Welcome back to school! I wanted to send a message this evening to relay some important information to you about our orientation and the first day of school. Our staffulty has spent many hours this week in professional development and working in the school to prepare for the arrival of our students.

This will be my 9th year as the principal at Mill Creek Intermediate and my 25th year with Berkeley County Schools. I have been a proud resident of South Berkeley my entire life. I am a graduate of Musselman High, Shepherd College, and WVU. My husband and I are raising 2 amazing daughters here. This growing community has a special place in my heart.

Mrs. Butler is beginning 3rd year as the assistant principal at Mill Creek. This will be her 21st year with Berkeley County Schools. She has also dedicated her educational career to the children of South Berkeley. She has spent 19 years teaching at Back Creek Valley. Mrs. Butler and her husband also have 2 sons in the school system and are invested in the success of Berkeley County Schools.

Collectively, it is our mission to provide a safe and supportive learning environment for all students. We ask that you please reach out to us if you ever have any concerns. We are here to help you with problems that we know about. We are looking forward to an amazing school year!

Sincerely -

Beth McCoy, Principal

emccoy@k12.wv.us

Erin Butler, Assistant Principal

ebutler@k12.wv.us

We will have orientation on Aug. 14, 2024 from 5-7pm. We have assigned times to help with traffic control. If you have multiple children that also have orientation, please pick the time that best fits for your family. We look forward to filling our halls with the smiles of our students!

You will enter at the main office entrance and exit by the music room door. You will receive a list of the Top 10 Things To Do at Orientation when you enter the door.

We mailed cards to each student with their teacher's name. If you did not receive your postcard, please be sure to update your annual emergency information to make sure we have the correct address on file. If you do not know your child's teacher, do not worry! We will have plenty of staff in the hallways at orientation that will have lists. You can stop to ask one of them when you arrive.

We are thankful to welcome Nurse Melissa Shirley to our staffulty as the school nurse. She will be available at orientation to accept all medication forms, dietary forms, medication and immunization updates, if needed.

Students MUST be up to date with immunization requirements PRIOR to coming to school Monday, August 19th. This means that any new enrolling or current students must have proof of all required vaccines for school including DTAP, Polio, Hep B, MMR, Varicella. Your student may NOT attend school without proof of any required vaccines.

Also, please keep in mind that any medications at school, including over-the-counter medications and cough drops, require a current medication administration order form to be completed by a medical provider before they can be given at school. A new form is required for each school year. You may NOT send these medications in your student's backpack, and they must be in the original prescription bottle/box (inhaler/Epi pen). The school nurse will be available during orientation to drop off medications, pending you have the completed order form.

It is VERY IMPORTANT that you update your emergency information annually with the school, even if you have not had any changes. Please complete this before your child starts school on August 19. If we would have an emergency, we need to know how to get in touch with you. Please click the link below to get started.

For the safety of our students, we ask that you follow these procedures:

• Buses Arrive: 8:20
• Parent Drop Off: South End Lot 8:20 -8:35. Please do not drop students off until a staff member is on duty. You will drive the loop and drop students off at the sidewalk. Please be cautious and look for staff directing you. There will also be buses in this loop.
• Students Tardy: 8:46 (***Students arriving after 8:35 must be signed in by an adult in the office)
• Dismissal Begins: 3:25 -- If you need to change the way your student normally goes home, please send in a note to your child ’s teacher. We discourage you from calling the office to change information at the last minute. If your child is riding home on a bus with another student, BOTH students must have notes.
• Parent Pick Up: PLEASE REMAIN IN YOUR CAR UNTIL 3:25 or when door 14 is open. For the safety of our students, we need to have the sidewalk clear. Please park in a parking spot and not in the fire lane. We ask that families who pick up on a regular basis to please fill out the pick -up form below. Parents will park in the south end lot and come to the music room door to sign student out. Please be prepared to show ID every day.
• Students Leaving Early: To prevent congestion in the office at dismissal time, students will not be allowed to be signed out between 3-3:25. If you have an appointment, please sign your student out before 3pm. When arriving to pick up your student, please report to the front office and be prepared to show your ID. You will need an electronic device to scan a QR code for sign-out.

We would like to invite you to take an active role in your child’s education. At Mill Creek Intermediate, we believe that education is a shared responsibility, and achievement requires the commitment and participation of students, staff, family and the community. Below are a list of items that we feel are important for all families.

• REQUIRED - Update your student's Annual Emergency Information - This is very important to do before Monday. If we have an emergency with your student, we must know how to get in touch with you. Link: https://www.berkeleycountyschools.org/article/1709449
• Schoology - Schoology is the platform that we will use for communication, lesson platforms, and grades. Please make sure you and your child know how to use this platform.
• Class Dojo - All of our classes will be using Class Dojo. If you haven't received an invite yet, you will soon receive an invite from your child's teacher to join. This app will be used for communication.

The Jostens Renaissance Program is a framework of culture where teachers love their job and students thrive in school. It is built on common core values and expectations. At Mill Creek, our Renaissance program is built around the core values of Safety, Ownership, Achievement and Respect. Students and staffulty will receive recognition and rewards when following these core values. Each day, our students will have the opportunity to earn a SOAR point based on these values. You can find the guidelines on the back of their daily folders and check their progress on the calendar on their folder.

We will participate in our first SOAR Pep Rally on Friday, Aug. 23. Students and staffulty will walk to Musselman Middle School on Thursday morning at 9:15. We will kick off the year by discussing our core values and recognizing students and staffulty. MMS is also our evacuation site, so we will also discuss our emergency procedures while we are there. (This event will be for MCI staffulty and students only.)

The LSIC is a committee that is meant to assist the school and school system in ensuring that parent, family, business, and community involvement is embedded in all aspects of the school and county strategic improvement plans. It will help to develop and promote the school and school system vision for excellence by being catalysts for innovation and it will represent the voice of the community’s education stakeholders.

At Mill Creek, the LSIC will be working collaboratively with the SOAR'n Supporters (PTO) to plan and implement family involvement activities. We invite all caregivers who would like to help with these activities to attend our quarterly LSIC meetings.

All LSIC meetings are open to the public and will start at 4pm, unless otherwise noted. Dates are subject to change. Please follow Mill Creek's NTouch Messaging and Class Dojo for updates. All meetings will be held in the Mill Creek Library.

Meeting Dates:

• Sept. 12, 2024 - Election of officers meeting

• Sept. 26, 2024 - Organizational Meeting

• Oct. 24, 2024 - Organizational Meeting to review WV Balanced Scorecard Data

• Dec. 5, 2024

• Jan. 30, 2025

• Mar. 27, 2025