Muskego Lakes Family Newsletter

Dear Muskego Lakes Families,

• 10/14: No School

• 10/17: Fall Conferences 4-8pm

• 10/20: Pumpkin Spice Fair 9am-2pm

• 10/23: Fall Conferences 4-8pm

• 10/29: Photo Make-Up Day
  

• 11/5: End of First Quarter

This year, for our November 11th Community Day/Veterans Day experiences at MLMS, we are again sharing time with students to learn about Veterans Day. During this year's events, students will have the opportunity to recognize our community members who are or have served in our Military through our honor walk (alongside a traveling exhibit from the Madison Veterans Museum), a history and importance of Veterans Day video, and we hope to have speakers present to our student groups.

We are still in need of veterans who are willing to speak to our students as part of our upcoming Veteran's Day school activities from 10:15am-12:45 pm. If you would be willing to share with students your experiences with the Military, we would like you to present to 2 groups, ranging from grades 5-8, for 20-25 minutes each session. If you are able or have any contacts inclined to be speakers, please reach out to Jen Ruditys (jennifer.ruditys@muskegonorway.org).

Before You Arrive

Don’t leave home without your child (if at all possible)

• At Muskego Lakes, we empower our students to know who they are as learners and to ensure they have an equal voice when it comes to their academic progress. For that reason, we highly recommend bringing your child along. Not only does that allow your child to hear strengths and opportunities for improvement but allows both you and the teacher to hear the student’s perspective on how things are going.

Make sure you know your schedule.

• We recommend printing if you have access to a printer. If not, you can reference the Meet the Teacher email you've received with your schedule on your mobile device.

Arrive early.

• We will have printed maps provided. Please come early so you can mark up the map and know where to go. Or better yet, bring your child along. With 2 minute transition time between conferences, it will be important that you have a game plan of classroom locations before the first conference begins.

Reminders for DURING Conferences

We need your help sticking to the scheduled conference times.

• Please be aware that we are recommending that teachers set a timer on their computers to stay on schedule. Please know that by doing this, they will be able to best value your time to make sure you get their undivided attention.

Don’t stress if running behind- you can set up an alternative time.

• If you arrive late for a conference, teachers will need to end the conference at the originally scheduled time. Thanks for understanding as we want to make sure we keep on schedule for all families. But if you are late or miss your conference, the teachers are more than happy to schedule a follow up time to meet. Just send them an email to set up an alternative time.

Please prepare to use Meet the Teacher for parent-teacher conference scheduling and attending by reviewing this quick reference guide HERE. This resource includes an 8-minute video tutorial and a “how-to” article with screenshots. Please Note: the video is UK-based and uses terms like "parents evenings" in place of "parent-teacher conferences."

Here are a few bits of information to note:

Check that you’re using a compatible web browser

The following web browsers are supported for making video calls:

• iPhone/iPad: Safari

• Android: Chrome or Firefox

• Windows: Chrome, Firefox, or Edge (latest version only)

• Mac: Safari, Chrome, or Firefox

Check your firewall settings

• Please run this test https://networktest.twilio.com/. You will need to allow access to your microphone and camera. This test checks to see if there will be any firewall issues. Firewall issues during conferences are exhibited by seeing "black screens" or "Error 53000."

Going to your virtual meeting

• Click HERE for the MLMS Conference Scheduler to attend your conference! This link is the same that you used to book your conferences.

We need your help sticking to the scheduled conference times.

• Please be aware that the Meet the Teacher platform has a 10 minute timer that begins at the start of your scheduled conference time and ends promptly after 10 minutes. At that time, the program will automatically boot both the teacher and family out of the video call. Therefore, the teacher will make every effort to wrap up the conference so that no one is cut off at the end.

Don’t stress if running behind- you can set up an alternative time.

• If you arrive late for a conference, teachers will need to end the conference at the originally scheduled time. Thanks for understanding as we want to make sure we keep on schedule for all families. But if you are late or miss your conference, the teachers are more than happy to schedule a follow up time to meet. Just send them an email to set up an alternative time.

Having difficulty accessing your conference?

• If you are having difficulty accessing your conference via your computer, Meet the Teacher asks you to consider using a personal smartphone if you have access to one. Smartphones often have the microphone and camera enabled. Additionally, there are generally no firewall issues with these devices.

• When accessing video calls for the first time, your web browser should ask you if you wish to allow access to the camera and microphone. If your camera and/or microphone is not detected, you'll see a message similar to this:

Please follow these suggestions below and then press Try Again:

1. Try refreshing the page to see if the web browser prompts you for access to the camera and microphone. If you're prompted for access, choose Allow.
   Otherwise, continue to step 2.

2. Check if your web browser is blocking access to the camera and microphone and if so, unblock access. The steps to do so depend on which web browser you're using. Click on the link to view the guide:

• iPhone/iPad: Safari - open Settings from the Home screen, then choose Safari, and scroll to the Camera & Microphone Access option.

• Android: Chrome, Firefox

• Windows: Chrome, Firefox, Edge (latest version) - press the three dots in the upper right and choose Settings, press Site permissions on the left, followed by Camera and Microphone on the right. Ensure camera and microphone access isn't blocked for this website.

• Mac: Safari, Chrome, Firefox

Need more assistance?

