New Website

All of our news can now be found at birneypta.com. You should be automatically redirected but in case you aren't, click here.

Calendar Revision Update: Success!

The SD Unified School District just released a revised year round calendar for 2013-2014 with all the furlough days moved out of our testing window. (This is exactly what we requested to give our students the same chances for success as standard year students.) Spring break now ends April 28th and there's one furlough day on June 23rd. Check it out here: http://www.sandi.net/page/2400

School still ends on a Monday, but our students and staff will now have the same benefits of five-days weeks for preparation and testing as standard year schools.

Thanks to Superintendent Marten and the entire Board of Education, the concerned families and citizens who voiced your opinions, and all of you who made this happen.

An Open Letter to Superintendent Marten re: 2013-14 Year-Round School Calendar

Dear Superintendent Marten,

     As a parent at Birney Elementary, a year round school, I am writing to express my disappointment in the year round calendar for the 2013-2014 school year and respectfully request the Board of Education to re-evaluate it.

• ·        Right now, there are three furlough days in June, two during the week of June 16^th, one during the week of June 23^rd. Combined with the Fourth of July holiday the following week, this creates undue hardship for many families who will have to arrange special childcare for three straight weeks.
• ·       The furlough days in June take valuable time away from testing preparation. While the standard school year students are getting solid five-day weeks of preparation time during their testing window, the year-round students must contend with holidays and furlough days to schedule both preparation and testing, presenting year-round with unfair disadvantages. Surely the furlough days in June could be moved so that all students are given the same chances for success regardless of whether their schools are standard or year round schedules.
• ·       The school year is set to end on Monday, July 21^st. Attendance will suffer, and funding along with it. Having that last day as a Monday will also present challenges to parents trying to provide child care, camp or other summer instructional experiences to their children since many of those programs run on a Monday through Friday schedule. Parents will be forced to decide between skipping school or throwing away the cost of a day’s experiences; children will miss out on the year’s closure or their first day’s instruction. Since most camps and classes have closed by early- to mid-August, this seems to unfairly punish year round students who would seek extracurricular enrichment. Ending the school year on the previous Friday (by moving a vacation day from spring break to the end of the year) would benefit everyone and provide a more satisfying end to the school year.

I know that you and the Board of Education want to provide my child with the same opportunities for success and academic achievement as the children at standard year schools. Some ways of modifying the calendar which would eliminate any perceived discrimination against year round schools and better help the staff and students reach their full academic potential are:

• ·       Move some or all of the June furlough days to June 23, June 24, and June 25, out of the testing window. Students and staff will be able to focus on academic achievement and not keeping track of the chaotic off again, on again schedule. Parents will only have to arrange for special child care for one week.
• ·       Move some (but not all) of the furlough days to the end of the year round spring break: April 29, April 30, or May 1 and move the rest out of the testing window. Please do not leave us with any one-day weeks since our attendance will suffer.
• ·       Move one vacation day from spring break to the end of the school year to allow school to end on a Friday.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I know you want all children and families in the SD USD to thrive. I hope we can be partners in making the 2013-2014 year a success.

Sincerely,

Kim Schultz

President, Alice Birney Elementary PTA

Information about Roosevelt Middle School

 Information as best as I can remember

Uniforms

(Burgundy, Grey, White, Khaki, Beige, Black)

Tops:
RMS logo polo shirts (that can be purchased at the school or from LandsEnd)
School color polo with collar and buttons (without logo)
School clubs and event T-shirts only

Bottoms:
Khaki pants, shorts (for both boys and girls), skirts (for girls)
Girls can also wear school color plaid (grey/burgundy)

Jackets/Sweaters/Sweatshirts:
RMS logo sweatshirts available through the school and at LandsEnd.com
Plain sweatshirts no writing or other logo, solid color (burgundy/marron, beige, grey, black)
Cardigan (burgundy/maroon, white, grey, khaki/beige, black - solid or stripes)
Jackets (burgundy/marron, khaki/beige, grey, black)

PE Clothes:
Shirts $6 (solid grey or white)
Shorts $11 (grey, burgundy/maroon) 
Locks for the PE lockers can be brought from home or can be purchased at the school. School purchase is recommended so if there is a problem with lock/combo etc., the school can solve it.

