Cubs Newsletter

This coming Friday is Picture Re-take day! If your student was not here on Cub Palooza Day this is their chance to get their school photo taken for the yearbook, ID card, etc. If you are wanting retakes please let your student know.

Every student - even those that have been in MSD schools since kindergarten - needs to have their digital registration forms filled out. Parents - you should have received a snail mail letter back in August, and many digital reminders. More than 300 of you have got the task done, but we can't be done until every student has completed paperwork. This weekend is your last chance to get it done online.

Please follow the link below to get to our website's PowerSchool for parents page to get started. There are 9 tabs to complete, once you get in, to be completely finished. Thank you so much!!

I would encourage you to consider joining our Parent Support Team. The meetings are held once a month, on a Thursday, in our MMS library. The meetings are informal, but informative! We discuss a variety of topics, I get ideas and feedback from the PST, and they get to ask me lots of questions about everything going on at MMS. Our current President, Jen Hohenlohe has this message for you all:

Join us at the first Parent Support Team (PST) meeting of the year! It's informal and fun and open to anyone in the MMS community -- all are welcome!

We'll get an update from MMS Principal Teri Summers on the year so far and talk about PST plans for the year.

Come find out how YOU can help the PST support teachers, staff and kids at MMS -- see you there!

Thursday, Sept 18 at 5:30pm in the MMS library

Did your kids tell you about our fire drill on Friday? It was something else, let me tell ya!

Way back at the end of July or early August, I scheduled our first few drills. We are required to have either a fire drill or lockdown drill every month. I like getting those on the calendar early. The first drill of the school year is always a fire drill, and it has to happen during a homeroom class...there are a few other things I have to consider, and I pick a day and time. Friday, September 12th at 8:30 seemed perfect. Done. Scheduled.

Yesterday, I looked outside my window to check the weather before the drill. It was fine. Cloudy? Yes, but we are used to that here in Moscow, and at least it wouldn't be scorching hot or smoky. We were go for launch. I have a few things I have to do before a drill...get my speaker, check that it works, make sure all the adults are in place and ready, and then I have some buttons to push and some keys to turn. Then here we go! Alarm activated.

At first, there was nothing out of the ordinary. The first few kids exited the building calmly and quietly, but then I started to hear cries of dismay and/or delight, and the sudden sound of rain. Serious rain. Not a "Moscow drizzle," but real rain. Officer Summers and I looked at each other...we looked outside...but it was too late. Everyone was headed out into squall. There was no turning back.

I'm always the last one out, and just as soon as every single person was out in the parking lot, safely evacuated from the pretend fire, the heavens opened and sheets of rain poured down. A deluge of water from the sky. I admit I did not take the time to praise the students and staff for a job well done...no review of safety guidelines...no pep talk from Mrs. Summers. I got those kids back in the building. They were great - everyone was a bit shocked, to tell the truth. There was some gleeful puddle splashing, but everyone followed directions and got back inside in an orderly fashion.

I'm always the last one back inside...following the last few kids and staff into the building. As I ascended the outside stairs on the east side of the building, alongside SRO Summers and Butch Fealy, our Facilities Director, the rain stopped. I kid you not. It was like someone turned a spigot in the sky. The rain stopped almost as suddenly as it had started. The sun peaked out from behind the clouds.

I could not have planned a worse time to have a Fire Drill if I had tried.

The children were soaked. I'm so sorry about that. It took awhile for everyone to dry out. The classrooms all smelled like wet teenager. It wasn't pleasant. I felt especially bad for the kids getting their sports photos taken at the end of the day. Many of them had spent a lot of time on their hair that morning and their beautiful curls were flattened to their faces. I made a heartfelt apology announcement over the intercom, and then we just laughed about it. What else could we do? I'm calling it a lesson in resilience.

Later in the day, I was over at the district office for a quick meeting. One of the staff members there asked me, "did you hear that crazy rain storm this morning? It was only about 5 minutes long, but the rain was really coming down!" Yes. Yes I did hear the rain. Everyone at MMS heard the rain. Every last one of us.