Contact Cassie Vogler (cassie.vogler@muskegonorway.org) with questions.

Is there a member of the Muskego Lakes staff who has been especially kind? helpful? Is there someone at Muskego Lakes who goes above and beyond for you and/or your child?

If so, consider nominating any member of the Muskego Lakes staff for a Musky Award!!! To do so, you can complete the form here. We will be taking nominations until Friday, October 25th. Thank you for helping us honor our staff here at Muskego

It’s officially fall in Wisconsin which means the spooky season is upon us! In honor of this time of year, here’s a scary fact - If your student has missed 3 or more days of school so far this year, they have missed out on 10% of the instructional time and social opportunities so far this year at school.

Great attendance impacts students in many ways socially and academically. We are here if your child is struggling getting to school, facing setbacks impacting their attendance, etc. and we want to partner with you to get them to school! Please contact Stacy Pawlak,School Social Worker, if you are struggling with your child’s attendance and would like to partner together! Stacy can be reached at stacy.pawlak@muskegonorway.org or call at: (262) 971 1800 ext. 5403.

Common items we find are:

• water bottles
• school supplies
• assignment notebooks
• lunch bags
• sweatshirts

Please encourage your child if they are missing sweatshirts, jackets, water bottles, pencil cases, hats, headbands, etc. to stop by student services to check for their missing items. We will continue to update our photos weekly, but any items remaining on October 25th will be donated. We will have tables up at conferences for you to stop and check for missing items as well.

Muskego Lakes students use a digital platform to manage hallway movement, called SmartPass. Some of the most helpful features of this program are

• Staff can see a live view of which students are in the hallways, so every student is accounted for digitally. This is a helpful safety feature in an emergency.

• A time limit is provided for all passes so that students take care of their business and return to the learning environment promptly

• An accurate record of total time spent out of class by each student is easily accessible by the staff member and the student

• Students and staff can see how many passes have been created by the student, where their destination was, and how many times they have come back to their origin room after the time on their pass has expired

• Students and staff can create passes for “now” and for “future.” The future pass is a great feature because it can be used to arrange a time to meet (ex during homeroom), without the hassle of getting a paper pass first.

Want to learn about your child’s pass usage?

Follow these quick and easy steps using their account!

1. Ask your child to go to app.smartpass.app

2. On their home page, they can show you their past passes. You can see their destination, and if you click on the pass, how much time they spent out of the classroom on that particular pass.

Shown below are the upcoming co-curricular events at Muskego Lakes.

If a change occurs from the date of this newsletter, we post on Infinite Campus in the announcement section. We commit to letting students/families know about changes and updating Infinite Campus announcements as soon as possible once we've been notified of a change.

For more detailed information about MLMS events, click here.

We are proud to continue to partner with Clinical Psychology Associates (CPA) to offer on-site counseling services for students enrolled in Lakeview Elementary, Mill Valley Elementary, Bay Lane Elementary, Lake Denoon Middle, Muskego Lakes Middle, and Muskego High School. For information about CPA’s services and therapists or to get started with an appointment, please visit our website.

Interested in getting some new spirit wear and support the MLMS PTO? You can shop now HERE until Sunday, November 10th. Plenty of options for all.

Interested in the learning about all the vendors we will have? Click HERE.

The MLMS PTO is in need of volunteers to help run the event. Even an hour or two is a huge help to make this event successful. If you can sign up HERE.

The MLMS PTO is looking to continue the traditon to have snacks for staff each Wednesday. We need your help though by signing up to donate snacks each week. This greatly helps them make it through the week. You can donate snacks or a group of families can donate. We have roughly 100 staff members. Snacks can be anything you'd like.

Please sign up HERE for a date below if you can. Drop off will be in the front office by 8am on the Wednesday you sign up.

Please consider joining the Muskego Lakes PTO. We meet monthly in the MLMS library at 6:30pm. We always welcome new faces and would love to hear your ideas on how we can make this an amazing school year ahead!!

Our last meeting Dates for the 24-25 School Year are:

• October 7
• November 4
• January 6
• February 3
• March 3
• April 7
• April 28

In an effort to ensure students can move through the lunch lines efficently, we ask that you remind your student to ensure that they bring their school ID card with them to lunch daily or ensure that you have gotten your finger scanned.

For you ease, we have linked the September menu below with other helpful resources. You can always find the link to updated lunch menus, at the end of this newsletter.

• October Lunch Menu
• Guide to Making a Complete Meal
• Top Ten Reasons For School Meals

2024-25 Lunch Prices:

• Elementary School $2.55
• MS Diner meal $2.95
• MS Pizza meal $3.50
• MS Grab n Go $3.50
• MS Creation meal $3.90
• Adult $4.65
• Milk Carton $0.50
  
  

Questions related to the food service program can be directed to Benny D’Epiro, Food Service Director at 262-971-1790 x4522.

Please make note of days off and important events on the 24-25 calendar. It is ideal to make dentist and doctor appointments on days we do not have school whenever possible.

Website: https://www.muskegonorway.org/schools/muskegolakes/
Location: W124 S8009 North Cape Rd.
Phone: 262-971-1860
Twitter: @MLMSmuskies

To view current support staff job vacancies, click HERE