Dear parents and students,

      It is a pleasure to address you in our monthly newsletter. The Cedar Middle School PTSA and the administration, believe that communication between the home and school is imperative to student success. The monthly newsletter is just one of many avenues that we utilize to keep you informed. Ask your child for it each month so that you can be better informed.

      We have just passed the mid point of the third term.  Please take the time to check student grades and make necessary adjustments to provide success. 

      The first week in March is SEOP week. School will be out an hour earlier. Busses will be delivering students home an hour sooner than normal. The purpose of the shortened schedule is to allow time for our advisors to meet with students and parents for the spring Student Educational Occupational Planning. We will be reviewing goals that were established at the fall meeting, pre-registering for next year’s classes, and asking for input for improvement at CMS. Our eighth-grade students will be contacted by an advisor from Cedar High School for their SEOP conferences and registration. In the past, we have enjoyed over a 90% success rate with our SEOP process. Our advisors work hard to get to know each and every student. This, in turn, allows us to personalize each student’s education.  Advisors will be contacting you soon. Please take the time to schedule an appointment and follow through.

      We are currently participating in the Direct Writing Assessment with our 8th Grade Students. It is a norm referenced assessment that is given in 5th, 8th and 11th grade to assess student progress.

      Believe it or not, we are already making plans for next year. Each school in the state of Utah has a  “Community Council.” The Community Council is an advisory board that provides input and approval of our school improvement plan. It also oversees the State School Land Trust Program and approves the annual Land Trust budget. We have a couple of positions that are open for next year. It is a two-year commitment. Community Council members are elected if there is more interest than positions available. If you are interested, please contact myself, Kendall Benson, or our PTSA president, Mrs. Lynnette Grant. Our next Community Council Meeting will be held on Monday March 8th at 3:00 here at school. Anyone is invited to attend. We welcome input from our valued parents.

      We have enjoyed a new program this year that is intended to recognize outstanding students. We call it “Warrior Pride”. Each month, we select one student from each grade. They are nominated by teachers, other students and even support staff here at school. In addition to students, we would like to begin to recognize faculty and staff for the awesome contributions that they are making. The employee of the month can also be nominated by staff, students and even parents. If you have had an exceptionally positive experience, please stop by the office and fill out a nomination form.

      We continue to have trouble with students staying after school. If they stay with a teacher we welcome it. If they are “conveniently” staying after to hang with their friends, they are unsupervised and causing us problems. Please help us with this issue.

      As always, thank you so much for your support.

                              Sincerely,  Kendall L. Benson