As I have stated before in this newsletter, I am not the food police. I don't go through lunchboxes or backpacks and examine the food kids bring to school to measure and judge it's nutritional content. I raised two kids...they survived primarily on Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal and frozen Taquitos. We are all just doing our best. Years ago there was a rule at MMS about energy drinks. They were banned. They were grouped with substances that are still banned like nicotine and alcohol. However, over the years, as there were more and more energy drinks and Starbucks and Dutch Bros...it became unrealistic for staff to try to confiscate every beverage with caffeine in it, and I would say, unnecessary. So, I want to clarify our stance on energy drinks:

• We don't want kids walking around the halls with ANY open container of liquid. Energy drinks included. There are over 500 kids jostling through the halls...spills cause chaos, sticky messes, and others could slip, fall, and get injured. We ask kids to put away or throw away cups, bottles, and cans as they walk through the halls.
• Teachers are in charge of their classrooms. Some teachers don't mind if students eat or drink in their classrooms...others don't like the distraction or have other valid reasons for not allowing food and drink in their classrooms. That includes energy drinks. Students are expected to follow classroom rules and teacher directions including those involving food and drink.
• We don't love energy drinks. We would ask you to think about what is best for your child and their ability to learn and behave in a classroom. Every child is different, but many students get bouncy, loud, and distractible when they eat or drink a lot of caffeine and/or sugar. Then, they crash hard and can become irritable, sleepy, and apathetic. That can be challenging for their peers and teachers to cope with.
• I'm not a doctor. Everything I know about medicine I learned from watching Grey's Anatomy. I do know, however, that kids have experienced serious health challenges as a result of consuming too much caffeine. Kids are more susceptible to the effects of caffeine. Studies link excessive caffeine intake in adolescents to increases in Anxiety and other mental and emotional issues, as well as serious heart conditions such as cardiac arrhythmias. We want your kids, and all the kids, to be safe and happy here at school.
• We can't stop kids from "sharing." So please chat with your student about what substances you want them to stay away from, even if a friend offers to share. Also, if you are sending energy drinks, or other beverages, to school with your child, please discourage them from passing those around to their friends. Caffeine can interfere or interact with medications another child might be taking, and/or exacerbate an existing health condition.
• In short - are energy drinks banned? No. Do we like it when kids bring them to school? Also no, but you are the parent and you are responsible for the food and drinks you provide for your children.

We have a lot of resources for families and kids. We invite you to visit our Family Resource HUB to find out more! You can also contact Melissa Godfrey at godfreym@msd281.org or by calling our office, if you would like to chat more about our Community Schools program.

The Latah County Fair is in full swing. I'm heading over to the fairgrounds this afternoon to look at all the animals, check out the exhibits, listen to live music, and eat some fair food. (No rides...I swore off fair rides after my last trip on the Gravitron - one of the worst 3 minutes of my life!). I'm sure I'll run into lots of my Cubs there - I hope so! The kids love the fair, and I love that they love the fair. They get lots of stuff at the fair. Sometimes they bring all that stuff to school with them on Monday. So here is my annual request regarding Fair stuff:

Please don't send anything to school that resembles a weapon of any kind. This includes plastic swords, knifes, guns, and hand grenades. Please don't let your kids bring anything to school that could be swung around, thrown, sprayed, or catapulted into the air....and possibly injure another person. Please discourage them from bringing anything new and super special...stuff gets lost and/or broken and I don't want that happening to their new favorite priceless possession here at school. Oh! Also check for other potentially problematic items such as handcuffs, plushies too large to fit in a backpack, live animals such as goldfish, masks, and obnoxiously noisy doo-dads and wing-dings. None of those things should come to school. Please. 😜

Next Week

Monday – A team VB away game

Tuesday – Outdoor Recreation class learning at the UI Experimental Forest – did you sign a permission slip?

Tuesday – B team VB games at home – games start at 4:00 at MHS

Wednesday – Football at Home vs Pullman

Thursday – Cross Country team away

Friday – Picture re-take day

Friday – 6th grade VB at 3:30 in the Bear Den

Coming Up

October 30th and 31st – Parent Teacher Conferences/Teacher Work Days

Below is a link to MMS Events on our webpage where you can stay up to date with all the goings on at Moscow Middle School. Go Cubs!