Emerson Middle School Newsletter

Tardiness

All students are expected to be seated in homeroom at 8:05 a.m. Students who arrive at school after the homeroom period (8:05 to 8:10 a.m.) must report directly to the office before proceeding to class. A doctor’s appointment or a bus problem are acceptable excused tardies. All other reasons will be considered unexcused. Exceptions must be approved by the principal. To assist students and parents in correcting this problem, a sequence of escalating interventions is followed after three unexcused tardies. These range from calls home, parent letters and conferences at school, detentions, tardy contract, and possible legal action against the parents.

Early Check-Out

If a student needs to leave the school before the end of the day, a parent note giving the reason, date and time of departure, and person picking up the student should be given to the teacher whose class the student is leaving. If you email this message to the teacher, please be sure to include the school secretary (em-office@d64.org) as a recipient. The student should report to the office at the time of departure. The parent or guardian must come into the office to sign out the student for the length of time the student will be away from school. If your child returns to school before the end of the day, please enter the school building and sign your child back in before he/she returns to class. Please note that students must arrive by 9:20 a.m. or be dismissed after 1:45 p.m. for their attendance to be counted as a full day.

Absences

For safety reasons and in compliance with state law, a parent is requested to notify the school office in writing or by phone within the first hour of school. If notice is not received, the school secretary will call parents at home or work to confirm the absence. To report an absence, please call the school office anytime, day or night, to access the voice mail system at 847-682-8110. When calling, please provide: student’s name; classroom/ homeroom; date of absence; and reason for absence. For illness, please share symptoms or diagnosis.

• EXCUSED: A valid cause for absence includes illness, observance of a religious holiday or religious instruction, death in the immediate family, family emergency, other situations beyond the control of the student, other circumstances that cause reasonable concern to the parent/guardian for the student’s safety or health, or other reason as approved by the Superintendent or designee. For a student to be released from school as an excused absence to observe a religious holiday or for religious instruction, parents should give written notice to the Building Principal at least five calendar days before the student's anticipated absence.

• UNEXCUSED: Absences due to vacations, travel, attendance at a cultural or sporting event, or participation in a team sport, acting or fine arts performance are considered unexcused. This also includes tiredness (unless your child is ill), oversleeping. If your child is NOT called in by 10am, they will be marked unexcused for the day, and parents will be contacted by the office to verify the absence.

Vacations

Every school day is important, and the District strongly discourages scheduling family vacations on school days as these are considered unexcused absences. If your child will be absent from school for an extended period of time for a family trip, please inform the school office and your child’s teacher. Work will be given upon return for students leaving the country or immediate District area when your children RETURN to school. It must be completed at home under a parent’s supervision. Teachers are not expected to provide homework or assignments in advance for students who will be absent for an extended period of time for family vacation and other activities.

Please refer to our lunchroom guidelines for students. If you haven’t already, please sign and have your student return this form to their homeroom teacher.

Emerson Middle School will conduct our lockdown drill on September 9th at 8:30 am. Families were sent a letter on August 30, 2022 regarding this lockdown.

The Niles Teen Center is calling all Emerson students to represent the Eagles and show off their dance moves at the NTC Fall Dance Party on Saturday, Oct 8th from 6:30- 9PM at the Niles Family Fitness Center. Prizes will be given out for limbo and dance competitions. Admission is $10 and includes snacks! Watch the video and register at https://www.vniles.com/1424/NTC-Fall-Dance-Party-2022

All Emerson students and parents are provided access to schedules via the PowerSchool parent and student portals. The PowerSchool Parent Portal allows you access to your student’s academic information, including student schedules and grades. If you have any questions on how to login, please contact the Emerson Main Office for assistance (847) 318-8110.

From the sixth to the eighth grade at Emerson, our students steadily mature in their social behaviors. One area in which these social skills are on display is lunchtime. This period is a time for students to relax, be with friends, and take a break from the morning work. It is intended to be a healthy, pleasant, and safe time. It is expected each class treats the cafeteria as they would their dining areas at home or at a restaurant. This has been a very successful process in teaching responsible behavior.

In the student planner, there is a section entitled “Cafeteria.” Please take a moment to review it with your student to help ensure a positive experience during lunchtime. The basis of the expected behavior directly relates to our SOARS behavior matrix, which focuses on respect, empathy, safety, responsibility, and self-regulation. Our expectations will be discussed with the students on Wednesday, August 31st. Students will bring a letter home for families to sign on Wednesday evening.

As a reminder, each Emerson student was issued a Chromebook computer as part of the District’s one-to-one digital learning program. Students will receive their Chromebooks and cases during the first week of school. Your child will also be assigned a gmail account to access Google Apps for Education and other digital resources at school and to further explore concepts introduced in class at home.

As a parent, we ask you to partner with us in ensuring that your child uses the Chromebook and District-provided gmail accounts appropriately. Please remind your student to charge their chromebook each night.

District 64 is excited to continue partnering with our students and parents as we expand the instructional benefits of a digital learning environment. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Lunch Reminders
The cafeteria will not be accepting cash to purchase lunch items. Students must use their MySchoolBucks account to purchase any food. Please see this flyer for more information from Quest, our food service company. You can also get a food service overview by clicking HERE.

Unlike elementary school, you do not need to pre-order meals or beverages. Students may select from daily offerings in the Emerson cafeteria. More information about our school lunch offerings and payment can be found here on the D64 Middle School Lunch webpage.

Though we have many food choices in our cafeteria, most Lincoln students bring their lunch to school. We strongly encourage this during the first weeks of school while we get our cafeteria systems and procedures up and running.

All health forms should now be uploaded directly into Powerschool. This includes school physicals, dental and vision forms as well as athletic forms. When you log into PowerSchool, click on your child’s name at the top of the page, then on the left side click on forms. After that, you can click on “Health Office Document Submission of Athletic Department Document submission” then click add document and submit.

Emerson Middle School, along with all District 64 schools, operates in accordance with policies and practices that have been reviewed and implemented by the District 64 Board of Education. Please review the D64 Student-Parent Handbook prior to the start of the school year to familiarize yourself with the information contained in it. We want to work in partnership with you to ensure a positive school year, and having an understanding of this information will help to promote a successful school year. This handbook is intended as a convenience for District 64 families and staff by summarizing selected information about procedures, services and programs. It also provides a quick reference for contact information and District timelines.

We are very fortunate to have a supportive and collaborative partnership with our Emerson PTO. Throughout the year, we will be working together to provide opportunities for our families and students. If you are not a member already, please consider joining this awesome organization. You can find information on starting or renewing your membership by visiting the Emerson PTO website.