COWBOY EXPRESS
Volume VII, Issue 1- October-November 2008 
Published: Bi-Monthly by SRMS 9400 County Road #512, Sebastian, FL 32958

Dear Parents,

We are in high gear at SRMS. Our 1,410 students are enjoying the new music wing and Cowboy Courtyard. The “eighth grade privilege” this year is gathering in the courtyard before school. The multipurpose room is in use constantly for events ranging from teachers staging student presentations to P.E. students exercising to “Dance Revolution.” We LOVE our new facility. Many students completed the Principal’s Summer Reading Challenge and got to enjoy an after school swim and pizza party at the pool next door. Please do everything in your power to encourage your child to read nightly! We appreciate the many parents who took the time to come to Open House and meet the teachers.

The new district program in which a select group of 7th grade students are taking high school Algebra 1 Honors is going very smoothly. All high school courses taken during middle school become part of a student’s high school grade point average. These students and their parents should familiarize themselves with the district “Grade Forgiveness” policies. The advanced science classes have had some great guest speakers and some have been busy studying the Scientific Method while launching 2 liter bottles.

I am concerned about many of our 8th graders needing to complete Course Recovery due to semester grades of “F” earned in academic classes. At present 52 students in the 8th grade will not be promoted to high school until they complete course recovery but the number of students attending has been very low. All middle school students are now included in the policy and unfortunately many seventh graders also need to complete course recovery. The majority of the students who failed did so because they did not turn in their work, not because the work was beyond their capability. We hope parents will monitor their child’s agenda and check grades in eSembler so we have a higher passing percentage in academics this year. To create an account in eSembler to access your student’s grades go to the school district’s home page at http://www.indianriverschools.org and click on eSembler Grades On-line.

Congratulations go out to the Elk’s Club Students of the Month, Caroline Colbert and Rory Grandison. They are great representatives of Sebastian River Middle’s finest, I’m sure they will enjoy their luncheon at Captain Hirams! A reminder to parents that October 17th is a Teacher Workday. Conference Night this year will fall on Monday November 3rd. There is no school on November 4th and 11th, but November 26th is now a school day thanks to tropical storm Fay. Please remember that a pre-arranged absence must be received at least 5 school days in advance in order to be excused. Please check the district calendar before scheduling trips. Students are not allowed to take early exams and it is essential that they be here during FCAT testing and the two FTE count periods which determine our school funding. Our FTE count periods are October 13-16 and February 9-13.

I hope to see you at PTSA and SAC meetings and our many student events and competitions.

Sincerely,

Eileen Shirah

In compliance with No Child Left Behind requirements, parents/guardians can acccess the 07-08 NCLB School Public Accountability Report (SPAR) and 08-09 School Improvement Plan (SIP) using the links below:

NCLB SPAR – http://doeweb-prd.doe.state.fl.us/eds/nclbspar/year0708/schl0708.cfm?dist_number=31

SIP - http://www.flbsi.org/0809_sip_template/login.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1