent presentation will cover the course selection process for our Rising 8th graders including the overall scheduling timeline, middle school course progressions, teacher recommendations, elective opportunities, and summer options.
We will be posting all of the parent presentations with accompanying links on our JML website in the School Counseling section. We also plan to record these presentations and will post those videos as well.
Special Request of our Parents, from Ms. Hudson
As your new principal, your feedback is really important to me. I want to know what you see as our strengths and areas of growth at JML. On Feb 20, all parents/guardians designated in ParentVue as contacts 1 & 2 will receive one email that will provide access to the annual LCPS Family Survey. Please check your inbox for the message from Superintendent Spence/research@mail10.k12insightllc.com The survey will take about 10 minutes. I will use this survey data to understand your perspectives, as well as consider an area of focus for our 2024-2025 School Improvement Plan. Our goal this year based on last year's data was to provide our community with timely and meaningful communication/feedback about your students. Once I have your responses to this survey, I will see if we have improved in this important area.
For more information: Stakeholder Surveys 2024 Information webpage
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
JML's School Counseling / UMHT Updates
This month's newsletter from our mental health team is here: https://www.smore.com/53frh
- Community Coffee on Friday, Feb 23 at 9:15: Thriving Under Pressure-Restoring Harmony in the Home
- Summer Youth Leadership Camp - Applications due March 15
- Middle School Expungement Process (how to erase a grade from a high school course taken in middle school so it is not on your child's high school transcript)
- How you can support the Dulles South Food Pantry/Backpack Buddy program
- and more!
We have had several parent meetings recently - Rising 5th Grade Parent Night, Rising 9th Grade Parent Night and Orientation at Freedom HS, Community Coffees... Our presentation slide decks, and often recordings of meetings, are available on our School Website --> School Counseling. School Counseling / Rising 9th Grade (lcps.org)
LAST CALL!: We need Photos of your Kids!
Our Yearbook Staff is working hard to deliver an amazing yearbook to us in May! All yearbook pages are due to the publisher in March, so this is the last opportunity to send pictures in to be included! We are asking parents, guardians, and students for the following pictures:
- Flashback! (Any pictures of your student when they were younger!)
- Spirit Week
- Sports (inside or outside of school!)
- Selfies
- Clubs
- Anything else you want to share!
Submit pictures (including your child's name, grade level, suggested caption) by going to www.hjeshare.com and using code 13759. This is the best way to submit pictures for picture quality! We can also accept pictures emailed to rebecca.campo@lcps.org and courtney.weaver@lcps.org.
February's Spirit Week Photos
Pink Out - 6th Grade
Pink Out - 7th Grade
Pink Out - 8th Grade
Role Reversal (students dressed as staff)
Role Reversal (staff dressed as students)
Role Reversal (this can't be a teacher! LOL)
Student Behavior on the Bus - Expectations
I am proud of our students and how they treat each other and our staff. We are a caring community and it shows in interpersonal interactions throughout the day. One area that is of concern is student behavior on our school buses, particularly in the afternoons. There have been several cases where students are rude, mean, or offensive to fellow students. We have experienced cases where students throw objects out the windows, scream/yell out the windows, and use vulgar and profane language. These behaviors typically occur at the back of the bus, although they can happen anywhere. It has been disappointing to see our students behave in this way, especially when we all know they can do better and have been taught better at home and at school.
To address the individual incidents, our administrators have worked with the students involved and their parents, and have assigned consequences to the offenders. The deans and I have also had talks with all students through Resource Time; we reviewed our SRR and the consequences that occur for these infractions. Finally, last week during Advisory, students made a Pledge to behave on the bus, report any incident they see, and support any student who is receiving the name-calling. Plans are underway to work with our bus drivers on student behavior management as well.
I ask each family to reiterate your expectations for your child on our buses. Also, to reinforce that if your kids "see something, to say something." Our common goal is to ensure that each bus ride home is respectful and safe for everyone.
Parent Opportunity: Our Orchestra
March is Music in our Schools month and all of Virigina has The State Assessment for large group performing ensembles. This event is judged by experts and our goal is to get specific feedback from the panel (3-4 judges) and work to improve as a group throughout the rest of the school year as a large ensemble. Parents are invited to attend, and we look forward to having as many who might be willing to chaperone this event. Parent Chaperone Form
JML Strings Assessment Dates, Locations, Times:
- March 1 - Strings 7 performs at Lightridge High School at 10:45 am
March 1 - Strings 6 performs at Lightridge High School at 2:45 pm
- March 6 - Strings 8 performs at Stone Hill Middle School at 11:30 am
- March 7 - Orchestra Club performs at Stone Hill Middle School at 2:30 pm
Good luck to all of our students and to Ms. Caravan, Strings Teacher!
