Muskego Lakes Family Newsletter

Dear Muskego Lakes Families,

Throughout their middle school years, each one of our students will find themselves on their own unique journey as they cultivate the skills needed to be college, career, and community ready.

In order to support our students at the middle level in their Academic and Career Planning, we have grade level exploratory pathways embedded throughout their classes in 5th-8th grade. Throughout their middle school years, our students reflect on their own unique strengths and interests, acquire strategies for self-management skills, research career clusters aligned to personal self-assessments, and so much more.

And as part of our Muskego Lakes Community Day, all of our students engaged in career exploration today in order to help them imagine a vision for their future beyond high school. Depending on their grade level, students took interest assessments, compared career pathways, created resumes, participated in mock interviews, and/or attended a career fair.

As our students make their way through their middle school years, our hope is they get to participate in a wide range of experiences that will help them discover their strengths, find their passions, and develop confidence in order to pursue their hopes and dreams ahead.

Special thanks to Marni Hebert, David Haznaw, Kristin Limberg, Benny D’Epiro, Jennifer Hensley, Lauren Zidek, Rylan Fernandes, and Marty Rukivina for sharing their own career journeys with our 8th graders today.

In partnership,

Rachel Rydzewski and Nancy Pasch

MLMS Principals

• 2/17: No School

• 2/27: Spring Conferences 4-8pm

• 2/28: No School - Professional Development Day

• 3/24-3/28: No School Spring Break

• 4/5-4/6: MLMS Musical Newsie's Jr. Performance

A friendly reminder that on Monday, February 17th there is no school. We hope you all enjoy your long weekend.

Muskego Lakes Middle School production of Newsies Jr. are open to the public now! We will have four fantastic performances for you to come and see all our talented middle schoolers! Mark your calendars for the following show performances:

• Friday, April 4th at 7pm (Brooklyn Cast)
• Saturday, April 5th at 1pm (Brooklyn Cast)

• Sunday, April 5th at 7pm (Bronx Cast)
• Sunday, April 6th at 1pm (Bronx Cast)

You can check out the cast list HERE! Tickets are available for purchase by clicking HERE.

Our spring parent/teacher conferences will be held on Thursday, February 27th, with both in-person or virtual meeting options from 4:00-8:00 PM. With only one night of conferences, we ask that families be mindful when selecting a time to ensure availability for those who need it most.

As in recent years, we will once again use the Meet the Teacher platform, allowing families to choose either in-person or virtual meetings. Each conference will be 10 minutes long with 2-minute transitions in between. This sign-up is now open, and will be closed for booking on Wednesday, February 26th at 3:00 pm. If you have more than one child at MLMS, you will be able to book conferences for all with the same login.

Important to note is that:

• When you sign up, make sure to indicate if you plan to conferences in person or virtually

• If you have more than one child at MLMS, you will be able to book all conferences for all of your children using the same login.

• Should you need more than that amount of time to meet with any teacher OR should you not be available that evening, please reach out to your child’s teacher(s) to set up an alternative time to connect.

• If you’ve never used Meet the Teacher before or need a refresher, we’ve provided directions for you HERE (or call our Student Services team who can help walk you through the process at (262) 971-1860 ext 5004.

Link to Sign Up

https://MLMSconferences.meettheteacher.com/

For detailed information on how to schedule your conference, needing assistance or troubleshooting tips click HERE.

Here are Muskego Lakes, we believe that strong partnerships with families help ensure every child’s success. Even as children grow older and become more independent, families play an essential role in helping them develop good attendance habits. We’re here to support you every step of the way!

As we have shared this year, we want to keep you informed about your child’s attendance. Wisconsin law allows parents/guardians to excuse their child from school for up to 10 days per school year (this includes vacations). To help you stay aware of your child’s absences, we send notification letters when students reach 5, 7, and 10 days out of school. These letters are simply a way to keep you in the loop of their total days missed.

If your child reaches 10 absences, our district policy requires a doctor’s note for any additional missed days. If your child is having difficulty attending school, please reach out—we’re here to support both you and your child. Let’s work together to find solutions that help them feel comfortable, confident, and ready to learn.

Helpful Tips for Encouraging Regular Attendance:

• Consistency matters – A regular bedtime helps ensure your child is well-rested and ready for the school day.
• Technology balance – Setting limits on nighttime screen use can support better sleep.
• Morning routines – A smooth start to the day, including time for breakfast, can help your child feel prepared and confident.
• Encouraging attendance – If your child isn’t feeling their best, remind them that they can check in with the school nurse if needed.
• Staying connected – Missing school can sometimes feel overwhelming. Checking in with teachers after an absence can help your child stay on track.
• Open communication – If your child is facing challenges—whether in a class, with a peer, or anything else affecting their school experience—please reach out. We’re here to help!

