McCarthy Memo

Please get your payment to Nina or Rachel asap so we can send you your tickets. These were paid for up front so we need to obtain reimbursement and get tickets distributed.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18i0mjB6mNliRZAI4-8QFXRYJpnml1GY2-7XFfyNCHjI/edit?usp=sharing

Each teacher should nominate 3 different students. You will indicate why they are getting the award and what you want the award to be called. Your department chairs will have some examples used in the past.

Please plan to join us for the Title meeting at 5:30pm in the LGIA. I need at least one teacher to be present. Please let me know if you can attend. Also, the following rooms will be utilized this evening:

112, 113, 115, 111, 116A, 109. Please be sure your rooms are tidy and ready for guests!

There will be a phone survey coming out. When this occurs, please take the time to fill it out and list your thoughts and struggles and successes with the new system.

See Mr. Stern's email regarding MAP and this week!

Whew... MAP testing is over!!! Good work team!

Supporting Our Students in ISS 📚

Here's how you can ensure our students in ISS stay on track:

• Check attendance to see if a student is in ISS or look for an email from me.
• If anything is not available on Schoology, your student needs to take a test, or any special accommodations/requests send them via email.
• You may send a student down with work, drop by, or email me things you need printed.

Students in ISS Next Week: Check attendance!

ISS Teacher of the Week: ALL STAFF! Last week was craziness and we all pushed together and survived.

“Checking-In” with Mr. Williams 🎯

Here's how to facilitate a smooth check-in process:

• Pass & Call: Students need a pass and a quick call to me at 4029. Please be aware of students trying to leave as a means of avoidance.
• Completed Work and Met Expectations: Ensure that students have completed all the work in your class and have met all of your expectations. Feel free to leverage check-ins.
• Frequent Visitors: Chaz Collins, Deshaun Jones, Dayon Smith, Christian Patton, Sa'Majae Reeves and Ronell Bell.
• Message to the teachers: You have all done an excellent job with keeping students in class! Made my job very easy these past two weeks. Just about 6 weeks left and it's time for summer break! We can do this! Keep pushing! Also, lastly, please call or email before sending your student. Check-ins can be a major disruption at the wrong time and with the wrong group.

Spring sports continue to move in a positive direction at CMS. Our Boys and Girls Soccer teams are continuing to improve each day through hard work and competition. The rain-out against Nowlin will be rescheduled, and we will share that information as soon as it is finalized.

Track season is also progressing well, with athletes showing steady growth. Highlights from this past week include our Girls 4x100 relay team taking 1st place at the Paul Kinder Middle School Meet. For all things athletics, be sure to follow @cmsathletics58 on Instagram.

Teachers, please help us remind ALL students that grades matter! Per MSHSAA rules, students are not eligible to participate if they have more than one F posted in the prior grading period. Additionally, to maintain eligibility, 7th grade students must keep their grades up throughout the second semester in order to be eligible for the 2026–27 school year.

Game Day! - Come Out and Support Your Yellowjackets!

• 4/20- ⚽Boys followed by Girls Soccer vs Smith Hale at CMS @ 4:30 PM

• 4/21- 🏃🏾‍♂️🏃🏾‍♀️Track Meet at Warrensburg MS @ 4:00 PM

• 4/22- ⚽Boys followed by Girls Soccer vs Pioneer Ridge at CMS @ 4:30 PM

• 4/23- ⚽Boys followed by Girls Soccer vs Turner MS at CMS @ 4:30 PM

Spring SportsYOU Codes -

• Track: FWS7-ST7E

• Boys Soccer: EHE2-MHPQ

• Girls Soccer: 6ANU-NGLD

• 26-27 Football: C9RL-K8S2

• Baseball Club:: LWCF-7JET - This is a club sponsored by the High School - please check SportsYou for more information and Sponsor Contact.

Whew- what a week it has been! I know this has been a difficult week, but it is also been a great time to give out Buzz Bucks to those students (no matter how few) to model correct behavior and expectations.

Our next Buzz Store will be Wednesday since I had to postpone it from Wednesday. I am anticipating quite a few bucks being redeemed that day, especially from the 6th grades, and I really need help staffing the store. We need at least 4 people per lunch shift to run the store. Here is the link to sign up: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10Rk6-I9oYAcYCBIAjRycZlD9wrHZQRoMp2HXCAGIeoM/edit?usp=sharing

We are seeing more students struggling with using disrespectful language. We want our students to accept redirection appropriately. Please continue to set expectations, model correct language, address incorrect language, submit an ODR (when necessary) and call home. Also, reward improvement with Buzz Bucks.

Our annual PBIS Zoo Field Trip will be on 5/20. To attend, students must have 95% attendance, No D’s or F’s and no ISS or OSS. We are excited to fill the buses!

Our year is winding down and I am proud of all the hard work that has been by everyone to help change the behavior of our students- keep it up!!