Music State Assessments (cont.) - You are invited!
In addition to our Orchestra program (above), our other music groups are preparing for their state assessments as well. Mark your calendars and you are invited to watch our performers in action! Good luck to all of our students and teachers!
Spring Testing Schedule
April 15-16: MAP (Math)
April 17-18: MAP (Reading)
May 1-2: SOL Integrated Reading & Writing (8th Gr)
May 9: SOL Reading
May 16: SOL Civics (8th Gr)
May 21: SOL Math
May 23: SOL Science (8th Gr)
Expunging a HS Credited Course from your child's high school Transcript
Middle school students who have taken a high school course while in 6th, 7th, or 8th grade may elect to have the course expunged (course name, final grade, GPA value, and credit towards graduation will be omitted from the student’s high school records). The high school credit courses available to middle school students include the following:
· Algebra 1
· Geometry
· Algebra II/Trig
· Robotics
· World Languages
Final grades...And to Expunge or Not Expunge...that is the Question:
After knowing what your child's End of Year/Final Grade is in June, you need to decide if you will expunge the course, or not, from their high school transcript. School counselors are available to talk through these decisions. In general, you would never expunge when you child's final grade is an A because the A is something colleges want to see and it supports the child's academic record. Final grades of B's can go either way, and Cs-Fs should be expunged. Again, this is "in general" and sometimes these are difficult decisions.
- If your child has earned an F as a final grade in one of the courses indicated above, you do not need to do anything; our school counselors will automatically expunge the grade on your behalf.
- If you decide to expunge a course with final grades of B-D, you as the parent/guardian must go through Permission Click (open June 2024 & closes October 2024).
- If your student is a current JML 6th or 7th grader, fill out: https://permission.click/M6L99/int/NE4/signee-inf
- If your student is a current JML 8th grader, submit the form from your child's high school (anytime June-October 2024). If your R9 student is going to FREEDOM HS, use: https://permission.click/B1AeA/int/n8Vb/signee-info If your student is attending a different high school, reach out to your student’s high school counselor to receive the correct link.
Repeating an Expunged Course:
Students are not required to repeat a high school-credited course that has been expunged, unless it is a prerequisite and needed to fulfill a graduation requirement (such as a Math or WL course). LCPS requires that courses taken in Math & World Languages follow a sequence that includes prerequisites and no pre-requisite course may be expunged without repeating.
Course Progressions:
If a high school Math course is expunged in 7th or 8th grade, the student will either:
· retake the course in 8th or 9th grade or,
· retake the course in the summer (if applicable; see counselor)
If a high school World Language course is expunged in 7th or 8th grade, the student will:
· repeat the course in 8th or 9th grade, or
· switch to a different World Language Elective, or
· switch to a different elective
· retake the course in the summer (if applicable; see counselor)
Summer School:
Students do have an opportunity to enroll in summer courses through Virtual Loudoun Online Learning. Summer courses taken following the promotion of 8th grade are not eligible for expungement...so you will need to consider if taking the course over the summer is the best option. If you believe that grade may be low, waiting until the following school year may be the better option for your child.
Special Notes:
- Courses taken in middle school cannot be expunged after the end of the first quarter of the 2024-2025 school year, which is October 2024.
- Please be advised that the decision to expunge a grade is irreversible.
If you have questions, please contact your child's middle school counselor.
JML Staff Members of the Month
Congratulations to the following staff members who have gone above and beyond to make JML the very special place that it is. They received a certificate and gift card from Ms. Salgado, Assistant Principal.
Jessica Anchante, English Teacher
Annie Cave, Special Education Teacher
Shane Lilly, 7th Grade Dean
Neil O'Brien, Safety & Security Officer
Dara Renaghan, Science Teacher
Helpful Links
Previous Editions of the Principal Newsletter: https://www.lcps.org/lunsford
LCPS Guide & Directory: www.lcps.org/Page/213987
LCPS School Calendar: https://www.lcps.org/Page/247996
Sign up for ParentVue: https://www.lcps.org/PVUE
Order a Yearbook CODE 13759: www.yearbookordercenter.com
Support the JML PTA, order JML Spirit Gear, Birthday Marquee orders: https://jmlpta1.memberhub.com/
JML Library Newsletter: https://bit.ly/48SsB1s
South Riding Magazine-February Edition: https://online.fliphtml5.com/gxrlq/dzpq/#p=1