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you ever have concerns or need support to Stacy Pawlak, School Social Worker. We value our partnership with you and want to work together to ensure your child has a great school experience.

Common chatting and social media apps include Snapchat, Youtube, Instagram, TikTok, BeReal, Roblox, Discord, and Signal. All these apps are just a few of the many apps that children use to communicate with friends or even strangers. Please remember most social media platforms require an age of 13 or older, and due to this, children will lie about their age to create an account. If your child is using these apps to communicate with friends, have conversations with your child about only adding people they know and have met in person. If an individual your child does not know has befriended your child, please block them and have them cease all communication. Predators, scammers and hackers are on these social media apps attempting to victimize children. When speaking with your child about social media apps, please assist them in setting up their accounts to ensure the accounts are set on private, and set the phone up to only allow app downloads with parental permission.

In my experience, the most common social media app used by children today is Snapchat. I encourage parents to go through their child’s Snapchat regularly with them to look for any concerning communication or pictures. Again, please make sure the account is set on private, which ensures that your child will have to accept the friend request. Otherwise these unknown individuals can add your child as a friend and immediately start a conversation. When you are going through their Snapchat account please access their photographs which can be accessed through the memories button (see picture below). Once in this tab, look at all photographs to ensure they are appropriate, and also click on “my eyes only” which is a locked folder where

children can hide photographs.

On your child’s smartphone, periodically access their photographs folder to ensure these pictures are appropriate as well. On Iphones, access “photos”, and once in the albums portion of the app, scroll down to access the recently deleted and hidden photos folders. Both are naturally locked and need either face ID or pin number to access. On Android devices, go to the “photos” app, go to the library, then utilities. This is where your child could set up locked folders. Be aware that children can also hide apps through the setting on their devices. I encourage you to again consult with your phone provider as they should be able to assist in finding ways your child can hide information from you.

Other apps that may be downloaded to deceive you are the “Calculator Vault: App hider”, “Vault - Hide Pics, App Lock”, “Locker: Photo Vault”, and “Hide It Pro”. Again these are just a few apps known to hide photos or other items your child doesn’t want you to see. Other common practices to keep you and your family safe are to never post when you are going on vacation, post pictures of your address, or share any sensitive information on social media that strangers could gain access to.

We often have requests from families to communicate with outside providers and/or family members that are not biological parents (i.e. step-parent/grandparent). However, we are unable to do that without permission. To grant that permission, you will need to complete and submit to Student Services the Release of Information document.

Once this document is filled out, it allows us to learn or share information with those individuals. In addition, our student services team can work with your outside provider (pediatrician, counselor, therapist, psychiatrist, etc.) to ensure that strategies or plans can stay consistent between home and school. Teachers also need the release form emailed or sent to Student Services with the rating scale and teachers’ names to complete any assessment tools doctors give.

Did you know that your volunteer applications expire every 2 years? If you have registered with us before 60 days before your registered volunteer status expires, you will receive an email to re-apply.

We highly recommend that you please renew your application if you are want to be able to volunteer in the classrooms or with a potential field trip. If you haven't completed the Volunteer Application, CLICK HERE to do so.

Your voice matters. .. Taher, the MNSD Food Service vendor is wanting to hear from you. Please take a few minutes to take their survey.

Our goal is to help you and your child reunite with items they have lost or misplaced. This means that our staff checks items turned into Lost and Found for names, and when possible call students down to reunite them with their belongings. One way that would help us do this, is to ensure that you label items as much as possible with first and last names.

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. Anything still left on Friday, February 21st will be donated.

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 and double-click the calendar item you are interested in.

Did you know that shopping at Walmart can help our MLMS PTO earn money? A huge thank you to everyone that has linked their accounts for Box Tops! You've helped PTO bring in nearly $60 just by doing your everyday shopping. If you want to help out please follow the directions to get signed up!

Looking for a way to get involved and support our amazing school community? The PTO is always looking for helping hands, and we’d love to have you on board—no commitment necessary! Whether you can spare a little time to make phone calls, lend a hand at events, donate resources, or even consider serving on the board, there’s a place for you. We do have a few open board seats for next year, but even if that’s not your thing, any support is welcome. Interested in learning more? Drop us a line at muskegolakespto@gmail.com . We can’t wait to hear from you!

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:

• 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 they have gotten their 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.

• 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.

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.

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.

The 2025-2026 school calendar is now available for you to review and use for planning purposes.

We encourage you to follow us on Facebook.

Website: https://www.muskegonorway.org/schools/muskegolakes/
Location: W124 S8009 North Cape Rd.
Phone: 262-971-1860
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/muskegolakesmuskies

To view current support staff job vacancies, click HERE