From the Principal’s Desk

August 2010

Ms. Julie Albers, Principal

jalbers@midland-7.org

Welcome back to Midland Elementary School and to the 2010-2011 school year!!

Welcome to Midland Elementary School! Midland Elementary is a Pre-K through 4^th grade elementary attendance center, serving children and families living in the communities of Lacon, Sparland and Varna, along with rural areas surrounding these towns. This year, approximately 330 children will attend our school!

This will be my seventh year as principal of Midland Elementary. For the first time in many years, we have very few changes as far as personnel to start the new year. However, we will welcome an additional speech and language pathologist and a new part time aide in our library. In spite of the continued financial woes and reduction in funds from our state government, the district will primarily fund and continue to offer three full sections of Starting Blocks Pre-K for qualifying students, along with our Early Childhood Special Education class, for which I am extremely grateful!!

We will welcome an additional full time Speech and Language Pathologist to our school this year. Jamie Loeser joins us after living in North Carolina for the past several years. She has ties to our community; however, as her husband is originally from Henry…and you may know her mother-in-law Bev Loeser, who is our Postmaster at the Lacon Post Office! Jamie will be working primarily with students in 2^nd through 4^th grades. Special education aide Carrie Schupp will be moving to first grade this year, working in Heather Markovich’s and Jennifer Baker’s classrooms, along with a soon to be named second aide. In addition, Anne Routh will join us in the afternoons as a library aide, working in the library and assisting students. She has worked for the past several years at the middle school, and will now split her time between the high school and our building. And finally, I’d like to officially welcome our new high school principal Spencer Byrd. Mr. Byrd started on the job on July 1^st and has been getting settled at the high school and becoming familiar with our area. He most recently worked as Athletic Director at Belvidere North High School and has previous administrative experience in other school districts as well. He is looking forward to soon relocating to our area with his wife and twin 2 ½ year old boys.

I firmly believe that our students at Midland Elementary School are so fortunate to have the opportunity to learn from an experienced, dedicated and caring faculty. Our students participate in a wide variety of activities, and it is our hope that our children develop the skills necessary to become successful life-long learners and productive citizens in our community and in society.

We want your child to be happy and successful at school and truly believe that you play a key role.  It is your role to continually show interest in and support for your child. The child who knows that his or her family is interested and supports the school programs will almost always have fewer problems in school and will enjoy greater success here.

We believe in fair and consistent discipline that encourages students to responsible for themselves and their actions. This year we will utilize the Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports model (PBIS) to ensure that all students have a clear understanding of their behavior expectations and that our teachers and staff work with each student fairly and consistently. We have four building-wide expectations which will drive our students’ behavior choices:

MIDLAND ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 3 R-S:

I am Respectful

I am Responsible

I am Ready

I am Safe

During the first few weeks of the school year, teachers and staff will demonstrate to all students what it means to be respectful, responsible, ready and safe in all school settings (i.e.:  cafeteria, gym, restrooms, classroom, bus, playground, etc.). We will continually practice and model the expected behaviors for our students. Our students who demonstrate these consistently will participate in monthly PBIS reward activities. Other students may need additional practice to remember the expectations in all school settings. I am looking forward to sharing more about our PBIS initiative in our September newsletter.

Students are most successful when teachers and parents communicate and work together to provide the best opportunities for learning-both in and out of the classroom. Please share with your child’s teacher any information regarding his/her special needs that will help us better serve your child and your family. We believe that communication among parents, students and teachers is critical in assuring student success.

Please feel free to contact me at (309) 246-7215 or at jalbers@midland-7.org if I can be of further assistance. We are all looking forward to a wonderful school year!!