We want to be able to listen without distractions when you need something. It is helpful if you email and make an appointment with us so we can give you the attention you deserve. Please reach out and schedule a time to meet with us! We are also asking for you to please not interrupt if our doors are closed. We handle many things throughout the day of a confidential nature and the disruptions are increasing. Thank you so much for helping us in being both effective and relational in our practices.

In addition, if a door is closed or it indicates there is a meeting going on or says Do Not Disturb, please respect that. We give you our word we will get to you as soon as possible.

Tuesday-Rep your favorite college or university!

Wednesday-CMS day!

Thursday-Soccer-World Cup is coming!

No students should be in your classroom if they are not on your roster. Unless an administrator places a student on shut down with you, please do not allow students to be in your class when they should be in another one of their classes. Thank you for helping one another with this.

Staff of the month:

https://forms.gle/3VeftD5PsopGaXBo6

Teacher of the month:

https://forms.gle/eqszoSVa6Q5GjVsz6

Our prizes are trickling in to fill our reading store. It has been very frustrating for all involved. we have over 5,000 chapter entries already. Please communicate with students to keep reading, keep turning in the forms and we will keep drawing for prizes. 7th grade is still in the lead for chapters by a huge margin! Keep encouraging your students! 6th grade is in 2nd place. I have printed additional forms and they are under the mailboxes. Please encourage students to keep reading!

Use of Outdoor Spaces

If you are planning to use an outdoor space during school hours, the following actions are required:

1. Contact the PE teachers (Couch, Hubbard, Mattson) to make sure you are not interrupting their classes.
2. Contact the main office with the following information
1. What time you are leaving your classroom
2. Where you are taking your class
3. What time you will be back in your classroom
4. Your reason for taking students outside (academic, reward)

We also ask you to keep the following considerations in mind:

• Use of outdoor spaces can cause significant disruption to other learning environments if your students are within another classroom's field of vision or earshot.
• Use of outdoor spaces should be planned in advance and be purposeful.
• You can use the outdoor space as part of the experience of academic content. Here are a few examples:
• Taking notebooks outside to journal about the observations that students make while outdoors
• Expanding the physical space of the classroom in order to do an academic activity
• Utilizing the track to walk and read or walk and discuss a topic.
• Composing scientific hypotheses of various things observed outdoors.
• You can also use the outdoor space as a group contingency reward for meeting a behavioral goal or an academic in class:
• Students follow certain expectations consistently for 4 days in a row and are rewarded with 10 minutes of outside time.
• Students reduce the number of missing assignments by a certain percentage as a class and are rewarded with 10 minutes of outside time.

We want you to be able to utilize outdoor spaces when the weather is nice and to get a change of environment. We just ask that you do what is required and take others into consideration before taking students out of the classroom.

In an effort to encourage our students to read and build their stamina, we are starting a fun, new exciting incentive program for our students that read!!! They should already be reading every Friday in YJH and they may also utilize those minutes. There are forms in your box if you are a YJH teacher and there are extras in the workroom under the mailboxes for you to take more as needed. Students will need to turn these into their ELA teacher to be turned into Dr. McCarthy. It is really important that you read the linked document below and then that you inform your YJH students and all ELA teachers should discuss it with each of their classes. We really need everyone to be all in and have a Game On! approach for this to be successful.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IY08TEfTlWmfhT3jfxqEUFs81B15zz-zoB29DhK6fws/edit?usp=sharing

The ELD Department is hosting Family Night for all students receiving ELD services. At the spring event, school and community partners will have tables to provide families with information about their services. We would love to have more CMS representation, especially advertising to incoming 6th grader families the different opportunities that CMS provides through Sports and Clubs. If you are interested in participating please let Ms. Bright know.

ELD Spring Family Night

Thursday, April 2, 2026

5:30-6:30pm (set up starts at 5:00)

Center High School

8715 Holmes Rd 64131

*50 points for participation!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeA8OpH-KbPYiuWU0SrthMzX-aLHej2nzsFZlhz-SoZLi-0ag/viewform

Use the above link to nominate any individual at CMS for a Heart of Center award. We want to recognize those that are doing a great job! Nominate your fellow CMS Yellowjackets!

Effective immediately, if you need a separate setting for a student with a 504 or an IEP, the below form MUST be completed prior to the end of the previous day. As much notice that you can give is helpful, however, we will accept requests until close of the day before. This will help us to be sure that coverage is available. It is incredibly important that this form is completed and is the only manner to have separate setting provided. The separate setting room will be in 108A which is the small classroom next to Mr. Ellis' room in the main hallway by the T. Please direct any questions to Ms. Newell or Dr. McCarthy.

https://forms.gle/pGaLShbNmYwvrxe69

If you would like to come and observe our lab classroom 2nd hour and get some incredible strategies to take back to your classroom, let Dr. McCarthy know. We will do our best to provide coverage 2nd hour for anyone that would like to come. I would like to have every teacher visit at least once each semester. Please utilize this resource! 15 POINTS FOR YOUR TEAM IF YOU ARRANGE A VISIT FOR 2ND BLOCK-SEE MCCARTHY FOR COVERAGE.

