A Letter from the Principal

Happy New Year!

With January comes the halfway point of our school year, and it brings with it a time for us to reflect on the first half of our school year, as well as sharpen our focus on the rest of year.
    
As we look at our school year, the lens we always use is our district’s strategic plan.  This document, developed by a group of community members, teachers, and administrators, shares with us the vision and focus of our district.  As we develop curriculum, help our students, and go about our daily business, the strategic plan gives us a guideline as to what education in Sycamore should look like.
    
The foundation of our strategic plan lies in our core values.  The district and community have listed values that we believe are the basis of being a contributing community member as well as a learner in our school system.  Honesty, integrity, trustworthiness, loyalty, fairness, caring, respect, citizenship, responsibility, and cooperation all receive focus in our building and in our classrooms throughout the year as we work to develop strong community members.  We appreciate all that the parents do at home to enforce these core values as well.
    
The Illinois State Standards are another lens that filters our assessment of our performance.  Spring brings with it ISAT testing, which is one of the tools that we use to gauge the performance of our students.  As March approaches, our efforts to prepare our students will intensify.  We would appreciate your support for these valuable tests as well.  Ensuring that your child has a good breakfast on these testing dates, gets a good night’s sleep, and comes with a positive attitude will go a long way towards providing an adequate assessment of your child’s learning.  ISAT testing can provide you and your child with information about their academic performance as compared with other students in our building, as well as across the state.  The test scores also provide a Lexile score, which can help your child select books for independent reading.  You can find out more information about Lexile levels at http://www.lexile.com/.
    
As always, thank you so much for your involvement in your child’s education. We truly appreciate the importance that our families place on their students’ education.  The success of our children is directly related to the core values that you have instilled in your student.  We continue to urge all parents to become actively involved in your child’s academic achievement.  Remember, success comes when we all work together.

James Cleven
Principal

Spartan Spotlight

                You’re at home or at work, and suddenly, the phone rings, and the caller identifies himself as the principal of the middle school.  No good can come from this, right?  WRONG!
        Each day, teams meet to discuss curriculum and students’ learning needs.  Mr. Cleven and Mrs. Bickley attend these meetings once per week, and we have been asking the teams to identify positive students who are making good choices for their learning and citizenship.  They describe why the students they mention merit the recognition.  Mr. Cleven calls the students down, and explains that the reason they were summoned is a good one!  He or she has made some positive choices!
                So if you get a call from the principal, most likely, it’s for a really great reason.
                The following students were acknowledged by their teams.  Congratulations to them all; they have a lot to be proud of, as do their parents.  Thanks, too, to our teams of teachers, who make time to recognize students for their accomplishments!