Many of the above clothing items can be purchased at the school, various stores including Marios on El Cajon, JC Pennys etc. Uniforms can also be purchased online at LandsEnd.com using Prefered School #900152158.

School Schedule

Orientation on August 22 at 10 am

First day of school is Sept. 3
Schedules by grade levels will be posted that morning
REMEMBER that Sept 3 is a short day - plan accordingly

1st bell: 7:25 am
Start time: 7:30 pm
End time: 2:28 pm

Short day schedule on Tuesday out at 1:20

Lunch for 6th graders is 11:16-11:46

The day consists of 7 periods which include:

2 periods of english/language arts (with the same teacher but at different times)
1 period humanities
1 period math
1 period science (science and math are in 2 hour a block with the same teacher)
1 language (Spanish or French)
1 PE

(Class sizes will be 20-24 to one)

School events:

Day of Peace: Peace sign day
Walk for a group or charity
Sophia Day: Health Day when they give back to Rady Children's Hopital
IB Festival/Open house

Transportation

Walk
Ride Bike
Bus (route 7)
Magnet students have access to a bus if they are 5 miles away or further. Inquire with the office for details
Parent Drop off
(When dropping off students Zoo drive is the best. Upas is used for school bus loading and unloading and is very congested - no double parking, tickets are given)

Food

No cost for lunch
lunches can be brought from home
Snacks can be purchased with cash or account (application for account is in the back of the school package)

Course Placement:

You will need to turn in the cards that were sent home from Birney.
You need to indicate whether your language choice is Spanish or French
Placement tests for Math, French and Spanish are at the beginning of the year.
Students will be placed in courses initially based on transcript, 2013 (5th grade) standardized test results and GATE identification, and then adjustments will be made to class assignments based on placement test results.

Communications:

All students must have a planner so that they can make notes about homework, where teachers can send notes to the parents.
Planners should be checked nightly by parents.

Ways Parents can connect:

- Parent Connect an online resource
- Email teachers or counselors
- Call teachers or counselors
- Write note to teacher in student planner

Parent Involvement:

- you can be on campus, in classroom, or attend events
- attend meeting with teachers and counselors
- volunteer at the school
- volunteer in the classroom
- help with the before and after school programs and/or clubs
- supervise during lunches
- help with back to school night
- join the PTA
-serve on School Site Council

Volunteers who work with kids, need to be TB tested and background screened by FBI/CIA and finger printed.

Attendance:

- If your child will be absent you must call the school within 72 hours
- Ask for missed work (or check on Parent Connect)
- You can make up a missed day by attending Saturday School
- Make your appointments for you children on short days after school is out.

After School Programs:

Primetime provided by the Mission Valley YMCA.
This is free but tightly restricted. You must attend it 5 days a week till 5 pm--if you miss days, you are subject to removal.

Fee-Based After School also provided by YMCA, is available 1-5 days as needed

Both of the above include after school homework groups (1 hour)
and include clubs.

Clubs Only allows students not in either after-school program access to clubs. The cost for clubs vary but are free to Primetime students.

Some of the clubs that RMS has are:

- Garden Club
- CSI Club
- Junior Theater
- Girls in Science
- MESA (Math, Engineering, Science)
- Cheer
- Sports (Vollyball, Basketball, Soccer, Baseball, Tennis) you must maintain a 2.0 GPA to participate in Sports
- Tennis - free tennis lessons every Tuesday.

Cell Phones:

You may bring cell phones to school. They must be turned off during the school day. If you are caught with your phone on, talking or texting, you phone will be confiscated.

Social Media:

Although RMS can not control the use of social media, it is discouraged. Facebook and other sites require you to be at least 14.
- If you choose to let your kids have social media accounts, please monitor them.
- If your child is involved in any online bullying, gossip or other activities that affect others at Roosevelt, it will be dealt with by the school.

Family Movie Night is This Friday, Don't Miss Out!