It is the expectation that if you send a student out, they should be given a reflection room sheet WITH the appropriate areas filled out (name, sending teacher name, pass to alternative classroom) and before they are turned into me, the other items should be completely filled out. Please remember our commitment and follow through with expectations. This data is important. Thank you to your attention of this building practice and procedure.

Your initial forms should be submitted by this point in the year. Please check and sign any documents that are needed so that the process can continue. Classified staff may submit their second goal check as well. Thank you!

Please be sure that you are leaving appropriate sub plans and information when you are out of the building. If you look at the sub information in Schoology, there are some helpful items of what should be included and a sheet on our tech policy that you can print and include in your sub plans. Achieving excellence includes all the details such as leaving good sub plans when you are out.

Please give one buzz buck for Community to each student in your YJH who is participating in Spirit Day!

Please be sure you are checking the Yellowjacket Hour document to be sure that students are accomplishing what is needed.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Qs2T17gst6hlZalMuoH1_bpwB4lCkxmgUBKNXrgKzgs/edit?usp=sharing

It is a professional expectation that you are following the YJH schedule and completing all the tasks/lessons that are required for that day.

Teachers of students with RSPs will be receiving an email from our reading interventionists. In this email, there will be information that will help you with some suggestions in what will assist the students in building their foundational skills with the goal that we can continue to catch them up so they no longer need the RSP. No data collection or reporting out is needed from you at this time. This is information to support you in supporting the student and their growth in reading. Thank you.

Please send all student announcements to Mr. Prewitt. Be sure to indicate how long you would like them to run. This is a great way to to gain support and participants in your club or activity! Thank you!

Just a reminder that whatever you are looking for, it is on Schoology!

Please be aware of Board Policies GBCBC, GCBDA, and GDBDA. As we work together with HR, it is important that all staff are aware of these policies. You MUST request a personal day with at least 2 days advanced notice. Using the code Sick-Personal Business also requires approval and must be requested with at least 2 days advanced notice. It will not be approved otherwise and unfortunately, your pay will be docked.

A message from HR:

Blocked Out Dates Reminder
All absences on blocked out dates must have prior approval from HR. If an absence is not approved, the employee may not be paid for the day. Please make sure you have communicated this expectation regarding absences. All HR Approvals , the administrator will be notified.

Please take note of the block out dates below. You may not take a personal day on these days without being approved by HR first.

It is an expectation that all communication home or any other necessary documentation be recorded in the PLP in Infinite Campus. Please let your department chair know if you need help or a refresher.

Bus Stops- Please share with students. The activity bus stops are included in the link below. Please assist your students the first couple of weeks in helping them to make sure they are getting on the correct bus. Parents/Guardians continue to receive communication about activity buses.

Mon. 4/20-

2:30-3:15-Faculty mtg.-Please be sure Chapter 5 is read!

3:20-3:40pm PREPARE team mtg.

4:30pm B/G soccer vs. Smith Hale at CHS

Tues. 4/21-

8-12:30 Schlicht's classes to mobile food pantry

2:35-3:15pm Guiding Coalition in LGIA

4pm Track meet at Warrensburg

5:30-6:30pm Spring Title Meeting in LGIA

Wed. 4/22-

Buzz store open

4:30pm B/G Soccer vs. Pioneer Ridge at CHS

Thurs. 4/23-

12:40-1:20pm BST mtg. in LGIA

4:30pm B/G Soccer vs. Turner at CHS

Fri. 4/24-

PD day (CHS in the am and CMS in the pm)

Mon. 4/20-

8:30-11am District PD work

12:40-1:10pm Teacher/student mtg.

1:30-2:15pm P/TLC mtg.

2:30-3:15pm Faculty mtg.

3:20-3:40pm PREPARE team mtg.

4pm Soccer supervision at CHS

Tues. 4/21-

8-12pm Field trip w/ Schlicht's class

1pm mtg. w/ food services

2:35-3:15pm Guiding Coalition

4-5pm District PDC mtg.

5:30-6:30pm Spring Title Meeting

Wed. 4/22-

8:30am meeting

10-10:30 mtg. w/ Fab and Deister

1:30-2:30pm Elevate planning mtg.

2:30-3:30pm IEP mtg.

Interviews during day (unsure of the specific time at this point)

Thurs. 4/23-

8:20am PLT mtg.

12:40-1:20pm BST mtg.

1:30-3pm athletics meeting at CO

Fri. 4/24-

PD (district am/building pm)

CMS Royals game!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lbd9hH0QQPOs2oFY-2vBN2NCofPW0Ugycpn8IaaSCYg/edit?usp=sharing

You are responsible for being aware of the dates on this document so please be sure you have placed them on your calendar if they pertain to you.

Email: rmccarthy@center.k12.mo.us
Website: https://www.center.k12.mo.us/o/cms
Location: 326 E 103rd St. Kansas City, MO 64114
Phone: 816-612-4000
Facebook: facebook.com/CenterMiddleSchool
Twitter: @CenterMS_