From the desk of Karen de Marché
September 10, 2007

Greetings!

The ITBS testing went great this week! The students seemed to take the testing very seriously and genuinely seemed to try their best. We will begin make-up testing on Monday.

The School Council will meet on Monday, September 10, at 6:00 p.m. in the DMS media center.

4-H begins this Tuesday. 4-H meets monthly during the morning connections classes for any student interested in participating. There are no meetings in December and May.

Softball games this week are Tuesday, September 11, at home against Gordon Lee and Friday at home against Heritage.

Football this week is Thursday, September 13, at home against Ringgold.

Cross Country this week is Thursday, September 13, at Baylor.

Please make plans to join your youngster for lunch during the week of September 17. We will have Mothers on Monday, Grandparents on Thursday, and Fathers on Friday.

The state has funded a graduation coach at the middle school level. The coach for Dade Middle School is Mrs. Janey Jansen van Rensburg. She will be responsible for working with students to keep them focused on the ultimate goal of public education which is to graduate from high school. The grant from the state has many mandates. In addition to working closely with students, Mrs. Jansen van Rensburg will be meeting with parents to provide information and support. Her office is located in the support building (the old vocational building). One of the first school-wide activities she has planned is an Academic Pep Rally that will be held on Friday, September 14 beginning at 2:30. You are cordially invited!

Please make plans to attend the September Parent's Workshop which will be held on Monday, September 24, in the DMS media center. The topic this month will be: The Middle School Student: Adjustments, Academics and Attitudes. Parents will be given a wonderful publication from Woodburn Press entitled: Middle School Parent Guidebook. The meeting will begin at 6:30 and will end at 7:30.

We want to establish a parent advisory group for the middle school. This group will meet each nine weeks to discuss how the middle school is meeting the needs of the students, parents and the community. It will be set up in a discussion forum format. The meeting will be held in the evening and will last no longer than an hour. If you would be interested in participating in this group, please email me at .